Re: [Marxism] 2 views on the Iran election

[Bhaskar Sunkara <bhaskar.sunkara@xxxxxxxxx>]

I would never use the term "fascist" or "quasi-fascist" or describe a state
in the Middle-East publicly, but among friends I will admit that I wouldn't
object to the f-world being used in relation to the Iranian state.  Right
now the left in Iran is weak and marginalized and it has been so since the
early 1980s.   This protest movement has the chance to the pressure the
government to open up more rights and freedoms, to grant Iranians the rights
and freedoms we see in liberal democracies.  This ideally would open up the
way for free trade union organization, etc, etc.  The protests are simply
the politicization of a segment of the population in a conservative,
depoliticized state.  It's a bad thing for reaction within Iran.  Whether or
not this puts me on the side of imperial power is debatable.  Once again I
want to stress that from the Iranians I've been in contact with (around 3),
all youth, the protesters on the street were almost universally also enraged
by Moussavi and many of them are NOT fond of the United States, due to the
historic legacy of the Iran-Iraq War.
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