[Marxism] Iran

[Daniel Koechlin <d.koechlin@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Let's put it bluntly

The power-struggle at the top of the Iranian elite is becoming nasty.

Like two rival mafia families engaged in a turf war, there are pulling 
no more punches.

Mousaveni is fighting for his (and his supporters' within the 
establishment) neck. Even conservative islamists are being arrested 
and/or losing their grip on power. Bureaucrats are loosing their 
livelihoods, Khamenei's faction is ousting all opposition, however mild.

When a top-ranking civil servant loses his influence, he tends to fight 
back against his bureucratic opponents. His swimming-pool and "special 
priviledges" for his family depend on it.

Thus, today, over 150 Iranian MPs (out of 250) failed to turn up to 
congratulate Ahmidnejad on his victory. Many of them are even more 
conservative than he is.

The rift, fuelled by popular disaffection, is growing. Maybe, we will 
see the establishment finally deciding that Mousaveni is perhaps a 
better option to control popular protest than blind suppression. They 
might even recall Musaveni who claims he can do a "better job" than 
Ahmedinjad, at managing the country.

But Musaveni is NOT in favour of abolishing stoning for adulteresses, he 
is NOT in favour of lessening the stranglehold of religion on secular 
life, he is decidely NOT in favour of increasing real wages.

His plateform is vaguely "liberal", but completly void of any 
substantitle change. And he is beginning ot understand that the people 
do not really care for him, any more than they do for Ahmidendijad.

PS : Orthography of Iranian names in French and English is widely 
different. Please excuse me if I have mispellt the traditional English 
way of writing such names.


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