[Pen-l] A velvet revolution in Iran?

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

The post-election crisis in Iran has prompted individuals and groups on 
the left to reduce it to an imperialist plot to foment a “color” or 
“velvet” revolution. In doing so, they are following the lead of Ali 
Khamenei, the country’s most powerful leader and a man who has never run 
in an election himself. In a speech delivered to the country last 
Friday, Khamenei said:

"The amateurish behavior of some people inside the country made them 
(the West) greedy. They have mistaken Iran with Georgia.

"A Zionist-American millionaire claimed that he spent $10 million to 
change the regime in Georgia through a velvet revolution. [What exactly 
is a Zionist-American, btw? Is that an ethnic category or what?]This 
claim was published in the papers. Those fools thought the Islamic 
Republic is like Georgia. To which countries do you compare Iran to? The 
enemy’s problem is that they do not yet understand the Iranian nation."

As might be expected given its Manichean brand of Marxism that divides 
the world between the “imperialist” and “anti-imperialist” camps, the 
Workers World Party stood firmly in the Ahmadinejad camp. After denying 
that fraud took place, they made the elections sound like a referendum 
on the world revolution:

"Ahmadinejad is closely identified with militant support for the 
mass-based resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon, and also with 
the determined public defense of Iran’s nuclear power program. With a 
high vote for him, the Iranians thumb their noses at the imperialists. 
This also explains the strong hostility from the U.S. ruling class.

"In Iran, the reelected president is also considered a populist who will 
fight for economic concessions to Iran’s poor—which explains his strong 
popularity outside the middle-class and wealthy districts."

full: 
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/a-velvet-revolution-in-iran/
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