Re: [Pen-l] The issue is not "fraud" but freedom

[ken hanly <northsunm@xxxxxxxxx>]

   Not democratic in any acceptable sense of the word? Who determines what is acceptable? Those with a two party system which manages to arrange it so that for most to have any hope of winning they must basically cater to those who have the real power in the system by running for one of the two parties. Iran has a transparent vetting of candidates whereas Americans are mostly unaware that a similar process happens in the US before the vote.

Cheers k hanly

Blog:  http://kenthink7.blogspot.com/index.html
Blog:  http://kencan7.blogspot.com/index.html


--- On Mon, 6/22/09, Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Pen-l] The issue is not "fraud" but freedom
> To: "PEN-L list" <PEN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Monday, June 22, 2009, 3:23 PM
> Elections in Iran, of course, are not
> free because no opponents of the âIslamic Revolutionâ
> are allowed to stand (unlike in Venezuela, of course, where
> opponents of Chavez could even collect signatures for a
> referendum to have him removed from office). Real power
> rests with the Council of Guardians which is a 12 man body
> made up of six high ranking Islamic clerics and six Islamic
> lawyers, selected by the Leader (currently Khamenei). It
> stands above the âparliamentâ and can dismiss laws
> passed by it on the basis that they are unIslamic or against
> the Constitution of the Islamic Republic. Of the 400 people
> who put their names forward only four were accepted.
> Needless to say the 42 women candidates were rejected.
> 
> These results appear highly questionable, but even if the
> 64% vote were accurate, it would do nothing to alter the
> fact that the elections are not democratic in any acceptable
> sense of the term. It has been clear for a number of years
> now that young people in particular have been chafing at the
> petty restrictions imposed upon them by a state which
> imposes its religion and mores on them.
> 
> full: http://martinwicks.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/with-friends-like-these/
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