the Iranian Election 2009

What is happening in Iran? That extremely important question is hard to answer given the crackdown on reliable information coming from the country and reflected by the various claims and counter-claims appearing on the Internet.

Socialists have no hesitation in opposing Ahmadinejad and the Iranian regime. Some of the hapless left-wing have, partly inspired by Lenin's historically bankrupt theory of Imperialism, seen something progressive about Ahmadinejad because of the Iranian stance towards the USA. They are hereby complicit in supporting one of the foulest dictatorships in modern times and deserve utter scorn. It was quite common pre-12 June to hear the Left say the Iranian regime should not be criticised because it would strengthen the interests of American Imperialism, as if the brutal repression of the Iranian working class (be they e.g. gays or trade unionists) mattered not one jot or opposing the interests of Capital and supporting workers gaining greater trade union and democratic rights couldn't be done simultaneously!

Nor do socialists hesitate in opposing Mousavi. His talk of dirty tricks in the election is a bit rich, coming as it does from a man who has been very much a part of that same brutal regime.

It is to be hoped that the protests will become bigger than Mousavi and the present Iranian regime, that they have grown beyond a question of vote rigging and a movement of the urban working class Iranian (who are, inaccurately, being described as "middle class" more often than not). It is quite possible this can happen as the distressing image of Neda's death gains greater circulation.