Ok article about the Iranian nuclear issue and Washington’s refusal to debate or negotiate, although this “leftist” seems not at all bothered by the mindless sloganeering, like Marg Bar Amrika (Death To America) which to him implies political consciousness, instead of mindless propaganda driven into people’s brains.
It’s this institutional anti-Imperialism, backed up by state terror, which helped turned the inevitable opposition towards a pro-western orientation, much like the mindless anti-Communist propaganda of the Cold War turned a significant segment of the American left into apologists for Stalin and Mao.
He also oversimplifies Ahmadinejad’s election victory as total support for his actions and policies, overlooking the fact that one of the reasons he won was due to his populist economic program, his humble background and the repression of the opposition, i.e. the banning of thousands of Majles or parliament candidates from running for office by the Council of Guardians, the closure of opposition media and the imprisonment of opposition activists since the late 1990s, including the famous reporter Akbar Ganji, who served in prison from 2000 until this year.
At the same time the mosques served also as a center for political education and the streets functioned as a stage for practice and a show of force, in the face of the hostile U.S. attitude materialized in the form of economic sanctions against Iran. The Farsi slogans “Marg bar Amrika!” (Death to America), and “Marg bar Esrael!” (Death to Israel) and “Marg bar Saddam!” (Death to Saddam) were the regular diet of the working mass and millions of small shopkeepers.
It is clearly evident that the government, especially under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has gained a strong support of an overwhelming majority in its well-publicized resistance to the dictates of the West, a.k.a. the United Nations Security Council members majority looking to sanctions.
http://www.iranian.com/Ommani/2006/October/Appeasement/index.html
Dear Saddam Khomeini:
Some of your post titles seem to actually reflect the content of your posts. Some…don’t.
Titles can be eye-catching, sure, but it helps if they’re also, well, relevant.
Or maybe I just don’t get the joke.
VCM