Slog
News & ArtsThursday, June 18, 2009
International For Real
Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 12:49 PM
The hawks here and in Israel want us to believe this:
JUST after Iran’s rigged elections last week, with hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, it looked as if a new revolution was in the offing. Five days later, the uprising is little more than a symbolic protest, crushed by the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
They do not want us to believe this:
OVER A MILLION BACK ON THE STREETS...
PARAMILITARIES "SCARED AND COVER THEIR FACES"
This is a revolution:
In my next post, I will offer a theory for why this is at core a revolution.
1
People always want to believe that nothing is really happening, that nothing is changing, that nobody can do anything to change anything. It's the bourgeois, cowardly way we protect ourselves from responsibility. Fuck that.
2
Does this mean you are sticking your neck out and actually predicting that this process will succeed in displacing the authoritarian hardline conservatives? Because that's what actually matters from the U.S. and Israeli perspectives.
Or are you just going to offer us theoretical bolviating about why this process was really "at core a revolution" even after it fails?
Or are you just going to offer us theoretical bolviating about why this process was really "at core a revolution" even after it fails?
3
@2
Prepare for bloviation.
Fuck who wants to believe what. What are the actual facts? (Oh... that would be journalism.)
Prepare for bloviation.
Fuck who wants to believe what. What are the actual facts? (Oh... that would be journalism.)
5
Sometimes I wonder if there's a difference between being a hardheaded realist and being a pessimitic asshole and then I read posts like the ones above and realize, yes, there's a difference.
6
Wait, sorry. I didn't mean to call anyone a pessimistic asshole. What I really meant to say was cynical douchebag. There, I feel better now.
8
@5/6, fuck, for a split second there (1st 1/2 of 6) I thought I had you wrong! Thanks for your clarifying the distinction!
@7, you're wrong, and more importantly you're projecting.
@7, you're wrong, and more importantly you're projecting.
9
Dunno whether it's a revolution, but it is showing a major disconnect between the Iranian people (or at least the Teheranis) and the wacko theocratic regime that took over for the Shah's wacko autocratic regime. These are generally decent people, they deserve MUCH better. I pray (but don't expect) that things move in the right direction.
10
That op-ed comes out of the American Enterprise Institute.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_En…
"AEI emerged as one of the leading architects of the second Bush administration's public policy.[3] More than twenty AEI alumni and visiting scholars and fellows served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government's many panels and commissions.[4]"
It's a hawkish viewpoint, to be sure; it's a distinctly conservative, arguably out-of-touch hawkish viewpoint.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_En…
"AEI emerged as one of the leading architects of the second Bush administration's public policy.[3] More than twenty AEI alumni and visiting scholars and fellows served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government's many panels and commissions.[4]"
It's a hawkish viewpoint, to be sure; it's a distinctly conservative, arguably out-of-touch hawkish viewpoint.
13
No it's not a revolution.
There are lots of changes in government including regime change, which are not revolution.
As a Marxist Charles should know this. A revolution has to be one CLASS replacing another CLASS as hegemonic rulers.
There are lots of changes in government including regime change, which are not revolution.
As a Marxist Charles should know this. A revolution has to be one CLASS replacing another CLASS as hegemonic rulers.
15
ummm...if the opposition "wins" then one hand picked selection will replace another. no one could vote for a woman for instance, as they were all diqualified. The opposition leader has almost the same politics as the incumbent, so who really cares? Furthermore, this is more likely to turn into a Beijing or Rangoon than Warsaw. Anyhow, what would Charles know about it?
18
When power changes hands it is a revolution. That has not happened yet. The power still lies with the state and security apparatus (revolutionary guards, militias, Hamas and Hezzbola). These are controlled by the clerics. There have been no demands for them to abdicate their power. This is about a presidential "election". The president of Iran is only a figurehead like the queen of England. When the Guardian Council is threatened let me know.
19
@18 - attacking the center usually fails.
Attack that which supports the center, and the center cannot hold. It disperses defenses to defend the rest, and the center can now be attacked.
Attack that which supports the center, and the center cannot hold. It disperses defenses to defend the rest, and the center can now be attacked.
20
Good Morning Charles,
"Revolutions devour their children" - Edmund Burke (Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790?)
I doubt there will be a revolution and if there is one it will be bloody.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/world/…
As much as I support the protesters and believe there was rigged voting, Ahmadinejad will remain in power. Yes, I want reform and I understand the students, largely urban are making an important statement and exhibiting much fortitude. However, until the rural voters (they remain very conservative) get on board and the reactionary clergy is peacefully removed, Iran will remain an Islamist theocracy.
"Revolutions devour their children" - Edmund Burke (Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790?)
I doubt there will be a revolution and if there is one it will be bloody.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/world/…
As much as I support the protesters and believe there was rigged voting, Ahmadinejad will remain in power. Yes, I want reform and I understand the students, largely urban are making an important statement and exhibiting much fortitude. However, until the rural voters (they remain very conservative) get on board and the reactionary clergy is peacefully removed, Iran will remain an Islamist theocracy.
21
Ok, Charles, this was a good post. I fear the promised next post will be your regularly scheduled pseudo-intellectual horseshit. If you can prove me wrong and produce another to-the-point piece of proper analysis instead of something that reads like a philosophy student's desperate, bullshit-laden term paper, I will... well, I might actually praise you.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
Hating People Doesn't Make Them Thinner by Jen Graves
-
Los Angeles Gay Bar Bans Bachelorette Parties Until Marriage Equality Is Attained by David Schmader
-
Fill in the Blank by Grant Brissey
-
This Reminds Me of the Great Calculator Scare of the Late '70s/Early '80s by David Schmader
-
Idiot Tries to Defend Bigoted Anti-Gay-Marriage Preacher on Anderson Cooper by Paul Constant
-
Six Moms with Too Much Time on Their Hands and a Shitty Website Decide to Fight Gay Superheroes by Paul Constant
-
Why Mayor McGinn's Wife Canceled Her Family's Seattle Times Subscription by Eli Sanders
-
What the Hell Is Wrong With Seattle's Pride Parade? by Dominic Holden
-
The Saturday Morning News by Unpaid Intern
-
NYC Man Ticketed for Not Riding in the Bike Lane by Jonathan Golob
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (21) RSS