Great article. Been a crazy week seeing all these “I’m half Iranian…” people who don’t live in Iran calling for people to support the protestors and demand regime change. Makes me sick.
I do have a question though. If I sit here, not in Iran, saying sovereignty matters more than anything. Can’t these diaspora bots/puppets also say “you don’t understand, but you could”. In other words isn’t wanting sovereignty as much of an ideological position as wanting the wests version of liberal democracy? Both with pros and cons.
I guess my point is that there is zero attempt to understand the principle of revolutionary, anti-imperial sovereignty, but we're awash in propaganda about the glories of liberal democracy. So the debate never starts with any reasonable level of balance. And the basic principle remains that no one should repeat regime change propaganda from the imperial core
"Predictably from the right, but also from the left. And often they’ve been indistinguishable."
And that is because their is no movement or party in the West that is actually politically "left". The ruling class in these Imperialist countries long ago created a fake left focused on idpol, not social class, single issues not Capitalism and most importantly on bourgeois lawfare not general strikes.
In the West there is no organized political left left. This is why I appreciate you and Caitlyn so much. You two at least are the real thing. Millions of western wage slaves oppose Imperialism, Zionism, billionaires and their Capitalist system. A principled revolutionary party must be built for them.
There is a movement in the west that is politically left. The International Committee of The Fourth International - ICFI - as initiated by Leon Trotsky. This movement is represented in many countries by The Socialist Equality Party. https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/sep/us/home.html?redirect=true
You'll note, I said "significant". I am very familiar with their website and read it daily. It's a good school to a certain extent, but it is no movement and is sadly not revolutionary. In my opinion, the tops at the ICFI have slowly but surely become more akin to Max Schactman than to the great revolutionary Leon Trostky. Read Trotsky's "In Defense of Marxism" and apply his critique to the ICFI. Also, read their coverage of US Imperialism's war on Russia via Ukraine from 2022 to present and tell me if you notice anything amiss..
Thank you for engaging seriously with the WSWS and ICFI. My local branch of the SEP has just added four new members in the last week alone so there is positive movement taking place. You’re welcome to give me concrete examples of precise departures from Trotskyism from the ‘tops' in the SEP and how the movement is 'not revolutionary’. I would say that the charge that the ICFI leadership has “slowly become more akin to Max Shachtman than to Leon Trotsky” misreads both history and the political positions the ICFI has consistently defended. The SEP and ICFI constantly challenge and refute Shachtman’s stance. Trotsky’s polemic “In Defense of Marxism” exposes the petty‑bourgeois tendency represented by Shachtman that abandons Marxist method for eclectic empiricism and a politics untethered from class analysis. He insisted that theoretical clarity — the defence of dialectical materialism and the theory of permanent revolution — is not an abstract luxury but the indispensable framework for correct policy. Also, read Trotsky’s warning on the “philosophic bloc against Marxism” at https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/idom/dm/21-scratch1.htm. The ICFI does not reject these lessons. The ICFI’s archival and polemical work — for example, the documents collected in 'The Heritage We Defend' and the resolution on the suspension of the WRP — demonstrate an ongoing struggle to defend Marxist method and the theory of permanent revolution against exactly the opportunist and petty‑bourgeois pressures Trotsky identified. The WSWS coverage of Ukraine/Russia has defended the workers of both countries and those around the world who are drawn into it against our will. This includes a principled socialist defence of Bogdan Syrotiuk who has been jailed by the authoritarian Zelenskyy regime for his Trotskyist stand against both the Ukrainian and Russian regimes. This is done from a principled Marxist and Trotskyist standpoint rightly calling out Putin’s reactionary invasion in order to protect the Russian oligarchy as a result of the failure of Stalin’s ’socialism in one country’ doctrine which the ICFI correctly foresaw would return the USSR to capitalism, whilst the ICFI also combat the imperialist aims of the US and NATO in Ukraine which are part of the move to WW3.
Persians have a rich cultural history. One that is far longer than us culture lacking Western state denizens can mistakenly hold to possess. Persians do not need to be recast in our violent image, we need to immerse ourselves in their culture and borrow from the Chinese too.
Iran faces grave environmental challenges. Persians do not need to suffer bombing, subversion or infantry attack to forge a better climate for themselves.
Yes, let the people who live in Iran, simply live in Iran.
Absolutely brilliant . We still don’t understand or want to understand people who live in a different land. Default is ….they are not like us, but making them like us will bring them peace and joy . The imperialist mindset is still among us. It’s not that hard to walk a mile in another persons moccasins .
I'm mystified by the power of propaganda. I've grown up in the empire, and I've resisted the narrative since I was a kid. It has continued to grow, or metastasize, until the point when it inevitably devours the host. Are we at that point? Will people wake up after the collapse, or wake up dead?
"... imperialism is our perfect revolutionary form."
Right. I'd like to add that the regime-change type of imperialist terror is the perfect way for western liberals to channel their crippled and perverted revolutionary energies into an anarchist dreamscape. They do not simply buy into all these narratives about genuine rebels in Caracas, Teheran etc because they're misinformed, they really love it because they see themselves there - as long as the revolutionaries look middle-class enough (that's why it's always physicians and teachers fighting at the vanguard from Libya to Iran). They're projecting themselves into those imaginary martyrs for western values because it makes up for their own complete political impotence. As it is with impotent people, projection comes with a good deal of sadism - our media seem to be ok with showing bits of the extreme 'pro-democracy' violence because they know our armchair anarchists just love to see some blood in the fight against "authoritarianism" (as long it happens elsewhere).
For the same reasons, libs didn't like the Maduro coup. It came without the redemptive pictures of dancing citoyens reclaiming their shopping malls.
It's been infuriating listening to the CBC on Iran, because our (Canadian) national broadcaster appears to believe that Iranians living here are the automatic go-to experts on what is happening in their native country, and why. It doesn't seem to occur to the CBC that Iranians in the diaspora are usually opposed to the current regime, have a particular viewpoint on the protests, and therefore repeat propaganda about violent crackdowns by the state. Of course, the same was true of Canadian MSM coverage of Trump's invasion of Venezuela. While deploring the excesses of American overreach, opinion was universal that Venezuelans were better off without that dreadful dictator, Maduro. The West just cannot conceive how exceedingly blinkered is its view of the rest of the world.
"We long ago submitted to the forces of enclosure, capitalism and neoliberalism, forces which are overwhelmingly anti-revolutionary in nature."
Point of order: there is no "We" in the West. There are the Zio Imperialists and there are the wage slaves. The two classes are separated by a river of blood, but we're encouraged from the cradle to see some unity between the two socioeconomic poles. They, the ruling class are Zio Imperialist. They have created a well paid s professional fake left since the 1970s to divide, confuse and weaken the working class. That's what has brought us, the wage slaves to this horrible reality. This society we inhabit is run down to the last detail by Them.
Well, yes and no. The ‘We’ Nate refers to here comprises both of these complimentary elements; the ‘Masters’ (the Zio imperialists as you say) and the ‘Masses’ of the citizenry. They can be lumped together in a Yin-Yang pairing because while the former imposes and leads the latter submits to and follows the former in pursuing their common goals.
The other significant difference is that the Masters see clearly and know what they’re doing while the Masses, indoctrinated by their Masters do not. Each depends on the other and together form a ‘whole’ society projected at the goals determined by the Masters.
So in each one of us in the Masses there is a tiny ‘Master’ that keeps us subtly aligned with Empire. And amongst the ‘Masters’ there is a tiny ‘Masses’ that they might know how to control us.
In this very particular way - and in this way alone - we are all ‘We’.
Thank you for posting a link to the article. No argument from me regarding imperialism’s motivations, interference in sovereign states, and general oppression, especially in Iran. We also agree that trump, the wanna-be shah, and any other country should stay the hell away from interfering in Iran. A couple of points stood out to me about the article.
Re the workers protest:
1. She writes: “While such mobilizations secured immediate concessions, such as tax exemptions, the South Pars workers’ most recent campaign has been met with silence from both employer and state, and in some cases with punitive wage cuts following the 9 December (18 Azar) protest.”
2. Doutaghi’s mention of family is an important point, not just the political strategy of bringing one’s wife and children to a protest, which she articulates, but that Iran’s culture is collectivist. I have always said that any outside threat will be met with a unified Iran. IMO, sanctions have served to hold the government together more than to dissolve it. But let’s be clear, power corrupts— in every single government since recoded time.
2a. Shaan and you have noticed I’m “half Iranian”. And yes, I have not lived in Iran for many years, but I do have relatives who do and I hear what they are saying. Let me make a few points about that. Collectivism, the idea of extended family and responsibilities and obligations inherent in these relationships was drilled into me from birth. Me, of all people, would not wish America’s idea of unrestrained individualism on anyone. I was also raised with extreme pride in Iran’s historical, cultural, intellectual, and artistic contributions to humanity. To characterize me as a “diaspora” that is “deployed”, implies my approval of American interests which I do not endorse AT ALL, and is a grave insult to one of your supporters who is trying to expand the conversation on this issue rather than reduce it to sound bites and black and white thinking.
2b. Nate, I am sure you are right about the focus on educating women and STEM before and after the revolution. Even being “half” Persian, I got my first degree in pure mathematics, my closest Persian female cousins have degrees in electrical engineering, computer systems, and law. But do not conflate the Taliban’s brand of repression with Iran’s government as some kind of proof that the Iranian government is more enlightened. Iran has always valued education, and it has become even more important because of the revolution coupled with imperialist interference. (In 1979, my cousin Ali was an economist working at his desk when the revolutionary guard came in and told him he would now serve tea to the tea boy who would now take his job. Kind of like putting Hegseth in charge of defense.) But back to education of women. What you may be missing here is that Iran is deeply patriarchal….no surprise really, since it’s pretty universal. Iranian women are expected to be educated, but once married, defer to their husband and children. The value of an educated woman is educated children, because culturally, parents expect their children to have the wherewithal to support them when they are old. Iranians, with extensive extended family ties, to do not routinely farm out their family members to nursing homes, mental health institutions, or other orgs; they care for their own. Yes, I am making a broad generalization about the Persian culture I witnessed in my own family and extended family dynamics, but so are you. We can both find exceptions to these rules. But your post involves conceptualizations, and I am merely pointing out some additional conceptualizations to take into account.
3. From her bio: “Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi is a scholar of international law and political economy. She is currently a postdoc fellow at University of Tehran, working on her manuscript focusing on the impact of sanctions on the Iranian working class.“ She was educated in Canada, England, and Yale. As a PhD student in psychology, I often purposefully look for references and sources from Iran (it’s that damn national pride). But I am also not blind to the restraints that scholars in general, and some in particular, are put under by certain “regimes.” (Case in point: https://apnews.com/article/yale-scholar-fired-palestinians-israel-1478e0a63010b198aea431a985aa069e# ). I have no doubt of her intelligence, scholarly rigor, and astute assessment of imperialism (after all, she is Iranian and I am biased in her favor), but I’m going to take her public paper with a grain of salt. I mean, she and we, wouldn’t be able to debate this topic without invoking scholarly research from a (predominately) western educational system that was not yet specifically under attack, would we? She is proof that, at least until this current regime (US), western forms of “democracy” (seriously flawed, we both agree) allowed a class of educated people to exist, and not only exist, but allowed their informed dissent of the very government that birthed them.
This willful ignorance stems from Chauvinism. For all the Western lefts' waxing about universal values, they can't help but feel only natural to be the arbiters of said values. What comes to my mind immediately is the stereotypical US tourists who speak English wherever they go and are indignant when they're not understood.
A side note to the American Revolution. It wasn't just a fratricide on a colonized land, but was also waged to preserve slavery—a "counter-revolution", as shown in Gerald Horne's book. A lie on top of a lie.
The crucial word missing from this analysis is ‘socialism'. The 1979 Iranian revolution was not a socialist revolution but a bourgeois anti-monarchial revolution. While the Iranian revolution saw the country achieve large social gains, any regime that calls protestors ‘enemies of God’ and threatens them with the death penalty has some way to go before it can call itself truly progressive. To understand the situation we have to examine it from the perspective of the competing interests of the bourgeois Iranian ruling class and the Iranian workers. As WSWS writes: 'In recent years, beginning with the mass protests that erupted against poverty and social inequality in December 2017, the Iranian working class has emerged as a combative force. Recent months have seen strikes and protests by miners, oil workers, and health and transport sector workers, among others.
However, the current wave of protests were not initiated by workers. Rather, as Ayatollah Khamenei himself acknowledged, they started among the bazaari, that is, shopkeepers and merchants drawn from sections of the Iranian bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie that have traditionally been, to use Khamenei’s own words, a pillar of the regime. While sections of workers and the unemployed have no doubt been swept up in the protests, the working class has not intervened en masse, and even more significantly as an independent force advancing its own demands and employing its own class struggle methods.
To the contrary, everything suggests that the protests are assuming an increasingly pronounced right-wing character, with reactionary, pro-imperialist forces inside Iran, and outside in the broader region, Washington and the other imperialist capitals seeking to leverage them.’ You call the American Revolution 'the biggest lie, the biggest misnomer in history’: the US constitution is based upon (as is the capitalist-hobbled progress made in the wake of the civil war that saw the abolition of slavery) that revolution, which saw the 250 year-long overthrow of colonial, monarchial rule and the drawing up of the the US constitution, the same constitution that Trump is now seeking to destroy and replace with a fascistic, monarchial style dictatorship. Any rigorous analysis of any revolutionary struggle must start from a Marxist perspective, drawing and learning from the experience of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the role of Lenin and Trotsky, and the theory of permanent revolution. 'The entire history of modern Iran—from the failure of the Constitutional Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century and the overthrow of Mosaddegh’s nationalist regime in 1953 through the hijacking and suppression of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the 47 years of the Islamic Republic—demonstrates that the only viable strategy for the Iranian working class is the strategy of Permanent Revolution.’ https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/01/12/cnbl-j12.html
To whomever it may concern: Human culture and human governments since time began have always organized into hierarchical systems. That means that those on the top keep those at the bottom, at the bottom, as long as possible. Revolution, when it occurs, soon resorts back to hierarchy. You can slice and dice it by gender, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, occupation or whatever. Human societies (anything greater in # than hunter-gatherer groups) do this without exception. So don’t make assumptions about ppl as just western talking points or mindless imperialists, who call out oppression by the current Iranian regime when they see it—oppression of some kind is literally part of every government and culture on earth. Calling it out does not always equal an endorsement of western values or politics.
I am an American who lives in England, born in Los Angeles, California in 1943. On 30 March 1985, I met an Iranian gentleman who knew the Shah of Iran and Empress Farah personally. He taught me that the CIA deposed the Shah of Iran who left Iran 47 years ago today, 16th January 1979 Ali was a student in electrical engineering at UCLA, but due to being a passenger on a bus that hit a car, Ali, suffered a pinched nerve in his neck resulting in having to take Percocet 5, the strongest pain medication there is, he had to drop out of school.
I met him because a man named Roger who was a Christian, allowed Ali to live in the room that I and my daughter needed to rent, because as a poor student who had not earned commissions as a life insurance agent for a while needed to move. After seeing the room by myself, I said to Roger that I would bring my daughter to see it too to give Roger our decision. Getting my daughter, when we arrived to show her the room, Ali was there. I apologised to him for invading his privacy, resulting in he and I becoming friends
In 1986 I would learn of David Rockefeller’s creation of the Trilateral Commission in 1973, and combined those two facts in an independent study entitled The Trilateral Commission’s Effect on the Middle East for which I was given an A by the professor who had her Ph.D. when I was just about to graduate with my BA in 1987 and she told me that she gave my references to another student.
I actually added to the literature, because Holly Sklar, who edited the book, Trilateralism, which was my main source of documentation, didn’t know that the CIA deposed the Shah of Iran.
British people don’t know the real reasons why the CIA did that. It’s rubbish what the MSM published about that here in the UK. That’s why I wrote and published my book that enlarges in why the CIA did that to the Shah of Iran. I ship that book, which is entitled The Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi: Victim of His Times ISBN 978 09725798-3-4 worldwide. Comments by a few who have read my top secret book are at https://arlenejohnson.livejournal.com followed by ordering information. I have s special offer for people here in the UK. £20.00 with free P&P. If interested in knowing the reality, please send me an Email using a@truedemocracy.net so I can give you my sort code and account number, and so you can give me your physical address for shipment of my hard bound book.
Two things you wrote her Nathan caused me to say OMG. The Iranian people did not get angry with the Shah; the only people who didn’t like him were the Tudeh Party which is the Iranian Communist Party. Everyone else loved him or at least respected him. And my Chapter 26 shows that the Iranian people want Reza Pahlavi to return to lead Iran.
One YouTube showed numerous Iranians holding Reza Pahlavi portraits. See
My family of origin would not agree that everyone loved or at least respected the shah. This is not a black and white issue. And I would also point out that not everyone loved the 1979 revolution.
I do agree that most people outside Iran have no knowledge of Iranian history and/or western influence and involvement.
I didn't write that everyone loved the Shah, because I know that the Tudeh Party, which is the Communist Party name in Iran, didn't. Indeed, Maryam Namazie who is on pages 312-216, and 319 in my book, and who interviewed me when we both lived in NYC, asked me to remove her from my list, because she obviously didn't even like the Shah, but my book documents that the Iranian people want Reza Pahlavi to return to Iran to lead the country. That is in chapter 26, and there is other evidence in my book that the Iranian people loved the Shah.
I studied Persian at UCLA with Teaching Assistant Faregh Mofidi, who held a party for her parents when they came to Los Angeles from Iran. Ali and I attended, and he taught her parents the reality of how the CIA deposed the Shah.
You wrote: “the only people who didn’t like him were the Tudeh Party which is the Iranian Communist Party. Everyone else loved him or at least respected him.”
I guess I interpreted everyone else as “everyone” else outside of the Tudeh. I apologize if I made the wrong assumption. But those types of specifiers are usually indicative of one version of reality. Truth, like people, does not fit into neat silos.
You interpreted what I wrote correctly. Copies of my book are still available. See comments by a few who have read my 2018 book entitled The Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi: Victim of His Times ISBN 978-09725798-3-4 at https://arlenejohnson.livejournal.com For a better way to order, xe.com, send Email to me using a@truedemocracy.net for my bank details, and tell me in which country you live if you're interested.
In my umble oopinion, my book is more needed now than it was in 2018 when I wrote it.
Great article. Been a crazy week seeing all these “I’m half Iranian…” people who don’t live in Iran calling for people to support the protestors and demand regime change. Makes me sick.
The Iranian, Cuban, Venezuelan etc diaspora are always deployed at these strategic moments
I do have a question though. If I sit here, not in Iran, saying sovereignty matters more than anything. Can’t these diaspora bots/puppets also say “you don’t understand, but you could”. In other words isn’t wanting sovereignty as much of an ideological position as wanting the wests version of liberal democracy? Both with pros and cons.
I guess my point is that there is zero attempt to understand the principle of revolutionary, anti-imperial sovereignty, but we're awash in propaganda about the glories of liberal democracy. So the debate never starts with any reasonable level of balance. And the basic principle remains that no one should repeat regime change propaganda from the imperial core
"Predictably from the right, but also from the left. And often they’ve been indistinguishable."
And that is because their is no movement or party in the West that is actually politically "left". The ruling class in these Imperialist countries long ago created a fake left focused on idpol, not social class, single issues not Capitalism and most importantly on bourgeois lawfare not general strikes.
In the West there is no organized political left left. This is why I appreciate you and Caitlyn so much. You two at least are the real thing. Millions of western wage slaves oppose Imperialism, Zionism, billionaires and their Capitalist system. A principled revolutionary party must be built for them.
You're right. And thanks for considering me alongside Caitlin, she's great
There is a movement in the west that is politically left. The International Committee of The Fourth International - ICFI - as initiated by Leon Trotsky. This movement is represented in many countries by The Socialist Equality Party. https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/sep/us/home.html?redirect=true
You'll note, I said "significant". I am very familiar with their website and read it daily. It's a good school to a certain extent, but it is no movement and is sadly not revolutionary. In my opinion, the tops at the ICFI have slowly but surely become more akin to Max Schactman than to the great revolutionary Leon Trostky. Read Trotsky's "In Defense of Marxism" and apply his critique to the ICFI. Also, read their coverage of US Imperialism's war on Russia via Ukraine from 2022 to present and tell me if you notice anything amiss..
Thank you for engaging seriously with the WSWS and ICFI. My local branch of the SEP has just added four new members in the last week alone so there is positive movement taking place. You’re welcome to give me concrete examples of precise departures from Trotskyism from the ‘tops' in the SEP and how the movement is 'not revolutionary’. I would say that the charge that the ICFI leadership has “slowly become more akin to Max Shachtman than to Leon Trotsky” misreads both history and the political positions the ICFI has consistently defended. The SEP and ICFI constantly challenge and refute Shachtman’s stance. Trotsky’s polemic “In Defense of Marxism” exposes the petty‑bourgeois tendency represented by Shachtman that abandons Marxist method for eclectic empiricism and a politics untethered from class analysis. He insisted that theoretical clarity — the defence of dialectical materialism and the theory of permanent revolution — is not an abstract luxury but the indispensable framework for correct policy. Also, read Trotsky’s warning on the “philosophic bloc against Marxism” at https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/idom/dm/21-scratch1.htm. The ICFI does not reject these lessons. The ICFI’s archival and polemical work — for example, the documents collected in 'The Heritage We Defend' and the resolution on the suspension of the WRP — demonstrate an ongoing struggle to defend Marxist method and the theory of permanent revolution against exactly the opportunist and petty‑bourgeois pressures Trotsky identified. The WSWS coverage of Ukraine/Russia has defended the workers of both countries and those around the world who are drawn into it against our will. This includes a principled socialist defence of Bogdan Syrotiuk who has been jailed by the authoritarian Zelenskyy regime for his Trotskyist stand against both the Ukrainian and Russian regimes. This is done from a principled Marxist and Trotskyist standpoint rightly calling out Putin’s reactionary invasion in order to protect the Russian oligarchy as a result of the failure of Stalin’s ’socialism in one country’ doctrine which the ICFI correctly foresaw would return the USSR to capitalism, whilst the ICFI also combat the imperialist aims of the US and NATO in Ukraine which are part of the move to WW3.
Persians have a rich cultural history. One that is far longer than us culture lacking Western state denizens can mistakenly hold to possess. Persians do not need to be recast in our violent image, we need to immerse ourselves in their culture and borrow from the Chinese too.
Iran faces grave environmental challenges. Persians do not need to suffer bombing, subversion or infantry attack to forge a better climate for themselves.
Yes, let the people who live in Iran, simply live in Iran.
Absolutely brilliant . We still don’t understand or want to understand people who live in a different land. Default is ….they are not like us, but making them like us will bring them peace and joy . The imperialist mindset is still among us. It’s not that hard to walk a mile in another persons moccasins .
I'm mystified by the power of propaganda. I've grown up in the empire, and I've resisted the narrative since I was a kid. It has continued to grow, or metastasize, until the point when it inevitably devours the host. Are we at that point? Will people wake up after the collapse, or wake up dead?
"... imperialism is our perfect revolutionary form."
Right. I'd like to add that the regime-change type of imperialist terror is the perfect way for western liberals to channel their crippled and perverted revolutionary energies into an anarchist dreamscape. They do not simply buy into all these narratives about genuine rebels in Caracas, Teheran etc because they're misinformed, they really love it because they see themselves there - as long as the revolutionaries look middle-class enough (that's why it's always physicians and teachers fighting at the vanguard from Libya to Iran). They're projecting themselves into those imaginary martyrs for western values because it makes up for their own complete political impotence. As it is with impotent people, projection comes with a good deal of sadism - our media seem to be ok with showing bits of the extreme 'pro-democracy' violence because they know our armchair anarchists just love to see some blood in the fight against "authoritarianism" (as long it happens elsewhere).
For the same reasons, libs didn't like the Maduro coup. It came without the redemptive pictures of dancing citoyens reclaiming their shopping malls.
interesting. I did not know much of this.
It is so refreshing to read someone who has not been guzzling the kool-aid! Thank you.
It's been infuriating listening to the CBC on Iran, because our (Canadian) national broadcaster appears to believe that Iranians living here are the automatic go-to experts on what is happening in their native country, and why. It doesn't seem to occur to the CBC that Iranians in the diaspora are usually opposed to the current regime, have a particular viewpoint on the protests, and therefore repeat propaganda about violent crackdowns by the state. Of course, the same was true of Canadian MSM coverage of Trump's invasion of Venezuela. While deploring the excesses of American overreach, opinion was universal that Venezuelans were better off without that dreadful dictator, Maduro. The West just cannot conceive how exceedingly blinkered is its view of the rest of the world.
❣️
"We long ago submitted to the forces of enclosure, capitalism and neoliberalism, forces which are overwhelmingly anti-revolutionary in nature."
Point of order: there is no "We" in the West. There are the Zio Imperialists and there are the wage slaves. The two classes are separated by a river of blood, but we're encouraged from the cradle to see some unity between the two socioeconomic poles. They, the ruling class are Zio Imperialist. They have created a well paid s professional fake left since the 1970s to divide, confuse and weaken the working class. That's what has brought us, the wage slaves to this horrible reality. This society we inhabit is run down to the last detail by Them.
Well, yes and no. The ‘We’ Nate refers to here comprises both of these complimentary elements; the ‘Masters’ (the Zio imperialists as you say) and the ‘Masses’ of the citizenry. They can be lumped together in a Yin-Yang pairing because while the former imposes and leads the latter submits to and follows the former in pursuing their common goals.
The other significant difference is that the Masters see clearly and know what they’re doing while the Masses, indoctrinated by their Masters do not. Each depends on the other and together form a ‘whole’ society projected at the goals determined by the Masters.
So in each one of us in the Masses there is a tiny ‘Master’ that keeps us subtly aligned with Empire. And amongst the ‘Masters’ there is a tiny ‘Masses’ that they might know how to control us.
In this very particular way - and in this way alone - we are all ‘We’.
Thanks for putting a finer point on it, David. Very dialectical.
Thank you for posting a link to the article. No argument from me regarding imperialism’s motivations, interference in sovereign states, and general oppression, especially in Iran. We also agree that trump, the wanna-be shah, and any other country should stay the hell away from interfering in Iran. A couple of points stood out to me about the article.
Re the workers protest:
1. She writes: “While such mobilizations secured immediate concessions, such as tax exemptions, the South Pars workers’ most recent campaign has been met with silence from both employer and state, and in some cases with punitive wage cuts following the 9 December (18 Azar) protest.”
2. Doutaghi’s mention of family is an important point, not just the political strategy of bringing one’s wife and children to a protest, which she articulates, but that Iran’s culture is collectivist. I have always said that any outside threat will be met with a unified Iran. IMO, sanctions have served to hold the government together more than to dissolve it. But let’s be clear, power corrupts— in every single government since recoded time.
2a. Shaan and you have noticed I’m “half Iranian”. And yes, I have not lived in Iran for many years, but I do have relatives who do and I hear what they are saying. Let me make a few points about that. Collectivism, the idea of extended family and responsibilities and obligations inherent in these relationships was drilled into me from birth. Me, of all people, would not wish America’s idea of unrestrained individualism on anyone. I was also raised with extreme pride in Iran’s historical, cultural, intellectual, and artistic contributions to humanity. To characterize me as a “diaspora” that is “deployed”, implies my approval of American interests which I do not endorse AT ALL, and is a grave insult to one of your supporters who is trying to expand the conversation on this issue rather than reduce it to sound bites and black and white thinking.
2b. Nate, I am sure you are right about the focus on educating women and STEM before and after the revolution. Even being “half” Persian, I got my first degree in pure mathematics, my closest Persian female cousins have degrees in electrical engineering, computer systems, and law. But do not conflate the Taliban’s brand of repression with Iran’s government as some kind of proof that the Iranian government is more enlightened. Iran has always valued education, and it has become even more important because of the revolution coupled with imperialist interference. (In 1979, my cousin Ali was an economist working at his desk when the revolutionary guard came in and told him he would now serve tea to the tea boy who would now take his job. Kind of like putting Hegseth in charge of defense.) But back to education of women. What you may be missing here is that Iran is deeply patriarchal….no surprise really, since it’s pretty universal. Iranian women are expected to be educated, but once married, defer to their husband and children. The value of an educated woman is educated children, because culturally, parents expect their children to have the wherewithal to support them when they are old. Iranians, with extensive extended family ties, to do not routinely farm out their family members to nursing homes, mental health institutions, or other orgs; they care for their own. Yes, I am making a broad generalization about the Persian culture I witnessed in my own family and extended family dynamics, but so are you. We can both find exceptions to these rules. But your post involves conceptualizations, and I am merely pointing out some additional conceptualizations to take into account.
3. From her bio: “Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi is a scholar of international law and political economy. She is currently a postdoc fellow at University of Tehran, working on her manuscript focusing on the impact of sanctions on the Iranian working class.“ She was educated in Canada, England, and Yale. As a PhD student in psychology, I often purposefully look for references and sources from Iran (it’s that damn national pride). But I am also not blind to the restraints that scholars in general, and some in particular, are put under by certain “regimes.” (Case in point: https://apnews.com/article/yale-scholar-fired-palestinians-israel-1478e0a63010b198aea431a985aa069e# ). I have no doubt of her intelligence, scholarly rigor, and astute assessment of imperialism (after all, she is Iranian and I am biased in her favor), but I’m going to take her public paper with a grain of salt. I mean, she and we, wouldn’t be able to debate this topic without invoking scholarly research from a (predominately) western educational system that was not yet specifically under attack, would we? She is proof that, at least until this current regime (US), western forms of “democracy” (seriously flawed, we both agree) allowed a class of educated people to exist, and not only exist, but allowed their informed dissent of the very government that birthed them.
This willful ignorance stems from Chauvinism. For all the Western lefts' waxing about universal values, they can't help but feel only natural to be the arbiters of said values. What comes to my mind immediately is the stereotypical US tourists who speak English wherever they go and are indignant when they're not understood.
A side note to the American Revolution. It wasn't just a fratricide on a colonized land, but was also waged to preserve slavery—a "counter-revolution", as shown in Gerald Horne's book. A lie on top of a lie.
The crucial word missing from this analysis is ‘socialism'. The 1979 Iranian revolution was not a socialist revolution but a bourgeois anti-monarchial revolution. While the Iranian revolution saw the country achieve large social gains, any regime that calls protestors ‘enemies of God’ and threatens them with the death penalty has some way to go before it can call itself truly progressive. To understand the situation we have to examine it from the perspective of the competing interests of the bourgeois Iranian ruling class and the Iranian workers. As WSWS writes: 'In recent years, beginning with the mass protests that erupted against poverty and social inequality in December 2017, the Iranian working class has emerged as a combative force. Recent months have seen strikes and protests by miners, oil workers, and health and transport sector workers, among others.
However, the current wave of protests were not initiated by workers. Rather, as Ayatollah Khamenei himself acknowledged, they started among the bazaari, that is, shopkeepers and merchants drawn from sections of the Iranian bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie that have traditionally been, to use Khamenei’s own words, a pillar of the regime. While sections of workers and the unemployed have no doubt been swept up in the protests, the working class has not intervened en masse, and even more significantly as an independent force advancing its own demands and employing its own class struggle methods.
To the contrary, everything suggests that the protests are assuming an increasingly pronounced right-wing character, with reactionary, pro-imperialist forces inside Iran, and outside in the broader region, Washington and the other imperialist capitals seeking to leverage them.’ You call the American Revolution 'the biggest lie, the biggest misnomer in history’: the US constitution is based upon (as is the capitalist-hobbled progress made in the wake of the civil war that saw the abolition of slavery) that revolution, which saw the 250 year-long overthrow of colonial, monarchial rule and the drawing up of the the US constitution, the same constitution that Trump is now seeking to destroy and replace with a fascistic, monarchial style dictatorship. Any rigorous analysis of any revolutionary struggle must start from a Marxist perspective, drawing and learning from the experience of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the role of Lenin and Trotsky, and the theory of permanent revolution. 'The entire history of modern Iran—from the failure of the Constitutional Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century and the overthrow of Mosaddegh’s nationalist regime in 1953 through the hijacking and suppression of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the 47 years of the Islamic Republic—demonstrates that the only viable strategy for the Iranian working class is the strategy of Permanent Revolution.’ https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/01/12/cnbl-j12.html
To whomever it may concern: Human culture and human governments since time began have always organized into hierarchical systems. That means that those on the top keep those at the bottom, at the bottom, as long as possible. Revolution, when it occurs, soon resorts back to hierarchy. You can slice and dice it by gender, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, occupation or whatever. Human societies (anything greater in # than hunter-gatherer groups) do this without exception. So don’t make assumptions about ppl as just western talking points or mindless imperialists, who call out oppression by the current Iranian regime when they see it—oppression of some kind is literally part of every government and culture on earth. Calling it out does not always equal an endorsement of western values or politics.
I am an American who lives in England, born in Los Angeles, California in 1943. On 30 March 1985, I met an Iranian gentleman who knew the Shah of Iran and Empress Farah personally. He taught me that the CIA deposed the Shah of Iran who left Iran 47 years ago today, 16th January 1979 Ali was a student in electrical engineering at UCLA, but due to being a passenger on a bus that hit a car, Ali, suffered a pinched nerve in his neck resulting in having to take Percocet 5, the strongest pain medication there is, he had to drop out of school.
I met him because a man named Roger who was a Christian, allowed Ali to live in the room that I and my daughter needed to rent, because as a poor student who had not earned commissions as a life insurance agent for a while needed to move. After seeing the room by myself, I said to Roger that I would bring my daughter to see it too to give Roger our decision. Getting my daughter, when we arrived to show her the room, Ali was there. I apologised to him for invading his privacy, resulting in he and I becoming friends
In 1986 I would learn of David Rockefeller’s creation of the Trilateral Commission in 1973, and combined those two facts in an independent study entitled The Trilateral Commission’s Effect on the Middle East for which I was given an A by the professor who had her Ph.D. when I was just about to graduate with my BA in 1987 and she told me that she gave my references to another student.
I actually added to the literature, because Holly Sklar, who edited the book, Trilateralism, which was my main source of documentation, didn’t know that the CIA deposed the Shah of Iran.
British people don’t know the real reasons why the CIA did that. It’s rubbish what the MSM published about that here in the UK. That’s why I wrote and published my book that enlarges in why the CIA did that to the Shah of Iran. I ship that book, which is entitled The Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi: Victim of His Times ISBN 978 09725798-3-4 worldwide. Comments by a few who have read my top secret book are at https://arlenejohnson.livejournal.com followed by ordering information. I have s special offer for people here in the UK. £20.00 with free P&P. If interested in knowing the reality, please send me an Email using a@truedemocracy.net so I can give you my sort code and account number, and so you can give me your physical address for shipment of my hard bound book.
Two things you wrote her Nathan caused me to say OMG. The Iranian people did not get angry with the Shah; the only people who didn’t like him were the Tudeh Party which is the Iranian Communist Party. Everyone else loved him or at least respected him. And my Chapter 26 shows that the Iranian people want Reza Pahlavi to return to lead Iran.
One YouTube showed numerous Iranians holding Reza Pahlavi portraits. See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90PGJfsPjNo
Duration: 11:50
Sincerely,
Arlene Johnson
My family of origin would not agree that everyone loved or at least respected the shah. This is not a black and white issue. And I would also point out that not everyone loved the 1979 revolution.
I do agree that most people outside Iran have no knowledge of Iranian history and/or western influence and involvement.
I didn't write that everyone loved the Shah, because I know that the Tudeh Party, which is the Communist Party name in Iran, didn't. Indeed, Maryam Namazie who is on pages 312-216, and 319 in my book, and who interviewed me when we both lived in NYC, asked me to remove her from my list, because she obviously didn't even like the Shah, but my book documents that the Iranian people want Reza Pahlavi to return to Iran to lead the country. That is in chapter 26, and there is other evidence in my book that the Iranian people loved the Shah.
I studied Persian at UCLA with Teaching Assistant Faregh Mofidi, who held a party for her parents when they came to Los Angeles from Iran. Ali and I attended, and he taught her parents the reality of how the CIA deposed the Shah.
You wrote: “the only people who didn’t like him were the Tudeh Party which is the Iranian Communist Party. Everyone else loved him or at least respected him.”
I guess I interpreted everyone else as “everyone” else outside of the Tudeh. I apologize if I made the wrong assumption. But those types of specifiers are usually indicative of one version of reality. Truth, like people, does not fit into neat silos.
Parri,
You interpreted what I wrote correctly. Copies of my book are still available. See comments by a few who have read my 2018 book entitled The Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi: Victim of His Times ISBN 978-09725798-3-4 at https://arlenejohnson.livejournal.com For a better way to order, xe.com, send Email to me using a@truedemocracy.net for my bank details, and tell me in which country you live if you're interested.
In my umble oopinion, my book is more needed now than it was in 2018 when I wrote it.