No Iranian leftist I know of has even suggested a notion such as "Iran is a Muslim equivalent of Venezuela." In fact, I've heard no leftist -- with the exception of yours truly -- make any such suggestion. Hence my amusement at Mr. Gilbert Achcar, the International Marxist Tendency, Workers Left Unity-Iran, Venezuelanalysis.com, etc. getting busy denying the comparison. :->
> I'm going to have Val Modagham on the radio in a couple of weeks -
> I'll be sure to ask her opinion of your Persian Prince.
I know what Val Moghadam's opinion is: "Issues of social justice were never very important to the reform movement, and now they have been hijacked by Ahmadinejad. . . . Ahmadinejad may not be the monster that some of the (largely U.S.) press makes him out to be, but he is a religious conservative and a moralist. Whether he can overturn the cultural liberalization of the Khatami era is unclear, but certainly he will not expand it. Whether he can succeed in addressing the country's socio-economic problems is also doubtful, given that he is located squarely within the political establishment, if not its economic elite" (Val Moghadam, "On the Recent Elections in Iran," <http://iranreview.com/Iran%20Analysis/on_the_recent_elections_in_iran_.htm>).
That's basically similar to Tariq Ali's: <http://newleftreview.org/A2605>.
I share some of their premises, and I would not say they are wrong, but I would not say they are right either.
But if you are still curious, pop her the question and let her deny it on your show: after all, perversions begin to proliferate through negatives, repetitions of No's being productive, if the history of sexuality, a la Michel Foucault, is anything to go by. ;->
My interest lies not in having leftists equate Iran with Venezuela but in, first, compelling them to examine the former's history, political economy, factional struggle, etc., and, second, having them ask what makes sense for us to do given the viable political alternatives on the ground in Iran and respective levels of support that masses in Iran have given them. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>