On Aug 17, 2006, at 11:51 AM, Michael Hoover wrote:
>> That's true of a lot of the left's reaction to the Iranian revolution
>> in 1979 (both the Iranian and Western left) - Val Moghadam's 1987
>> article in New Left Review goes into this in detail.
>> Doug
> <<<<<>>>>>
>
> widespread iranian opposition to the shah produced a broad-based
> coalition of social forces whose political and religious differences
> were blurred in the heady days of revolutionary victory (such blurring
> is common in almost all such instances)...
One of Moghadam's points is that the blurring was greatly promoted by a rigid anti-imperialism - i.e., anyone who was anti-American had to be good. Consequently, both the Iranian and Western left were blinded to the dangers of the clerics. You see that error being repeated in certain quarters today.
Doug