The Iran Conflict: The Left in a Moral Snare by Pedram Shayar
English translation by Angelus Novus, fuerdenkommunismus at yahoo.com
It is hardly a surprise that every aggressive note struck by the Iranian administration in the current conflict is interpreted as an anti-imperialist gesture by the Junge Welt [translator’s note: JW is an old-school Stalinoid daily paper]. Astonishing is the in the meantime widely-spread and accepted solution: “Iran’s right to nuclear energy for peaceful uses,” to which even the highly esteemed Hugo Chavez refers. Many Leftists and Peace activists freeze into a classic form of argumentation against imperial war games. We are used to the fact that a differentiated anti-imperialism, which can theoretically account for the true nature of regional dictatorships that have run into conflict with the global Empire, is a rare commodity. And “Anti-German” warmongering with its reactionary implications has been the best possible means of hindering a qualitative advancement of peace and anti-imperialist positions.
The current conflict concerning Iran is becoming serious. The next few weeks will lay some tracks which will be decisive in determining whether the conflict gets out of control.
The Absurdity of the Right to Nuclear Bombs
“The right to nuclear energy for peaceful uses” as an element of “national sovereignty” is in Iran’s case factually the right to the Atomic bomb – and nothing else! It is an absurdity when the Iranian government justifies its atomic program with an energy-political rationale. Iran does truly have many problems, but with the abundance of fossil fuels and raw materials certainly none to do with energy provision!
It is obvious that the Bush administration wants a regime change in Iran in accordance with its greater Middle Eastern strategy. US strategists have recognized that as long as radical fundamentalists hold power in Iran, the US will not be able to pacify conflicts in Iraq and other hot spots in a sustained manner, an appraisal that the US strategists openly admit to. The Iranian government knows this and has an option to evade this threat – the atomic bomb, aimed at Israel! But even without the U.S. threat, Iran needs the bomb in order to compete as a regional power with those of its neighbors that are atomic powers. That is the primary fundamental difference with the Iraq conflict – this time it isn’t about a fictional threat of weapons of mass destruction, but a real threat! This is the first great moral snare. Whoever denies this serves the rhetoric of the Mullahs!
At the same time, the Iranian administration is by no means led by a gang of irrational lunatics. Those who really have the say, in this case the national council of security, are fundamentalist Oligarchs who are pursuing a “Chinese solution” of opening up towards the world and simultaneously attempting to also maintain control of their political power. The uncompromising US strategy, which has on the one hand served as the motive for escalation and also the reason for the collapse of the reform camp in Iran, has served as a blockade for this “Chinese solution.” In Iran there is a radical wing which President Ahmadi-Nedjat represents which is still actually quite powerless. This radical wing builds itself up by means of rigorous ideological conflict – that is, fundamentalist and with an unmistakable element of Anti-Semitism. The notion that these lunatics could get their fingers on the button must, despite all justified hatred for Bush, fill everyone with fear and dread.
Why We Oppose the War
A military solution is of course no answer to this threat! A military strike – an invasion is not an option at the moment, since Iran is still more difficult to control militarily than Iraq – would not just cost countless innocent people their lives in the service of western geo-political interests, but would also throw emancipation in the region back by half a century! One important point which is hardly made in current debates concerns the secular political opposition in Iran. That is the second fundamental difference compared to Iraq – in Iran during the last decade a political and social opposition has managed to constitute itself despite all repression and set-backs. The regime in Iran is acutely despised by the population! Islamic fundamentalism, which at the time of its taking of power could count on its deep societal roots, has long since lost support. The role of religion in most people’s minds is at an all-time low – 20 years of fundamentalist class-rule of arbitrariness, terror, and corruption has been the cause of the greatest process of secularisation in recent Iranian history. A military strike would mean a great set-back for the emancipatory potential in Iran. The fundamentalists would be pushed into the role of victims of the invaders, which would afford them the chance to strike deeper roots in the population. Iraq is a cautionary example in this regard.
The Left and Islamic Fundamentalism
Tehran is the capital of reactionary Islamism, the political force which has consolidated its hegemonic position over the opposition in the near east by massacring leftists, and which achieves its victory against emancipatory forces through the use of terror wherever it can. With its partially Fascistoid character – above all else, its radical Anti-Semitism as a form of anti-imperialist/anti-capitalist “Volksgemeinschaft” ideology and concomitant paramilitary organization, recruited from the urban sub-proletariat and constituting the base of power for the executive branch – Islamism is the internal deadly enemy of the emancipatory camp in the Near East. That this reactionary deadly enemy enjoys great popularity from sections of the international left, as Leftists show concern for the potential loss of face on the part of the mullahs in the current conflict, is a testament to the bewilderment of contemporary anti-imperialism (the Indian Communist Party has threatened to leave the government of India should the government support any sort of measures against Iran).
A Left which does not argue from the perspective of the Iranian opposition slips unavoidably into an affirmative position towards the Iranian state. Unfortunately, up to now it has been primarily George Bush who has alluded to the isolation of the Iranian government and its lack of popularity among the Iranian population. Whoever does so is sure to win the sympathy of the distraught people of Iran. The Left should not be leaving this to Bush.
What is Required of the West?
The conflict can only be defused when Iran receives guarantees of security against military strikes. A long-term solution is the atomic disarmament of the region, which should be begun in the immediate short-term. These would be the foundations upon which the Iranian atomic program could be stopped. Of course, external pressure must be brought to bear upon the Iranian regime – regarding weapons of mass destruction but particularly on questions of human rights. In recent days, the renewed organization of the first independent trade unions has run up against the fascistoid character of Ahmadi-Nedjads gangs, as 1000 union fellow workers, including women and children, were jailed and abused during the Tehran transit workers strike.
The people of Iran and our comrades there need international solidarity and that includes diplomatic pressure on the Iranian regime. That does not necessarily mean general economic sanctions, which often affect the broad population. But there are many other possibilities (for example, the stop of certain technology transfers, which can be used for arms manufacture) which can exercise pressure on the Iranian oligarchs. Unfortunately there hasn’t been enough of this in recent years; neither from the Left, due to its hackneyed anti-imperialism, nor from the European Union, due of course to its business interests: Germany is Iran’s largest trading partner!
Pedram Shahyar February 3, 2006
Pedram Shayar is a member of the Coordinating Council of ATTAC Germany.
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