[lbo-talk] Street-fighting Days

[Seth Ackerman]

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:

> I'm afraid that most US leftists won't even study what's happening in
> and to Iran in time, though they ought to be studying it and
> clarifying it to the general public.  They must do so objectively,
> without defending the indefensible (e.g., flirtations with Holocaust
> revisionism).

The whole point of discussion lists like this is for people to share 
information. That way not everyone has to study everything at once. So 
if you're interested in Iran and you want to make a reasoned case, based 
on careful study of what's going on there, that US leftists ought to 
"support" Ahmedinejad, you should make it here (or on MRZine, and post 
it here). I know I'll certainly read it with a lot of interest.

But I'm not really clear on your position. The idea of invading Iran is 
basically off the table, even on the right. The idea of bombing Iran is 
already hugely unpopular, even on mild liberal blogs. And when sanctions 
are discussed, even the centrist-liberal think tank types emphasize that 
they should be targeted at the leadership, not at making life difficult 
for the population (based on fear of pushing Iranian public opinion 
toward even greater nationalism.) You seem to be going further, saying 
we should actively "support" the Ahmedinejad government against, say, 
Rafsanjani or Khatami. To me that conjures up images of Global Exchange 
reality tours to Iran and so on, which strike me as wildly far-fetched 
for a lot of reasons, mostly political. But if you have information that 
supports that kind of position, put it forward - I'd certainly be 
interested. It would be more persuasive than ex catheda hectoring about 
how we're all missing the obvious.

Seth