Glad to see you back in form with long lists of web links, Yoshie.
Yes, Iran is important in it own right. I don't know whether Doug put the point in his normally accurate and crystalline manner, but I think he was trying to say, in response to Ravi's question about why he (and perhaps I) were critiquing this of all the vile and hateful regimes around just now -- was it parroting the media? echoing the White House? -- and the answer is, no.
It's because you chose _this_ regime, rather than, say, the regime, if it rises to that level, in Sudan, to defend vociferously at the moment. And to defend not just against US chest beating and sabre-rattling, but as ma progressive standard bearer of anti-imperialist democracy and republicanism.
And of course neither Doug nor I, as you well know, choose our political views merely in opposition to yours. We were anti-theocratic feminists and pro-democratic socialists, anti-imperialists and pro-small-r-republicans before we ever knew you, and that goes back some. And that is why we find your defense of a cruel, fanatical, superstitious, misogynistic, reactionary theocracy mysterious.
We also opposed US intervention in Iraq, but not on the grounds that Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was some sort of model or ideal, even if it did oppose US imperial designs in the region. I recall that that was your view too, back around the time of the first Gulf War, or do I misremember? (It's possible I do.)
The fact of the matter is you do a disservice to anti-imperialism, democracy, republicanism, and Iran in holding this appalling system up as any sort of ideal. Naturally we all most oppose US intervention in Iran, not that I think it terribly likely now or in the foreseeable future, given the quagmire in Iraq. Still, this does not require and may in real terms be inconsistent with defense of the Iranian regime. I am embarrassed for you.
As I recall, this discussion began with a remark on the Iranian policy of executing people (generally without appeal or any other sort of due process) by letting them slowly strangle from cranes. Would you please explain what is so admirable about that? And about stoning women accused of accused of adultery? How do these policies advance anything we would care to advance? Do tell. Inquiring minds want to know.
--- Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/28/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Apr 28, 2007, at 12:56 AM, ravi wrote:
> >
> > > This obsession with Iran is a curious thing. I
> don't mean Yoshie's,
> > > but that of everyone else!
> >
> > I think you've got the order of cause and effect
> wrong. If we didn't
> > have Yoshie doing PR for Iran, there wouldn't be
> so much attention to
> > it - aside from the fact that some people would
> like to bomb the
> > place, of course.
>
> That is to say, you have no intrinsic interest in
> Iran, and you have
> no independent opinion of your own about Iran*
> unless I happen to take
> a position on it? That's a strange way of going
> about politics. In
> contrast, Iran (both its domestic and international
> dimensions) is a
> long-standing interest of mine, about which I had
> posted often long
> before the election of Ahmadinejad. Everything,
> good, bad, ugly,
> taken into account, Iran -- dialectic of its regime
> and oppositions as
> well as its people, history, and culture -- overall
> has my favor.
>
> Unlike your politics which appears to revolve around
> my opinion, my
> politics would be the same whatever your opinion is,
> although it
> wouldn't be exactly the same today if the USG hadn't
> so clearly
> refocused on the Middle East.
>
> But even without the latest development of
> imperialism, Iran would be
> still important, in the same sense that several
> other countries -- due
> to their political economy, geography, history,
> and/or balance of
> social and political forces -- are of particular
> interest to the
> anti-liberal and anti-imperialist Left that must
> strive to check US
> hegemony in the interest of democracy and
> republicanism.
>
> * Domestic Aspects of Iran
>
> "Iran's Summer of Unrest,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2000/2000-July/013512.html>;
> "In Iran, More Women Leaving Nest for University,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2000/2000-July/013553.html>
> "Feminism, Islamism, Etc. (Valentine M. Moghadam &
> Bronwyn Winter),"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2001/2001-November/026399.html>
> "Queering Democracy in Iran,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2002/2002-June/014758.html>
> "An Islamic Utopian: A Political Biography of Ali
> Shari'ati,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2002/2002-November/027888.html>
> "Persepolis (by Marjane Satrapi),"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2003/2003-May/013323.html>
> "After-Images of a Revolution,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2003/2003-June/014881.html>
> "Thwarting Democracy in Iran and Guatemala,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2003/2003-November/028877.html>
> "Rakhshan Bani-Etemad,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2003/2003-December/029380.html>
> "A Few Underpinnings of the New Iranian Cinema,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2003/2003-December/029381.html>
> "Ahmad Mahmoud,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2004/2004-January/000812.html>
> "The Torturer's Art,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2004/2004-May/010868.html>
> "Lost in Translation,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2004/2004-June/012488.html>
> "Changing Sex, Changing Islam,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2004/2004-August/017370.html>
> "'Persepolis' Comic,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2004/2004-September/021765.html>
>
> International Aspects of Iran
>
> Regarding Arms and Men from Iran to Bosnia:
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/1999/1999-October/018166.html>
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2001/2001-December/028078.html>
>
> Regarding Tehran's Overtures to Washington and Tel
> Aviv during the
> Khatami Administration:
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2001/2001-December/026961.html>
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2001/2001-December/026953.html>
>
> "Chavez, Putin, Khatami,"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2002/2002-December/029107.html>
>
> "Washington 'Painted Itself into a Corner' over
> Iran?"
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2005/2005-May/010533.html>
> --
> Yoshie
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
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