To the contrary, assuming that the list had 200+ members (last I checked) who took the trouble to join it, but did not vote, it indicates at best an ambiguous trust in the Iranian people! Yoshie stands vindicated, especially since LBO as a sample is the wimpy, non- militant, non-expressive variety of leftists, so this tells us that the more vocal ones like Doug Ireland are clearly even further distrustful of Iranians' ability to examine their government.
Also you wrote in response to CG:
> On Oct 24, 2007, at 11:45 AM, (Chuck Grimes) wrote:
>> If
>> women, homosexuals, and various ehtnic minorities in Iran suffer
>> difficult lives, well, so be it. They are the ones who must fight
>> their battles.
>>
>
> Yeah, I agree, and I'm guessing most other listmembers do too. We can
> express solidarity, and offer help if they ask (e.g., sanctions
> during the campaign against apartheid), but it's basically their
> business.
I disagree! Human suffering, rights, etc are everybody's business, else all you have is nationalism, provincialism, sovereignty claims, etc. So no, with all respect to CG, I disagree with the idea that they (Iranians) are the ones who must fight their battles. In fact, I claim, it is more my responsibility to do so than theirs, since I am indirectly their chief oppressor. So, I must fight the fight for them, and what better way to do it, than to question the repetition of the party line on Iran, here on LBO? I guess there is tax resistance, but that would mean I have to give up my bourgeoisie luxuries, including Internet access and the very ability to post to mailing lists, in turn defeating the entire effort.
--ravi