[lbo-talk] Zizek on Iran

brad bauerly bbauerly at gmail.com
Wed Jun 24 12:37:21 PDT 2009


How could Langley run Iran? Doug ---------------------------------------

The sameway that it does Mexico or S. Korea or Japan or India or....duh.

That was really a bad article though, Zizek falls into the same trap as most on the left when he assumes that anyone who thinks that the US is involved, or that Ahmadinejad might have actually won (thereby undermining the false claim that the protesters are fighting for democracy), or questions the class make up of those leading the protest, or does not uncritically support the protesters...are all pro- theocracy, the oppression of women, hard handed state repression of dissent. Reality is simply not that simple. You cannot reduce the actual complexities of the situation down to CNN soundbites of a green revolution for democracy against a theocratic regime anymore than can you reduce the actual reality of Iran down to a beacon of anti-imperialism and the future of socialism. Why do we all fall ga ga when the MSM says jump? Maybe we should all attempt to think about how our narrow, simplistic views of the situation might not actually match with the reality on the ground. If the left could do that more we would be much closer to the goals that I assume we all share.

-- Brad A. Bauerly PhD Candidate Political Science York University Toronto, Canada 647-345-2072 bauerly at yorku.ca



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