Catelina Johnstone anklagar i sin typiska stilistiska modalitet den vänster av olika schatteringar som inför det nya Irankriget ägnade sig åt att driva på protesterna mot den islamiska republiken och dess styre: “Can’t get over how many leftists bought into the ‘we support the Iran protests’ schtick. Where the fuck did you idiots think this was headed? What did you think you were promoting when you assisted the US empire’s regime change sloganeering throughout the west? Fucking morons.”
Carlos Martinez kommer däremot med en kort argumentation av annat slag, för hur antiimperialistiska marxister bör förstå dagens Iran, en argumentation som mer i sak bemöter deras insisterande på sina inte bara katastrofalt inopportuna och de facto krigsbefrämjande utan faktiskt felaktiga och kontextokänsligt ohistoriska och geografiskt och kulturellt malplacerade beskrivningar av, helt enkelt, endast en reaktionär teokrati eller, alternativt, en borgerlig kapitalistisk regim som förtrycker och starkt har försämrat villkoren för Irans arbetare. Martinez argumentation överensstämmer med den beskrivning Maupin under alla år givit utifrån sin icke obetydliga egna erfarenhet på plats i landet. Även ordförande Haz och ACP delar den givetvis fullständigt.
Såvitt jag förstår är Martinez son till förra året bortgångne Harpal Brar, grundare av Mckays parti CPGB-ML, och far till en rad andra barn som bär hans namn, bl.a. den framträdande debattören Joti, som samarbetat med Maupin. Det är för mig oklart varför Carlos skiljer sig från dessa andra Brarare och heter Martinez, men detta är ju oviktigt i jämförelse med det förhållandet att något slags ideologisk skillnad mellan dem tycks föreligga, som jag dock inte har lyckats med någon större precision identifiera. En viktig ledtråd är i alla fall att Carlos i sin bok The East is Still Red: Chinese Socialism in the 21st Century (2023) har en högre värdering än Harpal i sin bok Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Marketisation of the Chinese Economy (2020).
Beskrivning på YouTube:
“Understanding modern Iran requires the type of anti-imperialist analytical tools Michael Parenti developed – in particular, his insight that demonisation is a weapon of war. In works like To Kill a Nation, Parenti showed how the machinery of propaganda constructs a target country as a rogue state, a menace to its neighbours, a threat to its own people – a process he exposed with devastating precision in relation to the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Cuba and elsewhere. The same playbook is now being run against Iran (indeed it has been for 47 years).
What does an honest assessment of the Islamic Republic actually show? Under the Shah’s dictatorship, Iran was a close ally of Israel and apartheid South Africa, its energy wealth concentrated in the hands of a few and placed at the service of foreign multinationals. The 1979 Revolution transformed all of that. Revolutionary Iran became the staunchest supporter of the Palestinian cause, providing extensive financial, military and logistical support to the resistance. It severed relations with the apartheid regime and supported the South African liberation struggle.
It brought its natural resources under public ownership and directed the revenues towards people’s welfare. And it repositioned itself internationally: today Iran is a member of BRICS, a member of the SCO, a crucial node in the Belt and Road Initiative, and a close partner of China, Russia, Venezuela and Cuba.
On the social front, the picture is again striking. People often assume that Iran is a hugely backward society, and yet women’s literacy has risen from 30 to 99 percent. Women make up 60 percent of university students, 40 percent of doctors and 70 percent of STEM graduates. Healthcare and education indicators are excellent.
None of this means an anti-imperialist has to share the governing ideology of the Islamic Republic. One can be a Marxist and still recognise the plain truth: the revolution transformed Iran for the better, dramatically improved the lives of its people, and asserted genuine national sovereignty. That is precisely why it is hated in the West – and precisely why anti-imperialists must understand and defend it.
This video is a clip from a detailed interview with @thereal99media. You can see the full interview here: What are the real reasons behind US wars against Venezuela and Iran? Feat. Carlos Martinez.”
Olle Bengtsson 