Iran's Absolutist Dictatorship Reloaded

"Look! How many times do I have to tell you; God chose ME! Nobody else counts!"

This is a good one. Not that it is news for real leftists who have stood with the people, but it should be for those who, for years, and especially since Ahmadinejad's presidency, which, if anything, has intensified the oppression in Iran both politico-culturally and economically, have been praising the 'Islamic democracy' in Iran ... That is, for people like that unforgivable editor at MRZine, who on her own blog has said things like, "At least you [Iranians] have a republic" (sic.), and who has been disseminating the theocrats' propaganda so much so that now the official news agency of these religious dictators regurgitates articles posted by MRZine for their propaganda purposes.  

So, anyway, here it is: Khamenei orders Iran vice president sacked!

As in, no matter how slavishly you kiss the Supreme (sic.) Leader's hands -- or, if you're Ahmadinejad, other obligatory body parts -- as the 'elected' president, as the supposedly independent chief-executive of a supposedly independent branch of the government, you don't even get to choose your own assistants.

If even the 'elected' president cannot act independently in choosing a relatively minor figure (in the overall frame of the current setup) for his cabinet, is it any wonder that the regime has reacted with such extreme brutality against the millions of people who took to the streets to demand accountability from the entire state?

'Democracy'? Republic? NOT!! More like ... well, more like a Khalifate, or Sultanate, or, why use fancy words, a one-man absolutist dictatorship.

More to the point, super conservative cleric Ayatollah Yazdi threw all 'republican' pretenses to the winds and said outright that the regime receives its legitimacy from god (see here also for an interesting commentary in Farsi), not from the people. People only provide 'popularity' (IF the Supreme Leader agrees with their choice, that is).  

In other words, the ideas, thoughts, social needs and demands of the people who do all the work, who produce all the wealth, provide all the services ... they just have nothing to do with the legitimacy of the government. They only bring the government 'popularity', which is quite a superfluous quality. 

Just as in the 'elections' in this system, where the Supreme Leader (through the Guardian Council) selects the menu from which people may decide which one is best for them (not that their decision means anything, anyway, as we've seen in this presidential 'elections'), god in turn chooses who must be his divine representative on earth, and the people, if they act correctly, better go along with that divine decision. Otherwise, it follows naturally, and if they choose wrong, they are blasphemers and apostates, and deserving of senseless beatings, torture, rape and murder.

And the fact that god has chosen such fascistic, anti-humane bunch of thugs to represent the divine will ... well, you can fill in the rest. 

These guys are literally saying that they stand for god on earth, so the poor people who are trapped in this geographic boundary called Iran, their wishes and needs have no place in this system. That's about as clear as it can get. Now, if that is not blasphemy, I don't know what would count as such (if you're religious, that is). 

And for the tens of millions of Iranians who are not religious to such a fanatical degree, and want nothing of sorts ruling over them with such extreme intrusiveness as they have been experiencing for thirty years, well, the insult is absolute, yet not surprising at all. For thirty years, we have been saying exactly the same thing, with, of course, the opposite intention: there is no 'republic' in the 'Islamic Republic'. When you have a one-man-decides-all type of system, where does the 'republic' fit in? It doesn't, and now the world knows it, too. (The unblind world, that is.)

The fact that American left is split between the blind (the Stalinist binary left, the left that just can't see reality no matter how clearly and forcefully reality presents itself) and the unblind (among the labor movement, and the real radicals) over what to do regarding the current historical movement of the Iranian people for their rights, for freedom and social justice (none of these apparently mean anything anymore to a whole bunch of American 'leftists') ... this is a tragic commentary about the state of affairs in the U.S. left, and is exactly one of the major reasons why the U.S. imperialism has such a free hand in doing whatever it bloody wants. 

But, fortunately, for the Iranian people there is no confusion. They know what they are facing, and they have finally decided enough is ENOUGH! 

Long live the people's movement for democracy and social justice! 

Down with theocracy! 

Power to the people, no delay! 

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Iranian moderate: Our security agents are 'worse than Zionists' (Reuters; July 25, 2009)