On Iran
I want to make it clear to certain peoplethat I am opposed to the despotic Iranian regime.
The reason I have not written anything about it so far is simply that I don’t know enough about what’s going on there. For example, who is organising the student protests? Why are the People’s Mujaheddin being raided by Western governments? (To say it’s just French support for Islamofascism is ridiculous — the group is considered a terrorist organisation by the US, but not by the UN.) This Iranian blogger argues that the faction behind the protests is an important consideration:
There’s a lot of information flying about Iran, but many people don’t understand that there are lots of factions in the Iranian community and only a vocal minority is making its voice heard. I’m Iranian. I was in Iran last year and I’m in contact with people there. So, I offer this cautionary note to those who want to be informed and to help, because you must be very careful about where your information is coming from when it comes to Iran. …
The MKO is universally reviled by Iranians. … Beware the Monarchists. That’s Reza Pahlavi and his coterie. … Take NITV hype with a grain of salt.
On the face of it, the protests seem to be a genuine, spontaneous people’s movement against a horrifically brutal, corrupt, and undemocratic regime. The US is right to offer moral support to the students, and in certain circumstances (such as the outbreak of a genuine civil war) they would be justified in offering military support to the opposition.
Iran’s current regime must go, but there’s no use replacing it with something equally terrible, and I’m not sure what the revolution that appears to be gaining momentum would result in. For that reason, I’m hesitant to forcefully back what’s going on there. Instead, I’ll give it a tentative and heavily qualified “Yay!”
As for the lack of posts on Indymedia, I agree it is disappointing. But I managed to dredge up a few posts. And Steve, Yobbo, feel free to post to Perth Indymedia. In any case, distinterest in the revolution is more general than that.
I’d be an Indymedia refugee these days, Rob. Let’s face it, if I started posting in Indymedia again, it wouldn’t change a thing. Nor would it in any way be representative of what the contemporary “progressives” think on various issues.