Marxists Must Stand Firm Against Ahmadinejad

international | worker & community struggles and protests | other press Wednesday August 26, 2009 17:42 by Maziar Razi

Open letter to the workers of Venezuela on Hugo Chávez’s support for Ahmadinejad

Maziar Razi outlines the reality of life for workers in Iran and points out why chavez is mistaken in his support for Ahmadinejad. The appeal is made to the workers of Venezuela. Full story at url below.

The Revolutionary Marxists of Iran are aware of your achievements as part of the Bolivarian Movement and have always supported this movement against the widespread lies and the interference of imperialism. In order to defend your invaluable movement labour and student activists have set up the ‘Hands Off Venezuela’ campaign in Iran and during the past few years have stood together with you in confronting the imperialist attacks. It is obvious that your achievements were gained under the leadership of Hugo Chávez and, for this reason, you reserve deep respect for him.

In terms of his foreign policy, however, Chávez has made a mistake. By supporting Ahmadinejad he has ignored the solidarity of the workers and students of Iran with your revolution, and made it look worthless.

Most are aware that Ahmadinejad, with the direct support of Khamenei, committed the biggest fraud in the history of presidential elections in Iran and then spilt the blood of those protesting against this fraud. All over the world millions of workers and students, and also those of Marxist and revolutionary tendencies (which mostly are the supporters of the Bolivarian revolution), protested against these attacks.

In Iran, on top of the lack of many basic democratic rights, the workers have no independent trade unions. The workers of Iran do not even have a confederation like the Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela. All they have are the Labour House, the Islamic Labour Councils and other anti-working class bodies tied to the state.

The capitalist government of Iran has no fundamental disagreements or contradictions with US imperialism. It is in a ‘cold war’ with America and when it receives enough concessions, it will quickly enter into political dealings with the US and will turn its back on you. Indeed, the Iran regime has already helped the Americans in their military invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq - and installing the puppet regimes of Karzai and Maliki through significant trade, security and other deals.

It is not without reason that the Iranian government has been implementing the bankrupt neo-liberal prescriptions of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and counting the minutes until it joins the World Trade Organisation.