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Anti-Empire
The SakerA bird's eye view of the vineyard
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
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Opposition to imperialism does not mean support for Ahmadinejad![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Yassamine Mather interviews Mohammad Reza Shalgouni in the article below. Mohammad is a founder-member of the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar) and has been a leader of the organisation for many years. Mohammad spent nine years as a political prisoner in Iran under the shah and today is an active supporter of Hands Off the People of Iran. In this interview he sstresses the need to oppose Imperialism as well as opposing Ahmadinejads regime. Full text at link. Contrary to the illusions of some left groups outside Iran, Ahmadinejad’s so-called ‘pro-disinherited’ policies played an important role in worsening the structural crisis of Iran’s economy. The first term of the Ahmadinejad presidency coincided with an unprecedented rise in the price of oil and he spent a substantial part of the country’s oil income, as well as the country’s foreign exchange reserves, strengthening the social position of vali faghih. By injecting most of these resources into projects that had no economic value and only benefited the regime’s inner circles, the government created unprecedented inflation, the main burden of which fell on the shoulders of workers and toilers. It is enough to remember that, according to Ahmad Tavakoli (head of the research centre of the Islamic Majles, and one of the most hard-line Principlist-conservative factions of MPs), 46% of all the the ‘quick turnaround’ policies claimed by Ahmadinejad to confront unemployment never existed. In other words, all these claims were a cover for giving credit and low-interest loans (at times no-interest loans) to close associates of the vali faghih. Of course, had it been any different, it would have been surprising, because corruption is endemic in Iran’s Islamic Republic. |