Written by: Bahareh

October 2010

About Ahmadinejad’s Anti-Imperialist Myth

Among Certain “Leftist” Circles in the West!

Iran has never seen a government as reactionary as that of the Islamic Regime. But many self-proclaimed leftist activists have been purporting the opposite of this reality.

The truth is that the Islamic Republic of Iran is by no means anti-imperialist as it does not act in the interest of the populous. Rather than using the national wealth produced by the working class in the interest of the people of Iran, it caters to the international ruling class. Ahmadinejad’s anti-imperialist rhetoric is full of empty lies. It is nothing but an attempt to negotiate with the US and other imperialists over the terms of their pact in oppressing the Iranian working class.

On September 21, 2010 in New York City, during Ahmadinejad’s visit to the United Nations, a group of over 100 “progressive” activists met with him with the proclaimed intention of “…exchanging ideas to build bridges and solidarity between the people of the United States and Iran.” They spoke of “…their desire for peace between the two nations and their opposition to war and the meddling of the internal affairs of other countries.” Although their intentions appear to be positive, ironically it is they who are engaging in the meddling of the affairs of the people of Iran by giving a false legitimacy to the Islamic Regime, which the people of Iran have been struggling to abolish for over three decades.

One of the participants, Margaret Sarfehjooy naively said, “I think the meeting was important because we had the opportunity to meet with so many dedicated grassroots activists from Iran and to share our hopes for peace and justice with the Iranian people through their President.” Not only is it misleading to describe the thugs who surround Ahmadinejad as “grassroots activists”, but one should question whether the hopes and desires of the Iranian people really coincide with those of Ahmadinejad. During the last year of ongoing uprisings, the majority of the people of Iran have written with their blood that not only is this not their President, but that the Islamic Regime is not the government they support.

If these self-described “leftist activists” are to speak genuinely about building bridges between the peoples of the United States and Iran, then they must refer to solidarity between the working class and other oppressed classes in America and the working class of Iran - not the tyrannical Iranian government. But instead these activists are behaving similarly to the US government and ruling class, which has shown support for the Islamic Regime. During the recent upheavals, the US and other Imperialist powers did everything they could to portray Mousavi as the leader of the mass uprisings. While Mousavi represents just another faction of the Imperialist-dependent ruling class and was in fact the former Prime Minister of then President and now "Supreme Leader" Khamenei, who carried out Khomeini’s order for the mass execution of several thousand imprisoned progressives and revolutionaries during the late 1980s. The international mass media exaggerated the extent of the support for the “Green Movement”, which started with Mousavi’s running for the office of Presidency and quickly disintegrated when people turned against the entire system, while censoring anti-Islamic Regime sentiments among people.

As true progressives, we must always side with people, rather than the lesser of two evils of government. For example, the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 was condemned by activists and the peace-seeking people of the world, but there was no reason to have made Saddam Hussein a victim who needed our support. It was, and continues to be, the people of Iraq who have been the victims of the most brutal regimes, both under the government of Saddam Hussein and the Occupation of the Allied Forces.

Similarly in the case of Iran, neither does the US government have the right to invade the country under any ostentatious excuse, nor is Ahmadinejad the true representative of the Iranian people. We must condemn both the imperialist government of the United States for its possible military intervention of Iran, as well as the Islamic Regime for its relentless imprisonment, torture, and execution of workers and social justice activists.

Iran is a rich country with plenty of oil, gas, and mineral reserves, as well as a largely young population of some 76 million people. But because of the government’s theft of the national oil revenue, which it uses to benefit the wealthy elite and to finance the military and security forces that maintain its power and suppression over people, the majority of the Iranian people are condemned to be among the poorest in the world.

While Ahmadinejad and his regime attempt to win friends abroad with their rhetoric and lies, the people of Iran continue to suffer and activists who struggle for freedom are violently repressed. It’s time to see the oppressive theocratic government of Iran for what it really is and to support the people of Iran in overthrowing the Islamic Regime by their own mighty hands and without any interference from out side forces, and in achieving true freedom and democracy.