With my attention divided amongst a host of real life and net-based endeavors, I have been slow to comment on the situation in Iran despite the fact that I have a great deal of interest in the developments which continue to unfold hour upon hour. I am following the news as closely as possible, reading accounts through the mainstream media as well as the host of user-generated news sources on the Internet. My dear Iranian brothers and sisters -- those within Iran and throughout the world -- are never far from my thoughts these days.The current situation in Iran is one that should surprise absolutely no one. From the egomaniacal and demagogic mullahs to the courageous workers and students who now fill the streets of Tehran and other cities in protest, surely they must have all known that history would bring them face to face at this particular juncture. Indeed, what is occurring in Iran right now must happen. Irrespective of the outcome this time around, it is the Iranian people who must move forward in pursuit of a better quality of life and a collective existence that is free from the scourges of oppression and intolerance that were foisted upon them after Political Islam's betrayal of the 1979 Revolution.
One of the most particularly interesting dimensions of the international response to the current events in Iran has been the fact that American progressives and liberals must now come to grips with the despotic nature of Ahmadinejad and Iran's ruling clique. For some time, a number of currents and tendencies of the American left have stood firm on a shameful and baseless conviction that Ahmadinejad is the peace-loving face of the anti-imperialist movement. Now, as the brazen chicanery of the theocracy's election fraud proceeded by its brutal and reactionary response to democratic and popular dissent is exposed to the world, those who have ignored and obscured the true nature of Political Islam must now face the reality of the horrors which they have tacitly and implicitly endorsed through their silence, including the slaughter of left opposition activists and Marxist dissidents, oppression of women and religious minorities and the torture and murder of homosexuals and labor leaders.
In a discussion of previous elections in Iran back in 2001, the late Mansoor Hekmat shared his enthusiasm that the Iranian people might someday mobilize and wrest political power from their oppressors. He said:
"Now, it is reaction that is against the mainstream and it is we who represent the majority. Victory is possible and achievable. This is the essence of the current political situation in Iran." (full text)
As enthusiastic as these words were eight years ago, they ring true today as the people of Iran stand just one great stride from a new direction forward. History is on their side as the people of the world support them in their struggle for freedom and equality.
Aluta continua!
Personal postscript: For the past several months, I've been wrapped up with a handful of projects, some of which are serious and others…well, they were not so serious. In any event, I've resolved to return to some of the things that have been so important to me over the past several years, including my writings on greeklish.org as well as a few other web-based projects. Just this week, I've resumed work again on the development of an archive of the works of Josip Broz Tito, adding a short excerpt from a 1955 interview with Radio Belgrade. More works from 1941-1961 are forthcoming as are additional documents for one of my favorite subject archives of MIA, the Yugoslavia Subject Section.
