In this utter drivel Socialist worker echoes the “bourgeois press” as it throws in its lot with the “Gucci crowd” and “popular reformer” i.e.free marketeer Mousavi against the champion of Iran’s poor , Ahmadinejad. Following on from their shameful involvement in the attempted overthrow of Mugabe, their apolegetics for Brown’s bailout under the guise of Keynesianism and their grovelling before the Great Charlatan, the SWP confirm that they have thrown in their lot with the remake of Anglo-American imperialism under the Obama label. If the treacherous and mendacious Western intelligencia wish to do this under the guise of proletarian internationalism or whatever, that is their prerogative. We at ITNT would wish merely to advise them of this: they are backing a loser, a fact which would be more clear to them if their focus this week had been on Ekaterinburg rather than Tehran.
Socialist Worker
16th June, 2009
There is a new popular power sweeping Iran. In one of the biggest mass demonstrations since the toppling of the US-backed Shah in 1979, some one million people descended onto the streets of the capital Tehran to protest at an election widely seen as rigged.
The mass demonstration grew out of an unprecedented protest that took place on Friday night – the day of a key presidential election. Many believed that a popular reformer, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, would win the vote.
They were shocked when the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was declared the winner just hours after the polls closed.
Fearing that the election had been rigged, Mousavi’s supporters staged a series of public protests. In a mass show of defiance Iranians took to the roofs of their buildings to chant “Marg bar diktator!”, which means “death to the dictator”.
This was the slogan of the 1979 revolution.
On Saturday Ahmadinejad held a “victory rally” in Tehran. But across the city, and in other parts of the country, spontaneous demonstrations erupted where people chanted, “Our votes were stolen.” In the southern city of Isfahan riot police were driven out of popular neighbourhoods.
Police and regime militias attacked the protests. Demonstrators responded by setting buses alight and building barricades.
Crackdown
That night, amid growing fear of a massive crackdown, students held secret rallies and called for more demonstrations. The government-backed militia attacked Tehran university campus killing five students.
But the protests did not subside. On Monday a mass demonstration was called in defiance of a government ban. This time many ordinary people joined the throng of students and activists who form the bedrock of the reform movement.
Government thugs opened fire on the crowd and killed seven protesters. Their deaths bring back the memories of the mass repression unleashed by the Shah in the dying days of his regime.
On Tuesday, Mousavi called off further demonstrations after the government caved in to demands for a recount. As Socialist Worker went to press, reports were emerging of mass arrests. Former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtah is thought to be among those detained.
Yet whatever happens over the next few days, the people of Iran have shown their power – and their thirst for change.
In this utter drivel Socialist Worker echoes the “bourgeois press” as it throws in its lot with the “Gucci crowd” and “popular reformer” i.e.free marketeer, Mousavi against the champion of Iran’s poor , Ahmadinejad. Following on from their shameful involvement in the attempted overthrow of Mugabe, their apolegetics for Brown’s bailout under the guise of Keynesianism and their grovelling before the Great Charlatan, the SWP confirm that they have thrown in their lot with the remake of Anglo-American imperialism under the Obama label. If the treacherous and mendacious Western intelligencia wish to do this under the guise of proletarian internationalism or whatever, that is their prerogative. We at ITNT would wish merely to advise them of this: they are backing a loser, a fact which would be more clear to them if their focus this week had been on Yakaterinburg rather than Tehran.
There is a new popular power sweeping Iran. In one of the biggest mass demonstrations since the toppling of the US-backed Shah in 1979, some one million people descended onto the streets of the capital Tehran to protest at an election widely seen as rigged.
How easy it is to wave a handkerchief at the luminaries
of the Marxist manifesto and the history of hunger.
How easy to sigh before the gesture of he who completes his duty
and give a few clothes to the poor, little daughter of the chauffer.
How easy to pose given the opportunity.
Que fácil es engañar al que no sabe leer.
Cuántos colores, cuántas facetas
tiene el pequeño burgués.
Que fácil es trascender con fama de original,
pero se sabe que entre los ciegos el tuerto suele mandar.
Que fácil de apuntalar sale la vieja moral,
que se disfraza de barricada
de los que nunca tuvieron nada.
Qué bien prepara su máscara el pequeño burgués.
[How easy to deceive he who doesn’t know how to read.
How many colours and facets the petit-bourgeois has.
How easy to overcome with the reputation of an original,
but we know that amongst the blind the one-eyed rule.
How easy to reinforce the old order,
mascarading as a barricade
of those who never had anything.
How well the petit-bourgeois prepares his disguise]
Viva el harapo, señor,
y la mesa sin mantel.
Viva el que huela
a callejuela,
a palabrota y taller. *
[Long live rags
and the table without a cloth.
Long live that which smells of
the backstreet,
the swearword and the workshop.]
Desde una mesa repleta cualquiera decide aplaudir
la caravana en harapos de todos los pobres.
Desde un mantel importado y un vino añejado
se lucha muy bien.
Desde una mesa gigante y un auto elegante
se sufre también.
En un amable festín se suele ver “combatir”.
[From a full table any can applaud
the ragged procession of the poor.
From an imported tablecloth and a vintage wine
you can fight very well.
From a gigantic table and an elegant limousine
you can suffer as well.
At a jolly little gathering you can see the “struggle”]
Si fácil es abusar, más fácil es condenar,
y hacer papeles para la historia, para que te haga un lugar.
Que fácil es protestar por la bomba que cayó
a mil kilómetros del ropero y del refrigerador.
Que fácil es escribir algo que invite a la acción
contra tiranos, contra asesinos,
contra la cruz o el poder divino,
siempre al alcance de la vidriera y el comedor.
[How easy to abuse, even more to condemn,
and make historic roles where you have your place.
How easy to protest about the bomb that fell
a thousand kilometers from your wardrobe and refrigerator.
How easy to call for action against tyrants and assasins,
against the cross or divine power
always beside the dining table and the drinks cabinet]
This tirade by Rodriguez against the “petit-bourgeois” may seem a bit dated now. Yet the treacherous role of the intellectuals,” la trahison des clercs”, is the perhaps the most glaring fact of our contemporary reality.
Cancion en harapos- Song in Rags
Que fácil es agitar un pañuelo a la tropa solar
del manifiesto marxista y la historia del hambre.
Que fácil es suspirar
ante el gesto del hombre que cumple un deber
y regalarle ropitas
a la pobrecita
hija del chófer.
Que fácil de enmascarar sale la oportunidad.
[How easy it is to wave a handkerchief at the luminaries
of the Marxist manifesto and the history of hunger.
How easy to sigh before the gesture of he who completes his duty
and give a few clothes to the poor, little daughter of the chauffer.
How easy to pose given the opportunity.]
Que fácil es engañar al que no sabe leer.
Cuántos colores, cuántas facetas
tiene el pequeño burgués.
Que fácil es trascender con fama de original,
pero se sabe que entre los ciegos el tuerto suele mandar.
Que fácil de apuntalar sale la vieja moral,
que se disfraza de barricada
de los que nunca tuvieron nada.
Qué bien prepara su máscara el pequeño burgués.
[How easy to deceive he who doesn’t know how to read.
How many colours and facets the petit-bourgeois has.
How easy to overcome with the reputation of an original,
but we know that amongst the blind the one-eyed rule.
How easy to reinforce the old order,
mascarading as a barricade
of those who never had anything.
How well the petit-bourgeois prepares his disguise]
Viva el harapo, señor,
y la mesa sin mantel.
Viva el que huela
a callejuela,
a palabrota y taller. *
[Long live rags
and the table without a cloth.
Long live that which smells of
the backstreet,
the swearword and the workshop.]
Desde una mesa repleta cualquiera decide aplaudir
la caravana en harapos de todos los pobres.
Desde un mantel importado y un vino añejado
se lucha muy bien.
Desde una mesa gigante y un auto elegante
se sufre también.
En un amable festín se suele ver “combatir”.
[From a full table any can applaud
the ragged procession of the poor.
From an imported tablecloth and a vintage wine
you can fight very well.
From a gigantic table and an elegant limousine
you can suffer as well.
At a jolly little gathering you can see the “struggle”]
Si fácil es abusar, más fácil es condenar,
y hacer papeles para la historia, para que te haga un lugar.
Que fácil es protestar por la bomba que cayó
a mil kilómetros del ropero y del refrigerador.
Que fácil es escribir algo que invite a la acción
contra tiranos, contra asesinos,
contra la cruz o el poder divino,
siempre al alcance de la vidriera y el comedor.
[How easy to abuse, even more to condemn,
and make historic roles where you have your place.
How easy to protest about the bomb that fell
a thousand kilometers from your wardrobe and refrigerator.
How easy to call for action against tyrants and assasins,
against the cross or divine power
always beside the dining table and the drinks cabinet].
In These New Times 