[Reader-list] Chavez+Ahmadinejad=?

[shuddha at sarai.net]

Dear all, 

I am forwarding this text below in continuation of the exchange on the
situation in Iran (protests continue, by the way, despite the continuing
crackdown, in all major Iranian cities). The text, written by Maziar Riazi
that I found on ZNet is addressed to the working people of Venezuela on the
matter of Hugo Chavez's recent declarations of support for the
Ahmadinejad-Khamenei Regime in Iran.

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/21968

best, 

Shuddha
--------------------------------------

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

July 12, 2009 By Maziar Razi 



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 open and covert interference of
imperialism.

In order to defend your invaluable movement and to
confront the attacks and interference of US imperialism in Venezuela, labor
and student activists in Iran 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 Chavez and, for this reason, you reserve deep respect for him.

In terms of his foreign policy, however, Chavez has made a mistake. With
his support for Ahmadinejad he has ignored the solidarity of the workers
and students of Iran with your revolution, and in a word, made it look
worthless. Most are aware that two weeks ago Ahmadinejad, with the direct
support of Khamenei, committed the biggest fraud in the history of
presidential elections in Iran and then, with great ferocity, spilt the
blood of those protesting against this fraud. You just have to take notice
of the international media reports to be aware of the depths of this
tragedy. 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 of spite this, Chavez was one of the first people to
support Ahmadinejad. In his weekly TV speech he said: "Ahmadinejad's
triumph is a total victory. They're trying to stain Ahmadinejad's victory,
and by doing so they aim to weaken the government and the Islamic
revolution. I know they won't be able to do it." And that "We ask the world
for respect."



These rash and baseless remarks from your President are a great and direct
insult to the millions of youth who in recent days rose up against tyranny.
Some of them even lost their lives. Many of these youths came out on the
streets spontaneously and without becoming infected with the regime's
internal disputes, or becoming aligned with the policy that US imperialism
is following for taking over the movement.

In addition, the remarks of your President are an insult to millions of
workers in Iran. Workers whose leaders are today being tortured in the
prisons of the Ahmadinejad government and some of them are even believed to
be being punished with flogging. Workers who were brutally repressed by the
mercenaries of the Ahmadinejad government for commemorating May Day in
Tehran this year are still in prison.

So far Chavez has travelled to
Iran seven times and each time he has hugged one of the most hated people
in this country and called him his "brother." He does not realise that the
economic, social and political situations of Venezuela and Iran are going
in opposite directions. Although both countries have seen a similarly
significant boost to their oil (and gas) revenues the contrast between the
ways in which this extra money has been used by the two governments could
not be more marked. In Venezuela this income is used for building
hospitals, schools, universities and other infrastructure of the country,
but in Iran it is used for lining the pockets of just a few parasitic
capitalists.



On the one hand, in Venezuela, we have seen the nationalization of an
increasing number of companies and factories, the free provision of
healthcare, education, civil liberties and so on. By contrast in Iran
privatization is on the government's agenda, even at the cost of trampling
on Article 44 of the Constitution of the country and using the excuse of
inefficiency and low productivity of state companies and factories. All
these advances of the workers and the poor in Venezuela have given them
greater control over the way they work and the way they live. Most
importantly, the expropriation of factories and the encouragement of
workers' control and participation have transformed the character of the
workers' movement in Venezuela, advancing it by many stages. The Bolivarian
movement and the policies of the government have brought about a huge shift
in the balance of class forces in Venezuela in favour of the working class.
Not only has the government encouraged the Venezuelan workers to build the
Union Nacional de los Trabajadores (UNT) as an alternative to the
Confederacion de Trabajadores de Venezuela (CTV), but the workers have
become involved in running and managing factories and other enterprises.
The whole world knows that your government has even drawn up a list of
1,149 closed-down factories and given their owners an ultimatum: re-open
them under workers' control or the government will expropriate them.



In Iran, on the other hand, on top of the lack of many basic
democratic rights, the workers are also without any independent trade union
rights. Today the workers of Iran do not even have a confederation like the
Confederacion de Trabajadores de Venezuela. All they have are the Labor
House, the Islamic Labor Councils and other anti-working class bodies tied
to the state.

But this has not always been so: the overthrow of the
Shah brought about many freedoms for workers including, in some cases,
control over production and even distribution. Then, however, through
repression the Islamic hierarchy managed to take back all the workers'
gains. The leaders that your President hugs killed thousands of workers,
destroyed the workers' movement and pushed it back by several decades. In
Iranian society even the "yellow" pro-boss unions -- that the Shah had
tolerated -- became and remain illegal. Even a CTV-style trade union
confederation is illegal in Iran. 



In Iran the official (and underestimated) unemployment rate stands at
10.85%, with unemployment among the youth (15-24 year-olds) standing at
22.35%. Even when workers are employed they are often not paid -- in many
cases for more than a year. Even those who get their wages face an
impossible task in paying for the basic necessities of life, because their
wage is not enough for living costs. For example, with the rent for a
two-bedroom flat at $422 a month, a civil servant on $120 wages, or a
teacher on $180, or even a doctor on $600 a month struggle to survive. It
is no wonder that some 90% of the population live below the poverty
line.



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. The capitalist
government of Iran, despite the current apparent differences, is busy in
close negotiations with the Obama government on resolving the problems of
Afghanistan. This government, despite the "anti-imperialist" rhetoric, is
heading towards re-establishing old links with the US. Ahmadinejad's
selection demonstrates the final turn of the regime towards resolving its
problems with imperialism. Despite all the "enmity" and "anti-imperialist"
gestures the regime is ready to resolve all its differences with America.

The government of Iran wants to turn Iran into a society like Colombia (in
Colombia thousands of trade unionists have been killed so that
multinational companies can exploit workers and plunder the country's
natural resources without any obstacles). 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 Organization.

The
close and regular links of your leader, Chavez, with the leaders of this
regime will eventually make the Iranian masses turn their back on the great
lessons of the revolutionary process in Venezuela.

Winning the hearts
and minds of the masses in Iran and similar countries is the best long-term
solution to breaking Washington's stranglehold on Latin America. Your
leader's closeness with the capitalist government of Iran, a government
that has the blood of thousands of workers and youth on its hands, shows
that his anti-imperialist foreign policy has a major flaw. Being close to
reactionary regimes will never be able to bring the anti-imperialist
foreign policy to a successful conclusion.


Only the unity of the real representatives of the workers and toilers can
confront imperialism.


Stand together with the Iranian workers and condemn the foreign policy
of your leaders. Support for Ahmadinejad means support for the repression
of Iranian workers and youth. Challenge the flawed positions of Chavez and
reject them.

Support for the government of Ahmadinejad, especially
after the recent events, is at worst an open betrayal of the toilers of
Iran and at best a political blunder in foreign policy.