Punditman came across an interesting bit of analysis over at Joe Bageant's website, and Joe has been kind enough to allow me to republish, in full, his correspondence with one of his readers on the situation. Punditman didn't ask for Matt's permission (the emailer), but presumably Matt, a self-described "fellow working class (landscaper) lefty in dying rust belt Michigan," doesn't mind a little web fame. Punditman is in agreement with the general ideas contained in the exchange. Are you?
(email sent on June 28, 2009)
Hi Joe,
Am I the only one not celebrating the violent turmoil and chaos in Iran? To me it has the same feel as the phony "color revolutions" that were engineered by the "National Endowment for Democracy", a benign sounding organization that in fact masks a cadre of spooks working to enrich corporate interests by destabilizing governments that don't toe the neo-liberal corporate globalist line.
It appears very much like the neo-cons on the march again, only this time the well meaning naïve "liberals" aren't going to say anything about U.S. imperialism because they are entranced by the super slick public relations machine Obama has. This worries me because at least Bush was awkward enough that many people could see through his malicious schemes, it seems this time around that 90% of the population is going to swallow the endless imperialist interventionist Kool-Aid.
I voted for Obama, and now I very much feel I owe Cynthia McKinney a giant apology.
In your opinion, am I onto something here, or have I read one too many "conspiracy" books? It's very lonely questioning both the "left" and "right" on their celebrations of Iran's nascent uprising, but something just doesn't feel right about it to me, it feels too slick and well timed to be a true spontaneous uprising against the admittedly somewhat odious Ahmadinejad.
Sincerely,
Matt,
a fellow working class (landscaper) lefty in dying rust belt Michigan
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Matt,
I too suspect the US propaganda machine at work here. Some native Iranian friends tell me the incumbent could very well have won the election because he has massive support from people outside the two major cities -- that millions of Iranians live on farms, in villages and large towns we've never heard of, and support Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because he has built roads, health clinics and infrastructure in rural and village areas. They tend to be conservative and more religious, like our heartland American voters that got Bush elected.
In Tehran and Mashhad more people tend to be educated in the western sense, especially the women, and wish for more western style civil liberties. However, these cities are also home to most conservative Muslim immigrants to Iran. One Iranian woman here, married to an American, said she thought Ahmadinejad probnably won (and she dislikes the guy) but the stupid fucking system overstated the margins way too far because, like all theocratic states, they just don't get it asbout the democratic process, just don't know when to quit.
So I dunno. And truthfully, I do not care at this point. Just as the average Iranian doesn't think much about the US, (despite what we are told) I don't think much about Iran -- despite that the media yabbering antagonistically in both countries. We are are among the little guys of the world, misled by the big guys, and much too busy with the struggles of daily life to obsess on political details and day to day machinations of the powerful. I am more concerned with my own people, not the "American people," but the plain old working human beings in this country, and their fate, and global solidarity among them.
One thing for sure, we're getting the full US/UK spin on events that are much more complicated than we are led to believe. For instance, the so-called "Twitter Revolution," wherein Twitter was supposed to have brought hundreds of thousands together in the demonstrations. According to communications researchers, There were less than 1000 Twitter communications during the mass demonstrations, and most of them were the same silly shit we see here. Doubtlessly our agents there are at work, doncha think? Just as theirs must be at work here in some dark corners of the Empire. Or maybe openly in certain mosques.
Anyway, I think nearly all the world's governments are corrupt (some just give the people more for their money), so I'm never much interested in the official version of anyone's news. Including ours.
In art and labor,
Joe
