Protests in Iran Erupt Again.
More protests in Iran, (see also: BBC)
Our hearts and minds should be with all those fighting for democratic freedom and against the Iranian Theocracy.
It is particularly important that the left and the labour movement should be backing those who are standing against Ahmadinejad. Many of us have (here), and a wide swathe of left activists are behind the protestors’ demands.
There are still some British groups like Respect who have a different view of this issue. As they are “on course to win up to three seats in General Election” (here) this is maybe time for them to think seriously about their position. Respect MP George Galloway has his own show on the tyrants’ telly (the Real Deal), Iranian state funded Press TV. Should George change his mind he could have a little word in the ear of his bosses in favour of those languishing in the regime’s gaols.
Update: Renewed Holocaust denial yesterday by Ahmadinejad – here (English) and here (in French). Stroppy Blog has published a report on the Iranian leader’s speech (here ) – which has inspired the first showing of an apologist for his claim that the Shoah was a”myth”.
Background: Shiraz Socialist on what it’s like to work for the propagandist channel, Press TV, here. Stroppy Blog publishes (here) a further report. The latter has inspired – Comments Box – the first apologist for Holcaust denial seen today.
Tendance Coatesy 
[…] Posted in Uncategorized by modernityblog on September 19, 2009 12:42 am Comrade Coatesy has more on Ahmadinejad’s would-be lackey and faithful apologist. leave a comment « […]
Tyrants’ Lackey. « ModernityBlog
September 19, 2009 at 12:42 am
A totally sick example of the political expedience of Holocaust denial over here.
“The historical truth of the Holocaust is irrelevant for the issue of Holocaust denial. Is it wrong to lie, even if good will come of lying, and telling the truth will cause great evil? This is the classic example of deontology versus consequentialism. (These are the standard terms).
Some people say you must always tell the truth, no matter what the consequences. But if the consequence is the existence of the State of Israel, and its society and government, and its policies, and the army that implements those policies, then surely it is better to lie? That’s the underlying issue, which is obscured by the political correctness about Holocaust denial.
It has also become an immigration-related issue, because opponents of immigration in western Europe have taken it up as a stick to beat Muslims with. Holocaust denial used to be typical of neonazis, especially in Germany itself. But as they switch to a pro-Israel line (like the BNP), Holocaust denial is increasingly used by Muslims to question the legitimacy of Israel’s foundational mythology. So, insistence on holocaust affirmation as part of ‘western values’ becomes a test to distinguish Muslims, and assess their ‘loyalty’.”
Rosie
September 19, 2009 at 9:59 pm
There is also a third thread here.
Some people on the left have kept to the always morally expedient views of Leninism. Many are full-blown political and ethical relativists, if in a different form to the Stalinist hey-days. The truth of something for them does not matter so much as who is speaking that thing. This, more than the dying gasps of post-modernism’s own brand of relativism, has encouraged people to not confront Islamist anti-Semiticism and bigotry. Those with these opinions, they say, are expressing them because of their oppression. Such ideas are not ‘really’ racist: they’re a kind of symbolic way of fighting against Western imperialism ideology.
In Musil’s Man without Qualities there’s a lengthy passage in which liberals claim to grasp rising anti- Semitism in the Habsburg Empire in terms of a youthful protest against materialism and capitalist finance.
The conspiracy-wise-guy producers of all kinds of ‘alternative’ theories of history get seen in the same light. All, they say, are, perhaps misguided, but at root real challenges to capitalist truth. Holocaust denial, theories about the Rwandan genocide being exaggerated (and itself a US-European-Tutsie plot), and the rest, when they blame Western targets, get some people making excuses for them.
It’s worth noting that for all his faults Chomsky has stood like a rock against this whole approach: for him truth is simply truth (deontologically that is).
Andrew Coates
September 19, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Hey what’s happened to the links, Coatsey? I linked to Pickled Politics & you seem to have linked something as well, but they aren’t coming up.
Rosie
September 20, 2009 at 6:54 pm