No Louis, you are the one who is confused. When Selassie resisted Mussolini, he was fighting imperialism. When Selassie oppressed his own people, he was not fighting imperialism but undermining the struggle against imperialism, and quite possibly serving imperialist interests in the process. Anti-imperialism, for materialists, is expressed in actions and assessed in terms of the objective effect of those actions. Similarly, we can and should defend the Iranian government against imperialist threats and attacks, while in no way giving political support to the clerical regime. Why is this so difficult to understand?
Richard -----Original Message----- From: marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:marxism-bounces+rfidler_8=sympatico...@lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect Sent: July 29, 2009 1:55 PM To: rfidle...@sympatico.ca Subject: Re: [Marxism] Iran: Whose Side are You On? Tom Cod wrote: > not so ridiculous at all. Marx took a similar position in supporting the Mahdi, I think he called himself, of Algeria in resistance to French colonialism in the 1850s. You are confusing two things. Marxists back colonial resistance to imperialism, but he never would have backed such a government against its own people. One example should suffice. Haile Selassie's resistance to Mussolini was one of the most inspiring struggles of the 1930s but Selassie was a feudalist and backed the oppression of colonial peoples within the Ethiopian *Empire*, such as the Oromo peoples. We would have backed Selassie against Mussolini but the Oromos against Selassie. ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/rfidler_8%40sympati co.ca ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
