On 7/5/06, Dan Scanlan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Jul 5, 2006, at 11:38 AM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> Here's another one on the economic faction fight in Iran. -- Yoshie
>
>
> Find this page online at:
> http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2006/july-2006/
> privatisation_4706.shtml
> Iran Enters The Liberalism Era
>
> Posted Monday, July 3, 2006
>
> Tehran, 4 Jul. (IPS) In a move that surprised most Iranian and foreign
> experts, the Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i ordered the
> government of fundamentalist, anti-western Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezjad to
> cede 80 percent of the shares of major state-owned enterprises to the
> private sector, the cooperatives and the people.
Does this mean that Bush/Cheney/PapaBush's heavy-handed threats of
the annihilation of Iran are working?
Khamenei has always been like that, and this faction fight rooted in
class contradiction would have come about, sooner or later, without
Bush/Cheney/PapaBush, without the nuclear energy controversy, etc.
The first decade of the Islamic Republic set up what might be called
an Islamic welfare state, but the welfare state has been chipped away
since the beginning of the Rafsanjani years, and the ascendancy of
neoliberal reformists during the Khatami era accelerated the attack on
it, which culminated in the Iranian parliament's amendments of
Articles 43 and 44 of the Iranian Constitution in 2004. It is true
that, in contrast to the most radical neoliberal reformists, Khamenei
and his allied clerics were a little more weary of destroying the
welfare state (without which, after all, support for the clerical rule
may completely melt down), but the neolibeal reforms in the previous
Iranian administrations, as well as the constitutional amendments,
would *not* have happened without Khamenei's support for them.
If anything, Bush/Cheney/PapaBush, the nuke controversy, etc. had
postponed the domestic class conflict, for Washington never made clear
to Khamenei that it would make a deal with him. It still hasn't, but
Khamenei wants to check Ahmadinejad (who has come to overshadow
Khamenei in the minds of the poor) also, so he has taken chances.
Ahmadinejad is not without resources. The day after Khamenei's
announcement of privatization, the President submitted a plan that is
intended to moderate its radical character:
<blockquote>Supreme Leader accepts president's request on privatization
Tehran, July 3, IRNA
<http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0607039569181701.htm>>
Supreme Leader-President-Privatization
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei
on Monday accepted a request from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to
cede 50 percent of shares of state-run enterprises by installment to
provincial investment cooperatives and the two lowest-level income
groups of the society.
The Supreme Leader issued executive order for privatization drive on
Sunday in line with Article 44 of the Constitution and said that the
plan will help speed up economic development, social justice and
elimination of poverty.
Ayatollah Khamenei underscored the need to form a special team to
monitor full implementation of the action plan on privatization.
The Supreme Leader made it clear that share prices should be
determined in the Stock Exchange and the two lowest level income
groups in the poverty line would be given 50 percent discount and
their payment should be made on a 10-year installment.
Ayatollah Khamenei assigned heads of three branches of the government
to accurately monitor implementation of the plan and not to allow the
opportunist or rent-seeking people to influence the
process.</blockquote>
But that will only slow down the process of privatization, for the
poor and provincial cooperatives who get the shares will be allowed to
sell them on the market after four years as it is currently planned
(and they will, on terms disadvantageous to them). In that
intervening period, it may be possible, however, for the masses to
push Ahmadinejad to modify the plan further (e.g., prohibiting the
sale of shares). Besides, the conflict with the West will also slow
things down. The Washington power elite, both Republican and
Democrat, tend to be more keen on ideology and geopolitics than
economics per se when it comes to Iran in particular and the Middle
East in general (unlike their relatively flexible attitude toward
China), so Khamenei's WTO dream may not come about in any case.
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
