Yassamine Mather was and probably still is a member of the coordinating committee of an outfit called Workers Left Unity Iran <http://archive.workersliberty.org/australia/Newsletter/WL29.pdf>. The outfit's Web site is www.etehadchap.org/. It espouses the type of politics that Workers' Liberty in the UK and the like champion. Mather is also a deputy editor of Critique, Journal of Socialist Theory <http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=0301-7605&linktype=5>, on whose advisory board Torab Saleth sits. Critique's editor is Hillel Ticktin. It's a tiny political current from which this "open letter" comes. I wish Mather had made her political affiliation clear from the outset, instead of simply listing her academic institution, which is irrelevant to understanding the letter.
Yes, we should be clear that this controversy is being used as a wedge by people like Danny Postrel of Opendemocracy, a website that is co-edited by him and Todd Gitlin, as a battering ram against Islamic backwardness, etc. Doug Ireland has also posted the open letter. Doug writes some useful things on gay rights but tends to follow the left-liberal crowd on the usual talking points about Islam. That being said, I have stated my differences with Yoshie on how to appraise Ahmadinejad. I think he should be defended against imperialism and against the bazaar bourgeoisie in Iran but he is no Chavez. Chavez is not just a populist, he has made important statements in favor of socialism and seeks to build ties with Marxists. At his best, Ahmadinejad is more like Qaddafi.
