On 9/1/06, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
from WaPo SLATE mag:>... if there's any room left for nails in Mao's
ideological coffin, the NY [TIMES] looks to bang one in with a front
page piece on Shanghai high-school textbooks all but eliminating
mention of the chairman. To nobody's surprise, the ruling Communist
Party is less interested today in imparting to students the inspiring
history of the Chinese people's ability to overthrow exploitative
regimes and dynasties. Of course, that has nothing to do with
politics, Chinese officials tell the Times.<
is this the correct way to handle Contradictions Among the People?
Ervand Abrahamian says that "Khomeini is to the Islamic Revolution
what Lenin was to the Bolshevik, Mao to the Chinese, and Castro to the
Cuban revolutions" (Iran between Two Revolutions, Princeton University
Press, 1982, p. 531), possessing an ability to "rally behind him a
wide spectrum of political and social forces" (p. 532). And yet
Khomeini the revolutionary leader is everywhere in Iran, in the
consciousness of everyone from Ahmadinejad to Khatami ("'The rejection
of democracy and the defense of dictatorship are threats to the
Islamic Republic and such points of view are in contradiction with the
aspirations of the Imam (Khomeini),' Khatami told government officials
at a planning meeting for the anniversary of Khomeini's death on June
4, 1989.) to popular masses" ["'Dictatorship Threatens Islamic
Republic': Khatami," 3 June 2002,
<http://www.iranmania.com/news/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=10521&NewsKind=CurrentAffairs&ArchiveNews=Yes>]).
Popular memories of the revolution are alive in Iran as well as in
Cuba, unlike in China.
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
