Carrol, why would you bring up Yoshie & Iran again? Please don't. On Mon, Nov 06, 2006 at 05:36:12PM -0600, Carrol Cox wrote: > Iran may be a sort of test case of Ellen Wood's Empire of Capital and > the article "Endless War" she published in Historical Materialism. > Modern imperialism can't exert direct control over all the areas in > which it operates, but capital _always_ requires a nation state. Hence > capital in the core capitalist states has to depend on states not under > direct imperial control to discipline their population to the needs of > imperial capital. This requires "endless war" to keep reminding the > various semi-autonomous states of their duty! > > >From Yoshie's posts on Iran I would gather (re stacking contradictions > in the right order) that the principal contradiction in Iran today is > that between neo-liberalism and illiberal nationalism. And, she argues, > the latter _may_ show some signs of becoming less illiberal, at least if > it triumphs over neoliberalism. And the principal aspect of that > contradiction is Neoliberalism, since the Mullahs who have final say > tend toward that position, and the president doesn't yet have the > strength to overcome them. Iran, like any state, is a _process_, not > static metaphysical entity, and it can't be understood by piling up > randomly collected empirical data and generalizing from it, which is the > procedure, ahistorical and anti-dialectical, Doug and Lou are following > in their attacks on Yoshie. > > Now implicit, I think, in all Yoshie's Iran posts has been the premise > that the principal contradiction in the world today is between U.S. > imperialism and the rest of the world; moreover, so far it is the U.S. > aspect that is dominant. U.S. leftists must somehow work towards > reversing the u.s. dominance of that contradiction, and only then will > _domestic_ contradictions 'ripen' enough for us to seriously exploit > them. It is in that context, in reference to u.s. imperialism that "the > enemy of my enemy is my ally"! (This is subject to challenge in specific > cases, but the burden of proof is on those who raise such challenges, > and given the immense threat that u.s. imperialism represents to all > humanity, the burden is a heavy one.) > > That u.s. dominance internationally is reflected internally in > innumerable ways. It shows in the passivity of the u.s. working class > (80+% of the population, more to be described as a giant in a coma than > a sleeping giant), in the dominance of the DP, and in the dominance > among leftists of those who want to look to "nuances" in the field of > international relations, judging each u.s. act separately. (The > outrageous support from the left of the Serbian and Afghanistan > aggressions are notable examples of the last point.) Hence my hypothesis > that the drift to the right in the u.s. won't stop until its world > hegemony is at least given a good shake. > > I don't think Iran is going to drift or be forced, in the near future, > into the neoliberal orbit. The imperialist problems in Iraq, in > Afghanistan, & in Latin America are a drag on u.s. power: not enough of > a drag actually to weaken it but enough of a drag that it can't expand > its power right now. And that same tendency (weakness) affects events > within Iran: the neoliberals there can't open their nation entirely to a > power that is in such hot water. (This balance of forces in Iran is what > Yoshie has been trying to explore.) > > It is fairly obvious now that the Iraqi people were far better off > under the rule of Hussein than they are now, and the semi-hysterical > attacks on Yoshie over Iran in the last several months remind me of the > equally hysterical insistence three years ago that we could not oppose > the u.s. invasion of Iraq without first (like a Roman politician in > Shakespeare showing his wounds to the mob) demonstrating through loud > condemnations of Saddam the purity of our motives. > > It seems to me that whatever discored there may be within u.s. ruling > circles over the details of the Iraq operation, that class remains solid > in its determination to establish and maintain u.s. imperial hegemony in > the mideast and in southern asia. Iran (pending a full awakening of the > Chinese & Russians to the u.s. peril) is perhaps the major barrier the > u.s. is encountering there. An Iran hostile to the u.s. (regardless of > anything else) is an ally of the american people. > > Carrol
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
