Tudeh News – Mar/Apr 2016 – No. 290
STATEMENT OF THE TUDEH PARTY OF IRAN:
FEBRUARY ELECTION A CLEAR INDICATION OF THE DEEP ANTIPATHY OF THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE THEOCRATIC REGIME
The Central Committee of the Tudeh Part of Iran
THE “NEW MIDDLE EAST” PLAN, OBAMA DOCTRINE, AND ITS IMPACT ON THE POWER BALANCE IN IRAN AND ITS FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
(Abridged from “Nameh Mardom”, Central Organ of the Tudeh Party of Iran No. 996, April 4, 2016)
STATEMENT OF THE TUDEH PARTY OF IRAN:
FEBRUARY ELECTION A CLEAR INDICATION OF THE DEEP ANTIPATHY OF THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE THEOCRATIC REGIME
March 1, 2016
The elections of the Islamic Majlis (parliament) and the Assembly of Experts [of the Leadership] in Iran wrapped up with participation of about 60% of eligible voters. The mass media affiliated with the despotic regime and security apparatus claimed the 60% participation of the people in the elections as a positive response to Khamenei’s call [to vote] and allegiance of the people with the Islamic Regime, and the pro-reform media, too, claimed the victory of the reformists in both elections.
This kind of election in 2016 is not a new phenomenon in our country. This election, like other election shows in recent decades, was held by the reactionary regime in an organized and engineered manner in which the people could vote only for those candidates who had passed through the filters of the Guardian Council and the security apparatus of the Islamic Guard Corps (SEPAH). Disqualification of thousands of pro-reform and dissident candidates by the Guardian Council in recent weeks clearly showed that the regime neither believes in elections and people’s rights, nor does it allow that another “May 97” movement [when Khatami was elected as president] be born again.
It is clear that the outcome of such a theatre cannot be the election of true representatives of the people and the formation of a parliament that can be called the “house of the representatives of the nation”. In this election, what was sadly not heard or seen from the few reformist figures who were allowed to run was a concrete social-political plan to save the country from the current crisis and to move toward freedom and justice. Those who got elected for the Majlis (parliament) in the capital city Tehran and in other cities of the county were mainly figures affiliated with the forces supporting the “hope and moderation” government of Mr. Rouhani, and a faction of “moderate” fundamentalists under the leadership of Ali Larijani, the current Speaker of the parliament. In an interview with Shargh paper, Ali Shakouri-Raad, the General Secretary of the “Union of the Islamic Iran Nation Party” claimed that it seems that the circle of reformism has expanded so much that many fundamentalists fit in it too. The core policy of “trust-building” with the ruling regime not only will not alleviate any of the scores of pain and suffering and adversity of the people, but also is an attempt to reconcile various faction of the regime with the goal of continuing the rule of a regime which is the root cause of the current disastrous situation in our country.
Inclusion of such criminal figures as Mohammad Rayshahri and Dori Najaf-Abadi, and reactionaries such as Emami Kashani and the defenders of the bloody suppression of June 2009 in the “List of Hope” of reformists, and campaigning for the election of these individuals, is a dark stain in the records of those who advertise themselves as the defenders of the peoples’ rights.
The message of both those who participated in this election and the millions of Iranians who chose not to take part in the election was a clear and bold expression of their deep antipathy toward the leadership of the theocratic regime and its repressive apparatus. In the February election, the people of our nation once again announced that they cannot come to terms with this way of governance and reject the political regime in which the right of people to free election is violated and trampled by intimidation and suppression and “discretionary supervision” [of the Guardian Council].
The slogans to move toward concession and reconciliation and communion of factions which we here these days not only are not in sync with the demands of the people, but also are in contrast to the core ideals of the reform movement to establish democracy in Iran. Not learning from the history and repeating such slogans and policies as “building trust” with the reactionary regime, which was the Achilles’ heel of the reform movement during the two terms of Presidency of Mr. Khatami and also during the 6th [reformist-dominated] Majlis (parliament) will result in what we witness today: the continuance of the despotic regime of Supreme Leadership!
The result of the engineering of the “election” of June 2013, in which the reformists voted for Rouhani whom they knew was not from the reformist forces, was further retreat from the demands of the movement in the February election and encouraging the people to vote for such figures like Rayshahri and Dori Najaf-Abadi and Emami Kashani.
They say “once burned, twice shy”. Individuals like Hashemi Rafsanjani who could enter the Assembly of Experts today as the top representative from Tehran, not only is not, and will not be, the savior of our country from the claws of the reaction, but also himself is among the main architects of the current medieval regime toward which the people categorically expressed their disgust and revulsion.
The February election is over, but the struggle of the fed-up people against the oppression of the current rulers continues. The fight against the dictatorship and the process of transformation to a regime established based on the demands and wills of the people cannot be curbed and stopped. The harsh economic state of our nation continuously highlights the importance of intertwined relation between the struggle for political changes in favour of freedom, and economic changes for social justice.
The February election once again clearly showed that the people are not interested in reconciliation with the ruling reactionaries. The dictatorship could not be justified anymore with intellectual discourse. The future of our country depends on the organized and coordinated struggle of the people and the popular and progressive forces around a concrete plan to reject and dispose of the despotism and to establish freedoms and democratic rights.
The Central Committee of the Tudeh Part of Iran
THE “NEW MIDDLE EAST” PLAN, OBAMA DOCTRINE, AND ITS IMPACT ON THE POWER BALANCE IN IRAN AND ITS FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
(Abridged from “Nameh Mardom”, Central Organ of the Tudeh Party of Iran No. 996, April 4, 2016)
Many analysts believe that the shift in the policies of the United States in regards to the Middle East, and particularly in dealing with Iran, in the last year of the presidency of Barak Obama is the most significant success and legacy of Obama, and dub it the “Obama’s Doctrine” in foreign policy. The evidence shows that the Obama Doctrine, based on the New Middle East plan, has been able to make specific and significant changes in favor of the long-term interests of the United States. Therefore, the application of this Doctrine as a foundation in order to continue the interaction between the United States and the theocratic regime of Iran should be considered and studied.
Tudeh Party of Iran has identified the major shifts in the policies of the United States in the Middle East and since September 2013 has reviewed and analyzed these shifts in several occasions as the reconfiguration of the policies of the government of the United States in its interactions with the theocratic regime of Iran. Our analyses have stressed on two very important issues, namely: first, the interaction of the Iranian regime with the United States from a weak position and in the framework of the New Middle East plan in order to simultaneously solve two domestic and foreign crises, which makes the future political, economic, and even social developments in our nation a function of and dependent on the continuing coexistence between the United States and the theocratic regime of Iran; and second, the emergence of the “moderation”, promoting Hassan Rouhani, and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) agreement are the means to resolve the two aforementioned domestic and foreign crises…
The assessment of the current situation in Iran indicates that through a temporary unity between the power factions around a common goal, i.e. the survival of the regime, the theocratic regime of Iran has been able to dodge the very dangerous domestic and international crises that it was facing in 2012… These two crises are organically linked to each other… The antagonist contradiction of the majority of the people and the ruling dictatorship has always been the root cause of the domestic crises.
The ongoing crises and the intensification of the financial sanctions by the US Treasury on Iran were sharply escalating the domestic political and economic crisis for the ruling dictatorship… The entirety of the regime was facing a serious risk… and the popular movement to push back the dictatorship in the last two years of Ahmadinejad Presidency was mounting. In 2012, the theocratic regime and the Leader recognized the threat and realized that any kind of real retreating before the people would mean the risk of shaking the foundation of the Supreme Leadership.
By inflicting detrimental blows on the import-based petro-dollar-based economy of Iran, the government of the United States made it clear to the Iranian leaders- and the Supreme Leader Khamenei in particular- that their “economic resistance” against the undisputed dominance of the US over the global financial capitalism is useless… The US has held the national economy of Iran its hostage. The theocratic regime of Iran entered in ultra secret negotiations with the US on some sort of mutual peace and interaction in 2012, in Oman, from a very weak position in front of an imperialist power, and backed away on issues beyond the nuclear issue. “Obama’s Doctrine” and back-breaking sanctions put the US in a very exceptionally powerful position, which it has exploited in two intertwined grounds:
1. Significantly restricting the power and influence of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region and pushing it back, and blocking the access of the I.R. Iran to nuclear weapon. The road map in this ground is to place the I.R. Iran in the New Middle East plan while keeping the threat of snapping back the sanctions.
2. Interfering and intervening in the shift in the power balance within the regime. The road map in this ground is to create the fitting atmosphere for the grand capital that wants to be tied to the global capitalism to have the upper hand.
The New Middle East plan is an important part of the “Obama’s Doctrine”. The developments in the region are propelled in the direction to protect the strategic interests of the US through lobbying, diplomatic pressure, exploiting the religious and ethnic conflicts, and the carrot and stick policy based on the unquestionable dominance of the US over the global financial capitalism.
The core of Obama’s New Middle East plan is based on the “Project for the New American Century” (PNAC) that was developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union by the right wing circles and think-tanks in the US for the Post Cold War era, in order to secure the dominant position of the United States as the sole superpower at any cost. The pinnacle of PNAC was the so-called “War on Terrorism”.
Now, the core of the policies of the Obama administration to protect its vital interests is based on direct and indirect intervention in the external interactions and regional developments of the main powers of the region (Israel, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan). The US interaction with the various brands of “Political Islam” in the region is one of the pillars of the reconfiguration of the policies of the US administration under Obama in the Middle East. None of the entities of Political Islam (not even the I.R. Iran) is a threat to the hegemony of the US as a superpower. The potential risk in front of the US is the Far East, especially China, which is the driving force of the global economic growth.
Placing the I.R. Iran in the New Middle East plan has disrupted the power balance in the region. It has led to the negative reaction of the Saudi Arabia. That’s why Obama in his interview with “Atlantic” newspaper made it clear that Saudis have to share the Middle East with their rivals and Saudis and Iranians have to find a way to keep some sort of a “cold peace” between them… Instead of warmongering and military campaigns, Barak Obama had tied up- intentionally or unintentionally- the ongoing dominance of the US with the survival of the two Islamic regimes of Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The impact of Obama’s New Middle East plan on the power balance and the future of the region, and on the goals it pursues on the domestic arena, are two intertwined aspects of the plan and should be reviewed in conjunction with each other. If on one hand the US policy in the region will lead to the survival of the theocratic regime of Iran, on the other hand, the Obama administration is pursuing specific goals in Iran in the process of the factional competition for a power balance and asking for their political and economic share…
Four years ago the entire despotic regime of Iran, and in particular the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, were in a retreat position in order to escape the domestic and international crises. During this time they formulated planned retreats under the guise of “Heroic Flexibility”, but not in favor of the people, but to protect and save the regime itself. To manage this retreat, i.e. agreeing to JCPoA for sanction relief, extensive reorganizing in the government was necessary, hence the emergence of the “Moderation” and a President by the name of Hassan Rouhani; a golden opportunity to influence the domestic interactions of Iran. Laying the political and economic ground for part of the bourgeoisie that possesses large capital and its political representatives (who find their interests in the New Middle East plan), helped them get closer to the political power in their factional struggle. Since June 2013, the new grouping of Moderation has been able to take over many positions in the power pyramid of the regime by drawing parts of the “Principlists” and reformists to itself, around the alliance of Rafsanjani-Rouhani.
However, the New Middle East plan and the empowerment of the Moderation faction in Iran has not been able to make any political changes toward democracy and any improvement in the livelihood of the majority of the people and move toward social justice. Such changes are impossible under the theocratic regime of Supreme Leadership and its political economy. The entire camp of moderates, including the reformist who have blended in the system, along with the President, despite their maneuvers in front of Ali Khamenei, at the end always submit to the Supreme Leader…
In spite of conflicts and rivalries inside the entire regime, the entirety of the regime has placed the country in the road of interaction with the US based on the New Middle East plan. On one hand, Ali Khamenei and his clique- including the heads of the Guards Corps, reluctantly but realistically and against their will have disgracefully submitted to the New Middle East plan for the sake of the survival of the regime, and on the other hand, the so-called Moderate grouping is interacting with the Obama administration for the sake of its class interests.
Tudeh Party of Iran strongly believes that through united struggle of the forces that fight for national sovereignty, real democracy, and social justice, the dependence of the future of the country on the deals between the theocratic regime of Iran and the United States must be prevented, because in this process, the national interests and the rights and freedoms of the people of Iran will be trampled. Let’s not allow that the future of Iran, and also of the region, whose destiny are intertwined, be determined based on the US interests and the religious conflicts or alliances, which eventually will undoubtedly lead to war, misery for people, destruction, and further lag in development. Our party has been able to establish close ties and relations for cooperation with the progressive in the region through its ongoing participation in the international and regional regions and expounding the risks and threats due to the New Middle East plan and its regional dimensions in connection with the strengthening and survival of the various forms of the Political Islam. Tudeh Party of Iran, realizing the gravity of the moment and through employing domestic and international possibilities, calls upon the progressive and patriotic forces, that struggle to overcome the theocratic dictatorship, to launch a broad campaign on this path
THE TUDEH PARTY OF IRAN STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLE AND THE PROGRESSIVE STUDENT MOVEMENT IN SUDAN AND THE FRATERNAL SUDANESE COMMUNIST PARTY
April 15, 2016
The Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran has received the shocking news of the violent suppression of the student uprising in Khartoum against the sale of the historic public buildings of the only national university in the country to private businesses tied directly or indirectly to the dictatorial and reactionary government of Al-Bashir. Privatization of public property constitutes a major element in the IMF’s prescription for under-developed and developing countries in which right-wing, reactionary regimes are in power.
The Tudeh Party of Iran has followed with alarm news reports of the vicious crackdown by police and security forces on the peaceful protest of the students and strongly condemns the violence unleashed against them and their supporters. The repressive regime of Al-Bashir, faced with deep social discontent caused by its reactionary socio-economic policy which has resulted in a dire economic situation and extensive poverty, understandably fears for its very survival. In such circumstances, the wave of protest in the student movement could be the spark that triggers mass uprisings which shake the very pillars of the brutal regime.
The Tudeh Party of Iran stands shoulder to shoulder with the fraternal Sudanese Communist Party in its just fight against repression and expresses its absolute solidarity with the protesting students, youth, and progressive forces in Sudan who are actively resisting the devastating policies of Al Bashir’s dictatorial regime. Public properties and institutions should be kept in public ownership, to serve the needs and interests of the people not the profiteers.
We are appalled that the security forces are not releasing the identity of the students and young people arrested in recent days and are refusing to inform their families about their whereabouts, the conditions of their detention and the charges against them. The Tudeh Party of Iran calls for the immediate release of all those arrested since the crackdown began. The Tudeh Party of Iran will publish and promote news about the student resistance movement in Khartoum throughout our Party and raise awareness within progressive organisations in the youth and student and peace movements, in order to mobilise support for the militant students and solidarity with the struggle of the Sudanese people.
We call on the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the World Peace Council (WPC) to build and lead the campaign for international solidarity with the youth and students and all those struggling for peace and social justice in Sudan. We stand firm in solidarity with the fraternal Communist Party of Sudan and all who are fighting for progressive and fundamental changes in Sudan.
Victory to the struggling people!
Victory to the struggle for democracy, peace and justice!
Long Live International Solidarity!
With comradely greetings,
The Central Committee of the Tudeh Part of Iran
