The left > Middle Eastern left
Enlightenment and pure joy
09 Jun 2022
Judy Carousian reviews 'Compass and Moshé Machover' by Helena Aksentijevic (YouTube, 2022)
Deaths, deals and demonstrations
09 Jun 2022
There are growing mass protests, but very little, if anything, in the way of conscious organisation. Under these contradictory circumstances the left must avoid the temptation of giving up on basic anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist principles, insists Yassamine Mather
Taking a principled position
24 Mar 2022
Yassamine Mather takes to task the left in the Middle East and north Africa over Nato and Russia’s invasion
Clarifying the Arab Spring
27 Jan 2022
Fouad Mami reviews 'The republic of false truths' by Alaa Al-Aswany (Faber and Faber, London 2021, pp464, £12.79)
Commemoration message
16 Dec 2021
As read out at the December 11 online meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of an exiled Turkish revolutionary leader
Honouring the victims
14 Oct 2021
On October 9 a group of Iranian revolutionaries, now mainly based in North America and Europe, organised an online meeting to commemorate the 1988 massacre of political prisoners. Among the speakers were Yassamine Mather, Shahin Chitsaz and Mike Macnair
Reasons for Afghan debacles
12 Aug 2021
Daniel Lazare reviews: Rodric Braithwaite ‘Afgantsy: the Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89’ Oxford University Press, 2011, pp448, £10.28; Artemy M Kalinovsky ‘A long goodbye: the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan’ Harvard University Press, 2011, pp290, £22.95; Bruce Riedel ‘What we won: America’s secret war in Afghanistan, 1979-89’ Brookings, 2014, pp189, £17
Centrality of class independence
12 Aug 2021
Khomeini and the clergy completely outmanoeuvred the left. But it need not have been that way. In his second and concluding article on the role of oil workers in the 1979 revolution, Peyman Jafari stresses the complex nature of ideology and class consciousness
The Imam, the strikers and the black, black oil
05 Aug 2021
There are rich lessons for today in the experiences of the oil strikes of 1978. In the first of two articles Peyman Jafari charts the incredibly difficult struggle for organisation, hegemony and strategy
Into the light of hope
22 Jul 2021
Biggest oil and gas strike. A rebellion against neoliberalism. Economic and political demands combine. Ruben Markarian, of the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran, sees a historic turning point. This article is based on his July 18 Online Communist Forum talk
Fascism needs definition
17 Jun 2021
Marxism strives for clarity and telling the truth. Jack Conrad replies to Hasan Keser and Daniel Lazare
Moving to far right
22 Apr 2021
Moshé Machover looks at the dynamics and strange deals that might be done following the indecisive general election
From symbol to failure
11 Feb 2021
On February 8 1971, 50 years ago, the geurrillaist left began its armed struggle by attacking a gendamerie post at Siahkal. Three police were killed and two comrades rescued. Yassamine Mather spoke to Ardeshir Mehrdad. He was a member of the Organisation of Iranian People’s Fadai until 1980 and later became editor of Iran Bulletin
Principle, confusion and hope
11 Feb 2021
Having looked at the birth and early years of the guerrillaist left in her first article Yassamine Mather turns to the internal struggles within the Fedai
SUPPLEMENT: Three waves of protest
04 Feb 2021
Feelings of injustice, a lack of rights and a sense of betrayal have become universal and act as psychological and subjective drivers of protest, writes Ardeshir Mehrdad. But how can protest be forged into a movement than can topple the regime?