Democracy & State > Political Islam
None of the above
07 Jun 2012
Calling on Egyptians to vote for the Muslim Brotherhood is insane, argues Paul Demarty
Messianic colonialism
09 Jun 2022
Religious ideology and nationalist ideology have a unique interrelationship; after all, even secular Zionists have to justify their ongoing colonial project with reference to a god they do not believe in. However, as Moshé Machover shows, it is the religious Zionists of the far right who are increasingly setting the agenda, not least by staging all manner of highly dangerous provocations
Bitter fruit of imperialism
04 Nov 2021
Islamist jihadism is a modern, not an ancient, phenomenon. Yassamine Mather looks at causes, social roots and terrible consequences
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
Media muddle
23 Sep 2021
Yes, they are deeply reactionary, writes Yassamine Mather. But they have learnt to survive, adapt and win
Rightwing hopes dashed
16 Sep 2021
After the scuttle from Afghanistan, reality is finally sinking in for the royalist, cultist and paid-for ‘regime change’ advocates, writes Yassamine Mather
Mirror images of terror
16 Sep 2021
Al Qa’eda wanted to provoke, the US neocons wanted to be provoked. The result has been a whole series of failed states, writes Eddie Ford
Reruns and failures
09 Sep 2021
Eddie Ford is unsurprised by America’s failure to get a smooth, South Africa-type transition of power
No longer a US problem
02 Sep 2021
Undoubtedly the region’s powers see opportunities with the Americans gone, but mostly they see dangers. Yassamine Mather looks at the prospects now that the Taliban are back in Kabul
Surviving against all the odds
12 Aug 2021
Why are the leaders of the Islamic Republic still looking so confident? The answer lies in the dismal failures of the global hegemon, argues Yassamine Mather
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
Looking back over the ruins
15 Jul 2021
The final withdrawal of American troops must be put in the context of the April 1978 revolution and the subsequent reaction. The USA and Saudi Arabia armed, financed and promoted a counterrevolution, which included Osama bin Laden and al Qa’eda and ended in the triumph of the Taliban. This is an edited version of an article written by Jack Conrad and first published in June 2003. Its main target is Sean Matgamna, patriarch of the social-imperialist Alliance for Workers’ Liberty. Nowadays, the AWL describes the Taliban as “Islamo-fascist”; back then, though, they were “our kind of people”
Same old, same old
24 Jun 2021
The election of Ebrahim Raisi hardly signals a major change, writes Yassamine Mather. Yet, while the left remains confused, opposition to the regime is palpable
Highlights of ‘democracy’
17 Jun 2021
Not only are the candidates useless: the pundits are worse. Yassamine Mather reports on the presidential election campaign, as it enters its closing straight
Seven are the doors to hell
10 Jun 2021
Yassamine Mather reports on the new restrictions, the disqualifications and what passes for debate in the presidential election campaign