In the late 70s, the Shah of Iran was a posterchild for authoritarianist shitheads. Everyone wanted him gone, from the religious Right to the academic Left and everything in between. A crowd of liberals, professors, businessmen, reactionaries, and mullahs all united to send the Shah packing. When it was all said and done, Iran had an opportunity to form a Muslim Democracy and join the world as a rising star.
Then the Left started arguing with itself. There were the Communists who wanted Glorious Revolution, and the Academics who just wanted a sane system of government, and the moderates who wanted only a LITTLE bit more socialist support for the underserved, and each of those factions split into sub-factions over some little petty policy difference or another. And while they were fighting, the Religious Right came together, unified in the belief that Gawd Himself was on their side, and promptly took over government.
Iran went from a secular dictatorship to a religious dictatorship while the Left argued.
France has shown us that that doesn’t have to happen, by unifying in voting against the Right and settling on one candidate for each district and not letting little distractions get in the way. Unfortunately, despite this win, it shows us that the more things change, the more they stay the same and the various factions of the Left that are unwilling to compromise a single tiny bit and are willing to burn down the house if they don’t get exactly what they want, which might just cause the fall of the coalition that defeated the Hard Right in France and another risk of the rise of a Fascist government. Let’s be like France before the election, and not like France after, if we possibly can?!
Thanks for saying this.
In the late 70s, the Shah of Iran was a posterchild for authoritarianist shitheads. Everyone wanted him gone, from the religious Right to the academic Left and everything in between. A crowd of liberals, professors, businessmen, reactionaries, and mullahs all united to send the Shah packing. When it was all said and done, Iran had an opportunity to form a Muslim Democracy and join the world as a rising star.
Then the Left started arguing with itself. There were the Communists who wanted Glorious Revolution, and the Academics who just wanted a sane system of government, and the moderates who wanted only a LITTLE bit more socialist support for the underserved, and each of those factions split into sub-factions over some little petty policy difference or another. And while they were fighting, the Religious Right came together, unified in the belief that Gawd Himself was on their side, and promptly took over government.
Iran went from a secular dictatorship to a religious dictatorship while the Left argued.
France has shown us that that doesn’t have to happen, by unifying in voting against the Right and settling on one candidate for each district and not letting little distractions get in the way. Unfortunately, despite this win, it shows us that the more things change, the more they stay the same and the various factions of the Left that are unwilling to compromise a single tiny bit and are willing to burn down the house if they don’t get exactly what they want, which might just cause the fall of the coalition that defeated the Hard Right in France and another risk of the rise of a Fascist government. Let’s be like France before the election, and not like France after, if we possibly can?!