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Authoritarian states

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2 years ago

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In my previous articles, I criticized the democratic model in Western countries (Danmark)  which no longer matches the complexity of modernity. I wrote that social equality is a main condition for democracy. In this article, we will look at authoritarian states in the Middle East. I am writing this article in connection with what is happening in Iran. Protests in Iran erupted after the Kurdish Iranian girl, Mahsa Amini, was reported dead in hospital. Mahsa Amini died of a cerebral hemorrhage. The regime denied guilt, although Mahsa Amini’s father said that the daughter was not sick. Subsequently, more people were killed and reported missing in Iran while the regime still refused. Examples that I can mention include Hananeh Kia, Nika Shakarami, Sarina Esmailzadeh and hundreds of others who lost their lives in a peaceful demonstration against the regime. The killing of Khodanoor became a symbol of the oppression the Baluch minority suffers under the Iranian authoritarian regime, just as Mahsa Amini became a symbol of the oppression the Kurdish minority suffers in Iran. The protests in Iran started from the Kurdish part but spread to the whole country where people shouted slogans, ’Women, Life, Freedom…’. This is a Kurdish slogan that was used in the Kurdish freedom struggles. The Iranians showed solidarity with Kurds and Baluchis and renounced the brutality of the regime. Mahsa Amini was not a Kurd, but an Iranian like all the other women in Iran who were mistreated by the morality police. Moral police existed in North Korea long before Iran, so it has nothing to do with Islam, but the authoritarian anti-Western ideology that was created. I explained before in my articles how Ayatollah Khomeini created the Islamic authoritarian ideology in Iran which is a new revolutionary ideology that differs from the traditional ideology of Islam (I am not saying Islam is good or bad).  Ayatollah Khomeini took power in a coup d’état where thousands of his opponents were killed. Like Maoism in China, the new ideology cost many people their lives. Ayatollah Khomeini believed that he, as the spiritual leader, was higher than Islam and could therefore bring a new Quran and another version of Islam. He never visited the holy places in Iran because he considered himself higher than the Shia imams. An authoritarian leader can never stay in power without the support of the people. What is characteristic of authoritarian states is that they create a form of agreement — ”authoritarian bargain”.

The agreement is to find a group of people in society who prefer economic advantage to political freedom. For this to be possible, the authoritarian state attracts people who have the ”authoritarian character”. In Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini created a new class in society. The Iran-Iraq war, which was supported by the Western countries, ensured the stability of the new authoritarian regime through the cleansing of the people who belonged to the old regime. The old system collapsed and 4 years after the revolution a new system had been created. A new class in society was created — ”the families of the martyrs”. The new class, through economic benefits and privileges in society, ensured the survival of the Islamic regime and Ayatollah Khomeini’s ideology. Like the Arab Spring, the Iranians came out several times and shouted for freedom. Like the Syrian authoritarian state, the regime cracked down heavily on unarmed protesters. Girls were raped so that the authoritarian regime could show its hypermasculinity and humiliate the people. This is also what ISIS did to the innocent Kurdish female slaves. Iran was the first country in history to establish an Islamic state. The Iranian state was no better than al-Qaeda or the Taliban, but the Western countries for decades hoped that they could find a solution with terrorism. They thought they would be able to negotiate with terrorists and the Iranian authoritarian state. It is of course an advantage for authoritarian states to support each other, therefore Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria actively contribute to terrorism and instability of the region. Turkey has several times bombed Derik discreetly in Rojava in Syria, while Iran has bombed the Kurdish part of Iraq. During the Arab Spring in Syria, in the city of Daraa, peaceful demonstrators were shot. The bodies were stolen and families were forbidden to hold ceremonies for their deceased. The internet was interrupted. The same is happening in Iran. Syrian activists abroad are threatened and their websites are hacked. Their families in Syria are also threatened. The same is happening in Iran. Authoritarian regimes seem to use the same methods to control their population. The Western (regimes of visibility ) then choose to show the part of truth that they themselves prioritize the most. The Western countries chose to close their eyes when al-Qaeda killed Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis, and took action only after the enemy stood behind their door and detonated suicide bombs in Europe. The Western countries turned a blind eye to Iran’s massacre of Iranians during the Aban 98 protests (Bloody November) where thousands of protesters were shot and beaten and their bodies were thrown into the Karaj dam dead or alive.

German politics changed after Olaf Scholz became chancellor and changed direction towards a more anti-Russian policy. The American, Joe Biden, lost hope when he realized that Russia has a great dominance over Iranian politics and oil. The Western countries began to choose the Americans after the Ukrainian-Russian war. World politics as a whole changed and the countries took a new position after capital and the market. Diaspora Iranians played a major role in pressuring the Western regimes of visibility. Approximately 80 thousand Iranian demonstrators appeared in Berlin. Well-known Iranian figures such as soccer player Ali Karimi and actor Golshifteh Farahani showed their soldiery. Activist Masih Alinajad met with French President Emmanuel Macron. The European parliament member David Lega, the Swedish Ann Linde, the American singer Harry Styles, the British Bambos Charalambous and hundreds of others have shown their solidarity because freedom does not belong to a particular nation but is a human right. The Danish imperialist feminist Pia Kjærsgaard also showed her solidarity, as populism constitutes a lot in Danish politics where other populists who fight for equality in society and freedom for Palestine kept their mouths shut. They also never mention Israel as an apartheid state that also oppresses Israelis, but only mentions the systematic oppression of Palestinians. They never say anything about Iran or other authoritarian countries, but only direct their criticism at Western populism. In both Shia Islam and Christianity, the savior is not a person but a character of freedom that is not bound to a specific time and place. The savior is among us and as Hannah Arendt said, ”The leaders of the revolution are those who pick up the revolution from the street and not those who started the revolution.” Authoritarian regimes live as long as ignorance is dominant, but when man is enlightened, freedom will come sooner or later.

 Before the revolution, Iran had 2/3 of the US oil market, and it was reduced to zero after the revolution. Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries took over the Iranian market in both the US and the West. Iran became an indifferent country for the West and the United States. A free Iran is of course not in the interest of any country as long as resources can be obtained from the usual suppliers. After Russia’s crisis with Europe, Iran was once again seen as an option. The Arab countries and Turkey can continue to maintain their earnings from oil and tourism as long as Iran, Russia and Syria are in crisis and under sanctions. The Iranian authoritarian regime does not care about sanctions because Iran is privatized and the authoritarian people own everything, and sanctions only affect the people who already have economic problems”Islamic capitalism”.

The Russian, Putin, had never thought that the Ukraine war would last long and turn into an economic crisis. The West provided weapons to the Free Syrian Army during the Arab Spring so that Syrians could kill each other. They did the same with Ukraine. However, they introduced harsh sanctions against Russia because the war was a threat to Europe. The international community did not intervene in the conflict, and the Syrian state could just label the people as terrorists and kill them together with Iran and Russia. Only the areas in Syria that were near Israel together with oil areas were guarded. Western regimes of visibility played a double-standard policy towards their population. So far, Iranian embassies in Western countries are still available and the West’s support for Iranian people has been nothing but condemning words.

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