The Revolution is Ashura

Iran has had its own civil war for some years now.
The struggle is between [1] rich Iranian oligarchs who seek to widen the gap between themselves and the masses by imposing neo-liberal “reforms,” and [2] Iranian nationalists, socialists, and anti-imperialists who oppose neo-liberal “reforms.”
I’ll call them the oligarchs versus the nationalists.
Let’s look closer…
The OLIGARCHS are just like rich people everywhere else, including the USA, Israel, China, and so on. They seek to continually widen the gap between themselves and the masses by continually imposing neo-liberal “reforms” on the masses.
In Iran and throughout the world, neo-liberal “reforms” mean the privatization of schools, banks, utilities, and public services. Public assets are stolen by the rich. “Reforms” mean austerity – that is, increased subsidies to the rich, along with cuts in social programs for average people. “Reforms” mean higher taxes for the masses, and lower taxes for the rich. Neo-liberal “reforms” mean a shift from industrial capitalism to financial capitalism (or casino capitalism). That is, rich people cease to invest in business, and devote all their money to gambling in the markets. This boosts the financial economy (i.e. Wall Street) at the expense of the real economy (i.e. Main Street). Neo-liberal “reforms” mean “free trade” agreements that wipe out local workers, and strengthen global conglomerates. Neo-liberal “reforms” mean tyranny by oligarchs. They mean the commodification of everything in the universe, including human life. They mean that most money in circulation consists of debt, rather than fiscal spending by governments. They mean union-busting, worker enslavement, and downward pressure on wages.
In essence, neo-liberal “reforms” mean an ever-widening gap between the rich and the rest. This is what austerity and neo-liberalism are all about: widening the gap between the rich and the rest. Everything in economics devolves to this. The struggle between the haves and have-nots.
Rich Iranians love neo-liberalism and perpetual war, since these things widen the Gap. They love the USA, which is the global headquarters of neo-liberalism and perpetual war. They want Iran to be totally integrated into the global financial system of corrupt banks and casino frauds, since this again widens the Gap between the rich and the rest. They have no problem with Israel. All the oligarchs care about is increasing their power, and widening the Gap between themselves and the masses. It is the same throughout the world. For oligarchs in every nation, the more power they get, the more they want. They can never have enough.
Note that wealth is relative. My wealth is not a function of how much money I have, but how much more money I have than you have. If everyone has a million dollars, then no one is “rich.” But if I alone have a thousand dollars (and everyone else has nothing) then I am rich. Therefore oligarchs seek to not only get richer, but to drive you further into poverty. It’s all about widening the gap between them and you. The wider the gap, the more “wealth” they have. And they can never have enough. The Gap can never be wide enough. Your poverty can never be deep enough. He more neo-liberal “reforms” they impose, the more fanatically they seek additional “reforms.”
On the other side are the NATIONALISTS. They oppose neo-liberalism. These Iranians seek to keep alive the anti-imperialist spirit of the 1979 Revolution. (The West has falsely portrayed the 1979 Revolution as a religious event, in order to make Iranians socialists seem “insane.”) The Nationalists favor socialism over plutocracy; and civic harmony over “the markets.” They despise Jewish abominations, and they oppose the neo-liberal reduction of all life to the profit motive.
Their enemies are the greedy Iranian OLIGARCHS, which include Hassan Rouhani, who became President on 3 Aug 2013. Iranians elected Rouhani because he promised an end to US sanctions, and a revival of the Iranian economy. In reality Mr. Rouhani planned to impose neo-liberal reforms, in order to boost the financial economy at the expense of the real economy. This would make him and his cronies richer than ever.
Rouhani is extremely rich, greedy, and corrupt. Like all oligarchs worldwide, he loves subsidies and government programs that widen the gap between the rich and the rest. He calls such programs “efficiency” and “economic development.” And like all oligarchs, Rouhani regards all government programs that help average people as “oppressive government intervention in economic affairs” (his words). Oligarchs condemn popular programs as “big government.” They say that such programs prevent “economic development” (i.e. prevent the supremacy of Wall Street over Main Street).).
Like all oligarchs, Rouhani says the solution to problems caused by neo-liberalism is more neo-liberalism. If privatization and financialization cause mass poverty and unemployment, the solution is more privatization and financialization. More. Always more.
President Rouhani champions neoliberal “reforms” in all his speeches, statements, and books. He deplores Iran’s “very oppressive” (i.e. worker-friendly) labor laws. He says that Iran’s minimum wage must be slashed, and restrictions on the laying off of workers eliminated if Iran’s “owners of capital” are to have the “freedom” to create prosperity (for themselves at the expense of the masses).
Parts of Rouhani’s speeches are taken word-for-word from western oligarchs. For example, Rouhani says, “One of the main challenges that employers and our factories face is the existence of labor unions. Workers (i.e. takers) should be more obedient to the demands of job-creators (i.e. makers).” He actually uses those words “makers” and “takers.”
When Rouhani speaks of “economic development,” he means casino capitalism, and an endlessly-widening gap between the rich and the rest. He means integrating Iran with the oligarch-ruled, finance-based, inequality-ridden outside world.
As noted above, the purpose of neoliberal “reforms” is to widen the gap between the rich and the rest. To this end, Rouhani removed import duties (i.e. tariffs) on imports that have competitive domestic substitutes. This was done to crush local producers, and put all power and wealth in the hands of big conglomerates. Rouhani also slashed subsidies for the poor, claiming it was necessary to “fight inflation,” even as he boosted subsidies to the rich owners of factories. Rouhani slashed the government-sponsored housing projects that made home-ownership affordable to working classes and low-income classes. Called Maskan-e Mehr (Goodwill Housing), it allowed 4.4 million low-income families to become homeowners, and it significantly contributed to economic growth and employment. However, since it did not widen the Gap between the rich and the rest, Rouhani killed it.
The result of neo-liberalism in Iran is the same as it is everywhere else: Wall Street is happy, while Main Street is miserable. The financial economy is booming, while the real economy dies. And poverty and inequality become worse every day.
In Israel, Iran, the USA, and everywhere else, it is the same. Neoliberalism is an ideology and doctrine designed to promote and justify inequality. It claims that wealth transfers to the rich will bring prosperity to all. It claims that state-sponsored social safety-net programs are “burdens” that reduce “productivity” (i.e. reduce inequality) and that, therefore, all government spending should be restricted to the rich, with no spending for the lower classes. These lies are so pervasive that they form a cult religion; a faith-based theology. “The market” (i.e. inequality) is God. The rich are infallible and too-big-to-jail. Anyone who sins (i.e. defies the rich) is rightly condemned to hell (poverty) for all eternity.
There is much more I want to say about the inner working of Iran (and Syria too), but my comments are already lengthy. I will continue if anyone is interested.