Khomeini: red or green?

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Khomeini: red or green?
by Arash Monzavi-Kia
26-Feb-2010
 

Like Mao and Lenin in the 20th century, Khomeini played a dogma-building role for his native country; and is similarly, either loved or hated by its populace. Lenin and Mao established the grandest dictatorships of the “proletariat”, which really meant the tyranny of communists. Similarly, Khomeini’s thesis was summed up in his Velayate Faghih (autocracy of the mullahs). Both systems assert that there exists an absolute and idealized truth (philosophy), whose masters (communists or mullahs) must have absolute power over the society.  

Khomeini’s core idea can be traced back to Aristotle and Plato’s utopia of the ideal realm, where a philosopher would lead and the people would be ruled on an ideological basis. Such a closed-society has been the ultimate goal of every domineering ideology, from Moses to Mao.  

On the opposite corner, for three thousand years, has stood the individualistic and elective open-society of the Greco-Roman variety. Theirs was ruled by multiple elected bodies and leaders, who were so mistrusted with power, whose terms seldom exceeded a year or two.  

History has time and again proven that most closed-societies have been incapable of walking past the primary levels of barbarism. The promised land of Soviet Union turned into a giant concentration camp, and Mao’s cultural-revolution took China to the heart of famine and desperation. Only through the bold rejection of those ideological yokes, have Russia and China been able to start walking past a state of mental-slavery.  

Nevertheless, a curious tourist can still visit the shrines of Lenin and Mao in their modern "emam-zadeh". Still, the official word in Moscow and Beijing is that those two ruthless monsters were among the “saints”. Why not? Their philosopher-kings are dead, and those people can safely say, “Long live the king”! When the time comes, the Iranian Greens may shout that too.  

 

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more from Arash Monzavi-Kia
 
yahoo_yabo

i'm tired of focusing on past

by yahoo_yabo on Mon Mar 01, 2010 06:30 PM PST

lets move forward.  damn it, who wants to remember those days when we had to hide in the basement,

cheese was hardly available

the only icecreams were that damn za'afarani icecream that I hated

there were no oranged, there were no bananas

Mehrabad Airport was a piece of ............   the toilets in the airport stunk for miles...

they still stink for miles.......all that talk about cleanliness and the toilets still belong to the 4th century


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maziar 58

........

by maziar 58 on Sun Feb 28, 2010 12:52 PM PST

according to their own tales a person like khomeini who took voozoo with the bloods of first few executed one on the roof top of aalavieh school HE WAS DEFINTLY RED RED RED.  Maziar


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hamsade ghadimi

arash

by hamsade ghadimi on Sat Feb 27, 2010 03:04 PM PST

what i meant by comment was that: in a decentralized economy, goods and services provided in the marketplace and their associated prices and quantities are determined by demands and preferences of individuals across the society.  these demands are considered "dollar votes" akin to voting in a democracy.

in a centralized economy, the state determines what people should consume, prices are set artificially, competition is limited or non-existent, and economy is usually rife with shortages and black markets for desired goods.  the soviet economy did not work for exactly those reasons and the chinese is working because they have shifted away from those policies.

corruption, nepotism and inequality of wealth distribution exist in all societies and i agree with you that they are more pronounced in dictatorships.


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Arash Monzavi-Kia

thanks

by Arash Monzavi-Kia on Sat Feb 27, 2010 11:04 AM PST

Yes, an open-society cannot exist without an open economy. Centralized ownership (in the hands of a shah, mullah or party) turns people into helpless slaves who are obliged to submit to that absolute-power.


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hamsade ghadimi

good read

by hamsade ghadimi on Sat Feb 27, 2010 10:16 AM PST

thanks arash.  it was an interesting article.  one can also extend your thoughts in an economic framework where there are centralized and decentralized economic paradigms.  red or green, the hearts of these men and those who wish their philosophy on society are black.


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David ET

Secular:

by David ET on Fri Feb 26, 2010 09:37 PM PST

 سکولار:جدا دین، عرفی، مدنی

visit: www.iransecular.org


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Arash Monzavi-Kia

با تشکر

Arash Monzavi-Kia
Fri Feb 26, 2010 08:49 PM PST

کاش میشد برای واژه "سکولار" معادل فارسی مناسبی جست.

آزاد منش؟

بی‌ تعصب؟

پذیرا؟


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David ET

Enjoyed reading your article

by David ET on Fri Feb 26, 2010 06:06 PM PST

Thanks 

visit: www.iransecular.org


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