Suchergebnisse

"History teaches, but has no pupils"

For nearly a century and a half, Iranian intellectuals' demands for secularism and democracy have remained unfulfilled. Needless to say, the establishment of a religious state has further exacerbated the formidable challenges in achieving their goals. Nonetheless, amid the current difficulties, there are new opportunities that were not available to previous generations of intellectuals. Thirty years of Islamic rule has made the calls for the separation of religion from the state far more widespread; despite ceaseless suppression of the opposition, a lively and vibrant civil society challenges the clerical oligarchy; the postrevolutionary secular Left and liberal intellectuals tend to be more tolerant and more independent-minded than their predecessors; and a new genre of secular Muslim intellectuals, unlike the Muslim reformers of the past, have begun challenging some basic tenets of Islam and the Islamic state. The article discusses the evolution of secularist thought in Iran and the tormented relationship among secular forces in the past. It explores the possibilities for more collaborative action among secularists of diverse persuasions, on the basis of new consensus models of secularism, with the goal of establishing a more effective counterhegemony to the clerical state.

The rise of radical Islamism in recent years does not limit the applicability of the concept of cultural nationalism. Rather the two are intertwined in ways which this article will attempt to highlight. Islam took specific national forms as modern nation-states arose and the contemporary resurgence of radical Islamism also follows that modern pattern. I examine the emergence of the three most important movements in the Islamic world, namely, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jama'at-e Islami in Pakistan and Khomeinism in Iran. I argue that imperialism, authoritarianism and the contemporary rise of radical Islamism are closely related. More particularly, the latter is the complex product of failed modernisation programmes, failed developmentalism under the auspices of international capital and in collaboration with the local propertied classes, and corrupt, undemocratic governments throughout the Islamic world. The failure of secular left and liberal nationalist movements to attract mass-based support has also contributed to the strengthening of radical Islamists. The article concludes that the mobilising power and populist appeal of radical Islamists can be challenged effectively only if the social, economic and political factors that give rise to these movements in the first place are eliminated.

Contrary to prevalent arguments in the literature on Iranian work councils ('showras'), this article contends that the push for councils was a premature initiative. While political repression was a very important factor in the defeat of council movement, the demise of the movement stemmed mainly from the weaknesses of the Iranian working class and the left, from the nature and structure of the councils and from the objective conditions in which they were operating. Questioning the theoretical and conceptual basis of workers' councils and worker control, the article points to different forms of industrial democracy as the only viable option for articulating the demands of working people.