Iran’s Mock Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution………..
“Iran Expanding Effort to Stifle the Opposition— After last summer’s disputed presidential election, Iran’s government relied largely on brute force — beatings, arrests and show trials — to stifle the country’s embattled opposition movement. Now, stung by the force and persistence of the protests, the government appears to be starting a far more ambitious effort to discredit its opponents and re-educate Iran’s mostly young and restive population. In recent weeks, the government has announced a variety of new ideological offensives. It is implanting 6,000 Basij militia centers in elementary schools across Iran to promote the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, and it has created a new police unit to sweep the Internet for dissident voices. A company affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards acquired a majority share in the nation’s telecommunications monopoly this year, giving the Guards de facto control of Iran’s land lines, Internet providers and two cellphone companies. And in the spring, the Revolutionary Guards plan to open a news agency with print, photo and television elements……....”
Chairman Mao tried to revive the revolutionary spirit in China with his Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, hoping that it would do better than the Great Leap Forward. It started in 1966, with the Red Guards running rampant. It ran its course, but in 1972 who should land in China but the Dark Knight himself: Richard Milhous Nixon? The rest is history.
The theocrats in Iran can’t even begin to imitate the powers that Mao had. They may want to, but they don’t even have anything near the absolute power that most neighboring Arab dictators and absolute monarchs have.
Cheers
mhg
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