The radical left in Iran

NY Times:

In early December, a surprising scene unfolded at Tehran University: 500 Marxist students held aloft portraits of Che Guevara to protest President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies. Smaller groups of Marxist students held similar protests in several other cities.

Political protest has been harshly suppressed under the current Iranian government, especially dissent linked to the West. But the radical left, despite its antireligious and antigovernment message, has been permitted relative freedom. This may be, analysts say, because, like the government, it rejects the liberal reform movement and attacks the West.

“The government practically permitted the left to operate starting five years ago so that they would confront religious liberals,” said Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst in Tehran. “But that led to the spread of a new virus.”

In recent weeks, the leaders of the Marxist student movement have been arrested, suggesting that the government is worrying about the size of the demonstrations and the growing attraction of an ideology that is deeply antithetical to its own.

Morad Saghafi, a political analyst and the editor in chief of Goftegoo magazine, said that it was not so strange that there were leftists but that it was significant that they were radical leftists.

“They are showing a kind of radicalism to reform, religion and the current situation,” he said.

Even some of those who object to President Ahmadinejad say permitting the growth of Marxist student movements is dangerous.

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That gets a big "No Kidding" here. The radical left is as dangerous as al Qaeda and for the same reason. They will take advantage of instability to seize control of the government. They did that in the Russian revolution and spread their poison around the world. They are both enemies for freedom. Replacing the religious bigots in charge of Iran with these guys would not be an improvement for Iran or the west.