Vol. 73/No. 38      October 5, 2009

The September 18 protests took place in Tehran, the capital, as well as other major cities despite warnings by officials against any political actions or slogans in variance with the official program. “Free the political prisoners” was among chants by opposition demonstrators. As in previous protest demonstrations, young people and women participated in large numbers.

Quds (Jerusalem) Day was established by the Iranian government in 1979 a few months after the massive, revolutionary upheaval that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah. In that insurrection the Israeli embassy in Tehran, viewed as one symbol of the shah’s submission to U.S. imperialist interests, was stormed and turned over to the Palestinian movement.

The September 18 protests marked the first large rallies by opponents of Ahmadinejad since a crackdown in mid-July on demonstrations against the official results of the June presidential elections. Ahmadinejad was rapidly declared the winner by a landslide in that vote, angering many supporters of his closest rival, former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who ran promising more democratic rights, easing of censorship and jailing of political dissidents, and for less restrictions on women’s rights. Many consider the result of the election fraudulent.

As in protests following the election, many government opponents marching on Quds Day chanted, “Death to the Dictator,” a reference to Ahmadinejad. As the president addressed a meeting at Tehran University before Friday prayers, thousands of demonstrators could be heard several blocks away chanting “Resign! Resign!” reported the New York Times.

According to the Iranian press, 35 antigovernment protesters were arrested but police largely allowed the opposition marches to take place. The day before the protests the Pasdaran, the main military force in Iran, issued a statement that such protesters would be considered “Israeli spies.”

Anti-Semitic demagogy was a feature of Ahmadinejad’s speech at the main Quds celebration in Tehran. He called the Holocaust a lie and said that “Zionism” seeks to build a global empire to dominate the whole world, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency. “If the Holocaust, as you claim, is true, why don’t you allow a probe into the issue?” Ahmadinejad asked.

The Iranian clerical-dominated bourgeois regime has used Quds Day and support for Islamist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as leverage as it competes for influence in the region against rival Arab capitalist regimes. Today some bourgeois opponents of Ahmadinejad are questioning the resources devoted to funding these two organizations and the conflict that has sharpened with Tel Aviv and Washington as a result. That was reflected in at least one slogan chanted by some antigovernment protesters, “Not Gaza, not Lebanon—My life is for Iran.”

In the election campaign Mousavi presented the view that Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial demagogy is an unnecessary provocation handed to Washington and its imperialist allies. In a televised debate prior to the election Mousavi assailed Ahmadinejad saying, “AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee], the biggest Zionist institution in the U.S., sees this policy as a blessing.”  
 
Divisions over imperialist threats
The ongoing divisions among Iranian rulers are over how best to advance their interests in the face of imperialist pressures—in particular their pursuit of development of energy sources, including nuclear ones.

Washington has led a campaign among its imperialist allies to block Iran’s access to development of nuclear technology, charging that Tehran actually seeks to build a nuclear bomb. Ahmadinejad’s opponents say they can better negotiate with the imperialist powers on Iran’s nuclear programs and avoid the imposition of further sanctions.

President Barack Obama’s administration has said it will join with its imperialist allies in talks with Iranian officials on a broad range of issues, reported ABC News.

Around the same time, Obama announced that the U.S. government would set aside an anti-missile system based partly in Poland and the Czech Republic. Moscow, whose support Washington needs in its campaign against Iran, viewed the anti-missile system as a threat to Russia’s security. The system will be modified to more effectively target Iran, U.S. officials said. (See story on front page.)  
 
 
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