Tag "Ramin Mazaheri"
By Ramin Mazaheri cross-posted by special agreement with Press-TV (Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. He is the author of “I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China”.) The Western world has an
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog The differences in handling the recent protests in Hong Kong and the weekly demonstrations in France illuminate an enormous democratic deficit between Western “liberal democratic” societies and non-Western “socialist democratic” ones. It has been amazing to see how quickly the Hong Kong government – which under the “one country, two systems” system largely means the Chinese government (Hong Kong is officially a part
by Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog (cross-posted by permission with Press TV) Jimmy Carter’s foolish and feckless opposition to the Iranian Islamic Revolution was perhaps the single-most important reason he was not re-elected in 1980. Nearly 40 years later, Donald Trump is on the brink of allowing Iran to decide yet another US presidential election. The Pahlavi dynasty was popularly overthrown in February 1979, just as monarchy was deposed
by Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker blog (Written for PressTV and cross-posted by permission) I am deeply skeptical that the US ever initiated a missile strike against Iran and then called it off, as was claimed by The New York Times. Of course, the US “paper of record” routinely does terrible journalism – they repeatedly rely on anonymous sources, as they did for this claim. Anonymous sources cannot be considered
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Why do we often forget how powerful Mexico is? 130 million people; undoubtedly the most powerful Spanish-speaking country (Brazil speaks Portuguese); a geographical location truly on top of the Latino world; access to both oceans; a historical cradle of civilisation with claims that can fairly said the be unrivaled; the world’s most developed economy accessible with the fewest shipping costs, and unparalleled expatriate
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog For years I have talked about “White Trash Revolutions”, and the emergence of the Yellow Vests proves that my finger is perfectly on the pulse of things: the only people publicly wearing “Yellow Vests” on the streets of Paris prior to November 17, 2018, were… garbage men. So, imagine me, with my love of Trash Revolutions of all hues (Iran’s 1979 “Revolution of
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Ever since the start of the Yellow Vest movement – which has been violently repressed for an entire half-year – many people have hoped that French police would put flowers in their rubber bullet guns and join the side of the righteous. To me… such a hope is not based on reality. It is certainly not based on history. But French thinkers like
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Well, you can end a Cultural Revolution without being a counter-revolutionary, I suppose, but not if you do what China did: reverse many of the progressive policies of the Cultural Revolution, and often without the People’s consent. This series has examined the ground-breaking investigative & scholarly work The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village, by Dongping Han, a former
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog The French government has been forced to shamefully admit that they made totally false accusations that May Day Yellow Vest anti-government protesters tried to break into the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital in order to “attack”, “assault” and “steal”. Countless mainstream media are just as covered in ignominy for having repeated these untrue claims. I was right there when it happened, covering it for PressTV,
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog There are almost too many socioeconomic gains for me to list… and yet the idea that China’s Cultural Revolution (CR) represented not gains but regression is dominant in the West. The Chinese know better, and that’s why I’m discussing Dongping Han’s indispensable academic and investigative book: The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village. Han intensely examined rural Jimo County,
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog If 7,000 Greeks can stop the Persian empire at the narrow pass at Thermopylae, I think it’s absurd to think Iran can’t stop 20-30% of global oil traffic at the 3 kilometer-wide shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz. That would, of course provoke a global crisis and economic disaster. That’s the “nuclear option” for Iran. It is reportedly part of a military
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Even though the Yellow Vest anti-government movement is historic in scope, duration and intensity, and even though Muslims compose 5-10% of France’s population, there has been almost zero media coverage of the interplay between these two forces. Check Google in French or English and you truly find almost nothing. I have been waiting and waiting to do a story on this angle for
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog In Part 3 of this 8-part series I answered the question raised by that part’s title: Why was a Cultural Revolution needed in already-Red China? To recap: China wanted something which the Eurozone has none of: participatory economic planning. China also wanted much more participatory democracy (political empowerment) at the local level and to move even further away from an all-controlling, imperious central
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog What is Mao’s Little Red Book, first published in 1964 at the start of the Cultural Revolution? In 2019, I think we have to look at it in three ways: The Little Red Book was a work of journalism. This means it sought to impart knowledge which was specific to its exact time, and as a response to the needs of its particular
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog You never read the word “denationalisation” in Western media anymore, only “privatisation”. That makes sense… “denationalisation” is so obviously negative; it’s lack of patriotism and concern for the public welfare isn’t being covered up. The New York Times seemed to stop using the word around the mid-1980s – which makes sense, because that’s when the propaganda of neoliberalism fully took hold. In 2019,
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Why was a Cultural Revolution needed in already-Red China? (3/8) In every modern revolution the winners owed their victory to the poor, and China in 1949 was no exception. Iranians call 1979 the “Revolution of the Barefooted” for this same universal reason. (The reason is universal because any major political change not led by the poor cannot possibly be a “revolution”, but is
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Actually talk to rural people in China and you can certainly learn of martyrs FOR the Cultural Revolution; talk to disgraced party elites, abusive factory bosses, tyrannical schoolteachers, smug technocrats, pagan witch doctors or parasitic monks, and you get stories of those martyred BY the Cultural Revolution. Welcome back to the first day of journalism school! “One person’s ‘terrorist’ is another person’s ‘freedom-fighter’”.
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog Turns out the Mueller Report isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. It is certainly a sad day for America. Get wasted on tabloid, sore-loser, unproven accusations and the hangover will be costly. But the damage to the credibility of the Democratic Party and the Mainstream Media? Incalculable. Generation X-ers are role models now, but the past two years sure wasn’t “leadership”. Millennials
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog I’d like to briefly announce that I have a new book for sale, I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China. China has soared in the 21st century, while the neoliberal austerity-minded West has slumped – longstanding Western predictions and promises have totally failed. There is no longer any doubt about this. This requires us to accommodate reality and drastically
