IRAN AT 40: A SALUTE TO STEADFASTNESS

THROUGHOUT the testimony of Angelo Agrizzi, the now repentant former chief operations officer of Bosasa at the #StateCaptureEnquiry, one point is consistently made; there are those who know it, and those who don’t.

Those who know it are rewarded handsomely with cash gifts in grey bags, overseas trips, expenses and other perks. My guess: those who don’t know it must go eat cake.

The toxic collusion between public officials, politicians and the private sector has gone on unabated since the dawn of democracy in South Africa.

Like the malice of, “do as I say, not as I do”, they preach the false gospel of free markets being the panacea for all South Africa’s ills, while they know their little dirty secret is well protected by the conspiracy bond of evil-doers.

The Oxfam report “Public Good or Private Wealth” is no different as it tells the sad tale of how inequality has risen at the global stage to create a giant chasm between the “haves” and “have-nots”, largely driven by greed and policy failure.

While there might be no evident consequence for the rich, the cruelty of the rising gulf between the poor and affluent segments of society is that for the poor it might mean going to school or bed on an empty stomach, dying of a treatable ailment because of lack of medical care, or exclusion from mainstream economic and social life due to ignorance.

It is a tragedy that despite agreeing to Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities within the context of the 2010 Sustainable Development Goals, billionaire fortunes in 2018 grew by a whopping $2.5 billion (R33bn).

This represented a 15% rise in the fortunes of the small group of 2200 global citizens who are mostly white men, while the rest of humanity’s fortunes fell by 11% overall.

That said, even within this group the space is shrinking: from 61 billionaires in 2016, we were down to 43 in 2017 and now a meagre 26.

This is not surprising in a postfinancial and economic crisis where we have seen the obscenest reduction in tax rates, relaxation of exchange controls, loose regulation of labour markets and a shrinking space for civil society to engage public policy.

The emergence of the “gig economy” has not made matters any better as a few individuals now claim to have a monopoly over innovation, hard work and speculation activity.

We cannot continue like this, where only a good bank balance guarantees one good health care, enough food and a good education. This is more so because those who fall through the cracks are not few and growing.

In South Africa, those in material extreme poverty grew from 11 million in 2011 to 13.8 million in 2015.

Ordinary citizens are not pleased at all with being worse off year in, year out, and an upsurge in violent protests and xenophobic flare-ups is the result .

South Africa has to choose prosperity of the many over aggrandisement of the few. The government should consider universal access to public services which are free at the point of delivery as an alternative policy shift.

Dlamini is the senior extractives adviser at Oxfam South Africa DRAMATIC developments currently under way in Venezuela reveal a sinister yet bold plot by the US to impose regime change via a coup.

Interestingly, the brazen attempt to impose an unelected opposition leader as president of Venezuela coincides with Iran’s 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution.

The seeds for revolutionary change in Iran were planted during August 1953, when the elected leader, Dr Mohamed Mussadeq, was overthrown by the direct intervention of the US. The CIA-engineered coup which installed the Shah into power, inaugurated an intense period of oppression.

Under US-protection, the Shah imposed his Pahlavi dictatorship, which for the next quarter of a century was characterised by extreme brutality, repression, massacres and subservience to Western imperialism.

Much to the dismay of the Shah’s backers, who in addition to the US also included Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, Iran’s Islamic movement, led by Imam Khomeini, mobilised the entire nation in a remarkable fervour which culminated in the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Four decades later, the Trump administration is desperately pursuing regime change in Tehran which, as is well documented, was attempted by his predecessors going back to Carter, Reagan, the Bush dynasty, Clinton and Obama.

None succeeded, despite their use of a proxy war whereby Iraq’s strongman, Saddam Hussein, who at the time was a Western stooge, had been armed to the teeth with unlimited financial backing from Saudi Arabia, to overthrow the nascent Islamic Republic of Iran.

Despite repeated failures to reinstall a client regime in Iran, the AmericanIsraeli axis have not stopped their schemes

Despite repeated failures to reinstall a client regime in Iran, the American-Israeli axis have not stopped their nefarious schemes. The last four decades have been witness to a variety of operations, including assassinations, insurgencies, infiltrations, sanctions and arming of counter-revolutionaries.

Yet, Iran has remained deeply committed to its founding principles and, to the amazement of the world, is as solid as a rock. As regards the revolution’s ideological roots, the country, its leader and people have had to endure decades of vilification for subscribing to a world view informed by Islam.

Overnight, as soon as it became apparent that the Shah had fled his Peacock Throne and Imam Khomeini had returned from exile to guide Iran’s transition from a dictatorship to a self-respecting, sovereign, independent country, Islamophobes went berserk.

Led by Israel’s well-oiled propaganda outfits, the world was overwhelmed by depictions of Imam Khomeini as a “mad mullah”. Western media set off an anti-Iran frenzy with reports and broadcasts which warned that unless the “clergy” were stopped in their tracks, Iranians would be doomed to live in “medieval history”.

Undisguised hatred for Islam coupled with intolerance of Muslims who, alongside their countrymen, offered their lives to free Iran from the shackles of the Shah’s brutal dictatorship, became a dominant characteristic of Western analysts. Having successfully survived and, more importantly, beaten the haters and doom sayers, Iran today is able to stand up in defence of Venezuela by opposing Trump’s efforts to impose regime change.

The measure of Iran’s remarkable strength is evident from its ability to withstand crippling sanctions and to defy American/Israeli pressure by displaying steadfast solidarity with Palestine in words and deeds.

Iqbal Jassat is executive member of the Media Review Network