Letter from Iran

Dear Sir or Madam,

I'm a member of Iranian branch of "Hands Off Venezuela" campaign. I always observe carefully and defend the revolutionary process in this country (I mean the wave of nationalizations, factory occupations, the workers' control on the plants, social programs, struggles against bureaucracy, corruption, capitalism and Yankee imperialism and of course, crumbling the national landlords and bourgeoisie etc); I try to report what is truly taking place in this country, because in the western and bourgeois media, there is an unbelievably massive misinformation about the current state of Venezuela and especially President Hugo Chavez.

Some years ago, everyone including me had faced with a critical question; the question was: what does the socialism of 21^st century or the "Bolivarian Socialism" mean? And how can it be built in Venezuela or in any country around the world now?

That was a very important question, since as you know, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and Berlin Wall, a well-known ideologist like Francis Fokoyama had come out with the Slogan "The end of the history" and "the death of socialism and the triumph of Liberal Democracy".

Now I'm confident that such claimed were/are nonsense; I'm observing that how the genuine socialism is being made in practice and from below (i.e. by the working class, the women, the poor, the peasants and so on)

Therefore, from this aspect, Venezuelan Revolution is a remarkable experience; it is a marvelous example of building a society on the basis of socialism. The Bolivarian Socialism is really, with no exaggeration, a source of inspiration for all the workers and the oppressed around the world.

But I should immediately add that I permanently and firmly criticize President Chavez for his close relationship with the Islamic Republic. The progressive state of Venezuela and the reactionary regime of Iran are moving in two completely different ways: One to the Left and another to the right. So, such a close relationship will have no justification. I emphasize again, it will have no justification. The Islamic Republic is the cradle of repression, torture, prison, corruption; it is an ultra-rightist government which is attempting to integrate into world capitalism. It is not anti-imperialist; by contrast it is utterly in the service of "imperialism", i.e. IMF, WB, WTO, G8 and US. In other words, it is the puppet of imperialist powers. So such a close relationship between President Chavez and the Iranian authorities will just undermine and cover the achievements of 10 years of revolution in Venezuela. I know that President Chavez is going to create an anti-imperialist bloc, but it is clear that he can never reach this gain by the help of Iran. That is what I ask President Chaves and all pro-Bolivarian Revolution to reflect on.