[Marxism] Ahmadinejad: Capitalism nearing collapse

[Louis Proyect]

Eli Stephens wrote:
> URL: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=52977&sectionid=351020101
> 
> Ahmadinejad: Capitalism nearing collapse
> Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:48:07
> 
> Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says capitalist systems are on the verge 
> of collapse and can no longer bring economic development.
> 
> "There are some who believe we can improve the economic situation with the 
> formulas that are prescribed by the West; they must know that capitalist systems 
> are falling apart," said Ahmadinejad, who was addressing clerics in Iran's 
> western city of Hamadan on Thursday.
> 
> "The fundamental philosophy of Iran's Islamic Revolution was that it should not 
> be based on Western systems," he continued.

I have been reading Robert Dreyfuss's excellent "Devil's Game", which is 
all about the support of Anglo-American imperialism for Islamic 
political movements going back to the 1920s. The story of the Muslim 
Brotherhood is particularly eye-opening. Using oil revenues, it became a 
powerful force in the Middle East.

The Shi'ites sought the same social and political goals as the Muslim 
Brotherhood but obviously based on their own sect's hegemony. I am not 
exactly sure what Ahmadinejad's "anti-capitalism" is based on, since 
Iran's capital accumulation model does differ that radically from Saudi 
Arabia's. I would assume that it incorporates Islamic economics, a 
system that supposedly won't allow interest to be charged but banks in 
the Middle East have figured out how to collect under the table.

Keep in mind that the clerical resistance to the Shah was based on two 
sore points: that women were enjoying Western-type freedoms and 
resentment over land reform. The Shah's "White Revolution" angered 
landlords with close ties to the mullahs.

If you read between the lines of Ahmadinejad's comments, you will figure 
out that capitalism in his eyes is identified closely with Western 
society and not a mode of production analyzed in V. 1 of Capital.