In the next session of our Marxist-Leninist Talks, we will examine and discuss how the escalating war in Iran forms part of the recurring violence of the imperialist world system. The imperialist aggression of the US and its closest ally, Israel, is an attempt to defend their regional interests. Unsurprisingly, this is not uncharacteristic of the US, as the war on Iran repeats patterns similar to past interventions in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan — wherein foreign intervention brought destruction and destabilisation on a vast scale.
We will show that, where Iran has been attacked by foreign imperialist states, the conflict is not symmetrical. Rather, the current situation raises the question of defending Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. In this talk, we will highlight that opposing the aggression of the US and its allies does not mean giving political support to the Iranian state or its policies. This is not a contradiction. Defending national sovereignty against external attack, while maintaining political independence from the existing government, is a necessary position if communists are to oppose imperialism while preserving their capacity to fight for a socialist future.
In this session, we aim to understand why the conflict has escalated recently by examining Iran’s historical development as a capitalist state, analysing the dynamics between the “aggressors” and the “defenders”, and placing these within their broader regional and global context. Join us on Thursday 26 March to discuss these issues.
As Marxist-Leninists, we reject both neutrality and the stance of maintaining equal distance between the attacking US-Israel alliance and the country under attack, Iran. To find out why, DM us for information about the event and come along to discuss these questions further.