Iran’s pseudo-opposition endorses imperialist intervention in Syria

 
As the Western powers and Turkey prepare for an intervention in a developing civil war in Syria, key figures in the Iranian “Green” opposition have denounced Tehran for refusing to support the so-called “Syrian Revolution.” By backing the West and its Syrian proxy forces, these Greens are again highlighting their role as propagandists of imperialist war and plunder of the Middle East.
The Green movement was assembled before Iran’s 2009 presidential election, to mobilize affluent sections of the urban population in Tehran and other large cities behind the campaign of former “reformist” Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi. This movement received financial and logistical support from Iranian oligarch and ex-President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and the political backing of Washington. It also received the backing of large layers of petty-bourgeois “left” parties in the West.
One of the prominent Green figures calling for Western military intervention in Syria is the former secretary of the Islamic Student Association (Tahkim Vahdat), Ali Afshari. Afshari was brought to the US in 2004 and in 2006, as a representative of the student movement in Iran; he spoke at a panel discussion organized by Senators Rick Santorum and Joe Lieberman at the US Capitol. He regularly publishes articles on web sites and online news agencies affiliated with the Greens, particularly those run by “liberal” student groups, and appears in Voice of America’s Persian-language programs.