Iran Protests

  The following note was written in response to a terrorist incident in New Zealand over 7 years ago but when it delved into the deeper dimensions of the incident, it arrived at broader conclusions that are still relevant today Abbas Goya - March 19, 2019 The International Monetary Fund reports that the official global rate of capital accumulation in 2018 remained below 4 percent, with a substantial portion of that growth driven by the exceptionally high rates of accumulation in China and India. In the IMF’s rankings, Iran’s economy—with a contraction of 3.6 percent—stood near the very bottom, performing only slightly better than South Sudan and Venezuela. Only ten countries recorded negative growth that year. Capitalism, particularly in the West, is therefore not in a state of collapse or paralysis; rather, it has been experiencing a period of expansion. This expansion, however, remains fragile. The rate of accumulation is not extraordinary, yet the immense concentration of wealth...

 Abbas Goya - April 17, 2026 Behrooz Farahani:“They [the Islamic Republic] should revive the same previous complexes with the same trades that existed in them. A war economy situation should be declared, and the government should roll up its sleeves, and this will, in fact, rejuvenate the existing constructions and the infrastructure that has been destroyed. How can Iran possibly stand on its own feet without petrochemicals, without the Mobarakeh steel plants, and without companies producing urea and chemical fertilizers?” Response: Yes, it is possible, Farahani, Mr advisor to the Islamic Republic. Workers in Iran, despite the very existence of oil, petrochemicals, Mobarakeh steel, and fertilizer industries, have been driven into poverty. Today, many of them live far below the poverty line; grave-sleeping, street-sleeping, car-sleeping, homelessness, and marginalization have become their reality. What can keep workers on their feet is neither the reconstruction of production sector...