Status Updates From Khomeinism

کتاب از پنج فصل تشکیل شده و تا اینجا فصل اول اون یعنی “بنیادگرایی یا پوپولیسم” رو خواندم. استدلال اصلی آبراهامیان در این فصل این بود که خمینی بیشتر از اینکه بنیادگرا باشه به پوپولیسم شبیه به چیزی که تو آمریکا لاتین سراغ داریم هست

Lotta political science. It's reviewing the labor movement (May Day in Iran), and how Khomein made connections to working class people while addressing the issue of private property (non-working class people). You see how Khomein, to Western eyes, especially in USA, is just your run o' the mill politician, continually changing and shifting, catering & promising, appealing and messaging.

Quite academic, not really a comprehensive, polished book. But the information presented in the essays thus far is very clear and understandable. It's analytical, but the analysis is greatly needed. For instance, Khomein is compared to the Latin American populist leaders. His revolution was not dissimilar to that of Latin American upheavals and movements.

Wow! And for once, an explanation is given about the Sunnis & Shiis! Bewildering to me that people, journalists, writers et. al. throw these terms Sunni & Shii without ever explaining what they signify. I bet 9/10 people can't really break it down, and yet we hear it in all the most important 'worldly' conversations. It's like Democrats & Republicans,: it's erroneously assumed that everyone knows the imported meaning

These are essays, and they come from [University of California academics]. Thus far, w/the intro & the opening chapter, the book's proving to be a repository of invaluable information regarding the outsider perceptions of Khomein & the nation of Iran. It's starting off by discussing what 'fundamentalism' is. To many Westerners, the word 'fundamentalism' conjures up, w/Islam, an extreme thing, detestable. However...

"'Fundamentalism' implies rejection of the modern world; 'populism' connotes attempts made by nation-states to enter that world."

خمینی یک بنیادگرا نبود. سنت گرا هم نبود. در واقع فقط عوام گرا بود نه عوام فریب