Discussion on a 'Freer and Fairer' World at Azar Majidi's Dinner Party

This week's host is Azar Majidi, a labor communist activist and supporter of the women's movement. She studied history and French literature in Canada before the revolution and became politically active in her teens. After the revolution, she was involved in the Marxist organization of the Communist Fighters' Union, which later formed the Communist Party of Iran alongside the Komala organization in Kurdistan, led by her husband, Mansour Hakim. Following a split in the party, Majidi joined the new Labor Communist Party. She advocates for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and is strongly opposed to reformists in Iran. I spoke with her in London. Azar Majidi: Welcome to the program. Can you tell me who you invited for dinner? Karl Marx, Mansour Hakim, George Carlin, Munir Hashemi, and Nawal El Saadawi. You will definitely explain later why you invited these guests, from Karl Marx to Nawal El Saadawi. But before we get to the reasons for your guest selections, can you tell me what music you want to play for your guests? A song by Sam Cooke called 'A Change Is Gonna Come.' It’s a blues and soul song, which is my favorite music. It emerged during the civil rights struggles in America and speaks about equality and the fight against racism. But it has a more general sense of hope for positive change. At the same time, the song has a very special feeling. I hope Karl Marx and the other guests will like it! Certainly. From what I read about Karl Marx in his biography, he was a very bright and playful person. Mansour Hakim, who played guitar, and George Carlin, who was in the same style, would also enjoy it. Can you please tell me why Karl Marx? What significance does he hold for you? Azar Majidi: I can say that Karl Marx has had the most impact on my life. He has given me a perspective in life, and I see that for a large part of my life, Karl Marx has been a compass for me to understand what I am doing. We see that especially after the economic crisis, the sales of 'Capital' have significantly increased, despite the media's reluctance to discuss it. For many, Karl Marx is still a compass. When we look at the world now... just to escape the depression from so many crimes, oppression, exploitation, poverty, and slavery, I think of Marx and the perspective he has shown, which I believe is real and achievable. I want to be there and have him tell us what to do in this world! Exactly. Azar Majidi: Karl Marx (1818-1883): German thinker, philosopher, and sociologist. Fame: One of the founders of communism. Important work: The Communist Manifesto, Capital. Reason for invitation: Karl Marx has had the most impact on my life. He has given me a perspective in life and has been a compass for me for a large part of my life. In this chaotic world! The reason for the increased interest in Marx is that many are coming to the conclusion that Marx might have been right about the inherent contradictions of capitalism revealing themselves? Exactly. When it was the centenary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto, I think it was on the BBC website... I don’t remember exactly... but it was the best-selling book in the world. It sold more than the Bible, which is found in every hotel drawer. This is because especially the younger generation is looking for answers. They are trying to find answers there. I think... even something interesting I read said that in the stock market in America, some capitalists said we need to read Marx to understand how capitalism works. Not to become communists, but to be good capitalists. To prevent its collapse. Exactly. I read this in one of the reputable newspapers. I want to say that Marx's impact during this time has been immense in the world and still is. Even though Marx died in 1883, which means it has been about 130-140 years, and still... There’s a reason why Highgate has been able to stand because of ticket sales for those coming from around the world to see Marx's grave. Azar Majidi: Mansour Hakim (1951-2002): Marxist political activist. Fame: Founder of the Communist Party and the Labor Communist Party of Iran, and the Labor Communist Party of Iraq. Reason for invitation: He was an incredibly deep Marxist. An extremely sharp political leader... both in terms of political and strategic analysis... a truly principled and genuinely human person. We move on to your second guest, Mansour Hakim, who was one of Karl Marx's followers himself. A very deep Marxist... I have mixed feelings when I hear the name Mansour Hakim. One is emotional and personal because he was my husband. But now I look at it more from a political perspective. Mansour Hakim was a leader of the movement I am active in. I think he is an incredibly deep Marxist. An extremely sharp political leader... both in terms of political and strategic analysis and as a human being... a truly principled person. He worked hard and built a very large party and was able to even establish a party in Iraq. He raised hope in both Iran and Iraq that something could be done. Unfortunately, his death changed many things. He was young... he was 51 when he died of cancer. But his life was full of tension and stress because of his work. Despite being very young, he was a joker and played guitar, but political work... and for me, the existence of Mansour Hakim... I always saw Mansour Hakim as the Marx of our time. Not because he was my husband! Because some might think that way. I would have loved for Marx and Mansour Hakim to sit together at this dinner and discuss the situation. Both the basic economic analysis and the political analysis. From Europe and the Middle East and what should be done. Especially Mansour Hakim... Marx might not have had the opportunity. He was only in the First International. But Mansour Hakim knew how to build organizations. He knew how to build a party. He knew how to gather people. Mansour Hakim was able to revive revolutionary Marxism after the 1979 revolution. He pulled it out from under the influence of the Soviet Union, China, Albania, and all these lines that existed, or even the new left in Europe and student movements like May 68, and was able to critique populism and the anti-imperialism that existed in Iran... he was able to start a new movement and attract a broad left. Azar Majidi: George Carlin (1937-2021): American writer, comedian, and social critic. Fame: Received five Grammy Awards for comedy. Reason for invitation: He was a political comedian who criticized the political system and society in America, addressing issues from homosexuality to abortion, women's rights, and sexual freedom. A serious atheist. We come to your third guest, George Carlin. An incredibly funny comedian. A stand-up comedian. He was an atheist. He was leftist. The critiques he made of the Republicans and the right in American society on various issues, from equality to welfare to women's rights, are so interesting that when you sit and listen, you really laugh until you cry... criticism of American society and its political system... Exactly. Not the things that some comedians say, things... no. No. No. He was a so-called political comedian. Exactly. He was a political comedian who critiqued the American social system. He critiqued the ruling system in American society. He critiqued the backwardness that existed in American society, from homosexuality to abortion, women's rights, and sexual freedom. A serious atheist. And how much he mocked religion... one of his interesting works was about religion. Mocking religion. And well, sharp-tongued... you know, people who work with humor are incredibly smart people. Because you have to see the issue and be able to use that tone to make it humorous. Because nothing, in my opinion, impacts people as much as humor does to make them understand or shake them. I like George Carlin's work. I'm sorry he recently passed away. From what I read in Marx's biography, he also had some mischievous traits. For example, when he was young and living in England, they say he would go out with his friends for a beer once a week and then get off the bus and ring people's doorbells and run away. Something a 10-year-old might do. He was a mischievous person! He was a mischievous person. Then with his knowledge of literature and art, I think humor was interesting to him. Mansour Hakim loved humor immensely. He followed Monty Python and George Carlin... he had a very strong sense of humor himself. So I think it will be an interesting dinner where, while discussing politics and strategizing, you can also have a lot of laughs... Azar Majidi: Munir Hashemi (1954-1982): Leftist political activist. Reason for invitation: He was my elementary school friend, and he always had a kind of intelligence and insight that was very interesting to me. Later, when we went to Kurdistan, we heard the news of his execution and that of his wife. With George Carlin's humor... well, let's move on to your fourth guest; Munir Hashemi. Munir Hashemi may not be widely known. Munir Hashemi was my elementary school friend. We went to school together when we were about 10 years old. He always had a kind of intelligence and insight that was very interesting to me. Then we drifted apart. I went abroad to study, and he... then when I returned to Iran, I heard that he was in hiding. During the Shah's time... During the Shah's time... he had gone underground in leftist organizations. After the revolution, he came forward and joined the Communist Fighters' Union, which I was with. Unfortunately, we could not see each other. The secrecy of that time meant we could not make ourselves public. Then when I was in Kurdistan, in 1982, my husband and I went to Kurdistan, and I heard the news of his execution. His and his wife's execution... When was he executed? August 1982. Was Mrs. Hashemi killed in armed conflict or in detention...? No, at that time, we did not have armed conflict in Iran. The Union of Communist Fighters did not engage in armed struggle. However, they knew him. This regime went after all the political prisoners from the Shah's time who had been released, executing them one by one. One might have escaped, but the rest were executed. Munir Hashemi's wife was Javad Qaidari, who was from the Mojahedin. The Mojahedin were Marxists. With Taghi Shahram. He was an incredibly high-ranking person politically and theoretically. Both of them were executed along with Javad Qaidari's brother. I always feel a sense of sadness when I remember Javad Qaidari's mother or Munir's mother; I still remember her face... I always felt sad that I could not see Munir one more time and that we were active together during a time. I still... it may be hard to believe... I still dream about him every so often. I still have that image of him and that photo of his wedding and childhood when we walked home from school together and discussed things that were strange for two 10-year-olds at that time, but somehow brought us closer together. Azar Majidi: Nawal El Saadawi (1931-2021): Egyptian writer, activist, and feminist. Works: The Naked Face of the Arab Woman, Woman, Religion, and Morality, and other writings. Reason for invitation: I have many political disagreements with her, but she is an incredibly interesting woman and has tremendous energy. She has broken taboos, especially in societies under Islam, which has been very enlightening for me... Now that you haven’t been able to see each other due to political activities, I hope you see Ms. Munir at my virtual dinner and greet each other and remember the times you spent together in elementary school. Your last guest is Nawal El Saadawi. I have many political disagreements with her. But she has one feature that is interesting to me. She is now in her eighties. I have been at two or three conferences with her. We were together in Macedonia. The Women's Liberation Organization held a conference in Sweden, and she spoke. I know her somewhat closely in that sense. She is an incredibly interesting woman. First of all, she has tremendous energy. You can’t even tell... you said she is around eighty years old... she is about eighty-two or eighty-three years old now. During the recent revolutionary uprising in Egypt, she was at the forefront. She came to the demonstrations.