Before Lebanon’s parliamentary elections were over, the world was already turning its attention from Beirut to Tehran, where the presidential campaign was wrapping up.  And as the unexpected post-election drama unfolded, ripples from Tehran spread across the globe, raising new questions about that country’s relations with the rest of the world, including Lebanon.

In a crackdown that echoed Pinochet and Tiananmen, the Iranian government went after those who had fomented or participated in the protests that followed what many have denounced as rigged elections.  It looked like the handiwork of Iran’s previous regime led by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and echoed an age when battles between leftist and the state spilled out into the streets.  The differing reactions drove a wedge between Iran’s close allies and its developing relationships, such as the United States, which sought to engage Tehran on its nuclear program.

Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah – which receives financial and military aid from Iran – swiftly congratulated both President Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Khamenei, just as protests were getting underway. Some left-leaning Lebanese denounced the crackdown, but there was not as much of a vocal reaction here as there was in the rest of the world.

What the Lebanese reaction to the protests did show is that the Lebanese Left – the old guard of not only anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist, anti-US activists, but also pro-worker and pro-women’s rights activists – is essentially dormant, having shifted from its old issues to the broader anti-Zionist push of Hezbollah and its allies.

Hazem al-Amine, the features editor at Al-Hayat newspaper, said the Iranian events showed that the Lebanese Left is today less interested in its former causes. “The Left, or whatever is left of it as the Communist Party, sees the issue of resisting Israel more important than the issue of democracy.”

However, leftists are not natural bedfellows of Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran. While both groups share anti-imperialist beliefs, they differ sharply on the matters of women’s rights, social issues and religion.

Political analyst Hazem Saghieh points out the troubled history of leftists in revolutionary Iran, where he said they have a “love/hate” relationship with the state, noting that once the Communist Party was repressed in Iran, and its leader, Noureddin Kianouri, was hanged by the Khomeini regime.

But he insisted that matters little to the Lebanese Left. “Regardless of [actions in] Iran and regardless of the attitudes of Hezbollah and Iran,” Saghieh told NOW Lebanon, “the Left would continue supporting Hezbollah because to the Left, Hezbollah is the Resistance… Its only concern is the situation of Iran in these strategic battles with America.”

However, Saghieh suggested that if political Islam were to lose some ground, “maybe the Left would try its luck” with another group.

Let’s change the subject

A Lebanese leftist who works with a non-government agency based in Beirut and who declined to be named due to her job obligations, said that the Western press’ obsession with the Iran protests betrayed its media bias against the regime, noting that much less air time was devoted to the Gaza War, which was much bloodier. “I’m sure everyone is with freedom of expression; I speak freely and I would like if it applies to everyone.  In Gaza, the media were not allowed to enter, and I didn’t see the media talking about freedom of expression [then].”

Amine suggested that the emphasis on other issues by leftists and pro-Resistance publications was self-serving. “As-Safir newspaper for instance, did not shed light at all on the regime hampering human rights, but on the contrary was supporting Ahmadinejad too, because they do support Hezbollah and would not like to highlight the threat of the Iranian regime’s downfall on Hezbollah.”

Ghassan Makarem, member of the steering committee of the Leftist Assembly for Change, part of the March 8 bloc, believes that the Left can support the Resistance and support the Iranian protesters simultaneously.  “We do support the Iranian protesters,” he said, but he suggested that leftists who support the Resistance “are not in support of Khamenei.”

“I think the Left should take a very clear position and not support Ahmadinejad,” Makaram said. “We know that Ahmadinejad has been attacking the student movement, he has banned the bus drivers from unionizing, he has used violence against people trying to call for change; that’s the same kind of change the Left is calling for.  But they should also support the fact that Iran has the right to its own sovereignty and the right to acquire nuclear energy. But for me I think it is two different issues: supporting the right of Iran and supporting the rights of the Iranians to do what they want.”