“It is a matter of getting rid of the master, not changing the master.”
Mostafa Rahimi. Marx and his shadows. p.45
Abstract
Despite his importance to Iran’s intellectual history, Mostafa Rahimi has not been widely recognized by researchers. Many academic works on Iranian Intellectual history have discussed Shariati and Ali-Ahmad’s ideas, But there is almost nothing about Rahimi. Prior to others, Rahimi identified and warned about the dangers facing the democracy movement at crucial moments. He had recognized years ago that democracy might be threatened by some nationalist discourses. He warned about the dangers of religious fundamentalism. He recognized the emergence of neoliberalism in Iran much earlier than others. Furthermore, throughout his intellectual project, he attempted to present a progressive and democratic alternative to reactionary discourses in Iran. He rejected all prevailing political discourses in order to present what he considered correct and did not join any of the sides in the existing political debates. The purpose of this article is to review some of Rahimi’s efforts in this direction.
