Wave of repression
Internationalism must be a principle which we make concrete, writes Dave Isaacson
The level of repression against radical activists and voices of opposition to the Islamic Republic in Iran has increased in the recent weeks. Activists from the students’, women’s and workers’ movements, as well as those from national and religious minorities, have all suffered violent attacks and arrests. Eight labour activists from the Haft Tapeh sugarcane factory union in southern Iran have been detained by the intelligence ministry, including Ali Nejati, the president of the board of directors of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company Workers’ Syndicate, who was arrested on March 8.
Thousands of workers and their relatives have engaged in protests, strikes and sit-ins over the past couple of years. Many have been charged with “acting against national security” - an allegation used frequently by the regime against labour and social activists. Ahmadinejad’s government is trying to impose the Islamic Labour Council - a state-sponsored agency - on workers in order to undermine their own independent organisation. However, workers have overwhelmingly boycotted elections to the Islamic Council, which is considered a repressive force that supports government and employers.
The regime also mobilised its repressive forces to prevent activists marking International Women’s Day on March 8. Women activists had called a gathering for Warsaw Park in Tehran, but security forces blocked the entrance. Students of Shiraz University in southern Iran had also planned a meeting, but buses carrying students were stopped and students were forced to give their details.
The most serious incident occurred outside Malat Park in Mashhad, where when 700 women had gathered to celebrate International Women’s Day. Fifty were arrested and transferred to an unknown location. At one point the security forces attacked the women in an attempt to disperse the demonstrators, but they fought back bravely with bricks and stones.
On February 18, Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi, two women labour activists, were flogged inside the central prison in Sanandaj, capital of the Iranian Kurdistan province. Razani was given 70 lashes and Kheirabadi 15. they had been prosecuted because of their role in a May Day celebration in May 2008. The court also sentenced two other working class activists, Abdullah Khani and Syed Ghalib Husseini, to prison terms and flogging for their part in the same event.
Four other men, whose identities were not given, were hanged on March 9 in a prison in Zahedan, according to the official state news agency, IRNA. They were accused of kidnapping and murder - a charge regularly (mis)used against political opponents of the regime. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-va-Baluchistan province, and Baluchis are a predominantly Sunni Muslim national minority.
These are just a few examples of a wave of repression being unleashed in the run-up to the Iranian presidential elections to be held on June 12 this year. All voices opposing the Islamic Republic must be cowed.
The international media did report the February 23-24 protests at Amir Kabir polytechnic university in Tehran, which ended with violent attacks by Revolutionary Guards and the basij militia and the arrest of over 70 students. Prior to this comrades from Students for Equality and Freedom in Iran (SEF) had informed us of the arrest of two of their activists - Mohammad Pourabdollah and Alireza Davoudi:
“On the morning of February 12 2009, the forces of the regime arrested Mohammad Pourabdollah in a brutal attack on his house in Tehran. He has been kept in Evin prison since then. There is no recent news from his situation and he has had no contact with his family. Mohammad, a chemical engineering student at the University of Tehran, was one of the 50 SEF students who were arrested last year following Student Day celebrations. Alireza Davoudi was taken from his home in Isfahan by regime forces and transferred to an unknown place. He is a well known student activist at the University of Isfahan who was arrested last spring and subjected to physical and mental torture” (Letters Weekly Worker February 19).
On February 23 SEF comrades at the University of Tehran held a protest demanding the release of the two. On the same day over at Amir Kabir, another university in Tehran, hundreds of students gathered for the first of two protests at the site on campus where the remains of five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, ‘martyrs’ who died during the 1980-88 war with Iraq, were being reburied.
Iran’s supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has insisted that commemorating such people is a duty for each and every Iranian: “Our nation, mainly our youth, are indebted to the martyrs.” Protesters said they feared that the government would use the presence of the war graves in universities as a pretext for official suppression of demonstrations, which might be deemed ‘disrespectful’. This would also have allowed the basij increased access to the campus in order to police student activities.
Despite all these pressures, and the presence of the Revolutionary Guards and basij, the students defiantly chanted slogans such as “Dictator of the day, the war dead have become your excuse”, “Death to the dictator”, “We don’t want a fascist regime”, “Basiji get lost” and “Guns, tanks, basijis are no use any more”, immediately before the reburial ceremony on February 23.
The protesters were viciously attacked. Over 60 students were injured and around 20 taken to hospital with injuries consistent with the use of knives and knuckle-dusters as well as fists. Photos and videos of the assault, captured on student mobile phones, can be seen at www.autnews.us/archives/1387,12,00017569 and www.youtube.com/watch?v=UytG8w ByRIQ.
There were further clashes and arrests on February 24 and over 70 students were arrested and many still remain in prison. Students are saying that their campus is being turned into a graveyard and Tehran’s notorious Evin prison is being turned into a university due to the number of students held there.
Subsequently four more of Students for Equality and Freedom - Amirhosein Mohammadifar, Sanaz Allahyari, Nasim Roshanai and Maryam Sheikh - were arrested. It goes without saying that as communists we demand the release of these comrades, and of all political prisoners held by the Islamic Republic. We stand in solidarity with all students, workers and women who are fighting the regime.
Equally, we understand that that the war threats and sanctions emanating from the US and other imperialist countries make the position of our comrades in Iran more difficult. It gives the theocratic regime the perfect excuse to crack down on internal dissent. It is no accident that so many political opponents to the regime are arrested on the pretext of being stooges of foreign powers. The war threats play directly into the hands of the regime.
However, while the bulk of the left (excluding the social-imperialist Alliance for Workers’ Liberty) are clear in their opposition to any attack on Iran, they are less than clear about the position they take with regard to the Iranian regime and its attacks on movements inside Iran.
Much of the left makes the mistake of believing that that ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’: reactionary states in conflict with imperialism must be supported - or at least opposition to them suspended. This is the ‘anti-imperialism’ of fools. It is a class-collaborationist politics which leads ‘socialists’ to take a side other than that of the working class.
When the US sent ships into the Gulf in 1987 in a show of support for Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war, according to Phil Marshall of the Socialist Workers Party, this meant that, “notwithstanding the reactionary nature of the Khomeini regime, socialists should therefore support Khomeini’s military campaign against Iraq and the west, while retaining their complete political independence of the regime” (Revolution and counterrevolution in Iran London 1988, p106). But this “political independence” did not stop Socialist Worker from opposing strikes. In its November 28 1987 edition it argued: “We have no choice but to support the Khomeini regime ... socialists should not call for the disruption of military supplies to the front … should not support actions which could lead to the collapse of the military effort.” A shameful position.
Earlier this year, the SWP appeared to take up a different line. Its article marking the 30th anniversary of the Iranian revolution of 1979 noted: “Khomeini and his allies argued that national unity was needed to defeat the US. Any dissenters were enemies of the revolution. The left didn’t know how to respond ... The left’s failure to organise independently among workers and the poor to fight for socialism allowed Khomeini to consolidate power” (Socialist Worker January 20). But the article made no mention of the working class movement in Iran today - the SWP has virtually nothing to say about the repression of activists by the regime.
Indeed at the last conference of the Stop the War Coalition in October 2007 it was SWP comrades who lead the rapturous applause for Campaign Iran’s Somaya Zadeh when she belittled the repressive actions of the Iranian state in an astonishing display of apologetics. She outlined what she saw as five “lies”. ‘Lie’ number five was that “Iran is an undemocratic and repressive country” (see Weekly Worker November 1 2007).
Internationalism must be more than something we mention in ‘Where we stand’ statements and Sunday afternoon meetings. It is a principle which we must make concrete. We must stand in solidarity with our comrades around the world, whether the states they are fighting happen to be in conflict with US interests or not.
This does not mean we do not also oppose US imperialism. Our movement must be able to walk and chew gum.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Call to prosecute officials after Iranian blogger dies in prison
The Guardian, Friday 20 March 2009
An Iranian blogger convicted of insulting the country's religious leaders has died in jail after taking a drug overdose.
Omidreza Mirsayafi, 29, died in Tehran's notorious Evin prison on Wednesday, just over a month after a judge gave him a two-and-a-half year sentence for posting comments on his blog about figures including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini .
Human rights campaigners called for prison officials to be prosecuted after Mirsayafi took extra doses of tranquilisers prescribed by prison doctors. He was suffering from depression and had previously attempted to commit suicide, according to a fellow inmate.
His death followed that of Amir Hossein Heshmatsaran, founder of an Iranian opposition group called the National Unity Front, who died on 6 March while serving an eight-year sentence. Heshmatsaran's family alleged that he had died because of negligence, after suffering a stroke.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said the deaths illustrated contempt for political detainees' health.
"Iranian leaders have relegated the administration of the prison system to a group of incompetent and cruel officials who are showing their utter disregard for human life," said Hadi Ghaemi, the campaign's spokesman. "If the authorities do not move quickly to hold negligent officials responsible, they are reinforcing impunity and the lack of accountability."
Mirsayafi was convicted of insulting religious leaders and of making propaganda against the Islamic system. He was awaiting a further trial on charges of insulting "sacred Islamic values". The offences were allegedly committed on his blog, Rouznegar, which focused mainly on music and cultural issues.
Mirsayafi denied the postings were insulting and said they were only intended to be read by friends. Before being convicted, he told associates he would die if he was imprisoned.
Details of Mirsayafi's deterioration in prison were given by Hesam Firoozi, an imprisoned doctor who witnessed his treatment. Firoozi, who has treated some of Iran's best-known political activists, told Mirsayafi's lawyer that medical staff had denied him proper care by failing to send him to hospital.
Iran has come under scrutiny before for its treatment of imprisoned activists. Human rights groups voiced outrage in July 2006 when Akbar Mohammadi, incarcerated for leading anti-government student demonstrations, died in Evin prison after going on hunger strike. He had been fasting to protest against the lack of treatment for injuries suffered in captivity.
News of Mirsayfi's death emerged as officials announced the arrest of 27 people they said were involved in pornographic and erotic websites allegedly created by foreign powers aiming to foment a "soft revolution" against the Islamic regime.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/omidreza-mirsayafi-iran-blogger-rouznegar
An Iranian blogger convicted of insulting the country's religious leaders has died in jail after taking a drug overdose.
Omidreza Mirsayafi, 29, died in Tehran's notorious Evin prison on Wednesday, just over a month after a judge gave him a two-and-a-half year sentence for posting comments on his blog about figures including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini .
Human rights campaigners called for prison officials to be prosecuted after Mirsayafi took extra doses of tranquilisers prescribed by prison doctors. He was suffering from depression and had previously attempted to commit suicide, according to a fellow inmate.
His death followed that of Amir Hossein Heshmatsaran, founder of an Iranian opposition group called the National Unity Front, who died on 6 March while serving an eight-year sentence. Heshmatsaran's family alleged that he had died because of negligence, after suffering a stroke.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said the deaths illustrated contempt for political detainees' health.
"Iranian leaders have relegated the administration of the prison system to a group of incompetent and cruel officials who are showing their utter disregard for human life," said Hadi Ghaemi, the campaign's spokesman. "If the authorities do not move quickly to hold negligent officials responsible, they are reinforcing impunity and the lack of accountability."
Mirsayafi was convicted of insulting religious leaders and of making propaganda against the Islamic system. He was awaiting a further trial on charges of insulting "sacred Islamic values". The offences were allegedly committed on his blog, Rouznegar, which focused mainly on music and cultural issues.
Mirsayafi denied the postings were insulting and said they were only intended to be read by friends. Before being convicted, he told associates he would die if he was imprisoned.
Details of Mirsayafi's deterioration in prison were given by Hesam Firoozi, an imprisoned doctor who witnessed his treatment. Firoozi, who has treated some of Iran's best-known political activists, told Mirsayafi's lawyer that medical staff had denied him proper care by failing to send him to hospital.
Iran has come under scrutiny before for its treatment of imprisoned activists. Human rights groups voiced outrage in July 2006 when Akbar Mohammadi, incarcerated for leading anti-government student demonstrations, died in Evin prison after going on hunger strike. He had been fasting to protest against the lack of treatment for injuries suffered in captivity.
News of Mirsayfi's death emerged as officials announced the arrest of 27 people they said were involved in pornographic and erotic websites allegedly created by foreign powers aiming to foment a "soft revolution" against the Islamic regime.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/omidreza-mirsayafi-iran-blogger-rouznegar
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Israel says Gaza assault was preparation for attack on Iran
Australian News Channel Was Invited "Accidentally" to Very Open DialoguePosted January 30, 2009After ordering a cameraman to turn off his camera, Israeli Ambassador toAustralia Yuval Rotem engaged in a very frank discussion about the recentIsraeli war in the Gaza Strip, calling it ³a preintroduction² to an attackon Iran that Israel apparently expects within the year.Before the camera was turned off, Ambassador Rotem said ³the best thing todo is to have a very open dialogue if there are no reporters or journalistshere,² adding ³I am far more reserved in the way I am saying my things (oncamera).² Unbeknownst to him however Sarah Cummings, a reporter forAustralia¹s Seven News service, was actually in attendance at the meetingafter having been ³accidentally² invited.Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran, and while its officialshave repeatedly attempted to tie the Iranian government to its war on theGaza Strip this is the first time one of their officials has publicly (ifinadvertently so) suggested that the attack on the strip was a warm-up toits long talked about attack on Iran.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Iranian theorocracy exploits Gaza for own ends
Despite their rhetoric the Iranian Mullahs witheld practical support from the Palestinian Resistance. Yassamine Mather reveals the extent of the Mullahs treachery. Full article at link.There can be no doubts that over the last few weeks Tehran has used the most colourful rhetoric amongst Islamic states to ‘prove’ its support for Gaza’s Palestinian population. However Iran’s actions have, as always, failed miserably in matching its slogans. According to one commentator writing in last week’s Economist, “Iranian support for Hamas was more theatrical than practical.”
As late as December 2008 ayatollah Rafsanjani said: “If tanks enter Gaza, something amazing will happen. Palestinians will use new weapons and hunt [Israelis] from a long distance.” However, three days later, General Mohammad Jafari, head of Iran’s armed forces, stated that “Gaza does not need the logistic and military support of other countries to defend itself.” In early January ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said anyone killed defending Palestinians would be a martyr. Islamic student groups claimed that 70,000 signed up to go to Gaza. But when volunteers staged a sit-in at Tehran’s international airport, demanding to be allowed to travel to Palestine, they were told to go home.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including Mothers for Peace, and students involved in protests outside western embassies were arrested. Then Khamenei went on state television to tell the nation that Iranian hands were tied. In other words, despite all the rhetoric Iran’s Islamic regime was going to do absolutely nothing while over 1,400 Palestinians were being massacred.
Yet the theatrical posturings of the regime, combined with constant revelations about its secret dealings with Israel (eg, the arms trade, as exposed by Irangate, and more recently oil sales), has led many people, including sections of Iranian youth, to conclude that everything it says is lies - which has resulted in a degree of apathy towards the plight of Gaza. The Islamic regime’s religious propaganda, far from gathering support for the Palestinians, has created cynicism towards regional issues on the part of these youngsters. This can only help the imperialists and their allies.
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/753/gazaexpl.html
Friday, January 9, 2009
Solidarity with the Palestinian people!
Solidarity with the Palestinian people!
No to war in Gaza and the Middle East!
Hands off the People of Iran unreservedly condemns the barbaric onslaught by Israel on Palestinians and the siege of Gaza. We call on supporters of our campaign to join the demonstrations taking place all over the country.
The scale of terror being inflicted shows that the Israeli state is hell-bent on ethnic cleansing the Palestinian people.
George Bush obviously supports the Israeli atrocities. Obama is keeping his mouth shut. But it is clear what side he is on. He supported the invasion of Lebanon by Israel in 2006 and has recently endorsed Israel taking ‘firm’ action against Hamas.
But it was actually Israel that breached the ceasefire, not Hamas. They staged an incursion into Gaza on 5 November during the US election. Hamas responded with rockets and Israel was then able to use that as an excuse to collectively punish the Palestinian people once again.
Israel, with US support, is twisting reality to justify horrendous acts against civilians. We call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the siege of Gaza. But Hamas is not an answer. It is the politics of despair. Instead we need a united working class solution in Palestine and throughout the Middle East.
Israel would welcome the chance to widen hostilities to include bombardment of Iran. An attack on Iran is definitely on their agenda – one that would also receive the support of the US under both Bush and Obama.
In the face of this we need to increase our efforts to build solidarity and unity against imperialism and its allies. But our solidarity is with the people, not the Iranian state or any other middle-east regime.
Change must come from below, from progressive and working class forces. Imperialism only brings bloodshed and depravity. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Palestinian people and extend our solidarity to them.
Our campaign demands are:
No to imperialist war! For the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of US/UK troops from Iraq and the entire Gulf region!
No to any imperialist intervention. The immediate and unconditional end to sanctions on Iran.
No to the theocratic regime!
Opposition to Israeli expansionism and aggression!
Support to all working class and progressive struggles in Iran against poverty and repression!
Support for socialism, democracy and workers' control in Iran!
For a nuclear-free Middle East as a step towards a nuclear-free world!
Contact HOPI at: Anne@hopoi.info http://www.hopi-ireland.org/ http://www.hopoi.org
No to war in Gaza and the Middle East!
Hands off the People of Iran unreservedly condemns the barbaric onslaught by Israel on Palestinians and the siege of Gaza. We call on supporters of our campaign to join the demonstrations taking place all over the country.
The scale of terror being inflicted shows that the Israeli state is hell-bent on ethnic cleansing the Palestinian people.
George Bush obviously supports the Israeli atrocities. Obama is keeping his mouth shut. But it is clear what side he is on. He supported the invasion of Lebanon by Israel in 2006 and has recently endorsed Israel taking ‘firm’ action against Hamas.
But it was actually Israel that breached the ceasefire, not Hamas. They staged an incursion into Gaza on 5 November during the US election. Hamas responded with rockets and Israel was then able to use that as an excuse to collectively punish the Palestinian people once again.
Israel, with US support, is twisting reality to justify horrendous acts against civilians. We call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the siege of Gaza. But Hamas is not an answer. It is the politics of despair. Instead we need a united working class solution in Palestine and throughout the Middle East.
Israel would welcome the chance to widen hostilities to include bombardment of Iran. An attack on Iran is definitely on their agenda – one that would also receive the support of the US under both Bush and Obama.
In the face of this we need to increase our efforts to build solidarity and unity against imperialism and its allies. But our solidarity is with the people, not the Iranian state or any other middle-east regime.
Change must come from below, from progressive and working class forces. Imperialism only brings bloodshed and depravity. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Palestinian people and extend our solidarity to them.
Our campaign demands are:
No to imperialist war! For the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of US/UK troops from Iraq and the entire Gulf region!
No to any imperialist intervention. The immediate and unconditional end to sanctions on Iran.
No to the theocratic regime!
Opposition to Israeli expansionism and aggression!
Support to all working class and progressive struggles in Iran against poverty and repression!
Support for socialism, democracy and workers' control in Iran!
For a nuclear-free Middle East as a step towards a nuclear-free world!
Contact HOPI at: Anne@hopoi.info http://www.hopi-ireland.org/ http://www.hopoi.org
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
HOPI events Thursday to Saturday 13-15 November
Don’t miss the events this coming week in Dublin:
Thursday 13th
1pm Trinity College, Room 403 Aras an Phiarsaigh
Moshe Machover, Israeli socialist & anti-Zionist & Yassamine Mather, Iranian political activist & founding member of HOPI debate the situation in the middle-east in the aftermath of the US election
7.30pm Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square Square,
Joint meeting with Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign: Middle-East – what is the answer to the crisis?
Raymond Deane, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Moshe Machover and Yassamine Mather
Friday 14th
Meeting at UCD, details to be confirmed
Saturday 15th
12.30pm Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square Dublin1
HOPI Ireland founding conference Join us in debate and decisions on the way forward for this vital campaign. We will be joined on the day by Yassamine Mather and Moshe Machover and hear messages from Iranian students and workers in struggle. Find out what is really going on behind the scenes. A proposed motion on the constitution has been circulated already. Please let me know if you need another copy and send amendments and motions to me as soon as possible so that I can circulate everything before Thursday.
Contact Anne on 0862343238 or Anne@hopoi.info for more details or if you want to help.
Thursday 13th
1pm Trinity College, Room 403 Aras an Phiarsaigh
Moshe Machover, Israeli socialist & anti-Zionist & Yassamine Mather, Iranian political activist & founding member of HOPI debate the situation in the middle-east in the aftermath of the US election
7.30pm Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square Square,
Joint meeting with Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign: Middle-East – what is the answer to the crisis?
Raymond Deane, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Moshe Machover and Yassamine Mather
Friday 14th
Meeting at UCD, details to be confirmed
Saturday 15th
12.30pm Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square Dublin1
HOPI Ireland founding conference Join us in debate and decisions on the way forward for this vital campaign. We will be joined on the day by Yassamine Mather and Moshe Machover and hear messages from Iranian students and workers in struggle. Find out what is really going on behind the scenes. A proposed motion on the constitution has been circulated already. Please let me know if you need another copy and send amendments and motions to me as soon as possible so that I can circulate everything before Thursday.
Contact Anne on 0862343238 or Anne@hopoi.info for more details or if you want to help.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
HOPI conference & Meetings 13-15 November
Hands off the People of Iran will be holding its first conference on 15th
November at the Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin. The event will
start at 1pm with registration from 12.30. Key items on the agenda are the
HOPI aims and constitution, setting up more formal structures and activities
over the coming year. The draft constitution will be circulated very soon
for amendments and proposals. Also we are inviting proposals for people to
go onto the steering committee.
Yassamine Mather, leading Iranian political activist and founding member of
HOPI in Britain will speak at our conference. We have also invited Moshe
Machover, an Israeli anti-zionist socialist. Moshe has written and spoken
extensively on the middle-east. Given the recent reports of Israel planned
attacks on Iran, both talks and the discussion will be very important.
We also plan to have a number of meetings from 13th-14th and we have been in
contact with university societies. If you are a member of a university group
please contact me on Annegmcshane@
Yassamine and Moshe to speak.
Also we are hoping to co-host a forum on the middle-east in Dublin on
Thursday 13th. Details to follow.
Please let me know if you can help or be involved in any of our forthcoming
activities.
Anne
Annegmcshane@
0862343238
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