Support the protest movement in Iran
Co-ordinating Committee of workers Left Unity
15 th July 1999
The students protests of the last few days are undoubtedly the most
significant demonstrations against Iran's Islamic Republic in the last
eighteen years. They are the manifestation of a continued dissatisfaction
with the rule of a corrupt clergy , a rejection of the interference of
religion in very aspect of private and public life , a rejection of dictatorship
. This dissatisfaction had already been expressed in the overwhelming rejection
of the candidate supported by Iran's supreme cleric in the presidential
elections of two years ago , that lead to the election of a 'modernising
' fundamentalist Khatami.
Over the last few months as impatience with Khatami's promises of reform
turned to anger , workers were the first group to force the Iranian government
to retreat. Changes to the labour law , passed by the Islamic parliament
were withheld as workers declared two days of national mourning and threatened
strikes. Political dissatisfaction with the regime's new methods of repression
including the use of 'death squads' against political opponents and admission
of such tactics, had infuriated, students, lecturers, writers and journalists
who were paying the price of Khatami's reforms with 'illegal' activities
of Hezbollah.
The attack on the dormitory of Tehran University was the reaction of
the Islamic regime to weeks of protests by students who , tired of waiting
for Khatami's promises of exposing the culprits of death squad activity
, only saw repression of newspapers who tried to keep the issue alive.
The ban on the paper Salaam was a direct attack on sections of the press
who refused to tow the line and keep quiet about the role of the ministry
of Intelligence in assassination of political oponents.
Students decided to defend the freedom of expression with demonstrations
and protests. The government send Hezbollah to attack students in their
dormitory leading to the demonstrations of the last few days. The slogans
of the demonstrators calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic,
and in particular against the supreme clerical leader Khamneii, were unprecedented
slogans, destroying once and for all the myth of the invincibility of the
supreme cleric. A taboo is broken, Islamic leaders know it and their retreat
in the face of the protests far from pacifying the students , radicalised
the slogans and the protests.
This week's protest movement should be seen primarily as the final response
of Iran's youth , ( under 25 s are 60% of the population ) , to clerical
rule, a rejection of policies that have lead to unemployment , poverty
and destitution for the majority of Iranians. However they were also an
expression of the despair of the youth and their increasing disillusionment
with Khatami and his 'reforms'. Hezbollah can still operate death squads
from within the ministry of Intelligence, police and state authorities
attack students in University campuses , and Iran's "modernising
president" is both unwilling and incapable of reforming this archaic
republic.
Workers Left Unity has no doubt that the combination of workers struggles
, as seen in may and June 1999, with protests by students , women , the
unemployed and the shanty town dwellers will bring down Iran's Islamic
Republic, but we need International Support to defend these struggles and
hope that the International Left will lend us the kind of support that
was so vital in the last months of the Shah's regime. the lives of students
arrested over the last few days is in danger . Support the demonstartions
organised by WORKERS LEFT UNITY in Europe and North America, saturday
17th July.
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