Iranian Intellectuals Analyze/Oppose Iran’s Role in Syria

Editorial note from Frieda Afary 
  On October 30, 2015 when the U.S., Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran and several other nations held a conference to discuss the fate of Syria, the Persian-language human rights website, Zamaneh, launched a special page entitled “War in the Region and Iran’s Share of Responsibility.” http://www.radiozamaneh.com/243343

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On the Death of Labor Activist Shahrokh Zamani

Below is a message from the International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran



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My Letter to Jewish Journal on Iranian Jews & Iran Nuclear Agreement

Below is a brief letter which I sent to the Los Angeles Jewish Journal in response to three articles published in the August 14, 2015 issue, under the headline, “Local Iranian Community Fears Deal Has Hidden Dangers.”


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Dialogue with Yassin al-Haj Saleh on Syria, Iran, ISIS and the Future of Social Justice

Yassin al-Haj Saleh is a leading Syrian intellectual and former political prisoner who participated in the Syrian Revolution from its beginning in March 2011.  Since October 2013 he has been forced into exile in Turkey where he continues to write and speak out in defense of the aspirations of that revolution. He contributes to several Arab newspapers including Al Hayat and is the author of several books in Arabic, including:  Syria in the Shadow: Glimpses Inside the Black Box (2009), Walking on One Foot (2011), a collection of 52 essays written between 2006 and 2010, Salvation O Boys: 16 Years in Syrian Prisons (2012), The Myths of the Successors:  A Critique of Contemporary Islam and a Critique of the Critique (2012).  He is the editor of Deliverance or Destruction?  Syria at a Crossroads (2014). In 2012 he was granted the Prince Claus Award as “a tribute to the Syrian people and the Syrian revolution”.  However, he was not able to collect the award, as he was living in hiding in Damascus.  Below is an interview which Frieda Afary, the producer of Iranian Progressives in Translation, conducted with him in English and via e-mail.  This interview and Afary’s Persian translation of it were originally published on May 29, 2015 by Zamaneh, a Persian-language human rights radio station and website based  in Amsterdam.  The Persian translation can be found at http://www.radiozamaneh.com/221018

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Joint May Day Resolution of Independent Iranian Workers’ Organizations

Translator’s Note:  The following joint resolution by seven independent Iranian labor unions and organizations has been issued amidst a growing wave of strikes by workers, protests by teachers and nurses, and arrests of union leaders.  The resolution specifically targets “the capitalist system which rules Iran …cannot and does not want to put an end to the existing unbearable situation.”  The resolution further opposes discrimination against women, ethnic, national, religious minorities and Afghan migrant workers.  In conclusion, it states:  “We condemn the escalating war and killings in the Middle East region.  In our view, this horrible situation, the unprecedented rise of terrorist organizations and the policies of terror in the countries of the region are caused by the dead end which capitalist relations have reached in their failure to satisfy the needs of human beings today, and by the anti-human policies of western and regional governments.”     The original Persian text can be found at http://www.etehadeh.com/?page=news&nid=4333   This translation will be published in the Bulletin of the International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran.

http://www.workers-iran.org

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Idolatry of Nukes Is "Enrichment" at the Cost of Impoverishment: An Iranian Progressive's Response to Iran's Nuclear Agreement with World Powers

Translator’s Note:  Below are translated excerpts from an article by Mohammad Reza Nikfar, philosopher and chief editor of Zamaneh, a human rights radio station and website based in Amsterdam. 

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Iranians Debate Combating ISIL & Defending Kurds/ Kurdish Women

The urgent need to combat the onslaught of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL),  and the fact that the Kurds are being seen as a democratic bulwark against ISIL, has led to some important debates among Iranians.  These debates concern the struggles of the Middle East region’s Kurdish national minority and Kurdish women in particular. 

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