Hands Off the People of Iran

December 25 2008

Every year, the British television broadcaster Channel 4 produces an alternative to to the Queen’s Christmas speech. In previous years it has been delivered by a fully veiled Muslim woman and Genelle Guzman, a 9/11 survivor. This year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke for seven minutes.

He used the speech to condemn Western leaders for their neglect of Jesus’ teachings, saying “Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the standard-bearer of justice, of love for our fellow human beings, of the fight against tyranny, discrimination and injustice”.

Hands Off the People of Iran (Hopi) does not believe Ahmadinejad is a responsible choice for the Christmas speech: he is a right-wing hardliner, whose regime persecutes women, LGBT people, ethnic minority groups, trade unionists and socialists, secularists and political dissenters. In addition, Ahmadinejad was a supporter of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and is currently benefiting from these occupations.

Dorothy Byrne, head of news and current affairs at Channel 4, claimed the network had a responsibility to broadcast “alternative voices”. Hopi believes this decision was taken purely to court controversy and demands that Channel 4 issue a full apology. A far better choice for the alternative Christmas message would have been one of the many organisations and individuals fighting both for freedom in Iran and against the possibility of imperialist war on their country, such as the group “Students for Freedom and Equality”.

Position paper adopted HOPI conference December 13 2008

1.  Conference notes:

1:1 That despite the election promises of the new administration in the USA and various pronouncements by its allies, the threat of yet another US-led war in the Middle East has not gone away. On the surface, it seems that a direct military attack on Iran by the US is now less likely. However, the new US regime is set on increasing the economic warfare on Iran by tightening the already destructive sanctions. Also, the current global economic crisis is likely to make world imperialism even more belligerent, thus increasing the threat.

1:2 That even if the latest economic crisis of the world capitalist system may temporarily divert the attention of imperialists, the colonialist state of Israel is increasingly voicing its readiness to do its US master’s biddings and drag the whole region into a devastating war.

1:3 That the ‘soft war’ on Iran, which is already well underway in the form of so-called UN sanctions, is drastically bolstered by Barack Obama’s proposed new raft of sanctions against companies exporting refined petrol to Iran.

1:4 That the programme of sanctions imposed so far has on the one hand strengthened the theocratic dictatorship in Iran whilst on the other hand has drastically worsened the situation of the vast majority of Iranian people. Whilst inflation and unemployment have more than doubled over the last 2 years, the Iranian regime’s expenditure on its apparatus of repression has quadrupled.

1:5 That the Iranian regime has used the sanctions and the threat of an external war both to cover up its collusion with the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and its horrendous repression against workers, students, women and national and religious minorities inside Iran.

1:6 That the refusal of the 2007 conference of the Stop the War Coalition to allow the affiliation of HOPI reflects its unwillingness to countenance criticism of the Islamic government of Iran and as a result undermines the unity and effectiveness of the anti war movement.

1:7 That the decline in anti-war mobilisations has reached alarming levels. The failure to organise effective solidarity with the Iranian peoples has created the danger that the democratic struggles of the Iranian peoples are hijacked by US imperialist propaganda.

2.  Conference resolves:

2:1 To continue a principled campaign against imperialist sanctions and military interventions in Iran whilst defending the just struggles of workers, students, women and national and religious minorities against the barbaric capitalist theocracy in Iran.

2:2 To continue exposing imperialist-sponsored “solidarity” with the people of Iran whilst opposing the machinations of the Iranian regime in transforming the anti-war movement into its own ally.

2:3 To increase its efforts in organising effective solidarity with the all the progressive struggles of the Iranian people for socialism and democracy.

2:4 To further this end by seeking affiliation to the Stop the War Coalition and encouraging all supporters to join its ranks.