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(en) Britain Libertarian Socialist Federation LSF - Reflections on the Growing Anti-Regime Protests in Iran
Date
Tue, 9 Jan 2018 07:03:07 +0200
Below is a recent report on the current situation in Iran first published on the website
of the Alliance of Syrian and Iranian Socialists. We may not share the same political
outlook as that organisation but we reproduce the report for information. ---- "In
comparison to the mass protests that arose in 2009 after the fraudulent presidential
election, these protests are different in several important respects: 1. They directly
oppose poverty and systemic corruption. 2. They include the wide participation of the
working class (men and women), many unemployed. 3. Demands include an end to the Islamic
Republic, Death to Supreme Leader Khamenei, Death to president Rouhani, Death to the
"Revolutionary Guards" and an end to Iran's military intervention in Syria and Lebanon. 4.
In some cases, individual women have bravely taken off their headscarves or veils in
public places and have encouraged others to follow them.
Frieda Afary
December 31, 2017.
The protests that started in the city of Mashhad on Thursday December 28 have quickly
spread to more than 40 cities including Tehran, Kermanshah, Rasht, Isfahan, Shiraz,
Hamedan, Kerman, Zanjan, Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, and even the city of Qum, Iran's religious
capital. The participants are mostly young people under 30 but in some cases have
included parents with their children. So far, at least 5 people have been killed in
Lorestan and over 50 people have been arrested by heavily present security forces. Some
government buildings and banks were set on fire by the protesters and pictures of Khamenei
and Khomeini have been burned.
In comparison to the mass protests that arose in 2009 after the fraudulent presidential
election, these protests are different in several important respects: 1. They directly
oppose poverty and systemic corruption. 2. They include the wide participation of the
working class (men and women), many unemployed. 3. Demands include an end to the Islamic
Republic, Death to Supreme Leader Khamenei, Death to president Rouhani, Death to the
"Revolutionary Guards" and an end to Iran's military intervention in Syria and Lebanon. 4.
In some cases, individual women have bravely taken off their headscarves or veils in
public places and have encouraged others to follow them.
No one can deny that these protests are arising after at least a year of almost daily
labor actions and strikes against non-payment of wages and terrible working conditions, as
well as protests by impoverished retirees, teachers, nurses and those who have lost their
meager savings in bankrupt banks.
Slogans have also called for freedom for all political prisoners and an end to dictatorship.
At the same time, there is no doubt that there is a strong nationalist tone to some of the
slogans such as "Neither Gaza, Nor Lebanon, I sacrifice my life for Iran" or a monarchist
influence expressed in slogans which support the legacy of Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Some Iranians believe that the protests might have been started by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps to consolidate its power, given the infighting within the regime
and the threat of a direct war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Others believe that
monarchists and the Mujahedin Khalq, with support from the Trump administration, have had
a major role in encouraging the protests.
For those Iranians opposed to all these actors and genuinely hoping for a liberatory
movement, it is extremely important to learn from the lessons of the Syrian revolution. If
the mass movement against poverty and dictatorship limits itself simply to the overthrow
of the regime without an affirmative and progressive vision, it faces the danger of being
taken over by right-wing populists or monarchists and becoming a pawn in the imperialist
rivalries.
This is a time when those Iranian socialists and Marxists who do not support authoritarian
brands of socialism can make a difference by organizing within this movement on the basis
of opposing Iran's capitalist state, helping the development of workers' councils,
defending and promoting women's struggles against patriarchy/ misogyny, and speaking out
against the discrimination suffered by Iran's ethnic and religious minorities such as
Kurds and Bahais.
Deepening the content of the current protest movement is the best way to challenge and
oppose imperialist war drives by the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran,
Turkey, and to express solidarity with other progressives in the region and around the
globe who demand social justice.
Frieda Afary
December 31, 2017"
https://communistanarchism.blogspot.co.il/2018/01/reflections-on-growing-anti-regime.html
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