Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Class War In Iran

I find it interesting that the right wing embraces feminism in Iran while denoucing it at home. They embrace unions in Iran while attacking them at home. Yep don't ask for consitency out of the right the only consitency they show is the one that says the enemy of my enemy is my friend. For a little while.

Once the working class becomes revolutionary and threatens capitalism and its state, the right quickly returns to its fascist roots to deal with the threat of Bolshevism.

Recently the right wing has taken to reporting on womens and workers struggles in Iran. However the struggle for womens rights ,which is the class struggle, challenges the very nature of the family whether in North America or Iran.
It is the struggle of women as proletarians which is the challenge of this age.
See:Whose Family Values?

The right wings support of unions abroad is not unusual remember Ronald Reagan declaring we are all Solidarity Now, in support of the Polish labour movement, while busting the striking PATCO union which represented air controlers.

The right likes to challenge the left to show solidarity with Women and workers in Iran, which we do contrary to their allegations, such as the case in Canada with support for Nazanin Fateh. Which I have seen no Blogging Tories write about.


Islamic Regime's thugs attack and assault attendants of the peaceful Women's March Iran Press News: It is estimated that approximately 5000 women and supporting men showed up to the General Women's March at Haft'eh Teer Square in Tehran today. The march which was meant to be a peaceful protest against the misogynist rule of the Islamic Republic was slated for 5 to 6 pm Tehran time (9 to 10 am eastern standard time in the U.S.). The participants carried placards, signs and banners protesting the medieval regulations imposed on women and continued to chant slogans supporting women's, children's and human rights.Among those present at the march were academics, well-known human and women's rights activists, student leaders, members of the greater Tehran bus drivers union etc.

Iranian women hold banners calling for equal rights
Women held up banners calling for equal rights

Demonstration by women in Iran capital – photo report

Iran police beat women activists

Because of course they were protesting without a permit.

No permit issued to women's rally: Official

RIGHTS-IRAN : Braving Threats, Women Demand Legal Reforms

"Women's organisations have not asked for permission for this peaceful event, which is not political at all. Out right to protest peacefully has been recognised by the constitution," one of the organisers of Monday's rally told IPS.

Feminists who organised the event will form a follow-up committee, in hopes that the larger civil society will continue to bring pressure on the government. So far, none of Iran's 12 conservative women MPs have acknowledged the Jun. 12 protest. No group has taken responsibility for this event, because of security fears. Last year, the organisers of a similar event were threatened by unknown security forces.

"One of the security entities has summoned some of the women activists. They have not pointed out any reason," an Iranian woman activist told IPS on condition of anonymity. "They probably asked them to cancel the protest," she added.

The workers movement around the world recognizes the importance of womens rights in civil society. And the womens struggle has been essential to any successful revolution in the past. Whether it was the Paris Commune, the Bolshevik Revolution or the revolution in Tehran that was subverted by the fascist counterrevolution of the Mullahs.

In these revolutions women took the lead over the issue of Bread and Roses, wanting food and being recognized as persons.. And the demonstration the other day in Tehran had that same theme again. The crowd chanted "Rights, Bread & Justice for women".

This is the call of women since the turn of last century as they were exploited in the dark satanic mills of American manufacturing. And as they are today around the world in the new tigers of capitalism.

This is why workers rights and womens rights are the key elements in any proletarian program for revolution.

Unions Around World to Protest Iran's Treatment of Bus Workers

Campaign to Support Workers Fund Iran
The idea to set up an Iranian workers fund has been discussed for a number of years, however, over the last few months the unprecedented escalation in workers struggles to save their jobs against privatisation, or against non payment of wages and the subsequent attacks by security forces and agents of the Iranian Government, have forced us to act urgently. About half of Iran’s workers are currently employed with either temporary or “blank” contracts, depriving them of any rights.

Workers Fund Iran was set up in December 2005 and aims to reduce and relieve poverty amongst Iranian workers (both employed and unemployed) who are victims of the economic policies of the Iranian regime including privatisation. It aims to put at the center of its activities the need to rebuild international working class solidarity, directly with the workers of Iran, in contrast to the funds set up by the US administration to support those Iranian NGOs who follow US policy in the region (including Regime change from above) and its Neo Liberal economic agenda.



Labor Rights Now Blasts Iran Labor Repression

Labor Rights Now blasted the Iranian government for sentencing worker activists to long prison terms for exercising fundamental trade union rights.

"American workers are outraged at the sentencing of Mahmoud Salehi to five years in prison and three years of exile in the city of Ghorvey," LRN President Don Stillman said in a letter to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Salehi is the former president of the Bakery Workers' Association of the city of Saqez and a co-founder of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers' Organizations.

"We also condemn the sentence of Jalal Hosseini, a member of the Bakery Workers' Association, to three years imprisonment and the two-year sentences given to Mohsen Hakimi, Mohammad Adipour, and Borhan Divangar," Stillman said.

According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), Salehi and Hosseini were sentenced for their trade union activities.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) Committee on Freedom of Association urged Iran to drop the charges against the worker activists. Iran is a member of the ILO and is obligated to uphold the right to freedom of association, but failed to do so in these cases.

"Labor Rights Now condemns the utter disregard that the government of Iran has displayed toward internationally recognized worker rights," Stillman's letter to Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

"American workers call upon you to recognize the innocence of Salehi, Hosseini, Hakimi, Adipour, and Divangar and to free them from prison immediately."

More Information

• ICFTU's Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights in Iran


Of course the greatest impediment to independent labour and womens movements in Iran and other countries in the Middle East is the appearance of their being used as puppets of US Imperialism. the enemies of our ememies are NOT our friends. No matter how much they want to be.

By fubar
Feb 15 2006 - 1:41pm

From a State Department press release:Reaching Out to the People of Iran

As the Secretary noted in her February 15 Senate testimony, we will work with our friends and allies on a range of measures to reach out to the Iranian people and support their calls for freedom. These will include:

* Empowering Iranian Civil Society: The Administration will spend at least $10 million in FY06 funds to support the cause of freedom in Iran this year. These funds will be used to support political dissidents, labor union leaders and human rights activists. We will also work with NGOs to help build networks of support inside and outside Iran.

How to Stop Iran (Without Firing a Shot)
Current diplomacy isn't working. Here's Plan B.

BY BRET STEPHENS

Support an independent labor movement. On May Day, 10,000 workers took to Tehran's streets to demand the resignation of Iran's labor minister. And despite last year's $60 billion oil-revenue bonanza, the Iranian government routinely fails to pay its civil servants, leading to chronic, spontaneous work stoppages.

Workers' rights got a boost in January when Tehran's bus drivers went on strike to demand the release of their imprisoned and tortured leader Mansour Ossanloo. In a state that bans independent labor unions, the strike was an unprecedented event, calling to mind the 1980 Gdansk dock strike that became Poland's Solidarity movement. That movement succeeded largely thanks to the support of Lane Kirkland's AFL-CIO, which in turn received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy. The same model needs to be energetically applied to Iran today.

"The neat thing about the labor movement is that wherever it goes, it's welcomed," says a source familiar with Iranian workers' groups. "It actually makes America look good."

The real workers movement in Iran and Iraq is represented by the Workers Communist Party of Iran, a group which is left communist and beleives that workers need to create workers councils as an alternative to State Power. This organization will never serve the needs of U.S. Imperialism.

International Labour Solidarity Page of the Worker-communist Party of Iran

References:

Labour and taxation (from Iran) -- Encyclopædia Britannica
Although Iranian workers have, in theory, a right to form labour unions, there is, in actuality, no union system in the country. Workers are represented ostensibly by the Workers' House, a state-sponsored institution that nevertheless attempts to challenge some state policies. Guild unions operate locally in most areas but are limited largely to issuing credentials and licenses. The right of workers to strike is generally not respected by the state, and since 1979 strikes have often been met by police action.

Durham e-Prints - Labour unions, law and conditions in Iran (1900 -1941)

Amazon.com: Labor Unions and Autocracy in Iran (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East):


Also See:

Islam And Class War

Anti Islamism Manifesto

The Need for Arab Anarchism

Muslim


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