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ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 23-02-2011 21:55 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Official: 43 per cent of iranian workers live in poverty
international / workers issues / press release Tuesday February 22, 2011 13:39 by IWSN i
Gholam-Reza Khademizadeh, the head of the Supreme Association of Labour Associations (SALA), has announced that 43 per cent of iranian workers live under the poverty line. This is a big admission by the leader of one of the iranian regime’s bogus so-called labour organisations. Fathollah Bayat, the leader of another fake pro-regime organisation, the Union of Contract Workers, has gone even further by saying that 85 per cent of urban households live below the absolute poverty line! read full story / add a comment
related link: http://www.iwsn.org/index.htm |
| Quote: | Iran: Thirty years of reaction
Ruben Markarian of the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of iran addressed the Hopi AGM in London on 12 February 2011. Here is an extract from his speech. The full text is at the url.
Before discussing recent political events in iran, please allow me to commemorate a very significant event in modern iranian history - the Siahkhal uprising, which took place 40 years ago. This event produced the Fedayeen movement after two decades of stagnation and reformism on the left. The Fedayeen initiated armed struggle against the shah’s regime. In so doing they revived the iranian left and turned it into the main force in the struggle against the shah and against imperialism in iran. We should commemorate our fallen comrades and their memory - they died for socialism and freedom and passed on militant traditions to the next generation of iranians.
related link: http://www.cpgb.org.uk/article.php?article_id=1004281 |
| Quote: | Revolution spreads to iran
Yassamine Mather reports on the spread of demonstrations to iran, inspired by the Egyptian Revolution. Full text at link.
Amongst the many protests in Egypt and Tunisia not only were there no signs of support for the Islamic Republic, but protestors in Tahrir Square called on iranians to follow their example and continue their protests for democracy. Indeed every time iran’s rulers tried to imply that Arab protestors were following in the traditions of the revolution led by ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, secular and religious protestors united to denounce such comparisons.
Videos of the night-time demonstration appeared quickly online and by the morning of Monday February 14 many iranian were aware that anti-government protests were taking place. Tehran residents were surprised to find that mobile phones were working (they had been blocked at around 4pm the previous day) and protestors could organise routes, points of assembly …
However, even taking into account all these positive signs, no-one could have predicted the size and extent of the demonstrations - the most significant anti-government protest since security forces cracked down on a series of massive events in 2009. Indeed, a leaked document from the pro-Khamenei Islamic parliament security committee puts the number of Monday’s protestors in Tehran at one million.
http://hopidisc.blogspot.com/2011/02/revolution-spreads-to-iran.html |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-02-2011 21:05 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Iran: Successful Strikes In Kurdish Town
Workers Action Hits Regime. Diplomat Defects.
by Yassamine Mather.
On February 22, a one-day general strike against the Iranian regime closed down Kurdish towns and cities. In Mahabad anti-government protestors torched a truck belonging to the Revolutionary Guards, who opened fire, wounding at least four people. There are reports of demonstrations and protests from Bukan, Sardasht, Sanandaj, Saqez, Marivan, Kermanshah and Kamyaran.
Previously, on Sunday February 20, thousands of Iranians in Tehran had joined protests on the seventh day of the ‘martyrdom’ of two students killed during the February 14 demonstrations. The regime had hoped to contain the opposition by isolating the leaders of the green movement. An iron fence was erected outside the entrance of Mir-Hossein Moussavi’s residence and his personal guards replaced by security forces loyal to the regime, suggesting that the ‘reformist’ figurehead is facing a long detention. Fellow prominent ‘reformist’ Mehdi Karroubi is also under house arrest.
However, the reality is that the movement acts independently of these ‘leaders’. For example, the evening before the February 20 demonstrations cries of “Allahu Akbar” came from rooftops all around Tehran and did not die down until dawn. On the Sunday morning, security forces and bassij militia were deployed throughout the capital. But despite the intimidation thousands of protestors showed up in the streets and main squares of the capital. In the early evening crowds gathered outside the main, state-owned radio and television channel and, showing their determination to bring down the entire regime headed by supreme leader Ali Khamenei, they shouted “Death to dictator” and “Khamenei must go”. There are short videos on the internet of crowds attacking the bassiji and plain-clothes security men who had been trying to break up the demonstrations. Similar protests were held in Shiraz (where one student was killed), as well as Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad and Rasht.
Meanwhile, workers at the Abadan oil refinery have continued their strike and occupation. As with many other groups of workers, they took action in response to the non-payment of wages - they have not been paid for the last six months. There have been clashes with security forces, but the sit-in and strike still continue, with the company blaming subcontractors and denying responsibility for the fact that their workers have received no wages.
Despite this, ayatollah Khamenei announced on February 4: “Based on reports that I have received, the country will be completely self-sufficient in the production of gasoline by February 11.” People across Iran facing increased prices across the board as a result of the removal of fuel subsidies might not believe him.
As in Libya, we could be witnessing the crumbling of the old power structure, with state officials and diplomats beginning to abandon the regime. In Italy, Ahmad Maleki, the head of Iran’s consular office in Milan, resigned his post in protest at his government’s “barbaric actions against the Iranian nation”. He told reporters there are “many others” in the Iranian foreign ministry who are unhappy with the government.
Dublinhopi@gmail.com
http://www.hopi-ireland.org |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 02-03-2011 19:36 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | The Islamic Republic of Iran has sentenced Houtan Kian, the lawyer of Iran stoning case Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, to death by hanging. He had received four consecutive death sentences. Three were revoked; the fourth has been upheld. Reliable reports received by the International Committee against Stoning confirm this fact.
Houtan Kian was arrested in October 2010 along with Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s son, and two German journalists during an interview. Whilst the latter three have been released, Houtan Kian faces imminent execution. Moreover Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s death sentence has been confirmed. Upon hearing the news, it is reported that Sakineh attempted suicide but survived.
We are outraged at these heinous sentences of death and are calling for urgent action to stop their executions and secure their immediate and unconditional release. They have done nothing wrong. Houtan Kian’s only crime has been to defend a woman facing death by stoning. Sakineh’s only crime has been to be a woman in the Islamic Republic of Iran and under Sharia law.
Only strong international pressure will and must save them and the many others awaiting their death in the execution capital of the world.
Mina Ahadi, Coordinator of the International Committees against Stoning and Execution
Patty Debonitas, Spokesperson of Iran Solidarity
Maryam Namazie, Spokesperson of One Law for All
Also see a recent letter from Houtan Kian sent out of prison here: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2011/03/javid-houtan-kians-letter-from-prison.html
ACT NOW!
Write, call, fax, and email officials demanding an end to the executions and the immediate and unconditional release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and her lawyer, Houtan Kian.
You can contact the embassies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, foreign ministries in your country of residence, MPs and MEPs, the Islamic regime’s judiciary, the UN, EU and others.
You can also do an act of solidarity in a town centre to highlight their case, take action via social networking sites and raise the banner of ‘Free Houtan Kian and Sakineh’ and ‘End Executions and Stoning Now’ at upcoming International Women’s Day events.
Please send copies of any protest letters, actions and emails, and acts of solidarity to iransolidaritynow@gmail.com.
For more information contact: Mina Ahadi, minaahadi@aol.com, Tel: +49 (0) 1775692413 or Patty Debonitas, iransolidaritynow@gmail.com, Tel: +44 (0) 7507978745.
For useful contact details for protest letters, click here: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2011/03/call-to-save-life-of-lawyer-houtan-kian.html. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 04-03-2011 15:05 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Release all political prisoners
John McDonnell MP launched the new campaign, 'Free Jafar Panahi and all political prisoners in Iran', at the February 12 annual conference of Hands Off the People of Iran
This campaign is at the heart of Hopi’s work for the coming year. We formed Hopi at a time when there was a real danger of imminent attack on Iran, right after the war on Iraq. While opposing any imperialist attacks, we positioned ourselves in clear, active solidarity with the people of Iran who are fighting against their theocratic regime. That also led us to clearly oppose all sanctions on the country, because in our view that is just another form of imperialism attacking the people of Iran. I think we have successfully engaged others in that discussion.
It is clear that threat of a military attack and an invasion has still not gone. For example, you will have heard Tony Blair’s speech before the Chilcot enquiry. With his last words he effectively called on the imperialist powers to invade Iran. And, of course, we have seen the recent cyber-attacks on the country. The threat continues and the imperialists will not give up.
However, at the moment there is a certain quietude. Partially this has to do with other activities in their spheres of influence that the imperialists are anxious about, for example in Afghanistan. And there is an acceptance that, as long as the Iranian regime is quiet, ‘maybe we can turn a blind eye’. And that is why we have not had any major political leader in the west take on the question of Iranian political prisoners in a serious way. We have not heard any British politician in government raise the issue of Jafar Panahi, for example.
There is a certain acquiescence that the barbarity will go on and, as long as this barbarity in Iran does not affect the rest of the Middle East or the rest of the world, it is almost acceptable - very much in line with what goes on in other barbaric countries in that region. There is a real vacuum on the question of human rights in Iran, whereby those who look can easily discover the brutality of the executions, the hangings, the tortures, the arrests, the denials of human rights. But the media and mainstream politicians are not interested.
Just as Hopi had to stand up and put forward a principled position against war and against the theocratic regime, we now have to stand up and fight for the freedom of all political prisoners. The responsibility falls on our shoulders, because nobody else is doing it.
We are focusing on Jafar Panahi, because campaigns like this need a symbolic figure - in the same way that in the anti-apartheid campaigns we focused on Nelson Mandela, but, of course, we fought for the freedom of all political prisoners. By focusing on a well-known name like Jafar Panahi, we will be able to raise the campaign to a higher level.
We all have to set time and resources aside for this campaign and approach it in a systematic manner. Just like when we launched Hopi, we again have to focus on the union and labour movement, get articles in their journals and websites, organise for resolutions and fringe meetings at union conferences, and conduct discussions with MPs and political parties.
The parliamentary wing of Hopi, which includes myself, Jeremy Corbyn and a few others, will put forward early day motions and will try to lobby other MPs, including those who are now in government. We are also trying to organise some activities in parliament - for example, show some of Panahi’s films and get along intellectuals and artists to discuss the campaign and the issues. In other words, we will also run a parliamentary campaign.
Of course, we also need to mobilise artists and film makers to act in solidarity with Panahi. In addition to that, we also want to reach wider civil society and in that respect I think last year’s film showing in the Soho Theatre was a breakthrough, which attracted a whole new audience. We should also not shy away from engaging with religious groups, for example, who are working on human rights matters.
All the way through we have to discuss with these forces on how the theocratic regime can be got rid of. Clearly, this can only be achieved through the actions of the working people of Iran themselves. The only consistent force that can bring about long-term stability in a secular society is the workers’ movement.
That is a fairly extensive range of work. But we have done it before and I think we can do it again.
The situation in Egypt provides an ideal opportunity to raise these issues. I attended a demonstration in Trafalgar Square and, although the organisers had printed their placards only 24 hours earlier, they were already out of date and still contained the call for Mubarak to go. But this shows what is possible, how quickly things change and that this can also be achieved in Iran.
Only the people of Iran can bring down this regime. Our task is to assist them as best as we can. If our campaign brings just one release for one political prisoner, if just one prisoner can get some hope from a clipping about our activities smuggled into prison, then I think our campaign is already successful.
www.hopoi.org
www.hopi-ireland.org |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-03-2011 17:20 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | 'Islamic feminism' and women's emancipation
Yassamine Mather examines the reality of the continuing struggle against the regime's oppression
On March 8, for the second time in a week, demonstrators gathered in the streets of Tehran and other major cities in Iran to protest against the regime - despite its attempts at suppression, its armed security forces, its tear gas and its arrests.
Thirty-two years ago, on March 8 1979, tens of thousands of Iranian women took part in the first major demonstration against the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran, following the forced imposition of the hijab. The women’s slogans were: “I say it every moment, I say it under torture: either death or freedom!” “Freedom is neither eastern nor western: it is universal!” “Death to censorship!” “In the dawn of freedom, the place of women is empty: revolution is meaningless without women’s freedom - we do not want the hijab!”
Since that day and for over 30 years hard-line fundamentalists have tried to impose their rules on Iranian women and youth. However, even these clerics agree that they face a cultural crisis. The majority of the youth and the women’s movement openly reject fundamentalist Islam, and the generation born after the Islamic regime came to power is amongst the most secular sections of Middle Eastern society, campaigning for the separation of religion from the state.
A lot has been written on the unprecedented increase in the political and academic activities of Iranian women over the last two decades, but it should be emphasised that the overwhelming majority of these activities have taken place despite the clerical regime, and often against it. The women’s movement is independent of the factional fighting inside the Islamic Republic and independent of the Islamic ideology which is the basis of the state. This movement has also been an anti-war movement, adamant in its opposition to US-style ‘women’s emancipation’, as witnessed in occupied Iraq and ‘liberated’ Afghanistan. Most of the women who have taken an active part in this struggle do not consider themselves Islamist; quite the contrary.
Second class
There is no doubt that, with the exception of a minority of the middle and upper classes, Iranian women have traditionally suffered from patriarchal laws and practices both within the family and at work.
Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, however, the plight of Iranian women has worsened, the rigid imposition of the veil (hijab) has reinforced discrimination and prejudice against women. Many families refuse to send their daughters to high school. In higher education girls are discouraged or prevented by the state from studying or working in fields and activities considered ‘masculine’, such as engineering, mining, the judiciary ... It is in opposition to the state that many women pursue such studies.
There is discrimination against women in sport and recreation. Participation in some sports is discouraged, and in recreation most facilities are rigidly segregated and rarely available to women. Many have called this a system of apartheid against women. The ministry of education in the Iranian government recently reported that 94% of schoolgirls were unfit, as they did not participate in sport or physical education.
The combination of enforced hijab wearing and segregation is used to limit women’s access to state education, sports and other facilities. In other words, the system is geared to institutionalise women’s confinement to the home. These policies facilitate the objective of turning women into second-class citizens.
As they become teenagers, girls are driven more and more into a world dominated and manipulated by their male relatives. They can be given away in legal marriage without their knowledge or consent while still in their childhood. The legal age of marriage for girls is nine.
Discriminatory Islamic laws govern the private and public life of women: they have to follow a very specific and restrictive set of dress codes - a full veil or complete headscarf and long overcoat are the only accepted forms of dress. The law discriminates against women in inheritance, giving them at most half of the share of their male counterparts. According to the laws of Hodud and Qessas (talion[1] and punishment) the life of a woman is worth half that of a man, with the implication that a man killing a woman and sentenced to death may only be executed if the victim’s family pays the murderer half of his death dues. Article 6 of this law states that the bereaved family has to pay the murderer’s family to get “Islamic justice” (a life for a life). Article 33 of the Hodud and Qessas states that women’s testimony is not valid in homicide cases unless it is supported by at least one male witness. According to Iran’s Islamic laws, women are considered generally unfit to be witnesses; their power of observation is considered half that of a man. And women have officially been considered too emotional and irrational to be judges.
Of course, in other religions equally anti-women rules and regulations are to be found. What differentiates Iran or US-occupied Iraq from other Islamic states, however, is that the Qur’an dictates civil and judicial law. In other words the basic democratic demand of separation of state and religion does not apply - quite the opposite.
Unequal marriage
Islamic marriage laws as applied in Iran are amongst the most repressive in the world in terms of discrimination against women. While men are allowed to marry up to four wives at a time in permanent marriage, plus an unlimited number of women in what is known as “temporary marriage” (siqeh), women who do not adhere to strict monogamy are considered criminal and may be brutally and savagely stoned to death in public. This legal Islamic punishment for extra-marital affairs is carried out regularly in Iran.
Men control the lives of their wives, their daughters and their unmarried sisters. In Islamic societies women need a male guardian throughout their lives, to give them legal permission to travel, to study, to marry, etc ... As no consent is required for sexual relations inside marriage, wife-rape is common and even wife-beating is tolerated in the process (with a Qur’anic verse that legitimises wife-beating in the case of “disobedient women”). Abortion is illegal, but the rising number of terminations is testimony to its use as a form of contraception.
Until 1996, as far as divorce was concerned, the man had almost a free hand to divorce his wife, while the woman had only a limited recourse to the legal system. Even after reform of the laws regulating separation, a woman can only file for divorce in exceptional circumstances. The extent of this discrimination was best exemplified by reports recorded by the Iran Human Rights Working Group[2]: a court had taken 14 years to approve a divorce request from a woman who complained she was tortured by her husband. She was reporting new incidents of abuse every year. She had agreed to drop all financial demands against her husband, and finally had to contact Iran’s prosecutor-general directly (who reported that she “shivered violently” whenever her husband was mentioned) to get her divorce. In another case, the process took eight years.
The divorce law is also designed to punish recalcitrant women, bringing them poverty and destitution, and leading them to resort to unusual tactics in order to obtain minimum maintenance for their children. In most cases women have to forfeit financial claims in order to obtain divorce, even if the proceedings were initiated by the man. Iranian law states that a male child above the age of two and a female child over the age of seven must live with their father. Even the father’s father is given priority over the mother in custody matters.
In marriage, discrimination against women goes still further. A virgin woman (whatever her age) has no right to marry without her father’s consent (or her paternal grandfather’s, in the absence of the former). A Muslim woman has no right to marry a non-Muslim (a right her male counterparts have - with some limitations). And a divorced woman has to wait for a set period before remarriage (but there is no waiting period for a divorced male). These Islamic practices and laws have created a suitable environment for widespread abuses and atrocities against women.
Most women do not report incidents of rape outside marriage because the victim has more to lose. First she will be accused of bringing dishonour to her own family and in some cases might even be killed by family members. Second, she fears prosecution under the morality laws: the punishment for “unIslamic” behaviour is to be flogged or stoned to death, especially if a woman is judged by the court as being a willing partner.
While the laws of Hodud and Qessas prescribe “equal” punishments for men and women, it is women who suffer from these barbaric measures. A married man having an affair with an unmarried women can always claim they were “temporarily married”. But a woman in a parallel position has no such defence and would face the horror of death by stoning.
The discriminatory laws regarding women’s rights cover a wide range of areas in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance, in addition to the anti-women labour laws and social policies. These have had devastating results, causing economic deprivation and the social isolation of women and their children. Iranian women have been fighting hard against these injustices, but have had very limited success in the face of the overwhelming power of the religious state and its many institutions.
Whatever interpretation of Islam we take, the Qur’an is quite specific that women who disobey their men may be beaten. Should we accept this on the pretext of respecting Islamic values, and in order to combat racism? To do so would be to ignore what has been done to secular women in Islamic societies - to women who choose not to obey the rules. In Tehran teenagers who do not abide by the full Islamic dress code (showing a fringe under their headscarf, for example) are regularly arrested, flogged and made to sign a statement saying they will cease to “behave as a prostitute”.
Secular resistance
Women have never forgotten that in the 1960s one of ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s main objections to the shah’s regime was that voting rights were given to women. While it is true that during that dictatorship the right to vote was meaningless, Khomeini objected in principle to a woman’s right to be elected or to elect.
One of the first demonstrations against the Islamic regime was the women’s demonstration of March 8 1979. Khomeini’s decree that women should cover their hair rallied women of many classes and backgrounds in a major show of opposition against the new regime. Since then women have constantly opposed the erosion of their social and political rights.
In return the Islamic clergy and its government have consistently used medieval morality laws to suppress women. Especially in urban areas, women have fought back in an ongoing struggle that is only now beginning to bear fruit, very often despite the array of Islamic women’s magazines and organisations. Inevitably some of the tolerated women’s journals, publications and institutions have tried to catch up with this movement. However, they are at best tailing it, doing too little, too late.
The history of women’s struggles in Iran goes back to the early years of the 20th century. Iranian women participated in the constitutional revolution (1906-11), they were active in the nationalist movement of the 1950s and throughout the shah’s repression, when they formed a large part of leftwing underground organisations, as well as the Mujahedin-e Khalgh resistance. Hundreds of thousands of women participated in the demonstrations against the shah’s dictatorship and no-one could have forced them back into the middle ages. Economic factors, the role of women in production and the development of productive forces have all played a part.
In the early years of the Islamic regime, Iranian women fought expulsion from the workplace through enforced redundancy, and they refused to adhere to the strict Islamic dress code. It took over 18 years for the more enlightened members of the regime to realise that it was impossible to keep the clock turned back. It is an insult to the courage and perseverance of Iranian women to label this long and complex struggle an Islamist movement, as the officially tolerated women’s magazines do.
Apologists
In Shia Islam the most revered woman is the daughter of Mohammed, who died at the age of 18, having already given birth to three sons. Her short life symbolises the ideal woman. As a result, in Iran secular, Christian, Jewish, Baha’i and Zoroastrian women are all forced to wear the veil against their will. Their basic right to dress as they please is taken away because some Muslim men find it insulting to see non-veiled women.
Islamists claim that the veil, far from restricting women’s social activities plays a liberating role, as it maintains a woman’s ‘purity’. But most women know that the primary role of the hijab is to subjugate them, segregate them and classify non-veiled women as evil temptresses whose sole role on earth is to corrupt men. It is also argued that the veil, like a uniform, hides class differences. Anyone who has seen the elaborate veils in the affluent suburbs of Iranian cities, as opposed to the hijabs worn by working class women, can see how absurd such statements are.
Hammed Shahidian asserts: “Defenders of ‘Islamic feminism’ in the west have founded their arguments in cultural relativism - a dangerous precedent both for feminists and human rights activists.”[3] Indeed it is claimed that any attack on the veil is a form of western racism. One has to point out that combating racism has nothing to do with accepting double standards - women’s rights for white/western women; Islamic ‘rights’ for Muslim/eastern women.
The main problem for Islamist women and Islamist moderates is that the reinterpretation of Islamic ideas regarding women to show them in a progressive light is impossible within the framework of the Islamic state. Mohammed is the final prophet in the long line of prophets, his book is the most complete message from god. The Qur’an’s clear and explicit anti-women message cannot be changed. The current bitter struggle between the moderate and the conservative Islamists in Iran can either lead to the overthrow of the Islamic state or to a compromise with the conservatives at the expense of any ‘moderation’.
Islamists, however, have by no means a monopoly on Iranian culture. Twentieth century Iran was dominated by a strong secular/progressive, non-Islamic culture. Iranian women’s limited achievements against Islamic law, both under the rule of this regime and in the past, has its roots in this tradition. Yet defenders of ‘Islamic feminism’ write extensively on the relative freedom and status of women in Iran compared to women in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia, as part of their defence of moderate, progressive Islam.
Here it is important to remind ourselves that in Iran’s contemporary history the level of development of the productive forces has played a far more significant role than ‘moderate’ Islam. Traditions of secular politics have also had a far more significant role to play. Islamist women in Iran, as part of the ‘reformist’ faction of a brutal dictatorship, will try to give some women better opportunities in education and government. They will try to improve family legislation, but within the limits of sharia law in all its anti-women facets.
Iran’s so-called ‘Islamic feminists’ are middle and upper class professional women in stable, traditional, family relationships. Many are immediate relatives of the highest-ranking clerics. They have no intention of challenging the religious state. As long as the basic demand for the separation of state and religion remains unfulfilled, as long as non-Muslim, Sunni and non-religious Iranians are considered second-class citizens, there can be no improvement in the plight of the majority of Iranian women.
Over the last few years, a minority of these Islamist women have taken up in a limited way some of the issues concerning women’s rights. Many have advocated minor reforms - too little, too late. These women are identified as political supporters of one of the factions of the Islamic regime (that of ex-presidents Khatami and Rafsanjani). They do not represent an independent women’s movement, but, on the contrary, form part of the ruling establishment and are considerably annoyed when western academics refer to them as feminists. The ‘reformist’ faction they belong to has not even challenged the medieval laws of Hodud and Qessas or the supreme rule of the religious guardian of the nation, the velaayat-e faghih. By contrast, the newspaper Zan, which dared to question the stoning to death of women, has faced enforced closure and bans. In other words, Islamist women are not feminist and feminist women are not Islamist. The term ‘Islamist feminist’, created by western academics, remains an abstract idea, as far as Iran is concerned.
Of course, arguments within Islam on issues regarding women’s rights are not new. For decades reformist Islamists have tried to present more moderate interpretations of Islamic laws and teaching. And, although it is true that over the last few years urban Iranian women have succeeded in asserting themselves and influencing aspects of their lives and the country’s politics, any improvement in their plight is due mainly to their perseverance and courage, and the tradition of struggle against dictatorship - despite the majority of Islamic clerics.
The defenders of so-called ‘Islamic feminism’ occasionally challenge us to define what we mean by progress, if we say it has not taken place in Iran thanks to their efforts. How about an end to the stoning of women for adultery, to the flogging of teenage girls for daring to show a fringe, to the Hezbollah’s practice of throwing paint at women who wear colourful scarves, to the segregation in hospitals, buses, schools and universities?
It is ironic that political correctness has discouraged many western liberals from challenging ‘Islamic feminism’. Iranian women, who are amongst the worst victims of Islamic fundamentalism, have no intention of following this trend and indeed over the last couple of years have stepped up the fight against the forced wearing of the hijab, for freedom and equality.
March 8 2011 saw a new generation taking up the same slogans.
yassamine.mather@weeklyworker.org.uk
Notes
1.Talion: law that criminals should receive as punishment precisely those injuries and damages they had inflicted upon their victims.
2. www.ihrwg.org
3. H Shahidian Islamic feminism and feminist politics in Iran Springfield 2009. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-03-2011 20:23 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Iran: Prison Massacre: Hundreds of Prisoners Dead or Injured
by Pat Corcoran - Hands Off the People of Iran
Protest To The Iranian Embassy
Its not just in Libya that civilians are being slaughtered, its also happening in Iran. At least 150 prisoners are dead or injured after bloody clashes erupted in Karaj’s Ghezel Hesar prison on the night of March 15th.
Thousands of prisoners from units 2 and 3 launched a protest after hearing the news of plans to execute ten inmates.
Approximately 3,000 prisoners attempted to break the doors of their cells while chanting, “Executions must stop.” Security forces attacked the prison cells, resulting in bloody clashes and the transfer of some prisoners from their cells. Reports indicate that prison guards used live ammunitions to control the protesters. Consequently, nearly eighty prisoners were seriously injured or killed, but the number of those shot is at 150 or higher. A handful of officers along with the deputy warden of the prison, Mr. Safakhil suffered leg injuries during the clashes. The prisoners who protested are either serving a heavy sentence or facing imminent execution.
The Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners reported on March 16th that some people attacked the prison from the outside in an attempt to free some of the detainees. According to these reports, some prisoners escaped. The news of the escapes has not been confirmed by other sources.
The latest news indicates that Ghezel Hesar prison is under lock down after riot police forces entered the grounds. On March 19th, the RAHANA group reported that phone privileges have been cut off for prisoners until further notice. Yesterday morning, some prisoners were able to make brief phone calls to their families, but by noon, all communication was cut off.
The Iranian regime’s Fars News Agency reported that after destructing the prison facilities, breaking windows, and attacking the guards, protesters attempted to escape the prison. The report did not mention the use of live ammunitions against the protesters, but did confirm the death of a few inmates as a result of “inflected injuries and smoke inhalation.”
Translation of The Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners , RAHANA by Persian2English.
On March 16th, the Reuters news agency reported 14 deaths and 33 injuries, citing Iran’s State TV as the source.
Amnesty International say:
Amnesty International has called for an investigation into reports that up to 14 people were killed in a disturbance in a jail near Tehran this week.
The incident at the overcrowded Qezel Hesar prison in Karaj occurred on Tuesday night when clashes broke out involving prisoners and prison guards. The Prisons Chief said that a judicial investigation has been launched.
"Such a high death toll is extremely worrying. Prison officials have a responsibility to maintain order and to protect the lives of prisoners, but must exercise restraint," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
"A prompt inquiry into these deaths is essential but it must be independent and transparent, as international human rights standards require, such as those set out in the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the Body of Principles for the protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.
"Unfortunately the Iranian Judiciary has routinely failed to carry out such investigations, so we are once again calling on the international community to use the current session of the UN Human Rights Council to create a Special Rapporteur to monitor and report on human rights in the Iran.”
Protest to the Iranian Embassy about this slaughter:
Sample message:
We are horrified at the reports of the slaughter of prisoners which took place Ghezel Hesar prison on the night of March 15th. We call on the Iranian Government to cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council in an impartial investigation of this atrocity.
In addition we call on the Iranian Government t free all Political Prisoners and to abolish the death penalty.
His Excellency Mr. Hossein Panahiazar
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
EMBASSY OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
72 Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Tel: 01 288 5881 / 01 288 0252.
Fax: 01 283 4246.
E-mail: EMB.DUBLIN@MFA.GOV.IR
Web page: HTTP://DUBLIN.MFA.GOV.IR
Please copy message to dublinhopi@gmail.com
http://hopi-ireland.org |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-04-2011 14:26 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Arabs Massacred In Iran.
by Pat Corcoran - Hands Off the People of Iran
Fifteen dead in Ahwaz, Iran
Fifteen people have been killed in Ahwaz, a city in Iran's Khuzestan province, according to Al Arabiya News Channel. Iranian security forces backed by militias dressed in civilian clothes broke up demonstrations by force.
The group “Youth of April 15” said in its pages on Facebook and Twitter that 15 people from Ahwaz have been killed and dozens have been wounded since demonstrations began last Friday. Friday had been declared as a “Day of Rage” to demand rights for the ethnic Arab majority in Iran’s Khuzestan province. “The humanitarian situation is very bad,” and there were reports of a lack of the food and water, the group said.
Iranian Minorities’ Human Rights Organization (IMHRO) had said in a statement on Saturday that the government deployed agents in public squares and in the streets. Basij militia forces and revolutionary guards were positioned in various parts of Ahwaz city, IMHRO added.
The demonstrations, which were organized via Facebook and Twitter spread to the cities of Hamidieh, Mahshahr, Shdegan, Abadan, and Khoramshahr, according to IMHRO.
Ahwazi Center for Human Rights Defense has called on the international community to intervene and put an end to what it termed “massacres in Ahwaz.” The group demanded in a statement that the Iranian government ensures the “safe” treatment in hospitals of the wounded protesters.
According to The Democratic Solidarity Party of Al Ahwaz the authorities have intermittently cut off electricity and water from residents of Ahwaz city.
Jamal Ahmad, a protester said: “We came out peacefully and they soon started to shoot at us. I saw people falling down next to me."
The “Day of Rage” was called by opposition movements to mark the anniversary of what was termed the “April 15 Apprising” of 2005.
The uprising was prompted by a leaked secret government strategy to try to change the demographic chart of Ahwaz and make ethnic Arab residents a minority. This is similar to the Zionists moving colonists into Occupied Palestine.
Ahwaz holds 15 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and has the second gas reserve in the world. Ahwazi Arabs are banned from using media, any political and cultural activities heavily suppressed by Iranian government.
Iranian security services, the Vezarat Atelat, secretly killed many Ahwazi activist and intimidated families of activist who live in exile.
http://hopi-ireland.org/
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-05-2011 19:38 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | God's representative in Tehran sees off 12th Shia imam fan
international | anti-capitalism | other press Thursday May 19, 2011 19:34 by Yassamine Mather
Stranger and stranger. Cabinet ministers fired, the number of ministeries reduced. Accusations of sorcery, jinns (genies). But as Yassamine Mather writes:
...however, for all the references to supernatural beings, the conflict has its roots in a good, old-fashioned power struggle between, on the one side, landed old money, senior ayatollahs and their periphery and, on the other, what they call tazeh bedoran ressideh ha (the nouveaux riches or new rich) in the Ahmadinejad camp....
Security services have begun censoring pro-Ahmadinejad websites, accusing them of “endangering national security, espionage and leaks”. Abbas Ghaffari, described by the religious establishment as Ahmadinejad’s “exorcist” or “jinn-catcher”, was among a number of people arrested. The website Ayandeh described one president ally as “a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds”.
All this comes after the release of an Iranian documentary, The appearance is imminent, celebrating the expected ‘return’ of the Mahdi - the 12th or ‘hidden’ imam of the 9th century. Both Ahmadinejad and Khamenei are praised for paving the way for this happy event....
Full text at url.
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/article.php?article_id=1004400 |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-06-2011 13:13 Post subject: |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-06-2011 13:22 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Mansour Osanloo back in prison despite serious illness
Mansour Osanloo, the imprisoned founding member of the Syndicate of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed), who had been hospitalized for the past few days for his heart condition was returned to prison again on Saturday, 21 May, despite his dire condition. “Because prison conditions are dangerous for Mansour’s health, I tried very hard through the Prosecutor’s office to have him come back home from the hospital, and to remain under house arrest [instead]. I even offered to look after the forces [watching Osanloo], just so that Mansour would return home, because according to his doctors’ diagnosis, he must be on a proper diet, eat fruits and vegetables, and stay in a stress-free environment. None of these would happen in prison,” Parvaneh Osanloo, wife of the labor activist, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
“I talked a lot on the phone with the Office Manager at the Prisons Organization, but, unfortunately, I neither heard a positive nor a negative answer, and on Saturday he was returned to prison,” said Parvaneh, regarding her request on behalf of Mansour. “He was hospitalized on 1 May, but ultimately the medical team decided that he should receive heart physiotherapy and drug treatment, because open heart surgery at his age and in his condition is very dangerous and it will be a lot harder for him to be in prison post-surgery”.
“Since Saturday when, despite my efforts, Mansour was returned to prison, we have not heard any news from him because the prison phones are disconnected. I’m requesting his quick release. The doctors have determined that he needs a stress-free environment and continuous treatment. He also needs to see his physician regularly so his medications are controlled. Worst of all is that because the telephone is disconnected, the authorities should at least maintain contact with us, so that we can learn about our loved ones’ conditions,” added Parvaneh.
Mansour Osanloo was arrested by security forces near his house in March 2007. After his trial on charges of “acting against national security” and “propagating against the regime,” he was sentenced to five years in prison. He is currently in Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj. Due to clogged arteries, the Medical Examiner has voted three times for an end to Osanloo’s prison term, but the judicial authorities have not reacted to this observation. He has been hospitalized several times during his prison term, most recently at a private hospital in Tehran on 1 May, though he was returned to prison after 20 days. (Information from International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran)
http://www.hopi-ireland.org/ |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 29-07-2011 13:42 Post subject: |
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Full text at link.
| Quote: | Reformists crave reconciliation
http://www.hopi-ireland.org/c/reformists-crave-reconciliation
The Iranian regime is deeply divided, but what are the prospects for the democracy movement that filled the streets in 2009-10? National chair of Hands Off the People of Iran, Yassamine Mather, spoke to Mark Fischer
Given its potential importance, it seems odd that there has been so little said in the western media about the ongoing conflict between Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the supreme religious leader, Ali Khamenei. Why is this?
It can perhaps be explained by the attitude of the US administration, which seems to be playing a waiting game. Obviously, they will have followed these disputes, but they expect the system to disintegrate without much intervention from the US and at the moment they have other countries to worry about in the region.
However, this is a serious, ongoing struggle which shows no signs of abating and has actually started a process of political differentiation within the green movement between leaders looking for ‘reconciliation’ with the regime and the more militant, intransigent sections of its base. A number of developments indicate the scale of the crisis.
Just a month ago, Hamidreza Tarraghi, a member of the conservative Motalefeh party, announced that Iran’s supreme leader, ayatollah Khamenei, had appointed a panel to investigate “legal violations committed by the current administration”. Over the last two years, the majles, Iran’s Islamic parliament, has repeatedly accused Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government of violating the constitution. The Iranian president has countered by asserting that his administration is among the most law-abiding in the history of the Islamic Republic.
However, since Ahmadinejad’s well-publicised dispute with Khamenei over the appointment of ministers, every word that has passed the lips of the Iranian president has prompted criticism from the Islamic Republic’s clerical elite. Most recently, 100 MPs presented the speaker with a petition to summon him before parliament to answer questions over ‘irregularities’, such as the delay in establishing new ministries and accusations of being part of a so-called “deviant current” - the term used to describe the ideas of Ahmadinejad’s controversial chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. Meanwhile, a number of Ahmadinejad’s closest allies, including his nominee as deputy minister for foreign affairs, have been arrested and accused of financial corruption or links to the “deviant current”.
When ultra-conservative clerics called for the abolition of co-education in universities for the new academic year, Ahmadinejad attempted, bizarrely, to position himself amongst the ‘modernisers’. He called for the immediate cancellation of plans to segregate the sexes at selected universities and called the move “shallow and unwise” on his website.
Two weeks ago, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, general Mohammad Ali Jafari, said that his force is now in charge of dealing with this “deviant current”. Jafari also indicated that the Guards might allow the participation of greens in next year’s parliamentary elections, provided they accepted certain conditions: “Reformists who have not crossed the regime’s ‘red lines’ would be allowed to run”. This was a reference to former president Mohammad Khatami, who, together with another ex-president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, has used the rift between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad to call for “forgiveness” on both sides of the 2009 conflict. Apparently, Iranians who protested against the rigged 2009 presidential election results should forgive the supreme leader and in return he would forgive them!
Unsurprisingly, Ahmadinejad objected to Jafari’s comments and retaliated by criticising “illegal” border crossings used by agencies associated with the Revolutionary Guards to smuggle goods into and out of Iran. According to the Iranian president, this is generating billions of dollars in illicit profits and he pointedly used the term “brothers” when referring to these smugglers, implying they were with security and intelligence services. Promptly, Jafari condemned these claims as “deviant.”
The possibility of the Guards ‘switching sides’ and throwing their weight behind the reformists is a real one. It certainly appears as if Ahmadinejad is losing the support of his closest allies amongst their senior commanders. These are people who supported him in the elections of 2005 and 2009 in exchange for increased political and economic clout.
However, the RGs have always had divided loyalties. Some low-ranking officers support the reformists, while others are loyal to the president. However, more of the senior commanders have always backed ayatollah Khamenei as the supreme religious leader and in that respect nothing has changed. It now seems likely that Khamenei is trying to allow the return of some reformists - or at least what some call ‘loyal reformists’ - to the ruling circles in order to weaken the political faction loyal to Ahmadinejad in the 2012 majles elections and then the presidential elections of 2013.
On July 18, Morteza Motahari, a leading conservative MP, even went as far as to say all reformists with the exception of green leaders Mir-Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi should be allowed to participate as candidates in the coming elections. Clearly the enemies of the supreme leader’s current enemy could become his friends!
How is all this impacting on the pro-democracy movement? And how does it relate to the recent political prisoners’ hunger strike?
We must remember that the green movement is not a monolithic force. It is rainbow coalition of many trends with very different views. Its two main leaders are under strictly monitored house arrest and their position on the crisis in the regime is not actually widely known. Amongst their supporters the divisions are very clear.
It seems as if at the time of the hunger strike in late June, or possibly before it, Khatami and Rafsanjani had entered into a deal with the office of the supreme leader, looking for a way to forge ‘reconciliation’. This would explain the reformist leaders’ calls on the hunger strikers to end their protest in order to avoid an “escalation of the conflict”, as they put it. However, the reformists are not united on this issue.
In early July, a senior reformist who is held in Evin prison, Mostafa Tajzadeh, warned against participating in any election that is not “fully open”. Tajzadeh appears to be of the opinion that if Ahmadinejad and rival conservatives do not allow reformist participation they will fall out more among themselves. Tajzadeh claims that “the narrative of the green movement has changed the whole affair ... either the elections should be free for all parties or we should not participate and should leave them to play out the conflicts among themselves.” However, it isn’t clear what he means by “all parties”. One assumes he is referring to ‘reformist’ Islamic parties who will not challenge religious interference in the affairs of the state.
The bulk of supporters of the green movement are totally opposed to any compromise with the supreme leader. Young militants, bloggers and women activists have wasted no time distancing themselves from Khatami and Rafsanjani. Many point out that after so many deaths, so many arrests, torture and rapes in prison it would be criminal to look for ‘reconciliation’. One blogger asked Khatami, why should those who have been tortured apologise to the supreme leader? What have they got to be sorry about?
Of course, although the whole notion of reconciliation has been criticised, many reformists are now excusing it by claiming it could create the conditions for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of the press, etc. Also, they make the point that, naturally, they will not just cave in and join the electoral process unconditionally - that would be simply a capitulation.
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-10-2011 14:05 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Condemn the Governments of iran and Turkey’s Attacks on The Kurdish People
by Hamid Taqvaee - Worker-communist Party of Iran
Irish People: Protest To iranian and Turkish Embassies Now!
The people of Kurdistan in the frontier region of iran, Turkey and Iraq have been under the iranian artillery fire and the Turkish jet fighters’ attacks during the past month, on the pretext of fighting the armed forces of two organisations: PKK and Pejak.
These bombardments were accompanied by cannons and artillery from the two bordering countries of Iraqi Kurdistan and military attacks on villages, as a result of which many people were killed, wounded, displaced and a great deal of casualties was caused. In just one day, on August 21st, seven civilians from a family, including a child, lost their lives as a result of the Turkish air raid. Kurdistan Regional Government’s authorities and the Kurdish media in Iraq stated that the inhabitants of 35 villages have been forced from their homes due to these attacks.
This is just a part of the atrocities of the governments, armed forces, and terrorist gangs operating in Iraq and pursuing its own reactionary aims. Up until now, the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government have not reacted to these crimes against people. This silence is due to the reactionary nature of these governments, their etnic-religious composition, and their wheelings and dealings with the regimes of Turkey, iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. The people of Iraqi Kurdistan are in a tight corner of repression and crime caused by the governments of iran, Turkey, Iraq and the U.S on one hand and nationalist, reactionary, and ethnic forces as Pejak or PKK on the other – whose aim is only to gain a share of power. The people are victims of power struggles among these reactionary forces. A vigorous defence of the people of Iraqi Kurdistan is an urgent task of freedom-loving people, a civilised world, and socialism.
Worker-communist Party of iran expresses its deepest solidarity with the people of Iraq and the people of Iraqi Kurdistan, against the insecure situation caused by the involved forces, and strongly condemns the criminal aggressions of the Islamic Republic of iran and Turkey. We call on all freedom-loving people and political forces in Iraq, Turkey, iran, and the whole world to come to the forefront in condemnation of the governments of Turkey and iran and against the military climate in the region.
The People of Ireland should register a protest:
http://www.wpiran.org/English/english.htm |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-10-2011 14:06 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Israel, Turkey, iran and the Arab Uprisings.
by Yassamine Mather
Yassamine Mather writes on developments in the Middle East and North Africa. She analyses the breach between Israel and Turkey and the continuing Israeli threat .
The world is only just beginning to realise the international consequences of the Arab awakening. Of course, Israel was the first to express concerns in the first days of the protests against president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. It joined Saudi Arabia in warning the Obama administration that Mubarak’s downfall would endanger the ‘peace process’ with the Palestinians.
Events in the last few weeks have proved them both right. First came the deterioration of Israeli-Turkish relations. For decades Turkey has been the single most important economic partner of the Zionist state. However, relations between this key Nato ally and Israel broke down after Israel refused to apologise for its deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that resulted in the death of eight Turks and a Turkish-American. In response, Turkey expelled several senior Israeli diplomats, suspended military cooperation and boosted naval patrols in the eastern Mediterranean.
To prevent a repeat of the provocation, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Turkey would send warships to escort future aid boats leaving its territory for Gaza. His comments to Al Jazeera television were the first time Turkey had made clear its willingness to use force to protect ships attempting to break Israel’s blockade of coastal Palestinian territory - a significant ratcheting up of tensions. Sensing its growing international isolation, Israel stated that such a move would be “grave and serious”.
... So it is no surprise that Tehran’s nuclear programme is once again making headlines - Israel supporters Tony Blair and Dick Cheney cynically used the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to exaggerate the threat posed by iran’s nuclear developments. According to Cheney, “iran represents an existential threat, and [Israel] will do whatever they have to do to guarantee their survival and their security.”
The new director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, general Yukiya Amano, contributed to the scaremongering when he once again raised the issue of iran’s non-cooperation with inspectors. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France warned last week that “military, nuclear and ballistic ambitions constitute a growing threat that may lead to a preventive attack against iranian sites, which would provoke a major crisis that France wants to avoid at all costs.”
http://www.hopi-ireland.org/c/israel-turkey-iran-and-arab-uprisings |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-10-2011 14:07 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Iran executes three men on homosexuality charges
Convicts were sentenced to death 'for acts against the Sharia law and bad deeds'
iran hangs men for having gay sex. Confirmed by the iranian news agency ISNA iran. Full story at
Three iranian men have been executed after being found guilty of charges related to homosexuality, according to a semi-official news agency.
The men, only identified by their initials, were hanged on Sunday in the south-western city of Ahvaz, the capital of iran's Khuzestan province.
"The three convicts were sentenced to death based on the articles 108 and 110 of iran's Islamic penal code, for acts against the sharia law and bad deeds," the Isna agency quoted a judiciary official in Khuzestan as saying.
iran Human Rights, an independent NGO based in Norway, said the men were charged with "lavat" – sexual intercourse between two men. It is not clear whether the three men were homosexuals or merely smeared with homosexualityaccused of being gay.
Mohammad Mostafaei, a prominent iranian lawyer who has represented people accused of homosexuality and now lives in exile in Norway, said in an email: "It is not clear whether these three men had any lawyers or were tried without legal representation. Who are their lawyers? I believe they are innocent.
"We should not forget what [president] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech during his visit to New York for the UN general assembly when he said we don't have homosexuals in iran and no one will be punished for homosexuality in the country. Many innocent people have indeed been sentenced to death or hanged in secret based on such ambiguous accusations in iran [in recent years]."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/07/iran-executes-men-homosexuality-charges |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-10-2011 14:09 Post subject: |
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Full story at link.
| Quote: | Explaining the longevity of the theocratic regime
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/article.php?article_id=1004563
It is riven with contradictions, corrupt, internationally isolated and opposed by the majority of its own people. Yet the Iranian regime survives. Yassamine Mather looks at the long history of struggle against the Islamic Republic
Khomeini: counterrevolutionary
At a time of revolutionary upheavals in Arab capitals, the burning question is, how did the Islamic regime in Iran survive the mass protests of 2009-10, when millions took to the streets of major cities to express their opposition to dictatorship?
However, a more fundamental question concerns the 33 years’ longevity of the Iranian government - and, of course, the two issues are related. Starting with the easier question - the regime’s ability to survive the protests of 2009-10 - I echo the reasons given by comrade Mohammad Reza Shalgouni of the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran: regimes that are politically independent of the US and the west are less sensitive to international pressure regarding ‘human rights abuses’, etc and this is true to varying degrees of Syria, Libya and Iran. In addition, the leaders of such regimes have no escape route: their foreign bank accounts are all frozen. Unlike Egyptian or Tunisian officials, no-one associated with the Iranian government can expect asylum in Saudi Arabia or the Gulf states. In other words, Iran’s rulers, like Bashar Assad of Syria and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, have nowhere to go and no fortune stashed abroad. Hence their tenacity and determination to fight for their survival.
I have spoken in the past about the political reasons behind the failure of the 2009-10 protests. One should remember the abysmal leadership of the ‘reformists’, Mir-Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and their inability to address the protest movement’s anti-dictatorial demands and calls for an end to the rule of the vali faghih (supreme leader), ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The anti-dictatorial movement evolved considerably between June 2009 and the winter of 2010 - from a protest against electoral fraud during the presidential elections to a movement challenging the very existence of the religious state. However, the leadership of the green movement had no intention of questioning the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic. In addition, the complete dependence of the protest movement on the ‘reformist’ media and networks became one of its main weaknesses - the youth wanted to continue the protests, while the green leaders became concerned with saving the regime.
Another factor was the late arrival of the working class movement. There were few slogans for workers’ rights during the protests of June-July 2009. This had changed by the end of the year, but by that stage the protest movement was facing massive repression. The frustration of the Iranian youth at the lack of major protests this summer in Tehran and other cities is palpable, as expressed in this joke: “In 2009 we asked, where is our vote? In 2010 we asked, where are our leaders? In 2011 we are asking, where are the protestors?”
However, I want to concentrate on why the regime has survived more than three decades.
In fact there are a number of recurring themes throughout the period of Iran’s Islamic Republic. One of the most important is the fact that the rulers of the clerical regime thrive in times of crises: if there were no crises, they would have to create them in order to survive. Of course, the constant imperialist threat has helped - the danger of war and sanctions throughout the last three decades has inflamed patriotic sentiments, allowing the regime to blame ‘foreign enemies’ for all its shortcomings, and to justify repression.
Another recurring theme is that of terror, repression and the imprisonment of large numbers of political opponents, which have helped the regime to survive. |
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