The Iranian Election a ‘Legacy of Martyred Flowers’
international |
politics / elections |
feature
Saturday June 20, 2009 15:23
by Azadi
Protesters Beaten on the Streets of Tehran
The Iranian government’s campaign to mold ‘model’ Islamic citizens has not only fashioned a profound crisis of loyalty to the religious ‘ideals of the revolution’, it has nurtured action that many have silently prayed for - as the public sphere, the last bastion of the religious elite's grip on power, was shot open by their own guns Sunday.
Related Links: Secret Police Open Fire At Opposition Demo In Tehran | Support the Mass Stuggles in Iran | Iran: Leader Remains Supreme | Hands off the People of Iran -www.hopoi.org
Legacy of martyred flowers committed me to life,
Legacy of martyred flowers,
Don’t you see?
--Forough Farokhzad, Only the Sound Will Last
Since the close of polling late Friday, and the hasty confirmation of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s second term in office, protests have broken out across Iran. Many Iranians, who consider the landslide victory for Ahmadinejad a symbol of their country’s deeply corrupt political system, have endeavoured to force the government to nullify the results and hold another election.
In what can only be considered a classic case of state-repression, police and Revolutionary Guards have soaked the streets in blood; shooting into crowds of peaceful protestors, arresting scores of demonstrators, and targeting constituencies known for their criticism of the government. Just yesterday, the Guardian conservatively reported that as many as twelve students from universities throughout the country lost their lives as they courageously and openly opposed state forces.
In a brash attempt to validate the legitimacy of the political structure in Iran, those in the Guardian Council and Ministry of Interior (its civic counterpart) confirmed Ahmadinejad’s ‘win’ and congratulated ‘democracy’. Ahmadinejad seized the opportunity to describe his ‘election’ as a ‘mandate from the people’, before the people unequivocally mandated a recount!
The Western-language media would have us believe that the crucial issue concerning the recent election ‘results’ in Iran centers on the question of whether or not the election was rigged. While general curiosity and speculation around this issue is a healthy aspect of the debate, it cannot moderate the far more profound lessons to be learned from the mass protests throughout the country.
Were the elections rigged? Probably. It is more than likely that the higher voter turn-out for this election came in favour of change. This was not true in the 9th Presidential Elections, four years ago, where an unknown, conservative, Tehrani mayor, Ahmadinejad, was ‘challenged’ by the highly controversial cleric-turned-businessman, Rafsanjani. The election was mostly boycotted or dismissed by many reformist-minded voters, and the aspect of its ‘rigged results’ by way of the candidates having been hand-picked the Guardian Council (as is policy), was ignored in Western-language press.
This new eruption of protest over the still hotly contested election outcome has animated the already decades long debates within Iranian politics over civil and political rights, participation and inclusion. Just like many other countries, specific issues and rights in Iran are held like hostages to particular names on the ballot.
For example, a vote for Mousavi is a vote for greater freedoms for women. A vote for Ahmedinejad is a vote against the liberalization (privatization) of Iran’s economy. Though many Iranians remain sceptical of all the candidates that were allowed to participate in this highly contested and unusual style of electoral engineering, the elections are not entirely hollow, as the protests demonstrate. Iranians, like many of their counterparts throughout the world, were made to choose between issues and candidates that did not represent the broad spectrum of their politics, concerns, or aspirations.
However, it is not the engineered outcome of Iranian elections that is at the heart of the protests, though this is certainly a concern. These protests, dissimilar to the swell of similar outpouring in the late 1990s, are made up Iranians from many different backgrounds, and varied political, religious and social opinions. This is precisely the reason the executive levels of the Iranian government have, with its decades of training in repression of domestic discontent, met the protesters with the full force of state power.
Though the validity of the elections is disputed, what protesters, Ahmadinejad and the Guardian Council seem to all recognize is that the immediate future of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains insecure. The ‘democratic dilemma’ that the state has ensured through its dubious electoral processes is kindling increased opposition not just among the ‘parents of the Revolution’, but most pronouncedly in those twenty-somethings born after 1979 who represent the manifest ‘success’ of the Islamic Revolution.
It appears clear the government’s campaign to mold ‘model’ Islamic citizens has not only fashioned a profound crisis of loyalty to the religious ‘ideals of the revolution’, it has nurtured action that many have silently prayed for - as the public sphere, the last bastion of the religious elite's grip on power, was shot open by their own guns Sunday.
This is not to make the mistake that Iran is moving towards, or desirous of, a secular revolution, very much the opposite! However, the iron-clad grip on power that many of the religious elites have enjoyed since the Iran-Iraq war is gradually unravelling at all ends.
Today, reformist-minded voters in and outside of Iran, who watched as their political aspirations were dashed time and again by during Khatami’s tenure, vigilantly braved the vast, violent and manipulative forces of the state and dared not be silent once again in the ballot box. Those who bravely opposed the regime objected to the misuse of religion for political ends – and so the protests continue.
In the thirty years since the fall of the Shah and the gradual instillation of an Islamic theocratic government in Iran, opposition movements have bravely attempted to reclaim spaces in the political landscape of the country. These movements have nurtured democratic ideals in an attempt to assert the human and political rights of the poor, ethnic minorities, and women amongst others.
Over the past two years Iran’s women’s movement most commonly known as the One Million Signatures Campaign has sought to amplify the disparities felt by women on every level of Iranian society. Prior to the Saturday protests, this campaign was the largest and most vocal dissident movement in Iran.
For those of us concerned over securing some notion of ‘the truth’ about what happened in Friday’s elections, or who continue to be confused over the myriad of political mud-slinging in the media over ‘what the protests are really about’, we can be assured of no easy answers.
Iran is a country struggling to sustain vast differences of opinion over political allegiances, social policies, and the fine lines that govern the ‘morals’ of their state system. Do not mistake the events currently taking place in Iran as a fight for democracy, or even a ‘better representation’ of the will of the people. What is happening in Iran is a fight for a slightly fairer electoral process. If political pundits, Western-language journalists and solidarity activists wish to support Iranians in their fight for freedom, they should take notice of the few who have been executed and exiled, whose lives have committed the many you see in the streets today to life.
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23complete photo series and mp3 audio at http://lmv.hu/node/4077
http://ia301535.us.archive.org/2/items/iranian_students_budapest.061909/iranianstudents.061909.mp3
Iranian students protesting for democracy at Budapest's Hero's Square June 19 2009
The images coming from Iran bring to mind the tragic events of 20 years ago in Tiananmen square, we can only hope that the Iranian hardliners won't follow the example of their Chinese counterparts and conduct a massacre of the young protestors. It's hard to see an outcome that would annul the election results though, as the supreme leader (Khamenei) in the theocracy seems to be supporting Ahmadinejad and threatening the use of even more violence against the protesters. It was back to the usual attacks on USA, UK and Israel in his sermon at friday prayers yesterday, the same old hatemongering of fundamentalist Islam.
Sorry Mr/s Freeman but the Ayatolah didn't attack the USA during his Friday prayers nor did he make mention of Israel. Significantly he didn't even use the usual shorthand or codewords. Instead he specifically mentioned the UK. Immediately afterwards the UK FCO (foreign and commonwealth office) in London demanded a meeting with the Iranian ambassador to Britian. The ambassador declined and sent a lower ranking official in his place. The Iranian diplomatic corp have been meeting with other states all week at their own suggestion or in response to queries, though it has not been clarified if the Irish legation has done so. Anyone who reads the Iranian material on this newsite at the moment has no excuse not to read the transcript of the Ayatolah's Friday prayers. I have linked to them many times not only that but in a version which has a "word cloud" so you can see at a glance how many times he said each key word. http://blog.beliefnet.com/cityofbrass/2009/06/live-tran....html It is worth noting these words importance to not only the supporters of the current regime but voters for all three other candidates. The prayers were reported live on the BBC Persian service (which is less than year old) as well as with summary subtitles on the BBC World TV service and summary transcript translation subtitles to Urdu and Arabic on the Al Jazeera network. It is the first time such Friday prayers outside of a religious holiday (to celebrate the great martyrdoms) have been so widely broadcast and examined.
why?
Coz there was an awful lot more in those prayers than the usual great satan, zionist entity, right to fuck up the environment with nukes, potential to make A-bombs, paying cheques for Hizbollah are deciding to end the divestment of one of the richest economies and most strategic petrol producing states from western banks and thus return all the lovely gold and money from Singapur and Chinese controlled finance holding groups.
What united the people of Tianamen square, whether they were in tanks, on the street, in charge or waiting no the day they could manufacture "made in US" consumer durables and own a BMW was not religion nor a religious culture but_________ Yep. You're missing the wood for the trees. God didn't play a part in Tianamen square. Nobody quoted God, nobody invoked God, nobody appealed to God, nobody had God's twitter acount, nobody actually cared how it fitted into God's plan.
You're getting nowhere in understanding Iran or the Iranian state which contains many ethnic groups and religions without accepting that god is spellt in whopping big letters that by simply getting shouted from rooftops bring a whole society to the brink.
We all want, on Indymedia, in Human Rights networks, HOPI and others - to see civil rights and liberties for the Iranian people. Just coz they're on your telly screen getting bloodied and being interpreted in western ways to western ends, doesn't mean they're moving anywhere closer to civil rights.
¿ Wouldn't it be a shame if they were moving further away ?
...From Democracy Now: Hundreds of Thousands Protest in Tehran Accusing Ahmadinejad of Stealing Election; Guardian Council Orders Partial Recount
June 16, 2009
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/16/hundreds_of_thous...ehran
Iran's Twitter Revolution
IRAN'S TWITTER REVOLUTION - Ahmadinejad's Fear of the Internet
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,631170....html
Iran's Twitter Revolution
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/443634
Iran Elections: A Twitter Revolution?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion....html
Iran's Twitter Revolution? Maybe Not Yet
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2009/...0.htm
Wikipedia: 2009 Iranian election protests - Use of social networking
The Internet and, specifically, social networking has been instrumental to organizing many of the protests in Iran. Online sites have been uploading amateur pictures and video, and Twitter, Facebook, and blogs have been places for protesters to gather and exchange information. Twitter has also been used to organize protests
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Iranian_election_protests
What is TWITTER?
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read each others' updates, known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to other users - known as followers - who have subscribed to them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free over the Internet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter
Video - Twitter in plain English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8y79gnc35E
Book for business, interesting to read the ideas of efficient flow and use of ideas: Twitter Revolution
How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online
http://www.betterworldbooks.com/Twitter-Revolution-id-1....aspx
__________________________________
So, whether or not we are witnessing a revolution in action, due to, in a large part, communication tools, like this little thread here on indymedia ireland, things are moving in Iran, who knows where it will lead...
Democracy Now features on the goings on:
Hundreds of Thousands Protest in Tehran Accusing Ahmadinejad of Stealing Election; Guardian Council Orders Partial Recount
June 16, 2009
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/16/hundreds_of_thous...ehran
Protests Continue in Iran; Government Cracks Down on Foreign Media
June 17, 2009
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/17/protests_continue...racks
And most recent update from...
Al jazeera: Deaths confirmed in Iran unrest
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/06/20096218....html
Over and out from this TWITTERer
http://twitter.com/fuspey
Last note; I like the word TWITTER, it works, the bird chirping idea is simple, If we were using the German or Japanese version of the word, would it be the same? The music of the word works, is that onomatopaia?
Iran's Twitter Revolution
With or Without TWITTER - theres something happening on the streets
Caption: Video Id: _8y79gnc35E Type: Youtube Video
Twitter in plain English
http://twitter.com/tehranbureau
* Mousavi's letter of yesterday translated into English http://tehranbureau.com/reporting-essays/mousavis-defyi...tion/
* An interesting blog entry in a mixture of English and Persian on the death of Neda the young woman whose last moments were diffused on Youtube in the last 24 hours. CNN has now picked up her story and in the finest tradition of western media is putting together a touching biopic. Dead young women make good copy. She had gone to the street, for her civil rights, maybe to bear witness, perhaps in an emotional response riding on the tide of nightly chanting of such powerful words and then she fell, shot, her veil slipped, she died. The comments in Persian [use http://translate.google.com/ ] are significant for their characteristic love of poetry and their continued references to the Islamic tradition of martrydom.
http://mediusoriens.com/2009/06/20/neda-was-my-sister/
Both sides are polarising - where the regime runs to its usual anti-zionism and anti-British rhetoric the other increasingly turns up the tone of rightous religious revindication. How anyone can see this bringing the workers or women, homosexuals or ethnic minorities of the Iranian state closer to peaceful coexistence is beyond me.
* On which note the Kurdish trade unions have announced a general strike for next Tuesay.
* Also on which note it might be noted that within Iran, official media blames the Bahai religious minority for the "perversion" of the BBC. http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/4019
* The Dubai-based television channel Al Arabiya said on Sunday that its Tehran bureau has been ordered to remain closed indefinitely for "unfair reporting" of last week's disputed presidential election. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/21/76600.html
Caption: Video Id: pr7d-N0bgVs Type: Youtube Video
the death of Neda
Neda, a young woman who was watching the protests in Tehran yesterday morning was shot dead by the regime’s baseeji militia. Yesterday, along with Neda, 30 others were killed and 300 wounded. There are reports that the security forces were arresting the wounded from their hospital beds.
Ali Khamanei is personally responsible for Neda’s death and the death of protestors.
Yesterday, the people’s solidarity was truly immense. They provided support, gave shelter and offered food to the protesters all day until late at night. Demonstrations took place, in many parts of Tehran, Shiraz, Rasht, Isfahan.
Neda
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans_disputed....html
That same horrific picture of Neda is on the front page of Spains paper ABC, link to english version of their online version with that equally horrific vid on their web; http://translate.google.ie/translate?prev=hp&hl=es&js=n...ate0=
-Neda Agha Sultan was 26 years old.
She was born in the year 1361 of the Persian calendar which corresponded to the year 1404 after the Hegira or flight of the prophet Muhumad (pbuh) from his enemies in the Islamic calendar.
http://fmortaz.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-post.html
We probably better understand all that cultural stuff as "1983 of the common era".
It was the United Nations "year of communication" and the year that the Irish government confirmed the Gardai were scandalously bugging the telephones of journalists and politicians. She was 26 years old. Gerry Adams was elected an MP, there was a new ireland forum and Don Tidey was kidnapped and a racehorse named Shergar disappeared.
I bet you my unsavoury reputation the forthcoming CNN biopic of Neda will be short of the ironic comparative chronological details & perspectives of a short life.
___________________________________________________________
* one of the other three losing presidential candidates, the Islamic cleric & former chairman of the parliament Mehdi Karroubi has described Neda Aghasoltan as a martry on his Canadian hosted website ( “she died as a martyr and did not have a weapon in her soft hands or a grenade in her pocket but became a victim by thugs who are supported by a horrifying security apparatus.”
aint that sweet?? He's asking for amnesty of the "political prisoners".
Of course his voters aren't found in Tehran & Neda quite probably wasn't one of them. His support is the ethnic minority of the Lurs in the south west of the state. Behold the seams and stitching. They are not coming apart -but the fabric is stretched irreversibly.
http://www.karroubi.ir
Neda, The Face of a Revolution
http://gawker.com/5299414/neda-the-face-of-a-revolution...e&s=x
In Iran, One Woman's Death May Have Many Consequences (Time)
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1906049,0....html
'Neda' becomes symbol of rebellion (Irish Times)
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/images/200...93702
Amateur video turns woman into icon of Iran unrest (Associated Press)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jeJnP...PEOG0
Iran in crisis: live (Guardian online)
An uneasy calm has settled over Tehran as the government and reformists ponder their next move
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/jun/22/iran-ay...menei
Neda - Her death may have changed everything
A new website commemorates Neda: We Are All Neda
http://weareallneda.com/
We Are All Neda
RTE Morning Ireland:
Evelyn McClafferty gets the reaction of Iranians living in Ireland to the turbulent aftermath of the presidential election
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0623/iran_av.html?2567312,n...l,209
good audio interviews with Iranians in Dublin about dynamics in and out of the country...
Politics.ie commentry; http://www.politics.ie/foreign-affairs/77129-ahmadineja....html
Democracy Now; yesterdays headlines
Iran’s Guardian Council Admits to Vote Irregularities
Iranian authorities have acknowledged some irregularities have been found in Iran’s presidential election results. The influential Guardian Council admitted the number of votes collected in fifty cities surpassed the number of people eligible to cast ballots in those areas. Authorities said the discrepancies could affect as many as three million votes. According to the official results of the disputed election, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad beat Mir Hossein Mousavi by about 11 million votes.
Mousavi Calls for More Street Protests
Meanwhile, Mousavi and former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami have defied Iran’s Supreme Leader and urged protesters to continue street demonstrations calling for a new election. Iranian state media reports that between ten and nineteen people were killed during protests on Saturday. Iranian police fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters. Iranian state radio reported 457 protesters were arrested. On Sunday, Iranian police briefly detained five relatives of former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a close ally of Mousavi. Reporters Without Borders says Iran is now jailing thirty journalists and cyber-dissidents, including Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari, who has been held since Sunday.
Iran’s Web Spying Aided by European Firms Siemens and Nokia
The Wall Street Journal reports European telecommunications companies have helped the Iranian government develop one of the world’s most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the internet. The monitoring capability was provided at least in part by a joint venture of the German-based Siemens AG and Nokia, the Finnish cellphone company. Using the technology, the Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection, which enables authorities not only to block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/22/headlines
On Todays Democracy Now TV show (link soon), one of the main features was about the somewhat unknown but hugely important area of surveilance, government control and manipulation of all communication systems; net, phones, vids... (big brother-esque). DN! interviewed Josh _____ from FREEPRESS.NET.
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2009/6/23
http://www.freepress.net/node/61690
http://www.freepress.net/files/Deep_Packet_Inspection_T...t.pdf
Free Press, on their recent report from their site state;
Wall Street Journal article; Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562668777335653.html
FREEPRESS.NET on Iran, US, China... Deep Packet Inspection: The End of the Internet as We Know It?
* First off the workers of the Iranian state are moving to a general strike with or without mobile phones or youtube - the BBC or Canada.
* It is really curious how what ought have been obvious from the very onset - that the Iranian state counted on surveillance technology developed and supplied after much competition by listed public companies in the west - never merited a "article" or "info page" in our newspapers or on the BBC until yesterday.
Very curious that.
In other words since twitter accepted to play along with the soft power demonstration of the western alliance and extend its refresh pages, and despite there only being 2000 pre crises tweeter, facebook or other social network users in Iran, the whole word swallowing the notion of a "tweeter revolution" nobody amongst the press corp thought to ask -
If every single email, phone call, sms & fax goes through the US of America's NSA and for many years every phone call made in Ireland went through the British GCHQ Cheltenham - and even the poor (& I mean poor) Moldovans could archive all the tweets made during their "election protest crises" (C/F the case of Natalia Morar who was house arrested for supposedly starting a flash mob after the Moldovan elections in April 2009 http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92069 )
- 0then why didn't anyone bother telling the Iranians (via a tweet for example) that they really were heading into a cul-de-sac of Tech inspired Martyrdom but not immediately - nope - with time - later on - when we're not interested in the suffering of photogenic women whose veils slip off as they die on stage. How long with that be? In the case of Susan Boyle it was less than 28 days. & that is why I have used throughout my monitoring of twitter the comment author name "gurgle tweet". Guess what readers!? There are hardly any more tweets to read.
_________________________
at link the Chatham House, British Thinktank (riddled with MI6) report which honestly very convincingly provides data based on the 2005 election results, the Iranian census and the official 2009 election results are utter bollox. But the real danger as I have continuously highlighted in my comments this week is not to be found with Tehran young people who now wonder (As many of us do on occassion) what did they write in their text messages when all excited. Nope. The real manipulation of results came on the ethnic fringes of Iran. Read the pdf file from Chatham and pay attention to the irregularites in the areas of the Kurds, Lurs, Azerbaijani and the frontiers with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Moussavi wont do Iran any good and wont end the oppression. He might be a little less extreme on the anti-western talk but that is the only real chance that will happen
Waste of time
Hi,
I don't want this to seem off hand or simplistic in what is a very serious situation but I can't help but feel that this is a bit of a carbon copy of so many other occasions when people with ulterior vested interests try to undermine the anti western ruling governament and install one more sympathetic to their own means. I'm just thinking of what happened in Iran in the 1950's when Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh was democratically elected & began to insist on foregin oil companies paying more for Iran's publically owned oil reserves. This did not go down well in the west and as a result a crafted smear campaign was undertaken which resulted in him being overthrown by public revolt and the Western sympathetic Shah instated who reverted these policies......
June 26 Protest at the Iranian Embassy | Lehet Más a Világ!
About 30-40 people protested for democracy and human rights at the Iranian Embassy in Budapest for two hours yesterday Friday afternoon... (my photo series at link)
http://lmv.hu/node/4100
Iran Iranian Embassy in Dublin, Ireland
Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran send edits
72 Mount Merrion Ave.
Blackrock Co.
Dublin, Ireland
City: Dublin
Phone: (003531) 2885881/(003531) 2880252
Fax: (003531) 2834246
Email: iranembassy@indigo.ie
I agree with "Will" above. Iran has American, Israeli, British and EU soldiers on nearly all sides, iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, even Georgia. So it is very strange that, when the country is in so much danger, some "citizens" should be so loyal to "democracy" that they would play into foreign hands by being so keen to overthrow the government.
But its not their government. Its a dictatorship. Only those approved by the clergyare allowed to stand for election. Unions are banned and strikers are flogged and imprisoned.
Are you really suggesting that the CIA & Mossad got millions of people on tothe streets of Iran? Only a charlatan would suggest such a thing and only those of low intelligence would believe it.
The Free Iranian Trade Unions have pleaded for support.
Are you on their side?
Or are you on the side of those who shoot down demonstrators in the street?
Its possible to oppose both US Imperialism and to oppose the Theocracy.
Will the difference is that Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh was democratically elected. The presidential elections in Iran now are restricted to those approved by the clergy.
Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh had the backing of the unions. Now in Iran all unions are banned apart fro scab outfits run by the State.
All of the Free Unions are calling for democracy.
Here is what the Free Trade Union of Iranian Workers are calling for:
1- Immediate increase in the minimum wage to over 1 million tomans [$1010] a month.
2- An end to temporary contracts and new forms of work contracts.
3- The disbanding of the Labour House and the Islamic Labour Councils as government organisations in the factories and workshops, and the setting up of shoras [councils] and other workers’ organisations independent from the government.
4- Immediate payment of workers’ unpaid wages without any excuses.
5- An end to laying-off workers and payment of adequate unemployment insurance to all unemployed workers.
6- The immediate release of all political prisoners including the workers arrested on May Day, Jafar Azimzadeh, Gholamreza Khani, Said Yuzi, Said Rostami, Mehdi Farahi-Shandiz, Kaveh Mozafari, Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, and an end to surveillance and harassment of workers and labour leaders.
7- The right to strike, protest, assemble and the freedom of speech and the press are the workers’ absolute right.
8- An end to sexual discrimination, child labour and the sacking of foreign workers.
What progrssive person would oppose these demands?
Hamid Dabashi on Iran Protests: “This is Not Another Revolution. This is a Civil Rights Movement” (June 24, 2009)
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/24/hamid_dabshai_on_..._this
... He writes, “I see the moment we are witnessing as a civil rights movement rather than a push to topple the regime.”