Support Iranian students

[yasmine at eng.gla.ac.uk]

 Support the protest movement in Iran


The students protests of the last  few days are undoubtedly the most significant
demonstrations against Iran's Islamic Republic in   the last eighteen years . 
They are the manifestation of a continued  dissatisfaction with the rule of a 
corrupt clergy , a rejection of the interference of religion in very aspect of 
private and public life , a rejection of dictatorship . This dissatisfaction had 
already been expressed in the overwhelming rejection of the candidate supported by
 Iran's supreme cleric in the presidential elections of two years ago , that 
lead to the election of a 'modernising ' fundamentalist Khatami.  

Over the last few months as impatience with Khatami's promises of reform turned 
to anger , workers were the first group to  force the Iranian government to  
retreat. Changes to the  labour law , passed by the Islamic parliament were 
withheld as workers declared two days of national mourning and threatened strikes. 
Political dissatisfaction with the regime's new methods of repression including 
the use  of 'death squads' against political opponents and admission of such 
tactics, had infuriated, students, lecturers, writers and journalists who were 
paying the price of Khatami's reforms with 'illegal'  activities of Hezbollah. . 

 The attack on the dormitory of Tehran University  was the reaction of the Islam
ic regime to weeks of protests by students who , tired of waiting for Khatami's 
promises of exposing the culprits of death squad activity , only saw repression 
of newspapers who tried to keep the issue alive.  The ban on the paper  
Salaam was a direct attack on sections of the press who refused to tow the 
line and keep quiet about the role of the ministry of Intelligence in 
assassination of political oponents. 
Students decided to defend the freedom of expression with demonstrations and 
protests. The government send Hezbollah to attack students in their dormitory 
leading to the demonstrations of the last few days.  The slogans of the demonstrators
 calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, and in particular against 
the supreme clerical leader Khamneii, were unprecedented slogans, destroying once 
and for all the myth of the invincibility of the supreme cleric.  A taboo is 
broken, Islamic leaders know it and their retreat in the face of the protests 
far from pacifying the students , radicalised the slogans and the protests.
This week's protest movement should be seen primarily as the final response 
of Iran's youth ,( under 25 s are 60% of the  population ) , to clerical rule, 
a rejection of policies that have lead to unemployment  , poverty and destitution 
for the majority of Iranians. However they were also an expression of the despair 
of the youth and their increasing disillusionment with Khatami and his  'reforms'
 . Hezbollah can still operate death squads from within the ministry of 
Intelligence, police and state authorities attack students in  University 
campuses , and Iran's  "modernising president" is both unwilling and incapable 
of reforming this archaic republic. 


Workers Left Unity has no doubt that the combination of workers struggles , 
as seen in may and June 1999 , with protests by students , women , the unemployed an
d the shanty town dwellers will bring down Iran's Islamic Republic, but we need 
International Support to defend these struggles and hope that the International 
Left will lend us the kind of support that was so vital in the last months of 
the Shah's regime. the lives of students arrested over the last few days is in danger . 
Support the demonstartions organised by WORKERS LEFT UNITY in Europe and 
North America,  saturday 17th July 

 

 
Co-ordinating Committee of workers Left Unity -  15 th July 1999