Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Against imperialist war, for Iran workers

Yassamine Mather (repost) | 30.01.2007 16:05 | Iraq | Terror War | Workers' Movements | World

Over the last week, we have witnessed an escalation in the level of threats against Iran and an increase in the American military presence in the Persian Gulf, with the aim of controlling key waterways, should Iran retaliate against a potential US military threat. At the same time it is quite clear that indirect negotiations are taking place between the United States and Iran and the current US threats are an integral part of that.

Irrespective of the outcome of this latest stage in the US-Iran conflict, the events of the last few days stress once more the urgency of building a principled campaign - not only against the threat of war, but in defence of Iranian workers, women, students and national minorities. Of course, in the UK, Hands Off the People of Iran is not the first campaign to oppose war against Iran, nor is it the only one acting in solidarity with the struggles of the long-suffering peoples of Iran against the theocratic regime. However, it is the only campaign stressing that these two aspects (against war, against the regime) must be inseparable parts of a single campaign.

In October 2006, Action Iran, Iran Solidarity and the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII UK) merged to form a single organisation, called Campaign Iran. For Iranian socialists, inside and outside the country, neither the three components nor the new merged organisation address the essential issues concerning the plight of the Iranian people at a time when the threat of some form of imperialist intervention must be taken seriously. The accusation of appeasing a reactionary regime is echoed by many left activists in Iran.

Action Iran campaigned against “any form of military intervention or sanctions” and called for “a non-interventionist, non-military dialogue with Iran”, while Iran Solidarity aimed to expose “the war-mongering motives of the United States of America”. CASMII UK called for “immediate negotiations … without any preconditions”.

Totally missing form their material - as it is from Campaign Iran’s statements - is any criticism of the islamic republic. Nor is there any mention of the rising struggles of Iranian workers fighting the neoliberal economic policies of the shia regime; of the demonstrations of Iranian women against misogynist laws and their daily battles against the forced wearing of the veil; of the radicalism of the anti-war, anti capitalist Iranian student and youth movements.

Campaign Iran fails to “inform the peace movement” that the clerics who set up the first islamic regime in our region 28 years ago are amongst its most hated rulers. Iran’s clerics have created one of the most corrupt, unequal and, of course, undemocratic regimes ever known. We are talking of a country where the phrase ‘political islam’ is considered synonymous with ‘Mercedes-driven mullahs’, where the majority of the population and in particular the youth do not trust a word uttered by their leaders. Does this sound like a regime capable of fighting an anti-imperialist war?

Campaign Iran also fails to mention one of the most pertinent facts about the current situation in the Middle East: the US-UK invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq is directly responsible for Iran’s emergence as a regional power. Chalabi, Maleki, Jaafari and other pro-Iranian shias played a crucial role in the US-UK propaganda regarding Iraqi ‘weapons of mass destruction’. Some go as far as blaming Iran for the entire WMD fiasco. Will Campaign Iran inform its supporters that on February 15 2003, when most of us were on demonstrations against the Iraq war, pro-Iran mosques throughout the UK, as well as the Iranian embassy in London, were advising Iraqi shias to write to Tony Blair encouraging him in his warmongering ambitions? That the Iranian government banned any demonstrations opposing the US invasion of Iraq?

Will Campaign Iran remind its supporters that on March 19 2003, when most of us watched in horror as US-UK bombs pounded the Iraqi capital, Iran’s islamic regime was distributing halva (a sweet used at feasts) in celebration? No wonder they celebrated - the imperialist invasion of Iraq gave them unprecedented influence in Iraq.

Supporters of Campaign Iran assert that, given the threat of imperialist war, any criticism of the islamic regime plays into the hands of the pro-war lobby - this is ‘not the right time’ to criticise the clerics in power in Tehran. For some it never has been ‘the right time’ to criticise the theocratic regime: in 1979, for example, it had just deposed the shah, in 1981 it was at war with Iraq and in 1986 we had the Irangate fiasco.

Over the last few years the Iranian student and youth movements have changed dramatically - from a force calling for liberal democracy to one that takes up many of the slogans of the international anti-capitalist movement. Today workers’ protests raising slogans against the neoliberal policies of the regime have become daily events, yet sections of the left in the UK do not think it is ‘the right time’ to mention such struggles. Is this what they mean by ‘anti-imperialism’ and ‘international solidarity’?

As Mike Macnair put it, “Marxists are to shut up about proletarian internationalism and … the workers’ movement in the Middle East … in order to build a broad movement … [But] the dynamic of Marxists shutting up about our elementary ideas … is not that the Marxists win hegemony over the broader movement, but that the capitalist class and its political parties and political methods do so” (Weekly Worker September 14 2006).

HOPI has also been criticised from the other side of the spectrum. Some have argued that our call for “immediate unconditional withdrawal of US-UK troops from the region” will leave minorities in Iraq vulnerable and would set back labour struggles.

On the first issue I am afraid the claim that western troops are there to support ‘minorities’ and stop civil wars is not seriously believed by anybody in the Middle East. Rather it shows a profound ignorance of the strong anti-colonial, anti-imperialist sentiment in the region. Although some national or religious conflicts, such as the sunni-shia divide, have their roots in events that happened many centuries ago, there is no doubt that over the last two centuries almost every sectarian/civil war in the region has been fuelled by colonial or imperialist intervention. Current borders, themselves the source of disputes and war, are direct consequences of colonial and imperialist intervention. Colonial powers fermented divide and rule across the region (for example, in the way Kurdish borders were set up after the collapse of the Ottoman empire) in order to weaken the emerging states.

The intentional or unintentional US-UK support for shia rule in Iraq has added to this situation and every day the occupying US troops remain increases the ranks of islamist fighters and jihadists. Immediate and unconditional withdrawal is essential if we want to see an end to daily carnage and mayhem in our region.

As far as workers’ struggles are concerned, anyone who has followed the daily confrontations with the Iranian regime will have no doubt that, faced with the ravages of neoliberal capitalism and a theocratic state that uses repression to control the labour movement, a factory worker (say, in the Iran Khodro car plant) who goes on strike or takes part in a demonstration in Tehran is not simply demanding trade union rights or even just fighting a religious state. That worker is well aware that his/her struggle is as much against international capitalism and the Peugeot/Renault or Saipa factory owners as it is against local management. He/she believes that, despite differences and inter-imperialist rivalries, imperialist military presence in our region will in the long term support the interests of both international capital and ruthless local capitalists, such as those of Iran Khodro. Try explaining to such a worker why he/she should support US military presence in the region in the interests of the labour movement.

Over the last decade both the Iranian economy and the labour movement have changed dramatically. Young workers have internet access and are often well informed on international issues. Today’s labour movement is not limiting itself to trade union struggles, nor is it simply fighting ‘islamic’ capitalists and their legislation. Its leaflets and declarations show it to be against capitalism, imperialism and, of course, western military intervention.

What is more, to reduce the Iranian workers’ movement to minimalist economic struggles is to underestimate and ignore the historic role of our class in leading revolutionary battles. After all, this is the working class that played a crucial role in the overthrow of the shah’s regime.

The same comrades object to our opposition to Israel’s aggression in the region. But for the Iranian left the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been a major issue, and the continued US financial/military support for Israel is correctly regarded as part and parcel of imperialist strategy in the Middle East, adversely affecting radical political struggle throughout the region. In addition, for those of us who refuse to take a hypocritical stance on nuclear weapons - turning a blind eye to the Zionist state, while condemning the aims of the islamic regime - the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not a separate issue.

And finally a response to an anti-imperialist US academic regarding HOPI, who believes that we are campaigning on “distinct issues that should be separated for an effective campaign”. While “75% of Americans oppose any kind of military threat against Iran, let alone war” and “opposition to the Iranian theocracy is even more overwhelming”, there is no basis for demanding “radical internal change within the western industrial societies” - the “groundwork for that call hasn’t been laid”.

If we accept that wars are the continuation of politics by other means, there is no doubt that, whatever the outcome of the current stage of conflict between Iran’s islamic republic and the United States, in the long term only “regime change from below” in both countries can kill the spectre of war. Our founding statement asserts this, in line with our understanding of the position socialists should take in the anti-war movement.

Of course, no-one claims that our call will mobilise the US or UK masses right now. However, for us the issue is not about setting up the usual short-lived and often meaningless ‘broad’ campaign and implicitly accepting the hegemony of bourgeois ideas in the hope this will make us more popular. It is about advancing the cause of the international working class.

We will maintain our principles, however difficult that might be. HOPI has made its stand and it is now up to others to choose. I certainly hope many in the British and European left will show similar courage and determination.

Yassamine Mather (repost)
- Homepage: http://www.iran-bulletin.org/

Comments

Display the following 5 comments

  1. Why the campaign 'Hands off the People of Iran' has been set up — Yassamine Mather (repost)
  2. Hands Off the People of Iran campaign — HOPI
  3. No to war, no to mullahs — Yassamine Mather (repost)
  4. What a load of verbal crap — red letter
  5. WE NEED TO PROTEST NOW! — Scott
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech