Iran: Thirty years of reaction

international | anti-capitalism | other press

Monday February 21, 2011 15:06

by Ruben Markarian - Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran

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.

In 2009 the regime used massive repression against the demonstrators all across the country. There now seems to be a very shaky stability amongst the Islamic rulers, but the roots of political crisis are unresolved. The people who came out onto the streets were subjected to enormous repression: arrests, shootings, rape and executions. Today, executions have reached such a scale that somebody is being executed every eight hours. Iran has now overtaken China in executing the most people. The Iranian regime wants to preserve its rule by spreading fear.

I also want to talk about the economic situation in Iran. On the one hand, Iran’s oil income ensures that it is one of the region’s richest countries. On the other hand, its industries are in free fall. Every day we see companies going bankrupt, causing huge lay-offs. It is estimated that 500,000 people have lost their jobs in the last couple of months alone. The economic situation is getting worse by the day, and one of the reasons for this is the sanctions regime imposed by US imperialism. The effects are particularly harsh because the EU, Japan, China and Russia are all cooperating with the Obama administration. The brunt of these reactionary sanctions is being taken by the Iranian people themselves, not the government. The sanctions are partly responsible for the disintegration of Iranian society and the worsening situation of the working class.