December 10, the Human Rights Day, is a good time to raise our voices together, against the oppression and execution machine in Iran, which has claimed many victims in recent weeks. We are witnessing an unprecedented growth of executions in Iran. Although the Islamic Republic has always carried out executions since its coming to power, there has been a significant increase in executions, in the shadow of the on-going war in Gaza, with the aim of pushing back the people's revolution.

At least 120 people have been executed since the beginning of October 2023. A number of those who were arrested during the protests of recent years, including Milad Zohra Vand (21 years old) and Hani Albushahbazi (22 years old) and Kamran Reaei (33 years old) are among those executed. Also, the death sentence of a number of political and religious prisoners who have been in prison for many years has been carried out recently...

Saman Yasin, the protesting rap singer, has been tortured and subjected to mock execution in prison. Hamid Reza Azari, a child criminal who was only 16 years old at the time of his arrest, was recently executed...

Prisoners are subjected to "silent execution" by being deprived of needed medicine and treatment, or being transferred to psychiatric “treatment centres” and forced to use psychoactive drugs.

We, the three organisations, Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran, Committee Against Execution and Free Them Now, Campaign to free jailed workers in Iran, call on all people in Iran and the world, especially families who are a strong pillar against executions, to protest against the growing wave of the Islamic regime executions, on the occasion of December 10th International Human Rights Day, and act immediately to stop the machine of repression and killings, in Iran. You can respond to this call by setting up pickets or street performances, issuing statements or sending letters of protest to the authorities and officials of the Islamic regime, holding seminars and photo exhibitions, as well as publishing photos and videos in opposition to the executions in Iran. It is important that the Islamic Republic knows that the peoples of the world not only are not silent about the crimes of this regime, but together with the people of Iran, they want to end the oppression and the criminal life of the Islamic regime. Our demands are:

• An immediate end to executions in Iran
• An immediate cancellation of all death sentences
• The unconditional release of all political and ideological prisoners

The full statement and news of Human Rights Day can be found at www.cfppi.org.

Israel must stop the genocidal operation against the people of Gaza! We will not tolerate the racist, fascist army of Israel calling the Palestinian people “animals” and ordering their mass murder, and will not tolerate the Western democracies, led by the U.S., putting their stamp of approval on this order. This is not racism as usual—it is a genocide committed with the support of one of the most powerful armies in the world.

No one should tolerate it! Silence in the face of the genocide of Palestinians will open the gates of hell not just for people in the Middle East but for people all over the world. Challenge the fascist Zionist ideology! We especially invite Israeli men and women who do not defend this blatant racism: Do not tolerate this, not only for the sake of the Jewish or the Palestinian people, but in the name of humanity and for the sake of humanity! Hitler's Holocaust against the Jews was one of the most monstrous crimes in human history. But there is only one correct response to it: This must never be allowed to happen again—not to the Jewish people, not to any people anywhere. But Zionist ideology preaches the opposite.

It is alarming, and instructive, that the majority of the anti-fascist movement in Israel has unified with the fascist army of Israel—and it shows how misguidedly relying on, and working within, the system will eventually lead to uniting with the system itself! If we do not stand against the terrible situation we are facing right now, we ourselves will turn into terrible people!

No More Demagoguery! The hired mouthpieces of these regimes are telling people that the issue of Israel-Palestine began with the October 7 operation by Hamas. But what about the 75 years of occupation? What about all the bombing, genocide, assault and imprisonment, the military occupation of Palestinian lands, and the creation of Jewish security and military settlements? The result of this 75-year crime is that the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have been confined in the world's largest prison, under siege by land, air and sea, in an ongoing massacre. This is the basic reality that governs that region, one we should all want to end.

The Jewish people, especially those in Israel, need to know that, after the Holocaust, the formation of the State of Israel is the worst disaster that has happened to them. Of course, the suffering caused by the existence of this disastrous government is felt not only by them, and not only by the people of Palestine and of Israel. It is also the people of the world who suffer, and will continue to suffer, from the effects of the existence of such a government.

Do not deceive yourselves! When apartheid Israel was established, Hamas did not even exist. In 1948, during the Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”), when one million Palestinians were expelled from their lands, villages and homes by terror, assault, and mass murder, when even their olive and orange trees were wiped out, Hamas did not exist. Hamas is just a local criminal gang. By comparison, Israel, with its army and its security forces, is supported by—and in actuality is—a branch of the military and security apparatus of the world's largest power, U.S. imperialism. Hamas appropriated the historical struggle of an oppressed people, and rebranded it with fascist Islamism. Israel, with the cooperation of the U.S. and the U.S.’s puppet regimes in the Arab world (especially Saudi Arabia and Jordan), strengthened Hamas, killing and uprooting the secular and leftist forces of Palestine.

Hamas is an obstacle and not a solution!

Like the Islamic Republic, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are dark theocratic, patriarchal, misogynistic, racist and corrupt forces who have used Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people as “capital,” and a way to win permission to enter the club of reactionary governments in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Using religious mythology, they twist and distort the nature of Israel’s colonial occupation of Palestine, trying to turn the secular and progressive struggle of the Palestinian people into a religious and racial fight between Muslims and Jews. Instead of fighting to liberate Palestine from the yoke of colonialism, they have diverted Palestinian youth into a reactionary Islamist movement that fights and dies for the “cause of God.” This is the same type of catastrophe that befell Iran during the anti-monarchy revolution of 1979. Hamas, with every intention of replicating what happened in Iran, named their recent reactionary operation after the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israel's crimes have destroyed the lives of several generations of the Palestinian people. Not only does Hamas not represent the interests of the Palestinian people, it is a serious obstacle to their liberation. The coming to power of [Iran’s] Islamic Republic as a theocratic state and as godfather to other Islamist forces, has cohered Hamas and other religious forces in the region under the banner of “Axis of Resistance.” What they have in common—despite differences and similarities between the Israeli government and various Islamist currents such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Republic—are their crimes against the Palestinian and Israeli people. Both sides are the product of the same global capitalist system and its two outmoded, reactionary forms [imperialism and theocratic fundamentalism]. Instead of acting as an appendage of either one against the other, another path forward for the people must be opened up—from Iran and Afghanistan to Palestine and Turkey.

The history of Israel-Palestine state relations is one of those realities that are presented to the world in a partial or upside down way by the global capitalist-imperialist system, to influence people’s thinking and maintain its ideological hegemony. Both the formation of the state of Israel and all the crimes it has committed have been carried out with the cooperation and support of world powers led by the U.S.

The instrumentalist thinking that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a deadly poison. Influenced by this worldview, the global world order’s right and “left” wings are siding with either one side or the other in this war. This superficial and harmful way of thinking is promoted far and wide. We must fight this way of thinking, no matter what shape, form or disguise it may take. Using the same argument, based on their hostility to the Islamic Republic, a section of the population in Iran is defending Israel. But Israel is not only the enemy of the Islamic Republic, it is also the enemy of the Iranian people—from the Arab and Baloch to the Kurd and Turk [national minorities in Iran] and Persians, etc. If the Israeli army thinks it necessary, it will speak the language of bombing to the people of Iran or any other country, just as it does to the Palestinian people.

We are against this way of thinking. More than anything else, seeing and understanding reality is required to end these conditions. But under the domination of the ideologies and ways of thinking created by the capitalist system, [“enemy of my enemy is my friend”] has become a part of people's way of thinking. Time after time, around the world, actions based on this pragmatic paradigm—even by forces that once were progressive—have borne bitter fruit and only made the situation even worse. The result is always the same: the continued destruction of people's lives.

Again, Do Not Tolerate Deception or Self-Deception. Capitalism's “democracy” and “human rights” show their true nature in wars like this, when they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the criminals. The flood of messages of support and sympathy sent from the heads of state to Tel Aviv, like the U.S. deployment of battle-ready ships and arms in the region, are intended to make it more possible to support and guarantee the continuation of Israel's crimes in the service of their own interests. Demonstrations in support of Palestine are suppressed and declared illegal. Right away, the White House sent the message: “The U.S. government's support for Israel's security is firm and unwavering.” This steadfastness not only gives license to the Israeli government's limitless criminal massacre of the Palestinian people, but also gives the U.S. more leverage to advance its imperialist competition with the imperialists of China and Russia.

Let's Look at Every Important Political Event with Our Eyes Wide Open and a Global Scope to Our Vision! What happened in Israel-Palestine is actually a concentrated expression of the current state of the whole world today. The operation by Hamas and the start of Israel's war against the people of Gaza, is a global event that can suddenly spark even more massive wars. But this is not because the military operation of Hamas is “unprecedented”! It is because of the chaos that has engulfed the whole fabric of world society. Even the globalization of the Jina uprising was related to the situation that prevails in the world overall.

Everyone knows that the world system, which had been relatively stable despite destructive wars and rivalries, is now rapidly coming apart at the seams. An enormous explosive energy has accumulated within it, and the world cries out for change. This change could go in the terrible direction outlined by the Israeli Defense Minister: “kill the human animals!” Or it can go in another (far better and emancipating) direction as a result of our work and activity. We can totally snatch the initiative from the hands of the governments of the world—both the great and so-called “democratic” powers and the reactionary regimes like the Islamic Republic—and be the decisive factor that determines the future path of the world.

Seeing the scenes of this reactionary war makes our anger at this old world of oppression and exploitation even more molten, and our determination to get rid of it even more resolute. The greater frequency of wars and crimes does not normalize them for us. We, the people of the world, have a responsibility to confront this situation. The global capitalist system, including its continuous creation of war, poverty and oppression, exploitation and destruction of the environment, has turned the world into a minefield of strategic trip wires.

Let Us Be Vigilant and Not Pin Our Hopes on the Mirage of Changing the System in a Positive Direction!

No salvation for the people of the world and the whole of humanity can come about from within the world’s ruling system. The same explosive situations that continually erupt into crisis or war—in Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine, Palestine, Turkey, etc.—also present us with a rare opportunity to build a different future for our people all over the world. Everywhere in the world, we must create new political alignments/polarizations that are radically outside of the framework of each country’s ruling system, outside the worldwide system, and against the thoughts and ideologies that the ruling powers produce (and promote). We must create such a unified political environment that the ruling powers cannot marginalize or suffocate the truth that we speak or our efforts to open up a pathway that is fundamentally different from what prevails today.

We must open the path for the initiative and leadership of a conscious revolutionary force. We are fighting on the side of emancipation in this situation. We call on all those who hate/are fed up with this situation, those who are not willing to stand by and watch the suffering and misery of billions of people in the world, those who know, as we do, that people are not “animals”—not the Palestinian people, not the Jewish people, not people anywhere not the world—and people do not deserve punishment and revenge: this is our common fight against these conditions and those who created them.

Whether it is the proxy war of the nuclear imperialists in Ukraine, Israel's war against the Palestinian people, the Islamic Republic's war in Syria, the U.S.’s war in Iraq, Turkey's war in Kobani [Kurdish city in Syria], the Taliban's war against the people of Afghanistan… it is our people who are displaced and killed all over the world by the capitalist-imperialist system ... so that this system of oppression and exploitation can continue to exist. We must not and will not tolerate this!

October 15, 2023

Signed,

Burn the Cage/Free the Birds

Baloch Women’s Movement

Youth in Exile

Osyan/Revolt

‍

* Burn the Cage/Free the Birds is a movement in Europe to free Iran’s political prisoners. Baloch Women’s Movement: Baloch people are an oppressed ethnic group of nationality in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Youth in Exile are Iranian youth based in Europe. Osyan/Revolt is “the voice of women’s rebellion to express the determination, and to serve the struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Taliban.”

El Cabello de la Mujer
a Jina Mahsa Amini
(21/9/1999 –16/9/2022)

El cabello de las mujeres rizado
como fina lana merina o como
el zarcillo de la parra o ondulado
como las ondas en un estanque
o lacio como la crin de un caballo
no debe ser visto en público
dicen los hombres que gobiernan
porque dicen que incita
la lujuria de los hombres según su
idea de dios tóxica, patriarcal.

Pero la opresión engendra rebelión
y tu corazón estalló con necesidad
de libertad, de dejar al sol calentar
tu pelo suelto para que el viento
lo peinara, la luna lo acariciara.
Por este simple acto te tomaron,
te encarcelaron, te golpearon y moriste.
Pero tu muerte fue chispa que encendió
en llamas la yesca de las vidas recortadas
de las mujeres y ellas tomaron
a las calles por el mundo entero.

En pie, hermanas, por la mujer, la vida,
libertad, y nosotros sus hermanos
estamos con ustedes porque nadie
es libre si las mujeres no lo son.

© Rafael Jesús González 2023

***

The Hair of Women
for Jina Mahsa Amini
(9/21/1999 – 9/16/2022)

The hair of women, tightly-curled
as fine merino wool or loosely
like the vine’s tendril, or wavey
like ripples in a pond,
or straight as a horse’s mane,
must not be seen in public
say the men who rule
because they say that it incites
men’s lust according to their
idea of god, toxic, patriarchal.

But oppression breeds rebellion
and your heart burst with need
of freedom, to let the sun warm
your hair let loose for the wind
to comb it, the moon caress it.
For this simple act you were taken,
imprisoned, beaten, and you died.
But your death was a spark that set
aflame the tinder of women’s
curtailed lives and they took
to the streets worldwide.

Stand, sisters, for the woman, life,
freedom, and we your brothers
stand with you because no one
is free unless women are.

© Rafael Jesús González 2023

****

"One year since the powerful uprising:

SPEECH: Why does the struggle of the women and the people of Iran represent humanity's desire and need for true emancipation and the possibility of achieving it? Thurs Sept 21, 5pm Dept Library, Jorge Garcés Borrero.

"GRAPHIC EXPOSITION: Burn the Cage, Free the Birds! Fine Arts Dept., Cali

"FORUM - FILM: Discussion and presentation of clip and videos" - Fine Arts Dept Chamber Hall, Cali

'We ask the freedom-loving and justice-loving people of Iran and the world not to remain silent in the face of all this repression, injustice, discrimination and crime and to raise our protest cry every day': Mothers of Laleh Park"

"The women and the people of Iran have stood up. Their heroic struggle is our struggle!"

Sept 14, 5pm @teatrolamascara

"The people of Iran cry out for freedom, life, an end to the oppression of women. Millions have not only risen up and taken to the streets, but have also raised their heads to dream of a completely different and better world. One year since this beautiful uprising, the struggle continues in different forms inside and outside Iran. Let us celebrate their courage with music, poetry, videos and discussion as part of the International Emergency Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran."

"The women and the people of Iran have stood up. Their heroic struggle is our struggle!"

Sept 14, 5pm @teatrolamascara

"The people of Iran cry out for freedom, life, an end to the oppression of women. Millions have not only risen up and taken to the streets, but have also raised their heads to dream of a completely different and better world. One year since this beautiful uprising, the struggle continues in different forms inside and outside Iran. Let us celebrate their courage with music, poetry, videos and discussion as part of the International Emergency Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran."

Photos in lightbox at right depict:

1 Morning vigil at busy intersection in front of Unitarian Universalist Society of SF

2, 3 Banner and sign holding events around San Francisco

4 Composite: Placard for Evin women strikers was displayed and IEC Appeal distributed at rallies in Seattle, WA September 15 and 16.

5 Book table, Stockholm film festival

6 Distributing flyers, books at Collective Action by Independent Iranian Women conference

7 Poet Laureate D.L. Lang Instagram post (see post for all poet pics) about Evening of Poetry at Revolution Books Berkeley. "Incredible night of poetry @revolutionbksb in support of @iranprisonemerg"

8 From Cali, Colombia: See @QuemarLaJaula Twitter for more photos of Event for International Support of the Struggle of the Iranian People, Teatro La Máscara, Sept. 14.

One important reality which has brought us here today—a cross-section of women's activists—is the reality of the return of the Taliban to power. How will this affect the lives of the people of Afghanistan, and women in particular? The ramifications of the return of the Taliban are not just limited to Afghanistan. The growth and the spread of religious fundamentalism is occurring all over the world. The addition of a fundamentalist Islamic state, in addition to the Islamic Republic [of Iran], has widespread implications for the region and the world. The question is how to understand this problem and how to deal with it.

I will address two points on the topic of this panel that represent the predominant approach to this problem in the world today: first, “what are the implications of the term “marginalized,” and second, what are the underlying assumptions of an “alliance.”

1. Implications of the Word “Marginalized”

Let me start by saying that replacing accurate political words such as “oppressed” with words like “marginalized” has a specific political content. The term “marginalized” is not merely a word: it involves presuppositions that write off class interests. It is anti-Marxist, much like the rest of the convoluted innovations of post-modernism and post-structuralism. Also, it is an important tool in the hands of governments and liberal think tanks of the capitalist system.

For example, they talk about the “marginalization of women” instead of oppression of women, or about “marginalization of Black people” rather than the oppression of Black people. This formulation is an outgrowth of the theory that “the majority are at the margins” and a “minority is at the center.” Therefore, the problem is defined as the relegation of certain social groups—women, different sexual and gender orientations, oppressed national minorities—to the margins of the existing sociopolitical system. Therefore it concludes that the solution to this problem is for these social groups to move from the “margin” to the “center” [within the existing system]. Such an analysis is counter to reality, and the solutions derived from it are reformist and reactionary!

The fact of the matter is that the capitalist system, in its various forms, is dominant throughout the entire world. It produces and reproduces these social oppressions and class hierarchies because they are essential to [its functioning]. These oppressive social relations can never be ended within the framework of this system, because the source of the production and reproduction of these oppressions is the capitalist system itself! It is what connects the oppressed—by sexuality, gender, nationality, the exploited classes—to each other and to humanity as a whole and even to the devastation of [the environment]. It is the system of capitalism-imperialism in its various forms—a worldwide system dominated by countries like the United States, European countries, China and Russia—that inter-connects the whole world, including Iran and Afghanistan.

The ruling governments and the capitalist system in general, use a variety of mechanisms to produce and reproduce these oppressive social relations, as well as to prevent the revolt of the oppressed masses against their exploitation and oppression. The backbone of these governments is their repressive security and military forces. They also require an ideology that rationalizes oppression, to fully utilize these repressive forces. Eliminating the word “revolution” and replacing it with the notion of “transitional justice” is part of this! Transitional justice is an imperialist technique for effecting regime change, without overthrowing [the regime]. The U.S. implemented this in the Doha talks with the Taliban, and now they're testing it out on the Islamic Republic.

It is within such a framework that [pro-U.S. monarchist] Reza Pahlavi and part of the Iranian opposition are pushing forward transitional justice, and using it to reassure and gain the support of the Western imperialists. We experienced “transitional justice” in Iran when the Islamic Republic replaced the Shah, and we continue to live with what that set in motion. I stress that “regime change without overthrow” means that they will continue to make use of the existing reactionary forces. The Doha Talks with the Taliban was an application of such a “solution.” The reactionary NGOs [nongovernmental organizations]—hirelings and flunkies of imperialism—along with the Taliban and Ashraf Ghani's regime were all pushing for that “solution.” In fact, the NGO projects were little more than an auxiliary to the prosecution of the war and occupation in Afghanistan.

As I said, capitalism constantly uses very diverse mechanisms to produce and reproduce oppression. This includes turning some from among the oppressed into its servants and flunkies, in order to convince people that the system can be reformed. That is how this system is able to recruit social reformers and political brokers from among all sections of society.

Let's look at some examples. Everyone remembers the Doha Talks with the Taliban. Everyone has heard that the one of the biggest achievements of the Round Table Talks with the Taliban was the participation of some of these women servants of the system around the table with the Taliban. On the other hand, one of the most prevalent criticisms of these Talks was that not enough women were present, that they had only a token presence—as if the content could be decided by gender alone!

Another example: for two decades after the massacre and suppression of the revolutionaries in Iran, a number of secular men and women allied with the reformist wing of the regime, launched the “One Million Signatures Campaign” to take advantage of the so-called “powers” in provisions of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic. But the same secularists who enthusiastically championed this project were promoting the reactionary pragmatism of “situational feminism,” in order to win over young women who were prepared to rebel against the Islamic Republic and its compulsory hijab. “Situational feminism” simply means that when you are raped, if you aren’t stronger than your rapist, stop resisting and submit to the rape. They stopped young women from rebelling against the compulsory hijab and instead preached “organization from below” that encouraged “organizing religious rituals with a feminist flavor”—gatherings of women around a “votive meal” [to share their feelings].

The Islamic Republic, from top to bottom, works to mobilize people around backwardness and superstition. But at certain times, it needs to unite with these so-called seculars when their help is needed to achieve its objectives. In fact, along with their ongoing use of armed repression, they sometimes also need the “velvet glove” and “soft” tongue of the petty-bourgeoisie and the intellectuals who articulate their interests. Some men and women of Iranian descent in Western universities also teach this type of reactionary pragmatism as a “women’s innovation”!

Of course the actual explosive potential of women was on full display during the spectacular Jina uprising that upended many of the political and cultural norms in Iran. We all know about this, so I won’t elaborate further. On the other hand, this uprising has been full of bourgeois-democratic illusions. Probably many of you saw Sarina Alizadeh's short videos. Sarina was an early victim of the Jina uprising. She was killed by the Islamic Republic's mercenaries at the age of 16. In her video she talked about her dreams saying “I know that in the world, there's an Ethiopia and a Los Angeles, and because I am a perfectionist, I prefer Los Angeles."

One can talk and write for hours about her brief comment. Our young uprising-generation must come to understand that it was neither the people in Ethiopia nor the people in Los Angeles who arranged their lifestyle. It is this global capitalist system that causes these terrible divisions within and among different societies around the world. In Los Angeles, a wide-swath of people lead parasitic lives, and in Ethiopia the majority of people lead meager lives, if they don’t outright die. They are always affected by the devastating wars that arise due to competition among world powers. Our Sarinas need to know that the relative well-being of the majority of the people of Los Angeles is the result of child labor in Congolese cobalt mines and Bangladeshi textile factories, etc.

These are facts of our world that cannot simply be wished away. The dream of many young people in Iran that found expression in this uprising, is to achieve the “democracy and prosperity” that exists in Western countries. But what about those countries? The continuing existence of the capitalist system requires imperialism. And what these countries—the U.S. in particular—spread around the world is not democracy, but rather the political, economic, social and military framework needed to maintain the capitalist-imperialist system. Never in history and nowhere in the world has bourgeois democracy ever been able to eliminate the oppression of women, and other social oppressions. And today we are witnessing the intensification of the oppression of women in every corner of the world, even in the heart of the bourgeois democracies. We need to cast away illusions. Capitalism’s best-case scenario is the promise of formal equality side-by-side with actual economic and social inequality. This is one of the main characteristics of capitalism most often trumpeted by democratic intellectuals.

Let me give you a third example: Iraqi Kurdistan. In Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, NGOs have always been an important lever of U.S. imperialism to neutralize the revolutionary potential of movements of women, students, workers and oppressed nationalities, etc. When U.S. imperialists talk about “civil society," what they mean is the forces networked around NGOs. Their objective is to undermine social movements that are not only against the ruling governments in each country but also take a stand against the imperialist powers. Their other objective is to establish a social and political beachhead [for imperialism] in these societies.

After the fall of Saddam's regime in Iraq, the U.S. government repeatedly invited Iraqi women—Kurdish and non-Kurdish—to come to the U.S. so they could receive “democracy training.” One such [NGO] was the “American Enterprise Institute,” an extremely misogynistic, right-wing, racist organization that has cloned counterparts in Iraq and in Kurdistan. These projects help to create a new stratum of female intellectuals to serve as a social base for the U.S. imperialists. U.S. imperialism has a department for “democracy, civil rights and labor” that makes use of some extremely misogynist and conservative forces in countries under U.S. domination. They create NGOs that can induce people to replace their social struggles with “lobbying” in order to bring “the marginalized” into “the center.”

The role of NGOs was highly promoted during the 20 years of U.S. imperialist rule over Afghanistan. But they had virtually no effect on Afghan women’s understanding of emancipation and how to achieve it. Instead, what they did was to lower sights, and limit women to working within to the framework of the system. This kind of negative polarization continues, as can be seen in the kinds of struggle being waged against the Taliban, and especially in the struggle against the oppression of women.

This takes two prominent forms in the struggle for women’s right to education: seeking a solution within the framework of the existing system and begging the Taliban for concessions. Then, when conditions disintegrate, they adjust by lowering their sights, a method that can never lead to the realization of their demands. The second approach is to say that nothing can ever change without revolution which in practice translates to waiting passively for the arrival of that revolution-day—which incidentally will never come if today’s struggles are not linked to the cause of revolution, and waged on the basis of building a movement for revolution.

2. The Underlying Assumptions of Alliance

My second point is about “unity/alliance.” First, you have to ask for whom and for what? Clarifying the goal, or “for what purpose,” is very important. As I said in the example of the One Million Signatures Campaign, that alliance was never about going up against a regime that rests on the pillar of the compulsory hijab. Instead, they tried to prevent women from targeting the government of the Islamic Republic in their struggle for women's emancipation. From this and other examples, we can see that it is also possible to form reactionary women’s alliances.

So before making any alliance and/or calling for unity, we need to determine its content. Otherwise, the effort will be worthless and futile. No alliance can be discussed without clarifying the content of that alliance, its framework and its purpose. These are the ABCs of taking any step toward unity.

In fact, all of the preceding discussion about “marginalization” and “NGOs” and “civil society,” etc., proves that the content of alliance is a very crucial question. Even an alliance with a goal that is short of a revolution, one that focuses merely on resistance against oppression, must remain completely outside of the system’s existing framework and its corresponding way of thinking. Clarity on this approach to unity can make everything we do today serve to help building a movement for revolution.

Take the example of the Osyan (Rebellion) [collective of women from Iran and Afghanistan]. What's the content of our unity? Our alliance exists to organize a revolt against the male supremacist/patriarchal oppression that focused against the compulsory hijab in Iran. But our outlook in this struggle is not identity-based, because this oppression is linked to other oppressive social relations and even to the destruction of the environment. All of them are part of the fabric and functioning of the capitalist system.

We carry out this struggle within the framework of a struggle against the theocratic fascist regime of the Islamic Republic. We call out all forms of social injustice, devastating wars, and the destruction of the environment—and we stand with all the oppressed people of the world. Our method of struggle is to rely on ourselves, the people of Iran, and the people of the world; because humanity is entangled together, we consider people all over the world as our own people.

All that can emerge from the workings of the global imperialist system are conditions that are hostile and antagonistic to the interests of the vast majority of the world’s people. Having illusions about the friendship, or relying on the support, of any of the governments of the capitalist world—governments that are themselves guilty of creating this situation in the first place—is to turn our backs on the people of the world.

In Osyan, our alliance is not based on unity for revolution. This means that we don't have a strategy and a roadmap for revolution to overthrow the Islamic Republic and establish a Socialist Republic. This is simply an alliance to organize the resistance and struggle against the Islamic Republic around the faultline of the oppression of women along the lines described above.

At the same time, we know that the roots of this oppression cannot be pulled up from within this system. The framework we propose—namely opposition to imperialism and theocratic fundamentalism—is outside the framework of the system. My activism with other women in Osyan is based on this framework. But for myself as a revolutionary communist, this is not sufficient, because I know and I believe that in order to eradicate male supremacist/patriarchal oppression and other oppressive social relations, it will take a revolution. Activity within the framework of Osyan as a fighter for the liberation of humanity is insufficient [even as] I consider the activities of Osyan to be very important [in contributing] to the revolution.

Nonetheless, to make a revolution we need a party whose goal is revolution, that has a strategy for revolution, and that works for it in a planned and organized way. And by party, I don't just mean just an organization, but the necessary mobilization around its goal and roadmap.

To sum up: neither papering over its horrors nor self-improvement can change this terrible reality we confront. This fact demands an answer, and the answer is not related to which geography we operate in (inside or outside the borders of Iran and Afghanistan).

As leading forces on the scene, our task here is to make an important decision: Will we stay within the framework of the system, or will we, at long last, get out of it? Deciding to get out of the system is a crystallization of our understanding of the situation, a scientific understanding.  An understanding of the roots of the problem and of today’s revolutionary situation, of the fact that revolution is necessary and possible, which must be taken to the masses, to the intellectuals, and to people in all walks of life.

Today, amidst the storm-tossed waves that have shredded the world order, this is a rare moment that opens the possibility of a revolution for the emancipation of humanity. That is our immediate—not long-term—task, because we do not have much time and we must move forward to organize a movement for revolution.

FOOTNOTES:

1. Osyan means Rebellion in the Farsi language. It is a group of Iranian and Afghan women who are the voice of women’s rebellion to express the determination, and to serve the struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Taliban.

Many of you saw and supported the uprising for “Woman, Life, Freedom” [in Iran].  But maybe it took you by surprise, and you may have asked yourself what was it that caused the whole of Iran take up the struggle against the Islamic Republic and the mandatory hijab with such fury and such heroism?

The Women, Life, Freedom uprising was ignited by the state murder of Jina Amini.  And … there was a transformation. It turned into an uprising against broader issues in society – especially the oppression of women –as well as oppression of lgbtq+ and [non-Persian] nationalities. But also, this rebellious uprising gave voice to, and is part of, the struggle of humanity against the conditions of oppression and exploitation that the capitalist system has imposed on us all.

The workings of the imperialist-capitalist system have knit together the lives of people all around the world, making slaves not only of all human beings, but also of the environment of the whole planet! If anyone has still not noticed the relationship between capitalism and humanity, they have not fully grasped the destruction and degradation it causes.  A look at the environment should clarify this!

If we look at it and understand it correctly, we will see that the globalization and intertwining of the social life of humankind is our strength in the struggle against this system.  But people have illusions about this - Iranian people as well as people in the rest of the world. We need to recognize and cast away these illusions.

Your solidarity with the people of Iran, the solidarity of the people of France and around the world, is valuable and important. But it must not be limited to solidarity only.  You shouldn’t look at the uprising of people in Iran like it is an uprising of people who are deprived of rights that you enjoy, and give them your sympathy. Similarly, people in Iran should not look at it like people in Europe and North America have the kind of life-style and rights that we wish to have. This prosperity and lifestyle is not attainable without exploitation and super-exploitation. Wishing and working to get a share of this because of Iran’s integration in the global capitalist system, is not only impossible, it is immoral.

We are fighters in a common struggle against the system that has created such horrors for us and for all life on Earth. The living conditions of our people in Iran have a direct connection to your situation and the lifestyle and living conditions in Europe.  It is only because of exploitation and super-exploitation in the global South that imperialist governments can provide relative prosperity and rights for their citizens. The difference in the living conditions of our people in Iran and people, for instance, in Europe is not because we are living in two different worlds, on two planets; it is the product of a common system. The uprising of our people for Women, Life, Freedom is part of this common struggle.

During the uprising of Women, Life, Freedom, a section of the right-wing opposition to the Islamic Republic came to France to beg Macron and the French government for freedom and to save them from the Islamic Republic. I hope that the atrocities that occurred during the murder of Nahel has revealed the emptiness of that to those swept up by that trend. Macron cracked down on the protest and announced that he was even willing to shut down the internet.²

Our opposition to the Islamic Republic is not like that of the monarchists,  who hope to replace the Islamic Republic with the help of Israel and the United States, nor like that of the MEK [People’s Mojahedin], who have set their sights on likes of fascist Mike Pence. No government or power in this capitalist world sympathizes with us or is our friend, and we have no illusions about them. What we rely on is the people of the world and their internationalist support against this system. We try to carry out our internationalist responsibility in Iran. Support for us by the people of the world should be taken up in the same spirit and framework of a common battle against this life-sucking system that destroys so many lives.

How many of you have had, or have heard of the experience of many, many people in the murderous waters of the Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere, who lost their lives or risked their lives to reach Europe? Or who were captured and displaced by a ruthless bureaucracy, held in desperate asylum camps in Europe, only to be declared “undesirable” refugees? These displacements, injury and death are the product of the same system of capitalism-imperialism that created the conditions that forced people to risk their lives.

During the Jina uprising the Islamic Republic not only killed, arrested and tortured many people, it also blinded many others by firing shotguns directly into the faces of protesters. Afterwards, people gathering the shell-casings from the ground saw that the bullets had been made in Belgium or Germany, and I'm not sure if they weren’t also made in France.

The reality of the world shows us that not only are we like one body, but our exploiters and oppressors and suppressors are also like one body.   We are on the opposite side, against them. This is the reality of our lives and our world. If we don't see it that way, we're delusional. And we are wasting the opportunity and possibility to put an end to this system, and while giving them more time to destroy the lives of more of us around the world.

The mandatory hijab is one of the main ideological pillars of their theocratic rule. It not only is the most prominent emblem of the Islamic Republic’s oppression of women, it is fundamental to the Islamic Republic. They utilize the mandatory hijab both to institutionalize social relations around a lower, second- sex status for women, and to organize the whole society around this way of thinking, and to promote master-slave relationships throughout society.

The struggle of women against the Islamic Republic and against the mandatory hijab is not limited to this uprising. It began with the Islamic Republic's rise to power [in 1979].  For the regime to remain in power, they must enforce the mandatory hijab. Without it, if it were to fall, the survival of the government in its current form would be impossible. The mandatory hijab must be kept in place in order for their theocratic rule to stay in power. The mandatory hijab is not just a head cover, but an unmistakable symbol of the social relations and power relations in society, and is used to strengthen them.

The view that the Islamic Republic is softening on the issue of the hijab or is making reforms is just an illusion. The amplification and propagation of this illusion by intellectuals or representatives of various political trends is not merely complicit with the Islamic Republic.  It is opportunist, against reality, and harms the interests of the people for liberation. For this reason, the hijab is not a neutral thing, it has political and social content, and because of that the views of different individuals and groups about mandatory hijab also have class and social content.

The situation of women and their struggle in Iran must be viewed in the context of the global situation. In Iran, as in the rest of the world, the political, social, economic order is in great disarray and no longer works as before. The signs of this worldwide turmoil include the intensification of imperialist rivalries, such as the rivalry between China and the United States, the Ukrainian war and the risk of nuclear war, the far right’s rise to power and risk of the consolidation of fascism, systematic attacks against women, Black people and other minorities, and the escalation of the environmental crisis.

Take a look at France and see how immigrants are treated, even second-and third-generation immigrants. They are met with a declaration of a state of emergency and repression when they protest.

The situation is getting worse and demands an answer. The moderate and reformist answer doesn't work. The future will be radically different – either radically reactionary or radically revolutionary. If things are left as they are, they will get worse. But within this objective reality there is also the potential and possibility for revolutionary change. Here the role of the organized conscious forces is crucial — to work on the contradictions to move the situation towards revolution and fundamental change. As a part of the people of the world, this is the responsibility of us all.

The worsening situation of women in Iran and all over the world is connected. Religious fundamentalism, whether of the Islamic, Jewish, Christian, or Buddhist variety, spearheads assaults on women everywhere.  Look at the repeal of the right to abortion in the US. Positive change in the situation in Iran will not only affect Iran. It could have a positive effect of altering the hegemony of a world power, and could have a direct effect on the lives of people around the world.

In Iran and Afghanistan the lives of women and people in general are held hostage by two reactionary and obsolete forces. On the one hand, imperialism is the principal cause of devastation affecting the whole world including in Iran and the Middle East. On the other side is religious fundamentalism is a reactionary response that emerged from these capitalist-imperialist dynamics, and has turned against it. Such forces are historically and socially past their expiration dates and can and should be swept away. Supporting either of these two, or putting your hopes in either one of them only strengthens them both, and can only lead to more oppression, exploitation, and destruction of the environment. For generations, the lives of the people of Afghanistan have been the manipulated by the imperialists and the fundamentalists. The Taliban and the US presence have brought only war, destruction and the displacement of Afghan people.

We are the inhabitants of one planet which is in serious danger of being annihilated. We don't have time to waste by putting our hopes in reactionary forces. Staying focused on our own interests or trying to keep stability in our own lives comes at the cost of destroying the lives of others. Besides when we are in the midst of crises and worsening conditions worldwide, even the concept of creating stability is meaningless.

Right now we are engaged in a class war. Now is the time to consciously choose. Which side we are on, where we do we stand?  What do we contribute to, who do we serve? It makes no sense to stay in the middle. Standing in the middle eventually ends up serving reaction. We are fortunate, because we have a chance [to get beyond all this]. We are the people of the world who have a common interest in saving the world and ourselves from this capitalist-imperialist system.

+++

‍¹ Osyan means Rebellion in the Farsi language.  It is a group of Iranian and Afghan women who are the voice of women’s rebellion to express the determination, and to serve the struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Taliban.

² Powerful Uprising Against Police Murder and Racist Oppression Rocks France for Six Days, Defying Massive State Repression and Fascist Menace | revcom.us

The staff person from Revolution Books welcomed the audience, situating the event in Bob Avakian’s analysis that this is a rare time, when the US, citadel of global imperialism, is tearing apart from top to bottom, and contention between nuclear-armed imperialist powers is sharpening internationally, and something terrible, or something truly emancipating can come out of this, that it is possible that the chance to make an actual revolution could emerge in the United States. He said of a major feature in the world – the contention and clash of two outmoded forces - U.S. imperialism vs. Islamic fundamentalism –  “Both are cruel, exploitative, destructive of the environment; there has to be another way, and there IS another way.  Support for the prisoners and for the uprising of the people in Iran (since the murder of Mahsa Amini) is one important part of forging this other way.”

He said: “Supporting the struggle to free Iran’s political prisoners, goes to the bedrock of what our store is all about.  We are not talking about a revolution for the people inside what is now the US – we are talking about a revolution that has as its goal the emancipation of humanity, we cannot stand aside when great crimes are committed, and powerful resistance to those crimes emerges, anywhere in the world.”

As Nasser Mohajer began his talk about what happened in July of 1988, people listened in rapt attention. Voices of a Massacre is the only book on this Great Massacre published in English. In it Mohajer documents the unfolding of this massacre, the courage of the prisoners, as well as the ongoing and necessary struggle to demand justice.  Voices reveals many layers of the events of 1988, how the theocratic regime carried out a nationwide coordinated pogrom of secret retrials, torture and murder throughout Iran’s prisons, though much, including those individuals responsible and even the number of people murdered, is still hidden by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Voices contains many moving testimonies of political prisoners who survived this horror, stories of great courage and resistance in the face of the IRI’s terror and cruelty.

Among the audience were ex-political prisoners and relatives of people executed in 1988. Many listened with tears in their eyes, and Nasser Mohajer himself had to stop a few times to collect himself.

When asked what it was like to research and write about such a heavy, chilling historical event, he said: “I have been working on prison literature for 35 years, it was the most difficult thing in my life to write this book... the only way for me — sometimes you know after writing a paragraph you will cry, there is no way out, sometimes you cry when you are asleep, there are certain things that we cannot forget: when we think about those things, we tremble. But I think that for me, what was most helpful was that I forget myself.... I do not have the right, I do not have the luxury to think about myself. I have to be an honest person. In this book there is no exaggeration, prisoners in Iran... if you were a political prisoner… regardless of the organization, the group you belonged to. You went through hell. And it is my responsibility... to portray, write and make it clear what this person meant... and when I reread the writing you say that ‘OK, I have done justice. I have been her voice, I have been his voice.’”

Learning that so many were able to resist and refuse to submit to this raises the question of how people were able to look beyond profound human suffering to see a different future and resist. This is critical to understand in today's world where the future of humanity is at stake. Iran's political prisoners then and now truly are heroes and a much needed inspiration for our time! This book provides an objective and crucial understanding of the many complex political forces involved in the struggle in Iran.  This includes the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) that emerged from that horrific 1988 massacre and is fighting to lead a revolution in Iran today.

Note: Revolution Books plans to make video of the event available soon. We encourage everyone to get a copy of this important book and read it, to support the work of this important author, and the revolutionary work of our important bookstore.

(Report by Revolution Books’ staff, revolutionbooks.org)

[Opening title] Voices of internationalist solidarity to demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran free ALL Iran’s political prisoners NOW

Child drummer and man together:

“From the district of Aguablanca*, Cali, Colombia, we support the just struggle of the Iranian people."
Child: “Free all the prisoners!”
Man: “We all have the right to freedom of speech”
Child: “Their struggle is our struggle”

* Aguablanca is one of the most oppressed districts of Cali, where Colombian revolutionaries took “Stop the Executions!” broadly out among the masses last month

[poster] Free Nahid Taghavi

Rapper:

“This is a message of solidarity for Brother Toomaj
From the campaign Burn the cages, free the birds!
Because all the people matter
And the message of consciousness and revolution
Will come to all the corners of the globe.
Free the political prisoners.

[Poster] Free Toomaj Salehi

 Singer

Well, I am José Sebastián Potes, puppet master
Often a musician too.
From here in Cali, Colombia, I support Iran’s political prisoners
Most of them artists, women…
Who have wanted to change the conditions of life in their country
I support the freedom of human beings everywhere on the planet
Because freedom has no limits, or else it wouldn’t be
And of the earth, the freedom of the earth
So that freedom for human beings can exist.
Strength and resistance to the peoples of the east,
To the oppressed peoples, to the Iranian people.

Comrevco (Grupo Comunista Revolucionario, Colombia) in several posts on May 21 in Instagram and Twitter, reported: 

"May 21 in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, in Ciclovia, the message was taken to riders and pedestrians, Stop the execution of political prisoners in Iran, denouncing the wave of death and oppression that this regime inflicts on the Iranian people, and taking out the message that we are united by the same interests and the same struggle for a radically different world. We are not willing to allow the slipknots of the gallows that are around the neck of the fighters in Iran to cut short the rebellion of a whole generation. The people of Iran, the people of Colombia and all the oppressed and exploited peoples of the world under the capitalist mode of production are called upon to unite in a single effort: Revolution, nothing less!”

"The cry, 'Islamic Republic of Death! Stop the executions of political prisoners in Iran, now!' rang out in Aguablanca, Cali, one of the districts hardest hit under this horrific system, together with the message: The struggle of the Iranian people is our struggle!"

"The shameful regime in Iran has cut short the life of 3 youths, repudiated by people in many places like Cali, Col, where people struggle to understand the source of these horrors and build a different world where people would have the right to live."

On Instagram, a reply that questioned this action caused a lengthy response.

A user commented: "What benefit do they receive by going out to spread this information? Informing the basic people could do little or nothing to prevent deaths and even change a regime and its religious culture if that is the intention..."

Another responded at length, including these profound remarks that many others around the world should take to heart:

"In Colombia, during the struggles of many basic people in 2019, 2020 and 2021, each time a voice of encouragement was heard from 'outside' for the youth and the people opposing injustice and repression, police brutality and paramilitary attacks, the criminalization of young people; it was cause for celebration and inspiration, they felt validated and many others were forced to consider the reasons for this support and enter the debate and the fight... exposure in embassies abroad to what the regime was doing in Colombia, the voices of prominent artists who could not simply remain silent in the midst of social unrest... all those voices from 'outside' were powerful and important... and still required more and more in-depth debate about the source of the problems and a real solution...

"This small group of people in this work in Cali, Bogotá, and other cities, and together with people in other parts of the world who do not feel small before the responsibility of responding to injustices and thinking of the whole world first and foremost, deserve all our support, and to make this work something very powerful that resonates with even more voices in the world and in Iran, that reaches the prisons of Iran and that the fighters know that they are not alone, and that there are people ready to fight for a truly different world, for an actual revolution, where the horrors imposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the threats of war from the imperialists and their invasion of peoples and their 'sanctions', the horror suffered by half of humanity, women, under patriarchal imperialist capitalism (in Iran and the rest of the planet), the destruction of the environment, poverty and war and the looting by the imperialists in Syria or Sudan or Afghanistan, or in Cali or Medellín or Bogotá, or in Lima or Rio de Janeiro, become part of history... let's sweep that away and build a radically new world through revolution."