SOLIDARITY WITH THE PROTEST MOVEMENT AGAINST AHMADINEJAD!
Down with the clerical dictatorship!
- For full democratic rights in Iran,
- For the right of self-determination of the oppressed nationalities in Iran,
- For an independent Constituent Assembly!
- Solidarity with the struggle of the Iranian workers for trade union freedom and socialism!
Hundreds of thousands, mainly young people, students, workers, employees, etc. scream ”NO to Ahmadinejad and the clerical dictatorship” from the rooftops and say it on the streets of Tehran and other cities of Iran. They oppose the result of presidential elections, which took place without any control whatsoever from the population, and express their mistrust and anger against the dictatorship of the mullahs with the slogan "Where is my vote?". They are convinced that a gigantic electoral fraud took place. As always in this kind of situation, Ahmadinejad & Co. have, in face of these protests, reacted with brutal repression. However, the protesting masses defy stick and chain wilding secret agents, threats of prison sentences or the firing of shots. They resist the reactionary butcher militias of the regime and call for new elections. We express our solidarity with their courageous struggle.
The protesters are convinced that Ahmadinejad and his gangs, the so-called Revolutionary Guards and the Bassidj militia, have cheated them out of their hopes for more democratic rights and cultural freedom, from a life without fear and state terror. In their vast majority they had hoped that an election victory of Mussawi would accelerate the realisation of their wishes. Mussawi had and has presented himself as the candidate of the reformist wing of the rulers. All hopes for a change were put on him.
The determination of the protesting masses has already shaken the regime. The supreme theocratic leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has indicated that the election results will be selectively reviewed. Until now, the regime dares not to use the police and the military against the mass movement. It continues to intimidate the movement, to dismantle their communication structures and then to bog it down. Simultaneously Mussawi calls on the protest movement to respect the strict limits imposed by the regime of the Islamic Republic's and to moderate itself. In this way he shows that he is merely interested in exerting pressure onto the center of power of the Islamic Republic in order to win small concessions. The reactionary and antidemocratic institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, however, cannot be overcome either by appeals to other rulers, but only by a resolute struggle in the streets, in workplaces and in the barracks. This requires a labour movement which bases itself on its own strength rather than on the timid reformers of the Islamic regime or perhaps even on "democratic countries". The latter, moreover, show once again that they are only interested in continuing undisturbed their dealings with the rulers in Iran. Therefore they accept without much ado the result of this electoral farce of the Islamic Republic.
Parts of the Iranian mass movement have already begun to take use of the political divisions of the rulers in Iran to fight consistently for a democratic Iran. They deserve our special support.
Long live international solidarity!
Marxist Initiative (MI), 18th of June 2009