[lbo-talk] worker discontent in Iran

Yoshie Furuhashi critical.montages at gmail.com
Mon Jul 30 18:13:31 PDT 2007


On 7/30/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> <http://www.merip.org/mer/mer241/maljoo.html>
>
> Worker Protest in the Age of Ahmadinejad
>
> Mohammad Maljoo
>
> Mohammad Maljoo is a lecturer in the Faculty of Economics at Allameh
> Tabatabae University in Tehran.
<snip>
> The decline in militant collective action among both Tehrani teachers
> and bus drivers under Ahmadinejad seems to capture the situation of
> Iranian working people as a whole.

MERIP published Mohammad Maljoo's article in the Winter 2006 issue of Middle East Report. Shortly afterward, teachers went on strike in March 2007, reportedly shutting down about 80% of Iran's public schools (you can see a video of the strike at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUn2EGWfqo> and look at strike photos at <http://www.khosoof.com/archive/354.php>). As soon as the new gasoline rationing began, Iranians reacted in protest, too, burning down a number of gas stations.

Now, it seems to me that the Iranian people are still very much rebellious, certainly more so than the Americans. Given that, I'd rather advise Iranians against sectoralism and adventurism: remember Mohamed Mossadegh (cf. <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070709/013117.html> and <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070716/013669.html>) -- defend yourself, but don't try to advance your sectoral interests at the cost of losing the entire country (which the empire very much covet and is willing to go absurd lengths to acquire: "Heritage: Economic Blowback from Bombing Iran Will be Easily Managed," <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070730/014180.html>).

Postscript: As for Iran's Vahed bus drivers' leader, Mansour Osanloo, he remains at the top of the Solidarity Center's agenda: <http://www.solidaritycenter.org/>. The empire made 9 August the International Action Day in solidarity with him and Mahmoud Salehi: <http://www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/osanloo2.cfm>. The Western press began to call him "Iran's Lech Walesa."

The government of Iran, of course, should _not_ arrest Osanloo nor any genuine labor activists, much less illegally as it did Osanloo; and Iran's workers, beginning with Osanloo, should publicly repudiate symbolic and material support offered by the empire with ulterior motives.

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/22/wiran122.xml> Unions rally to free Iran's 'Lech Walesa' By Colin Freeman, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 1:47am BST 23/07/2007

-- Yoshie



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list