Only hours after the start of the plan's implementation, Dr. Fariborz Rais Dana, the leftist economist and strong critic of such neoliberal economic plans was arrested by the security forces. Although the arrest of the critics is nothing new, and many others have previously been arrested and repressed, we, a group of leftist activists in Iran, view the arrest of Dr. Raeis Dana not as a confrontation between an individual and the government, but between a progressive group of which Rais Dana is a representative, and the government.
Dr. Rais Dana is a committed intellectual who, in the current struggle,has been defending the rights of working people, and has made defending the human rights of the citizens his mission.Despite his intellectual vigor and excellent academic credentials, Rais Dana has understood the meaning of living with dignity and has lived among the poor starta of the society. The arrest of Dr. Rais Dana demonstrates that the Islamic Republic is determined to carry out a plan, the type of which has already been implemented in other underdeveloped parts of the world with disastrous results. With the help of its own cronies, the present military capitalist regime carries out neoliberal economic plans under the fake guise of economic development, and does so at a time when the country is in a deep economic crisis, while it does not tolerate any dissenting voice by creating a totally repressive environment.
Thus, the arrest of Dr. Rais Dana is a clear message by the government of Ahmadinejad to the masses. The message is none other than the determination of the military capitalist regime for carrying out a second coup in the form of an economic aggression on the minimum livelihood of the people. Thus, all progressive forces of Iran and the world must protest the arrest of Dr. Rais Dana, the first person who has courageously resisted the economic coup.
We, a group of leftist activists of Iran, ask all Iranian citizens regardless of their political thinking, as well as all the conscientious people not to remain silent against the coup, and demand the release of an economist who has done nothing other than defending the rights of the poor and workers. We believe that the truth about aggression on the economic well-being of the society has finally surfaced, symbolized with the arrest of Dr. Rais Dana as a representative of the workers and poor classes of the socity.
Against them are those who represent the neoliberal economy and are supported by the military forces and the various faction, raging from Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to Ahmadinejad. The military-theocratic capitalist regime is more determined than ever to ruin the minimum livelihood of the poor and workers, and pushing Iran into a dark economic and political period of historic proportion.
All supporters of freedom in general, and all the leftist forces in particular, must resist the neoliberal military-theocratic regime by defending Dr. Fariborz Rais Dana.
December 19, 2010, A group of leftist activists in Iran
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com