French unions call for ban of Islamic regime in ILO

This is a declaration from the CGT Local Federation of Epinal (translated from French)

Solidarity with Iranian unionists and workers

Iranian state, out of ILO!!

It has been almost one year since Iranian workers and people are fighting the dictatorial regime. Thousands of protesters and activists were arrested and very often tortured. They fight for the fall of the regime but also for winning their unions’ rights. This impulse gave birth to underground or semi-legal unions like Public Transportation Union of Tehran. The Iranian Authorities want to break this democratic impulse.
On Sunday May 9th, the Islamic Iranian authorities executed 5 activists : Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakili, Shirin Alam-Houli and Mehdi Eslamian but also Farzad Kamangar, previous spokesman of Union of technical teachers of Kurdistan, member of the Human Rights Defense League. These activists suffered under a most savage torture and their trials were a farce. Their execution is used by the regime to set an example, but this bloody strategy did not work.

On May 13th, several underground workers' organizations called for a strike in Iranian Kurdistan to protest against executions and prevent the murder of twenty other activists in danger. This call for strike was a great success in the towns of the province, despite the siege established by the authorities. The regime's security forces tried to prevent protests, hence there were several hours of confrontations in some towns. Many companies, schools and universities were closed in the province. The majority of merchants joined this call.

This mobilization shows that workers and the majority of Iranian people contest the legitimacy and violence of the regime.


International solidarity
But the battle for respecting democratic and union freedoms should not only rest on our Iranian comrades. We believe that French and international unions should join this fight and thus show a true internationalist behaviour.

On June 2nd, the conference of the International Labor Organization will open in Geneva. Several Iranian workers' organizations have asked for many years, that the ILO ban Iran from its list of states taking part in this international institution.
How can we accept that a state that does not respect any union freedom, a state that kills, rapes and tortures union activists can take part in the work of the ILO?
We unionist organizations, ask our unionist representatives at ILO to demand that the dictatorial Iranian state be excluded from this international organization.


First workers organisation who signed this appeal :
Union Départementale CGT des Vosges
Union Locale CGT de Chinon, Union Locale CGT de Saint-Dié des Vosges, Union Locale CGT de Mirecourt, Union Locale CGT d’Epinal
Syndicats : CGT Streit France (Thaon les Vosges), CGT Carrefour Jeuxey , Local Construction CGT 31, CGT Tyco Electronics France SAS (usine de Chapareillan), Syndicat Alternatif des Instituteurs et Professeurs des Ecoles de la Réunion (SAIPER 974), CGT-ADDSEA (Doubs);
Tendance Intersyndicale Emancipation


And French text:

Solidarité avec les syndicalistes et les travailleurs iraniens
Etat iranien, hors de l’OIT !!


Depuis bientôt un an, les travailleurs et la majorité du peuple iranien se battent contre le régime dictatorial. Des milliers de manifestants et de militants ont été arrêtés et bien souvent torturés. Ils luttent pour la chute du régime mais aussi pour obtenir des droits syndicaux. Cet élan donne naissance à des syndicats clandestins ou semi-légaux comme celui des Transports Publics de Téhéran.

Les autorités veulent donc briser cet élan démocratique

Le dimanche 9 mai, les autorités islamiques en Iran ont exécuté 5 militants : Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakili, Shirin Alam-Houli et Mehdi Eslamian mais aussi Farzad Kamangar ancien porte parole du syndicat des enseignants du technique du Kurdistan, membre de la Ligue de Défense des Droits de l’Homme.
Ces militants ont subi la torture la plus sauvage et ont été jugés dans des conditions caricaturales.

Leur exécution est utilisée par leur régime comme un exemple. Pour autant cette stratégie sanguinaire n’a pas fonctionné.

Le 13 mai plusieurs organisations ouvrières clandestines ont appelé à la grève au Kurdistan iranien pour protester contre ces exécutions et empêcher l’assassinat d’une vingtaine d’autres militants menacés.
Cet appel à la grève a remporté un large succès dans les villes de la province, malgré l’état de siège instauré par les autorités. Les forces de l’ordre de la dictature ont essayé d’empêcher les manifestations, d’où des affrontements de plusieurs heures dans certaines villes. De nombreuses entreprises, écoles et universités étaient fermées dans la province. La majorité des commerçants se sont joints à cet appel
Cette mobilisation démontre que les travailleurs et la majorité du peuple iranien contestent la légitimité et la violence du régime en place.

Solidarité internationale

Mais la bataille pour la respect des libertés démocratiques et syndicales ne doit pas uniquement reposer sur nos camarades iraniens. Nous estimons que les organisations syndicales françaises et internationales doivent se joindre à ce combat et montrer ainsi une véritable démarche internationaliste.

Le 2 juin s’ouvrira à Genève une conférence de l’Organisation Internationale du Travail. Plusieurs organisations ouvrières iraniennes demandent depuis des années à l’OIT d’exclure l’Iran de la liste des Etats participants à cette institution internationale.
Comment accepter qu’un Etat qui ne respecte aucune liberté syndicale, qui assassine, viole et torture les militants syndicaux, puisse participer aux travaux de l’OIT ?

Nous, organisations syndicales, demandons à nos représentants syndicaux à l’OIT d’exiger l’exclusion de l’Etat dictatorial iranien de cette institution internationale


Organisations syndicales signataires (sections syndicales, syndicats, UL,…) :

What are Farzad Kamangar's executioners doing in the ILO?

Farzad Kamangar, dissident teacher and human rights activist, was brutally executed in early May by the regime in Iran, along with four other political prisoners. The world’s trade unions had long been campaigning for his release, and have vehemently condemned the executions.

People want to know: What are these executioners doing in the ILO? Why does the ILO keep inviting them to its annual conferences year after year?

It’s time to put a stop to this tacit complicity with the regime in Iran. The ILO conference is no place for executioners! This regime should be thrown out of the ILO and the world community.

Show your solidarity with the workers and people of Iran:

• Boycott the regime of Iran’s delegation at the ILO conference!
• Help kick this regime out of ILO!

Join the rally outside the conference centre (Place des Nations) on Wednesday 2nd June at 1pm

Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI)
- International Labour Solidarity Committee
wpi.workers.iran@gmail.com http://worker-communistpartyofiran.blogspot.com/
http://iran-out-of-ilo.blogspot.com/ www.kargaran.org

Protest of mothers in Germany against executions in Iran

A group of mothers and women from Cologne, Germany is holding a 'No to executions!' protest tomorrow Monday 31 May and Tuesday 1 June in Düsseldorf in reaction to the execution of five political activists in Iran two weeks ago. The group wants to spread the message of Farzad Kamangar's mother Daye Saltaneh who in a statement spoke of her hope that other mother's will not lose their children and who asked that people speak out against executions.

Place:
Landesparlament (Regional State Parliament)
Platz des Landtags 1
40221 Düsseldorf

Join June 2 rally for the expulsion of the Islamic regime of Iran from ILO

Join the Rally in Geneva

In solidarity with workers and people of Iran and for the expulsion of the Islamic regime of Iran from the ILO

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) will hold its annual International Labour Conference in Geneva from 2 to 18 June. Like previous years, a delegation representing the Islamic Republic of Iran and representatives of regime-made organisations (Islamic councils) will participate in this assembly. Those who are responsible for the persecution, torture and execution of worker leaders, teachers, students, women and children should not be allowed to join the ILO. The Islamic regime in Iran should be expelled from the ILO for its flagrant violation of human rights and its denial of a human life to workers and the people in Iran.

Join this really to support the struggle of workers and people in Iran, to demand the expulsion of the Islamic regime of Iran from the ILO, and to call for the release of all jailed workers and political prisoners in Iran

Wednesday, 2 June 2010, 1pm
Geneva, in front of the ILO Conference Centre, Palais des Nations

Free all jailed workers and political prisoners!
Islamic regime of Iran out of ILO!

Worker-communist Party of Iran-Organisation Abroad
25 May 2010

Hamid Taqvaee's message to the people of Afghanistan

‘You are leading a path which we hope many others will follow’

Hamid Taqvaee’s message to people of Afghanistan on their protest against executions in Iran

Your powerful protest against the Islamic regime of Iran deserves the highest appreciation. Accept my warmest greetings and respect.

The protest in Kabul last week against the execution of Afghan immigrants in Iran, and the subsequent protest in Jalalabad against the execution of 5 political activists*, accompanied by hard-hitting slogans against the criminals in power in Iran, setting their posters on fire and attacking the Islamic Republic’s consulate, was a fantastic and unprecedented act of solidarity in the struggle of the people in the region and the whole world.

You showed that struggle against tyranny is borderless. Through your slogans “Khamenei, murderer of people in Iran” and “Down with tyranny, both in Tehran and Kabul”, you placed yourselves beside the people of Iran, and within the ranks of struggle of the people of the world against tyranny and reaction. You protested against the execution of those loved ones who, as a woman protester in Jalalabad told the reporters, “fought for the freedom of their country and the whole world.” In this global struggle, people of Iran and Afghanistan, people of the entire region and of the whole world are pursuing a common goal. This is a struggle against execution and repression, a struggle to overthrow tyranny and discrimination and inequality. These are the goals and aspirations of the people of the world; something for which the people in Iran have been waging a fierce struggle over the past year against the criminals ruling in Iran.

With your protests against the executions and the Islamic regime of executions in Iran, you most effectively and powerfully declared your solidarity with the revolutionary movement in Iran.

You are leading a path which we hope many others all over the world will follow, and with our entire capacity we will encourage them to do so.

Once again I salute you and look forward to ever stronger unity and solidarity in the ranks of the freedom-loving people of the world to overthrow tyranny “both in Tehran and Kabul,” as well as in the entire region and the whole world.

For victory!

Hamid Taghvaee
General Secretary of the Worker-communist Party of Iran
14 May 2010

May 1 in Iran: A Great Step Forward

On May 1^st of this year in Iran, all heads turned to the workers’ movement. From a few weeks prior to May Day, workers’ problems, plights, demands and protests had already turned into a discourse within the nation, media, political opposition groups, and so on. Leftist groups and workers’ organizations, institutions and labour activists welcomed the International Workers’ Day by, like every other year, issuing messages, calls for actions, resolutions, and prepared themselves for holding protests and assemblies. But May 1 assumed wider social dimensions. It drew the attention not only of the various sections of society as such but also that of the right wing opposition. The reason for this society-wide attention is obvious: for more than 10 months the society had been going through a seething revolutionary period. Under such conditions, International Workers’ Day, which symbolizes the deep rooted causes of freedom and equality, would not only not remain a cause for communists, labour activists and workers’ organizations but also become a cause for the masses who, sick and tired of the regime, have entered the arena to rid themselves of it.

The ruling murderers too, aware of the significance of this year’s May Day, had prepared all their hellish medley of forces to prevent the spread of demonstrations and protests on that day. Security forces, Basij and “plainclothes” murderers as well as herds of other kinds of thugs were dispatched to the streets. They created an unprecedented military atmosphere in Tehran and other cities. These measures were effective in containing the size of demonstrations and preventing the formation of assemblies of masses who had come out to celebrate the day. But they failed to prevent the extensive communication of workers’ demands to the masses. Nor did they succeed in preventing the society from shifting its attention towards the workers’ deep critique of, and protest against, the present conditions. May 1^st of this year was indeed an opportunity for the mass movement that had been challenging the Islamic Republic for 10 months prior to the day to hear its own critique and protest this time from the workers’.

Our party has, since the very start of the current movement, constantly and with full power strived for, and emphasized on, the necessity to deepen and radicalize the content of its protests and demands, the need to create open organizations and institutions in order to declare the demands of various sections of the society through them as well as through individual activists. In general, our party’s constant endeavour, since the very beginning of the movement, has been aimed at the need for increasing clarity, articulation and organization of various dimensions of the revolution. A significant condition for the revolution to advance in that direction is entering into the arena of the workers’ movement at the forefront of the protesting masses, bearing the standard of the workers’ protests and demands on a broad social scale. May1^st of this year was an important and decisive step in this direction. The 15-point resolution issued by 10 workers’ organizations on the occasion of May Day, both for the content of its comprehensive, radical demands, and as an action per se, is a significant indicator of that progress.

In that resolution workers have issued their indictment against “the capitalist system of Iran.” They have advocated the “unquestionable right of workers and all Iranian people to a life in accordance with the highest standards of life of today’s humanity.” They have demanded the rights to organization, strike, assembly, and freedom of speech for themselves as well as “all Iranian people.” They have demanded that the government scrap its plan to cut subsidies on essential items, and increase the minimum wage to 1 million Tuman [approximately $1000] per month. They have demanded the abolition of death penalty. They have demanded the abolition of all discriminatory laws against women. They have demanded the abolition of child labour, and that children be provided with free, equal education and welfare facilities irrespective of their parents’ social and economic status. They have condemned all kinds of discrimination against immigrant workers from Afghanistan and other countries, and declared their support for teachers, nurses and other working sections of the country.

These are all, indeed, the demands, objectives and ideals of the masses of people who have risen against the entirety of the existing anti-human conditions. They form the workers’ full-fledged banner of the quest for freedom and equality, hoisted from the heart of the current revolutionary movement to clearly show the society how to seize at the very root and throw the gauntlet to the Islamic state in its entirety; so that the society would hear and recognize its revolutionary and deeply humane alternative from the workers, as opposed to the right opposition and the efforts of the regime’s “green” faction to distort the people’s demands for freedom and equality to fit within “the framework of the constitution” or “Islamic human rights” or democracy of the New-World-Order or the “human rights harbingered by Cyrus- the-great”. The masses of people have been challenging the regime for more than 10 months by chanting “down with the dictator” and “down with the principle of theocratic supremacy,” while the workers’ resolution translates, defines and articulates these “structure-breaking” slogans [, as both factions of the regime call them,] in the language of crystal clear humane, freedom-loving and equality-seeking demands.

Furthermore, all the said facts indicate that on May 1^st of this year the workers’ movement not only entered the arena in defiance of the regime but also in practical distinction from, and critique of, all the right forces. May 1 showed that, unlike all the forces that try to limit the protests and demonstrations within the framework of the constitutional of the regime, it is only the workers who demand and defend unconditional rights to strike, protest, organization and association - for all the people. May 1 announced that, unlike Iranian/Arian-monger nationalist tendencies, workers oppose any kind of discrimination against any worker, including those of other nationalities who live and work in Iran - Afghan or non-Afghan. It announced that workers, unlike the nationalist-religious tendencies and the Islamic feminists, strive for abolition of all kinds of discrimination against women. Finally, and most important of all, on May 1, workers placed an issue at the core of their demands and protests that the whole right opposition has silently passed over: the issue of poverty and misery ravaging the society, as well as the real, root causes of it. They raised the issue of wages that are as low as a quarter of the [officially announced] poverty line. They raised the issue of lay-offs, employment insecurity, the plan to cut subsidies and the fact the objective of this anti-labour plan is to intensify exploitation and increase profitability of capital. In a word, they condemned the capitalist system as the root cause of all these miseries. This was the worker’s May Day message to the society - a clear and explicit message that separated, with a political dimension and on a social scale, the ranks of the workers from the right forces in their entirety.

Our party has long since emphasized the fact that the left and its critique of the existing social condition in Iran is a wide and strong tendency as well as a wide and strong current. May 1^st this year itself was yet another vivid manifestation of that fact. On this day, the workers rose and came on the scene, not as victims of the capitalist system, a depiction of workers the right opposition recognizes and is OK with, but as the active avant-garde and standard bearer of masses struggling for freedom and equality. This socio-political self-assertion is unprecedented even in the trade unionist labour movement suffering from reformist syndicalism in the West, and clearly indicates the status and power of the left in the workers’ movement and in the Iranian society as whole. May 1^st of this year was the day the left’s critique of, and the left’s indictment against, the status quo was communicated through the workers’ movement. The workers’ movement can and should advance in this direction more actively, more broadly, and in a more united and organized fashion than before.

May 1 also shows the way to other institutions, organizations and activists in the other protest movements, especially the women’s freedom movement and the student movement: unite and organize; declare your demands and objections under the signature of your organizations, institutions, and NGOs of various kinds; issue messages, resolutions and calls to action; declare your solidarity with other protest movements, and organize combined protest actions with them. The current revolutionary movement is in need of organizing and clarifying itself through ever clearer articulation of the demands and the protests of the workers and masses by the masses themselves; and May Day presents the society as a whole with a clear, practical and facilitating guideline for advancing these causes.

Hamid Taqvaee

First published in Anternasional (International) weekly, No. 347, May 7, 2010

London rally against execution of political activists in Iran

Several protests took place over the weekend against the executions of 5 polititcal activists last Sunday, 9 May. In London on Saturday the WPI and 7 other groups and campaigns organised a rally starting at Trafalgar Square at 1pm. Different speakers talked about the executions, the situation of political activists and prisoners in Iran. At 2.30 around 120 people marched for two and a half hours towards the IRI embassy where the protest continued. The protesters continuously shouted slogans whilst marching. Some of the slogans were: Free all political prisoners now! Stop the murder, stop the torture! Down with the Islamic regime of Iran! Stop victimizing women in Iran!

On Trafalgar Square




Getting ready to march



Marching








In front of the IRI embassy

General Strike in Kurdistan!

A big step forward for the people of Iran’s revolution against the Islamic Republic!

Today, people in Sanandaj, Mahabad, Bokan, Kamyaran, Miaandoaab, Oshnavieh, Nowsood, Piranshahr, Saghez, Baaneh, Divaandareh, Dehgalaan, Naghadeh, Sardasht, Javaanrood, Ravaansar, Rabat and all other cities and towns in Kurdistan carried out a successful general strike, despite undeclared province-wide martial law and all other measures the regime had resorted to. Almost all schools, universities and 80% of shopping centers and workplaces were closed. The Islamic Regime found itself, clearer than ever, surrounded by the ocean of people’s hatred! This strike was not just a powerful, magnificent response to the recent cruel execution of 5 political activists. It was not just a crucial step in defeating the regime’s policies of execution and terrorization of the people. It was an act with far-reaching consequences that will radically change the balance of political power against the regime. In a word, it was a significant step forward in the revolution of the people against the Islamic regime and for freedom and equality.

The general strike in Kurdistan on May 13th, 2010, will be remembered as an historic act, and as an historic day, in the process of the Kurdish people’s struggle in the Iranian revolution. People took part in the strike in their millions and broke the wall of the ever-more-severe repression in Kurdistan, thus pushing the Iranian revolution one significant step forward. It will raise the spirits of the people all across Iran and greatly intensify the regime’s desperation and hopelessness. After May 13th, the people in Tehran, Ahvaz, Mashhad, and so on, will feel much stronger in their fight against the Islamic regime!

The mass strike in Kurdistan will also radicalize the current revolution in Iran even further, and swing it more to the left. Kurdistan has always remained the “fortress of the revolution” of 1979. The people in Kurdistan have always said “no” to the murderous Islamic regime. The broadest masses have always shown the deepest hatred towards the regime and all its factions. Now that the people have actively set foot in the arena of political struggle, they show a fact ever more vividly, that is, what goes on in Iran is not a movement to “reform” the regime but a revolution to bury it in its entirety. Meanwhile the “revolutionary Kurdistan”, in general, and the “red Sanandaj”, in particular, have been the stronghold of organized left, revolutionism and communism since the 1979 revolution. The idea of a general strike in Kurdistan per se, the fact that it was called by the communists, the fact that it gained the support of all political forces in Kurdistan, and the fact that it took such huge dimensions in practice, provide yet another air-tight proof that the Iranian revolution turns more and more to the left as it goes further and further ahead.

The general strike of May 13th in Kurdistan showed something else too. It took place following the extensive, vigorous protests by the Iranians living abroad against the execution of five political prisoners in Iran. These protests were supported by the people within Iran. It all goes to prove, once more, that all the people in Iran share the same destiny in their struggle for liberation. The general strike by the people in Kurdistan was a manifestation of our slogan: ‘“No!” to ethnic state! “No!” to religious state! “Yes” to humanist state!’ Right, nationalist forces, as well as the regime itself, i.e., all the forces that seek to divide the people along ethnic and/or religious lines, received a fierce blow in the general strike in Kurdistan.

Finally, the general strike in Kurdistan was a great step forward also in that it promoted the tactics and forms of struggle, and thus contributed to the clearer articulation of the current revolution. It added, in practice, besides street demonstrations, “general strike” to the tactics of revolutionary struggle. At the present moment the adoption of this tactic is an absolute necessity for the revolution to advance. There is no doubt that today’s move by the heroic people in Kurdistan will set a pattern for the revolution across Iran.

The Worker-communist Party salutes the people in Kurdistan and congratulates all freedom-loving people, all the communists and the various political parties who made today’s strike a success.

Down with the Islamic regime of Iran!
Humanist revolution for a humanist state!
For a socialist republic!

Worker-Communist Party of Iran
May 13, 2010

Soldiers at Farzad Kamangar's family home

Some of the soldiers that have been sent to Kamyaran, Farzad Kamangar's city, for the general strike yesterday are currently surrounding the family's home and filming and photographing anyone leaving or entering the house.

Source: Kurdistan Committee of WPI

Kurds from Turkey at Iran's border to join strike 13 May

Here is a clip of how a demonstration of a few hundred Kurdish people from Turkey marched to the Turkey/Iran border trying to cross over to join the strike in the Kurdish province in Iran yesterday 13 May.

Protest in Afghanistan against execution of 45 Afghans in Iran

Today a fifth protest was held in Afghanistan against the recent execution of 45 Afghans in Iran. People burnt picture of Ahmadinejad and others held a picture of Farzad Kamangar and his mother.

Attack on IRI embassy in Denmark today

There are also reports that protesters attacked the IRI embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.

Footage of strike in Kurdistan today

Sanandaj, Kurdistan today May 13

People and shopowners in Sanandaj following the call out for a general strike in Kurdistan in response to the execution of 5 political activists on Sunday in Tehran, 4 of them Kurdish.

Divandara, Kurdistan today 13 May

There are reports of clashes with security forces in several cities

Baneh, Rabt, Sardasht, Nagdeh, Oshnaviyeh have joined strike.

After the security forces attacked an elderly man in Shushmi area in the town of Nosavad, there have been clashes between people and the security for the past two hours which continues. There are reports that shots have been fired there.

In Dehgalan, there are reports that youth and people have come out in protest; shots have been fired by the security forces and clashes continue.

The regime will not be handing over bodies of the executed

The families of the five executed political prisoners returned back home without the bodies of their loved ones. The regime haas refused to hand over their bodies to their bereaved families. They have told the families that they will inform them of where they have been buried in ten days time whilst adding that they will be buried in a special place given that they were not ‘Muslims.’ The regime is holding their bodies as hostage and has warned the families not to hold memorial ceremonies for them and not to participate in the 13 May general strike.

The regime has also been putting pressure on the families of the executed. Ali Heydarian’s brother was summoned to warn their family not to take part in the strike. Shirin’s mother and sister, and later grandfather, uncle and cousin were arrested and then released on bail.

There are reports that the security forces have come out in full force in the neighbourhood of Farzad Kamangar’s family who have returned home but people are refusing to leave them on their own.

Update on the general strike in Kurdistan

Today 13 May, a general strike has been called in Iranian Kurdistan by political opposition groups.

Despite the regime’s unofficial military rule and extensive security to intimidate people, many cities in Kurdistan have joined the general strike.

Reports coming in reveal that Bukan, Saqez, Kamyaran, Mahabad, Divandara and Piranshahr and many parts of Marivan and Sanandaj have joined the strike.

Divandara, Piranshahr and Kamyaran have completely shut down. The regime’s security forces have broken down some store doors and are putting pressure on store owners to open their shops. They are being threatened with losing their business license if they do not reopen.

Many children have not gone to school and it is reported that schools are to shut down at noon despite teachers having been warned to keep schools open on the day.

Many of the shops and workplaces in Miyandoab and surrounding villages have shut down. All of the ones in Marivan and the market and workplaces in Mahabad are shut. People are also not entering government offices for any work they may have. Many streets are completely empty.

London rally against executions in Iran this Saturday 15 May

Come and join WPI at a rally to protest against the execution of Farzad Kamangar and 4 other political activists in Iran and demand an immediate stop to executions in Iran.

This Saturday 15 May at 1pm Trafalgar Square, London
At 2pm we will be marching to the IRI embassy at 16 Prince's Gate. Please come and support people's struggle in Iran and protest against executions in Iran!

contact
wpiengland (at) googlemail.com
mob 07950924434

Successful protest opposite IRI embassy

Today's protest in front of the Islamic regime's embassy in London was a huge success. About 100 people had gathered shouting slogans in English and Farsi. Some of the slogans were: Down with the Islamic regime of Iran! No to the anti-woman regime! Stop executions and torture now! Shut down the embassy! People had put up pictures of the 5 political activists that were executed last Sunday. Several times protesters threw balloons filled with colour across the street and the wall at the embassy.

Protest in London 12 May

To protest against the executions of Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydarian, Shirin Alam Houli, Farhad Vakili and Mehdi Eslamian and against the Islamic regime of Iran join a protest tomorrow Wednesday 12 May at 6pm in front of the Iranian embassy


Address: 16 Prince's Gate SW7 1PT
Contact: Jalil Jalili 07950924434

Call For General Strike in Kurdistan

The following is a statement released by the Kurdistan Committee of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran, condemning the execution of five Kurdish political prisoners Farzad Kamangar, Shirin Alam Hooli, Mehdi Hosseinian, Farhad Vakili, and Ali Heydarian on May 9, 2010. The letter demands the unconditional release of political prisoners and supports the call for a general strike in the province of Kurdistan, Iran on May 13, 2010.

On Sunday May 9, 2010, the Iranian government committed another heinous crime when they executed five political prisoners Farzad Kamangar, Shirin Alam Hooli, Mehdi Hosseinian, Farhad Vakili, and Ali Heydarian.

Thousands of our dear ones have been put to death for demanding their rights so the sinister and backwards regime and its system of exploitation, stealing, and suppression, can be saved. We must resist these crimes and stop this killing machine.

To object to this crime, Komeleh (The Kurdistan Organization of The Communist Party of Iran) has issued a call to the people of Kurdistan for a general strike on Thursday May 13, 2010.

The Worker-Communist Party of Iran supports this call. We call upon all of the people of Kurdistan, the workers and university students, teachers and school students, shopkeepers, and civil servants to object to the regime’s savage crime and to honour the memory of our loved ones by uniting.

A wide and successful general strike will be an important factor in the continuation of our just struggle, in consolidating our empathy and unity, and in organizing and preparing for the conclusion of the battle to overthrow the sinister regime. In recent months, millions of people throughout the country, in many ways, have demonstrated their hatred and opposition to the government and their will to bury it. The success of this strike, while the regime is struggling with a wide array of crises, will be a crushing response to their crimes and an important step toward strengthening the political balance of power in favor of the peoples’ struggle for freedom throughout all parts of Iran.

Freedom-seeking people of Kurdistan:

Unify in support of this call and participate in this general strike to respond forcefully to the ruling criminals. We must not leave our dear ones alone in prisons. In objection to the execution of these dear ones, who lost their lives on charges of opposition to the government and having a difference of opinion, we need to react with utmost force to demonstrate to the regime that they will be confronted decisively. You should demand the unconditional release of political prisoners by this wide and simultaneous strike in protest against execution, torture, and any forms of pressure against prisoners.

Our strike will undoubtedly be greeted with joy by millions of freedom-seeking Iranians throughout the nation and will create a new environment for toppling the Islamic Republic.

Down with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Victory to the revolution of freedom-seeking people of Iran.

Kurdistan Committee of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran
May 10, 2010

translated by persian2english

Farzad Kamangar and 4 other political dissidents executed in Iran - Join the campaign to expel the Islamic regime of Iran from the ILO

In the early hours of Sunday 9 May, the Islamic authorities in Iran executed Farzad Kamangar and four other political prisoners. Farzad Kamangar was a teacher and a human rights activist, whose release had been the object of high profile campaigns in Iran and internationally over the past two years. The other four political activists who were executed on Sunday in Evin Prison were Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakili, Shirin Alam-Houli and Mehdi Eslamian.

All five had been sentenced to death for their political opposition to the regime. The sentences were carried out in secret, without their families or lawyers being informed.

The bereaved families of the five have called for a demonstration outside Tehran University for Monday 10 May. Many are expected to join the protest, despite the brutality of the regime. At the time of writing, hundreds of Iranians in Europe have gathered in protest outside Islamic Republic’s embassies and consulates. In London, Paris and Frankfurt angry demonstrators have pelted the buildings with eggs, red paint and stones.

These latest political killings are part of the Islamic Republic’s brutal last attempts to cling on to power in the face of the anger, hatred and massive protest of the people in the past year and their clear demand for this despotic, medieval regime to go. However, these executions are not expected to dent the resolve of the people and will only deepen the loathing for this regime in Iran and around the world.

We call on all trade unions and human rights organisations and all those outraged at this barbaric act to condemn the Islamic regime of Iran in the strongest possible terms. In particular, we call on all to join the campaign of expulsion of this regime from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This regime should not be allowed to seek legitimacy for itself through its continued membership of the ILO. A regime which jails, flogs, tortures and executes workers and political dissidents; a regime which executes children and stones women to death; a regime which shoots at unarmed demonstrators and rapes detained protesters should not be not allowed to set foot in any international body or forum, and least of all in an organisation bearing the name of worker. This regime belongs not in the ILO, but in an international court to answer for its crimes against humanity.

We call on the governing body of the ILO to annul the membership of the Islamic Republic forthwith on grounds of its flagrant violation of human rights and its denial of a human life to workers and the people in Iran. The expulsion of the Islamic regime of Iran from the ILO has been the demand of the workers in Iran, conveyed to the ILO on numerous occasions. It has been the object of repeated protests at the International Labour Conferences by our party’s International Labour Solidarity Committee. The appalling human rights violation by the regime in Iran have been brought to the attention of the ILO through tonnes of evidence submitted to its governing body and various committees by the world’s trade unions, by our party and by worker campaigns and activists year after year. However, unfortunately, the ILO executive has failed to heed these calls.

With the murder of Farzad Kamangar and four other political dissidents today, any bureaucratic excuse for the continued membership of this regime in the ILO becomes totally unacceptable; any diplomatic justification for continued ties with this regime will be viewed with utter disgust by the workers and people in Iran and by the world labour movement and progressive community. We call on the ILO to immediately withdraw its invitation of the government of Iran to the June 2010 International Labour Conference. We call on trade unions globally to support our call and urge the ILO to annul the Islamic Republic’s membership.

Finally, in the event that, despite worldwide protests, the ILO admits the Islamic Republic to the June conference, we call on the workers’ groups and delegates from all countries represented to walk out of any session at which the delegates of the Islamic regime of Iran may be present. As in previous years, our party, on behalf of the workers and people of Iran, who remain unrepresented in the ILO, will mobilise for powerful protests at the conference.

International Labour Solidarity Committee of the
Worker-communist Party of Iran (ILSC-WPI)

9 May 2010

For further info, contact wpi.workers.iran@gmail.com

www.kargaran.org http://worker-communistpartyofiran.blogspot.com/ http://www.iransolidarity.org.uk

Protests tomorrow

Denmark, Copenhagen

Monday, May 10 from 6pm Rådhusplatsen Square protest


Brussels, Belgium

Monday from 6pm in front of IRI Embassy


Frankfurt, Germany

From 2 pm rally in front of the consulate of the Islamic Republic.



Cologne, Germany:

Monday May 10, 2010 6pm protest in downtown Cologne near Central Train Station, Dom platte



Stockholm, Sweden

Monday, May 10 after 5 pm Zhrmydan Srgl Stockholm



Pakistan, Islamabad

Monday from 10 am gathering at the site of the Press club

Protest in Hamburg tomorrow

In response to the exectuions today, there will be a protest tomorrow Monday 10 May at 6.30pm in front of the Islamic regime's consulate in Hamburg, Bebelallee 18.

Kundgebung vor dem islamischen Konsulat Irans in Hamburg

Montag den 10. Mai 2010 um 18:30 Uhr

Bebelallee 18

Farzad Kamangar: Be strong Comrades!

(At the end of April Farzad Kamangar, the school teacher who was exectued today, had written a letter to other imprisoned teachers)

Once upon a time, there was a mother fish who laid 10,000 eggs. Only one little black fish survived. He lives in a stream with his mother.

One day the little fish said to his mother, “I want to go away from here.” The mother asked, “Where to?” The little fish replied, “I want to go see where the stream ends.”
[Translator’s note: Little Black Fish is the title of a short story fiction piece for children. The story was written in 1967 by the dissident teacher Samad Behrangi. The book was banned under the Shah’s regime. It tells the story and adventures of a little fish who defies the rules of his community to embark on a journey to discover the sea. On the way, he courageously fights enemies. The tale is considered to be a classic in Iranian resistance literature]

Hello cell mates. Hello fellow mates of pain!

I know you well: you are the teacher, the neighbour to the stars of *Khavaran, the classmates of dozens whose essays were attached to their legal cases [as evidence], the teacher of students whose [only] crime was their humane thoughts. I know you well: you are colleagues of Samad and Ali Khan. You remember me too, right?
[Translator's note: Khavaran is the cemetery in eastern Tehran where many political dissidents were executed during the 1980's and buried in mass unmarked graves]

It is me, the one chained in Evin prison.

It is me, the quiet student who sits behind the broken school benches and longs to see the sea while in a remote village in Kurdistan. It is me, who like you, told the tales of Samad to his students; but in the heart of the Shahoo Mountains [located in Kurdistan].

It is me who loves to take on the role of the little black fish.

It is me, your comrade on death row.

Now, the valleys and mountains are behind him and the river passes though a plain field. From the left and the right side, other rivers have joined in and the river now is filled with more water. The little fish enjoyed the abundance of water…the little fish wanted to go to the bottom of the river. He was able to swim as much as he wanted and not bump into anything.

Suddenly, he spotted a large group of fish. There were 10,000 of them, one of whom told the little black fish, “Welcome to the sea, comrade!”

My jailed colleagues! Is it possible to sit behind the same desk as Samad, look into the eyes of the children of this land, and still remain silent?

Is it possible to be a teacher and not show the path to the sea to the little fish of the country? What difference does it make if they come from Aras[a river in northwestern Iran, Azerbaijan], Karoon [a river in southwestern Iran, Khuzestan], Sirvan [a river in Kurdistan] or Sarbaz Rood [a river in the Sistan and Baluchestan region]? What difference does it make when the sea is a mutual destiny, to be united as one? The sun is our guide. Let our reward be prison, that is fine!

Is it possible to carry the heavy burden of being a teacher and be responsible for spreading the seeds of knowledge and still be silent? Is it possible to see the lumps in the throats of the students and witness their thin and malnourished faces and keep quiet?

Is it possible to be in the year of no justice and fairness and fail to teach the H for Hope and E for Equality, even if such teachings land you in Evin prison or result in your death?

I cannot imagine being a teacher in the land of Samad, Khan Ali, and Ezzati and not join the eternity of

*Aras. I cannot imagine witnessing the pain and poverty of the people of this land and fail to give our hearts to the river and the sea, to roar and to inundate.
[*Translator note: Aras is a river in northwest Iran, bordering Iran and Azerbaijan. Samad drowned in the river in the summer of 1968. Some have considered the circumstance of his death suspicious and blamed agents of the Shah’s regime for his death]

I know that one day, this harsh and uneven road will be paved for teachers and the suffering you endured will be a badge of honour so everyone can see that a teacher is a teacher, even if his or her path is blocked by the *selection process, prison, and execution. The little black fish and not the heron bestows honour on the teacher.
[Translator's note: Selection process or Gozinesh is a process through which teachers and other government-paid employees are vetted based on their ideological, political, and religious views]

The Little Fish calmly swam in the sea and thought: Facing death is not hard for me, nor is it regrettable.
Suddenly the heron swooped down and grabbed the little fish.

Grandma Fish finished her story and told her 12,000 children and grandchildren that it was time for bed. 11,999 little fish said good night and went to bed. The grandmother went to sleep as well. One little red fish was not able to sleep. That fish was deep in thought.

A teacher on death row, Evin prison

Farzad Kamangar

April 2010

Farzad Kamangar’s explanation on the title of his letter:

Eight years ago, the grandmother of one of my students, Yassin, in the village of Marab, played the tape of the story of the teacher Mamoosta Ghootabkhaneh. She told me then, “I know that your fate, like the teacher who is the writer and recorder of this poem, is execution; but be strong comrade. The grandmother said those words as she puffed on her cigarette and stared at the mountains.

Letter of Shirin Alam Hooli

I am entering into my third year of imprisonment, three years under the worst conditions behind the bars of the Evin prison. I spent the first two years of my imprisonment without a lawyer, and in pre-trial custody. All my inquiries about my case went unanswered until I was unjustly sentenced to death. Why have I been imprisoned and why am I going to be executed? For what crime? Is it because I am Kurdish? If that’s the case then I must say I was born a Kurd. My language is Kurdish, the language that I use to communicate with my family, friends and community, and the language that I grew up with. But I am not allowed to speak my language or read it, I am not allowed to go to school in my own language and I am not allowed to write it. They are telling me to deny my Kurdish identity, but if I do, that means I have to deny who I am. Mr. Judge and Interrogator: When you were interrogating me, I couldn’t speak your language and couldn’t understand you. I learned Farsi in the past two years in the Women’s section of the prison from my friends. But you interrogated me, tried me and sentenced me in your own language even though I couldn’t understand it and couldn’t defend myself. The torture that you subjected me to has become my nightmare.

I am in constant pain because of the torture I was subjected to. The blows to my head during interrogation has caused major problems to my head, and sometimes I suffer from severe headaches, where I lose all sense of myself, my nose starts bleeding from the pain and this lasts for several hours until I start to feel normal again. Another “gift” your torture has left me is the damage to my eyes which get worse by the day. My request for glasses has gone unanswered. When I entered this prison my hair was black, now after three (3) years of imprisonment, my hair has started to turn white. I know you have done this not only to me but to all Kurds including Zeynab Jalaliyan and Ronak Safarzadeh… The eyes of Kurdish mothers are full of tears, waiting to see their children. They are in a state of constant worry, in fear that each phone call may bring the news of the execution of their children.

Today is May 2, 2010 and once again they took me to Section 209 of the Evin prison for interrogation. They asked me to cooperate with them in order for me to be pardoned and not executed. I don’t understand what they mean by cooperation, when I don’t have anything more to say than what I have already said. They want me to repeat whatever they say, but I refuse to do it. The interrogators told me “we wanted to release you last year, but your family wouldn’t cooperate with us so things had to come to this.” He admitted to me that I was a hostage and until they reach their goal they will keep me a prisoner or execute me, but they will never release me.
Shirin Alam Hooli May 3rd 2010-05 Serkeftin
(It must be noted that at the end of her letter after her name and the date she has written “Serkefitn” in Kurdish which means Victory.)

(Translation by Persian2English.com)

Protests In London, Paris, Frankfurt, Cologne today

People gathered today in various cities to commemorate the five executed polititcal activists and to protest against the Islamic regime of Iran. Paris around 1000 people, London around 200 in front of the embassy, dozens in Frankfurt in front of the consulate and in Cologne centre to protest against the exexutions of five political activists. Relatives of Farzad Kamangar took part in the protest in Frankfurt. The windows of the Islamic regime's consulate in London were reportedly smashed earlier today.

Frankfurt consulate of IRI


(banner reads: Down with Islamic regime)


Cologne

Paris

Here is a short video from the Frankfurt protest:

Protest in Tehran tomorrow by families of executed activists

Tomorrow Monday 10 May the families of political prisoners who were executed along with some Civil Rights activists will be protesting in Tehran. The protests are to start from 11am in front of the entrance of Tehran University. The grieving families invite the public to attend this gathering.

5 political activists executed in Iran today

Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakili, Shirin Alam-Huee and

Mehdi Eslamian were executed today in Evin prison by the Islamic regime of Iran.

Neither their lawyers nor their families were aware of the executions.

Farzad Kamangar's mother holding a picture of Farzad


Farzad Kamangar with a class he was teaching

Shirin Alam-Huee

Farhad Vakili

Ali Heydarian

May Day 2010 London