Fighting repression

LOUISE NOUSRATPOUR reports on ongoing internal resistance to Iran's repressive regime against an increasingly heated international backdrop.

Monday October 1, 2007
The Morning Star

I FIRST got in touch with Aram Nikbakht on July 9. She was just leaving a protest outside Tehran's Amir Kabir University commemorating the eighth anniversary of the pro-democracy student uprising known as the 18 Tir movement.

She had travelled from the ancient city of Esfahan, where she studies computer science, to take part in the demo.

"We were violently dispersed by police and militiamen in plain clothes almost as soon as we had gathered," she reports. "Some 19 of us were arrested, but this intimidation will not deter us from voicing our discontent."

This simple statement captures the defiant mood of the rising generation of Iranian youth, who make up two-thirds of the country's 70-million-strong population.

"We are under immense pressure from the government, which is watching our every move," says Nikbakht, who is a founding member of student group Pejvak Daneshjoo - Student Tribune.

"We are constantly harassed about the way we dress and what we say. University publications are frequently shut down and students arrested on trumped-up charges.

"In short, we are being deprived of freedom of movement, freedom of speech and political freedom. All this has contributed to a new wave of political activity on university campuses across the country," she explains.

The student movement did enjoy a short honeymoon period soon after reformist Mohammad Reza Khatami took power in 1997.

Khatami won the presidential election largely on the strength of the female and youth vote, having promised them more rights and a greater input in the decision-making process.
But it all turned sour in July 1999 when Khatami back-stabbed the very people who had helped him to power.

He denounced a student uprising in Tehran against the closure of reformist newspaper Salam and stood aside as militiamen attacked the crowd, killing at least one person and inuring many more.

The so-called 18 Tir movement spelt the end of the short-lived reformist movement of the late 1990s, which, in hindsight, was stillborn.

"Khatami sought to save the Islamic republic through half-baked reforms," Nikbakht says wryly. "But his efforts backfired as people realised that nothing short of a complete overhaul of Iran's political system will give us what we want."

Nikbakht lists the more aware student movement's revised demands, which she describes as "simple - we want a secular democratic government, which respects freedom of speech and human rights."

But, despite the grievances and the daunting task that lies ahead, she is quick to affirm the movement's fierce opposition to any military intervention by US neoconservatives and their allies in Whitehall to bring them Iraq-style "freedom and democracy."

Indeed, she blames US aggression and its "psychological war" against Iran for the renewed wave of government repression and crackdown on free press.

"We have discussed this issue at length and we don't believe that the US wants or can attack Iran, because Iran is not like Iraq," she insists, pointing to Iran's strong economic and military structure in comparison to Iraq's crumbling society under pressure of 12-year-long sanction sprior to the 2003 invasion.

"But the US threats have given the Ahmadinejad administration an excuse to further crush progressive movements in the country and make our struggle for change more difficult."
Nikbakht's concerns are echoed in an open letter to UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon, which coincided with Ahmadinejad's visit to New York for the UN general assembly conference last week.

The letter, which was issued by former Iranian political prisoner Akbar Ganji and endorsed by over 300 eminent intellectuals and writers such as Noam Chomsky, warns: "Even speaking about 'the possibility' of a military attack makes things extremely difficult for human rights and pro-democracy activists in Iran."

Ganji blames US policy of the past 50 years for the "detriment of the proponents of freedom and democracy" in Iran, adding: "No Iranian wants to see what happened to Iraq or Afghanistan repeated in Iran."

There are still serious concerns about the Bush administration's determination to attack Iran before the 2008 US presidential election.

Former CIA counter-terrorism chief Vincent Cannistraro recently said: "The decision to attack (Iran) was made some time ago. Bush has been lining up some Sunni countries for tacit support for his actions."

This is bad news for activists like Nikbakht and an Iranian labour movement that is determined to fight its own battles.

Iran's trade unions have experienced a renaissance in recent years, with widespread strikes and attempts to celebrate May Day and International Women's Day despite aggressive, occasionally deadly, responses from the government.

The country was awash with workplace disputes in 2005 as an estimated 260 strikes took place during October and November alone. The unrest has since escalated further, with over 670 strikes and demonstrations recorded in May, up 10 per cent from May last year. This compares with just 87 strikes between 1998 and 2000.

Workers are up in arms over unpaid wages and job insecurity, as permanent contracts are fast becoming a thing of the past. Iran's official figures for 2005 showed that over 50 per cent of its workforce are on temporary or so-called "blank" contracts, with few or no employment rights.

Their struggle for independent trade union rights has received high-profile international attention.
In August, British trade unions gathered outside the Iranian embassy in London as part of an international day of action to highlight the recent reimprisonment and mistreatment of prominent union leaders Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi.

"We are keen to support workers' demands and we have participated in May Day demonstrations to show solidarity with their struggle for basic labour rights such as forming independent trade unions and a decent living wage," Nikbakht declares.

She emphasises the need to link arms with workers and other progressive social forces, adding: "Pejvak Daneshjoo is a young organisation, which aims to work with more experienced groups and, ultimately, form a united front to push our agenda forward.

"We can only achieve our objectives if we all work together."

Nikbakht is especially enthusiastic about the women's rights movement, which has also flourished in recent years. This year's International Women's Day saw thousands on the streets across Iran, demanding an end to gender apartheid and the compulsory Islamic dress code.

Their peaceful protests were met with police brutality and mass arrests.

"The women's rights movement is very strong and positive at the moment . It is a great source of strength in the struggle and a thorn in the side of the authorities," Nikbakht says proudly.

She insists that, "despite a common perception, Ahmadinejad is not the popular choice. He is incapable of answering popular demands and this is why the country is experiencing such large-scale social and political upheavals.

"However, we are not concerned with Ahmadinejad as an individual, but as the representative of an ideology which the majority in Iran reject."

Nikbakht urges progressive movements in Britain and around the world to "help by raising awareness about our struggles and demands in your locality and through your organisations."

People in Iran are emerging from a long, dark period of silence and mass depression, into a brave new era of pre-revolutionary activity.

The once demoralised working-class movement is waking up to the power of strikes, while women march for equal rights and students no longer settle for feeble promises of government reform.

The one thing that could derail this delicate progress towards change would be a US-led invasion.