21.01.2016

Step up solidarity

The rapprochement between the Tehran regime and the west ushers in a challenging new period, writes Mark Fischer of Hands Off the People of Iran

Iran has complied with the agreement signed in July 2015, and the five nuclear powers + 1 (the United States, United Kingdom, France, China and Russia, plus Germany) have announced themselves satisfied that Iran has dismantled those parts of its nuclear programme that were alleged to be part of a drive to achieve nuclear weapons capability. All nuclear-related sanctions are now in the process of being lifted and, in theory, there will be no barriers to economic deals and investments in the country.

This will mean a huge boost to Iran’s battered economy - which is starting from a very low level, of course. It is in desperate need of additional oil income and will benefit from the re-establishment of a connection to the Swift network (which allows foreign bank transactions), as well as the release of cash from frozen assets.

No doubt the Iranian leaders will attempt to spin these developments to claim vindication for its previous policy of provocation and brinkmanship. This is nonsense. Clearly the west and, in particular, US imperialism have emerged victorious from this confrontation. America’s attempt to bring some sort of order to the chaos that is the Middle East is now supplemented by an ability to have a working relationship with Iran. In stark contrast to the treatment of Tehran, there are no proposals from any section of the American establishment to impose sanctions on ally states in the region - foul regimes that have blatantly promoted and materially aided jihadist groups (not that we are advocating such sanctions, of course).

Meanwhile, the economic siege Iran has faced, especially during the period of US- and UN-imposed sanctions, has cowed the country’s leaders (despite their occasional pugnacious rhetoric) and ensures that there will be no stunts such as the 444 day occupation of America’s Tehran embassy. Iran’s ruling elite has learned its lesson and will now abide by the rules of the ‘international community’.

Inside Iran, there were celebrations following the initial deal in July 2015. Ordinary Iranians hoped the lifting of sanctions would ease the hardships they endured and - there is no doubt - there will now be improvements for the mass of people in the country.

They will have better access to medication and essential supplies. The lifting of banking sanctions means Iranians can enter into personal and commercial transactions. Sanctions created mass unemployment, as strategically important parts of the economy such as car production contracted. But - as is always the case - the imposition of these economic penalties did not impact on every layer of society in the same way. Far from it. While they impoverished the majority, they brought windfalls worth billions of dollars for those close to the regime. These sections benefited from the black market and the sanction-busting racket, all with the semi-official connivance of sections of the government.

Hands Off the People of Iran (Hopi) has implacably opposed all imperialist-imposed sanctions on Iran. We defined them as a tactic of war, not some benign alternative to armed conflict. But we have no illusions that the lifting of sanctions against Iran will in itself result in the ending of oppression within Iran. In fact, the rapprochement with its external enemy will free the Iranian ruling elite to concentrate on its internal enemy: the working class and its allies. The receding of the spectre of conflict with the US could mean that the regime will step up the domestic class war.

Iran’s president, Hassan Rowhani, and his foreign minister, Javad Zarif, have already sent very clear messages to foreign capital. Iran is open for business and its labour force - intimidated by years of recession, mass unemployment and the regime’s brutal repression - will accept low wages, poor conditions and vicious exploitation.

Shahrokh Zamani

In preparation for an expected wave of overseas capital investment, Iran has intensified its crackdown on working class activists and militant leaders. We have seen a new wave of arrests targeting organisations and individuals who have been campaigning on workers’ and civil rights. Most ominously, we have seen the death in prison of labour activist Shahrokh Zamani.

Shahrokh Zamani died in Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) prison in the city of Karaj on September 13 2015. He was a member of the founding committee of the Syndicate of Paint Workers of Tehran and the Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Workers’ Organisations.

News of his death was greeted with widespread shock and disbelief. The comrade ha no prior history of serious illness and his death has been widely attributed to the shocking state of Iranian jails - terrible conditions that are particularly harsh for working class and progressive activists. They suffer physical and mental abuse, amounting to torture.

Shahrokh was arrested on June 8 2011. After what was seen as a show trial, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for ‘crimes’, which included “acting against national security by establishing or membership of groups opposed to the system” and “spreading propaganda against the establishment”. For the past four years he was repeatedly transferred from prison to prison on the direct orders of the security apparatus and was subject to harassment and torture on numerous occasions. He responded by demanding that the Islamic Republic free him and engaged in lengthy hunger strikes (in one instance for 48 days). In letters and audio files he reported that the security apparatus had threatened his life on numerous occasions and that the leaders of the Islamic Republic would be culpable for his death in custody, should it come. The intransigent courage of the comrade was shown by his refusal to stay silent, despite the huge pressures he was subjected to. He repeatedly issued statements, not simply about his own situation, but also in support of other democratic and working class struggles.

As a statement on behalf of a number of workers’ committees in Iran put it,

… for such a brave fighter prison did not mean an end to struggles. In his almost five years of imprisonment, from his two-man cell at Gohardasht prison, he never stopped until his last breath to struggle and fight for just causes. Jails, courts, repression and pressure from the security forces and jailers could not silence Shahrokh.¹

The harassment did not cease with the comrade’s death. His father, son and son-in-law, who had arrived to collect Shahrokh’s body, were held for three and a half hours and forced to sign documents which committed them not to pursue official grievances in connection with the death or to ask for an autopsy.

Hopi

So no-one should expect the nuclear deal to herald a new dawn of democratic rights. However, it is clear that the situation has actually become worse in the last six months. While the regime’s leaders have taken the pragmatic decision to reverse the nuclear programme in order to cling onto power, their intransigent opposition to basic political freedoms remains unchanged. Those fighting for the rights of workers, women, national and religious minorities will face a demanding struggle in the coming period.

Those who - for reasons of naivety or cynicism - accepted funds from international institutions promoting imperialist-sponsored regime change from above will be under particular pressure. The thaw in relations with Iran will see the slush funds of these ‘non-governmental organisations’ dry up.

Now is the time to step up genuinely independent solidarity, of the type organised by Hopi, not the sort that dovetails with the political agenda and initiatives of imperialism - precisely the force that has been such a disaster for the people of the Middle East.

mark.fischer@weeklyworker.co.uk

Notes

1. This statement is signed by the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers Syndicate; the Paint Workers Syndicate of Alborz Province; the Centre for the Defence of Workers’ Rights; the Committee for the Establishment of Independent Trade Unions; the Coordinating Committee for Establishing Independent Workers Organisations; the Coordinating Committee for Restarting Tehran Paint Workers Syndicate; and the Free Trade Union of Workers in Iran.