20.06.2007

Berlin solidarity

Offene Uni is a political weekend sponsored by various student groups and the trade union Verdi and took place in Berlin over June 16-17.

On the Saturday Ben Lewis,  of Hands Off the People of Iran, was one of the speakers. He described the current situation both in Washington and Tehran, stressing the need for principled solidarity with the political struggles in Iran.

This led to an interesting discussion amongst the 25-30 people that attended, particularly around the possibility of military intervention in Iran and whether the threat of war was to some extent abated as a result of the two powers meeting back in May. Comrade Lewis stressed that the question was still balanced on a knife-edge and that the apparent "breakthrough" in US-Iranian relations actually had more to do with the fact that the USA and Iran have come to a reactionary consensus over the occupation regime in Iraq, which is crucial for both of their strategic interests.

Following the meeting there was a brief get-together - one Iranian and a couple of German student comrades volunteered to coordinate work in Berlin as part of the growing network of Hopi contacts in the rest of Germany.

Josha Kümpel