18.02.2010

Debating solidarity

Chris Strafford reports Manchester Hopi action

On Saturday February 13 Hands Off the People of Iran’s week of action was kicked off at Manchester University with a day school, followed by a fundraising event. Around 35 people attended for some or all of the day.

The first session was opened by Steven Monaghan from the Anarchist Federation and Manchester Hopi, who spoke about the current situation in Iran and the necessity to support the radical and democratic opposition. He said that our task in Britain is to organise militant opposition to sanctions and military threats.

David Mather from Glasgow Hopi recounted the imperialist meddling and threats against Iran since the revolution in 1979. He said that the pressure from outside had accelerated the reactionary moves by Khomeini against the left and progressive forces and the attack by Iraq gave the clerics an opportunity to liquidate even the most loyal leftwing cadres.

The discussion afterwards focussed on the role Iran has played in supporting the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, with Hussein Al-Alak pointing out the contradictions in imperialist strategy in the region. The US makes use of Iranian influence to maintain relative peace and stability in Iraq, but this does not stop it threatening military action and further sanctions against Tehran.

The second session of the day was opened by Steve Durrant from the Green Party, speaking at short notice (the speaker from Aslef, the rail union, had to pull out through illness). He spoke about how imperialism had manipulated democratic movements in other countries for their own ends and we should guard against that in Iran.

Yassamine Mather from the Hopi steering committee talked about the mass movement in Iran, its organisational basis and the need for the active involvement of the working class. She stressed that many sections of the opposition movement have or are moving beyond the ‘reformist’ leaders - such as the women’s movement, which has denounced Moussavi’s ‘five-point plan’, as it had nothing to say on women’s rights. This has led many to call for the separation of religion and the state - essentially calling for the end of the Islamic Republic.

In the discussion we exchanged ideas about who is and who is not part of the opposition movement. There were various suggestions about how we could extend our solidarity to comrades in Iran and in the evening this was put into practice when Hopi supporters gathered in the Whitworth Arms to raise money for those in struggle.