Iran

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

I don't know if the figure here is correct but today does look like a step up in the numbers involved in protests.

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

A New Iran Has Been Born — A Global Iran

An interview with the scholar Asef Bayat widely shared by Iranians — and now banned by the Tehran authorities — is published by New Lines in English translation for the first time

newlinesmag.com

The following interview with Asef Bayat was published in Persian on Oct. 10 by the Tehran daily Etemaad. Shortly after its publication, the Iranian authorities ordered the newspaper to take the interview down from its website. The interview had already gone viral in Iran and abroad, and several other outlets that had reposted it were likewise forced to unpublish it. We do not know what reasons, if any, the authorities gave for the ban; perhaps it was due to the analysis provided by Bayat, a well-respected scholar of social movements and revolutions influential within Iran’s intellectual and political circles. Multiple websites inside Iran currently continue to carry the interview. The ban was first reported by the online Radio Farda. Over the following days, the interview was shared in tens of thousands of social media posts among Iranians worldwide. It is published here in English translation for the first time.

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

Thread:

This is unfortunately emblematic for much of commentary on #IranProtests2022 One can take sides (of the protests obviously!) and provide a realistic and informed assessment of what is happening. That assessment can differ, but when based on facts, it allows a fruitful discussion to arrive at a better assessment. Take the example of 'general strike'. The interviewers rightly question why they haven't emerged yet, as many are pretending there is already a general strike, or is just around the corner, or will emerge if they just call for it often enough.

So why not? The answer is not merely repression. During 1978, SAVAK was present in large workplaces and Shah sent troops to the oil fields to force workers back to work at the point of the bayonet and arrested many. The strikes took off, nevertheless. Repression is important, but more complicated factors are involved, e.g. the re-composition of the working-class in Iran, the neoliberal precarization of labor force, and the socio-political complexities of organizing a general strike, and its relationship with a mass movement, including latter's program

Understanding these issues require knowledge of workplace and the labor movement, rather than reporting on events and repeating 'general strike', which can lead to disappointment when it doesn't materialize, preventing a serious understanding of required steps to get there.

There used to be a joke among labor activists about ultra-left organizations that demanded a general strike everyday, which can now be extended to those on the right. They approach workers as an instrument for their own political goals, and strikes as a button to be pushed (on), and off, of course, when they are not useful to them anymore. So for one thing, one should read about labor strikes, listen to labor activists who organized strikes during both the Shah dictatorship and more recently

Sidenote: one positive aspect of growing interest in 1978 strikes is at least that those who present the 1979 revolution as a 'fetne' (sedition) by a small group, are now implicitly acknowledging its mass popular participation.

Second, workers need a perspective: what is the socio-economic alternative for which they are supposed to put their lives on the line? In 1978 many workers went on strike thinking political change would bring radical social change. Ayatollah Khomeini made sure that social change was limited, despite making radical pro-worker demands to outmaneuver the left. But what is the socio-economic program for change today? Will those calling for general strike support radical redistribution of wealth, fight inequality by for instance through limiting CEO salaries to 3x average workers' wage, prioritize planet and people instead of corporate profits, support democratization of the workplace and the economy etc.

If so, have they communicated this, let alone demonstrated credibility by standing for these values in the countries where they live in Europe and N America, instead of siding with political parties that have pushed neoliberal attacks on workers in these countries?

To conclude: general strikes in Iran are a possibility and will be a game changer, but they can't be wished into existence by those who just want to instrumentalize them. Workers' own agency is crucial, and one has to think from their demands and the obstacles they face.

 

[zahir]

‘This is a revolution’: 40 days after Mahsa Amini’s death, protests erupt across Iran

Security forces open fire as Iranians protest in huge numbers on symbolic 40th day since death of 22-year-old

www.independent.co.uk

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

eta: It seems this was in Arak, not Tehran.

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

Face-Off in Iran: State Security Forces Attack Protesters on Day of Mourning for Mahsa Amini

UN Special Rapporteurs Echo Calls by Rights Groups for Action by Human Rights Council Tehran Medical Council President, Deputy Resign One Day After Doctors Release Statement Condemning State Repression Peaceful protesters faced off with heavily armed state security forces in dozens of cities...

iranhumanrights.org

Following is CHRI’s translation of a Persian-language statement by members of the Tehran Medical Council, which was published on October 25, 2022.

In the past month, we Iranians have witnessed unbelievable incidents that make every freedom-seeking person’s heartache.

As members of the Tehran Medical Council, we…

1- Condemn all forms of violence at every level of society and demand they be stopped,

2- Demand a stop to physical and psychological harming of society, especially children and teenagers,

3- Condemn the use of ambulances and other medical symbols for anything other than their intended purpose and call for an end to such practices for the restoration of public trust,

4- Demand a proper platform to provide medical services to all those injured in recent events without interference from the security forces in the treatment process,

5- Demand the protection of the secrecy of medical information belonging to injured individuals who come to medical centers – in accordance with domestic and international laws, as well as the Hippocratic Oath,

6- Demand a proper environment to listen to the people’s protests, without fear, in a safe environment,

7- Demand the independence of the Medical Council to prevent the erosion of public confidence,

8- Condemn the military, police, security, and unidentified forces for entering medical universities and hospitals and demand that they stop, and

9- Call for the protection of the detainees’ and their families’ physical, mental and spiritual health.

The vigilant but distraught medical community, while committed to the Hippocratic Oath, feels it has a duty not to rest until all demands are achieved.

A large gathering by members of the Tehran Medical Council will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at the council’s building in Tehran.

 

[zahir]

 

[Rimbaud]

Looks like the revolution is underway?

 

[Rimbaud]

Edit: dp

 

[zahir]

Looks like the revolution is underway?

It's looking that way although the protests in the Kurdish areas have been on a different scale from the rest of the country from the start.

eta:

 

[zahir]

Mahabad incidentally was the capital of a short lived independent Kurdish state:

Republic of Mahabad - Wikipedia

 

[zahir]

The BBC are doing live updates again:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-63411451

People are currently gathering and protesting in front of government buildings in the city of Mahabad, a Kurdish city in the north-west. One person was killed today and another was shot dead last night, according to the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights. Images of protesters gathering in front of government buildings, including the municipality and the governor's office, have appeared on social media. In some videos shared online, protesters are chanting "Kurdistan, Kurdistan, the graveyard of fascists" and "Death to the dictator". There have also been reports of a police station being besieged.

 

[zahir]

This is in Saqqez:

 

[Rimbaud]

This is in Saqqez:

How reliable is that Twitter account? That seems like a very big deal if true, but I'm wary about believing Twitter hearsay.

 

[zahir]

How reliable is that Twitter account? That seems like a very big deal if true, but I'm wary about believing Twitter hearsay.

I'm not sure. The reference is to one Kurdish town (where Mahsa Amini was from) so it may be plausible without implying that the army is taking a position elsewhere.

eta:
Just to add to this - I'm seeing generally reliable Iranian exile journalists making mistakes on Twitter (see this for example). There aren't really any journalists operating on the ground in Iran and everyone is relying on what comes out on social media along with their occasional contacts within the country. It should all be treated with caution.

 

[zahir]

"This Time Change Will Come!" Days Of Hope And Fear In Tehran Streets

“I am nervous and loath to do anything.” You hear this from many Iranians these days. It seems people’s minds are lost somewhere between ...

iranwire.com

 

[zahir]

Iran: A revolution in the making

What's happening in Iran is a revolution in the making. It might not happen suddenly, write Behrouz Boochani and Amir Ahmadi Arian, but the fires of uprising have been lit

www.newsroom.co.nz

This round of protests in Iran should be called what it is: a revolutionary movement. Its intensity, its universality, its longevity, all point to the precipitation of a revolution, comparable in scale and scope only to 1979. It doesn’t mean that swift, radical change is around the corner, or even that this revolution will succeed, but all the characteristics are undeniably there.

 

[zahir]

Iran protests reignite at commemorations and funerals for those killed

Protesters turn out in dozens of towns and appear to take control of largely Kurdish city of Mahabad

www.theguardian.com

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

How dramatic protests became a watershed moment for the Iranian regime

On Tehran’s Shariati Street, both sides geared up for battle in a confrontation that stretched into the night, as Borzou Daragahi reports

www.independent.co.uk

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

 

[zahir]

Thread:

Every time the Iranian government kills a protester, a 40-day timer is started. And if attendees of the 40th day anniversary are killed, the timer starts again. By killing dozens of protesters, the Iranian government has entrapped itself in a vicious cycle. The demonstrators have become energized by their unprecedented show of strength on Wed as they marked 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini. Now they are back on the streets to mark Nika Shakarami’s 40th day ... Next will be the 40th day of Sarina Esmailizadeh, and so on. With every protest comes another brutal crackdown and with it, more deaths. Unless the government changes its tactics - and it is showing no signs that it will - the protests will likely spiral and continue to grow. It’s difficult to know where this movement is headed but one thing is certain. The relationship between Iranian society and the ruling establishment is broken, and few see any resolution in sight.