Iran

Various communist groups, internationally, with which we have connections, sent messages for us, for our annual conference. We invite them to also send delegations where possible. We include the messages below.

Workers' Liberty in Australia

Your work on climate action and a socialist Green New Deal is particularly vital to us, as all round the world, the link is being made between capitalism and climate change.

The specific measures needed in Australia are different, reliant as we are on coal and other mineral exports, extensive livestock and cropping in arid lands, combustion engines and

On Saturday 11 January 2020 Workers' Liberty hosted a meeting in London on the conflicts in the Middle East following the USA's 3 January assassination of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian state's "Quds Force".

The chair was Maisie Sanders, and the speakers were Morad Shirin (Iranian Revolutionary Marxists' Tendency), Noori Bashir (Worker-communist Party of Kurdistan), Azar Majedi (Worker-communist Party of Iran Hekmatist), and Muayad Ahmed (Organisation of the Communist Alternative in Iraq).

See here for statements from IRMT, WCPIH, and OCAI, and see here for our Solidarity editorial.

The conflict between the USA and Iran in the Middle East which has now flared hot again is a conflict between two imperialisms.

They are two different sorts of imperialism. The USA is a world power, Iran, a regional power.

The sway of the Iranian state over the oppressed nations within its own borders (Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Baluchis, etc.) is directly political and military.

Its less direct sway in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, etc. is also politico-military. Being much less strong economically than US capital, Iranian capital has to rely on such politico-military methods.

The USA, for decades

The drone attack ordered by US President Donald Trump has shaken up the entire Middle East, raising fears of a regional conflict – or worse, a world war.

But it has also shaken up the Democratic primary, sharpening the differences between Senator Bernie Sanders and all the other candidates.

To the extent to which foreign policy has played a role in the Democratic contest so far, it has largely focussed on the past. Sanders is often quick to point out that he opposed the Iraq war, and voted against it, while Biden and other Democrats were cheering George W. Bush on. This echos the 2016 race,

Thanks to the Worker-communist Party of Iran Hekmatist (Official Line), the Worker-communist Party of Iran Hekmatist, and the Organisation of the Communist Alternative in Iraq, and Morad Shirin of the Iranian Revolutionary Marxist Tendency for sending us these statements (below).

"Against the drive to war, against the Islamic Republic!" - meeting hosted by Workers' Liberty with speakers from Iranian and Iraqi left groups - Saturday 11 January 2pm Calthorpe Arms 252 Grays Inn Rd London WC1X 8JR.

On 6 December 2019, Esmail Bakhshi, a leader of the Haft Tappeh sugar cane complex workers, returned to work.

He was released from jail, despite a long sentence after the 2018 Haft Tappeh dispute.

His reinstatement was one of the conditions on which the Haft Tappeh workers agreed to suspend their latest strike on 3 December, after 72 days.

The Haft Tappeh workers also report that Sepideh Gholian (jailed alongside Esmail Bakhshi after the 2018 strike, released, then jailed again) was released from prison again on 3 December, on bail of 200,000 tomans (around £36,000).

The Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane

Esmail Bakhshi, a leader of the Haft Tappeh sugar cane workers in Iran, and Sepideh Gholian, an activist who supported the workers’ dispute, have been released from jail.

They were sentenced in September – to 14 years and 18 years respectively — on all sorts of trumped up charges, including endangering “national security” and “the Islamic system”.

Because they put up resistance while in jail, Sepideh’s brother was arrested in January and Esmail’s mother in February! Then in August Sepideh’s defence lawyer was threatened with arrest.

Now they have temporary releases on the basis of eye-watering

Boris Johnson, on a visit to the USA, has offered to go in with US Donald Trump in a military attack on Iran.

“The Americans are proposing to do more to help to defend Saudi Arabia, and we will be following that closely.

“And clearly, if we are asked, either by the Saudis or by the Americans, to have a role then we will consider what way we could be useful.”

He was asked whether that meant UK military force. “We will consider in what way we can be useful, if asked, depending on what the exact plan is”.

Johnson has also aligned with Trump on the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, saying he wants “a

Seven workers and activists from the Haft Tappeh sugar-cane complex in Iran have been sentenced to a total of 110 years in prison and 74 lashes after the industrial action there last year.

Branch 28 of the regime’s so-called Revolutionary Court has passed the following sentences:

Esmail Bakhshi, Haft Tappeh worker and workers’ rep: 14 years in prison.
Sepideh Gholian, journalist and student: 18 years.
Amir-Hossein Mohammadi-Fard, journalist: 18 years.
Asal Mohammadi, journalist: 18 years.
Sanaz Alahyari, journalist: 18 years.
Amir Amirgholi, journalist: 18 years.
Mohammad Khanifar, Haft Tappeh