To: Detroit/Seattle
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October 25, 2022
by by Pete Brown, Detroit Workers' Voice
Last Saturday, October 22nd, some 80-100,000 people massed together in a huge demonstration in Berlin, Germany in support of the Iranian women’s struggle. Iran has been convulsed for the past month following the death of Mahsa Amini (Jîna), who was murdered by Iran’s “Morality Police.” Ms. Amini, just 22 years old, was abducted by Morality Police for supposedly violating Iran’s ridiculous laws governing what women can and cannot wear. Friends who were with her report that Ms. Amini was dressed normally, including wearing the legally required hijab (head scarf), and they were not given any explanation from police for Ms. Amini’s abduction. Young and in perfect health at the time, Ms. Amini was dumped at a hospital by the police later that day after supposedly “slipping into a coma” for some strange reason. Health professionals at the hospital noticed some possible contributing factors: broken ribs, bruises all over her body, a fractured skull and the side of her face bashed in. Despite their efforts at reviving her, Ms. Amini died two days later. Her family was not allowed to examine her body afterwards.
This has produced outrage among the country’s population. Street demonstrations have broken out all over Iran and have been joined by people of many different social classes and nationalities. Ms. Amini was Kurdish herself, and the demonstrations first broke out in the Kurdish area of Iran, but they were quickly joined by protests in other areas, eventually spreading to cities and towns throughout the country. (1) This shows the pent-up anger and frustration felt by people against the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its ruling ayatollahs, and their military and police enforcers. When attacked by police, demonstrators often fight back, and over 20 policemen have reportedly been killed in street battles. The people are entirely justified in resisting, as the police have murdered hundreds of peaceful demonstrators, including one large massacre in the region of Balochistan.
Last Saturday’s protest in Berlin was the largest one so far, but it’s by no means the only one. Supporters of the struggle in Iran have taken to the streets of cities around the world including in the United States, Japan, and Europe. (2) In the U.S., protesters gathered outside the White House on October 22, and previous demonstrations have occurred in Chicago, Denver, Seattle, and other cities. The largest one so far occurred on October 1st in Los Angeles. Southern California is home to the largest population of Iranians outside of Iran, and protests have also taken place in San Diego and Orange County. The Oct. 1st demonstration drew thousands of people to downtown Los Angeles under the main slogan: “Woman, Life, Freedom”. As people marched, they chanted, “Democracy for Iran, regime change for Iran.” Newspaper reports note that many Iranian demonstrators wear disguises and refuse to give their names because of spies from the Iranian government who will target them and their families for future retribution. This shows the kind of oppression Iranians have to deal with, and it is no wonder many protesters in Iran shout, “Death to the dictator [Ayatollah Khamenei, the country’s despotic ruler]!”
Some people in the American demonstrations sported old Iranian flags from the days of the Shah, before he was overthrown in 1979. So apparently this shows some continued support among expatriate Iranians for a revival of the old monarchy. And this indicates the reason why protesters in Iran are shouting “Down with the Shah!” as well as “Down with Khamenei!” Though some among the Iranian diaspora may hanker for a return to the old days, it’s hard to believe there could be many inside Iran who would favor a return to royalism.
The main slogan of the October 22nd demonstrations was also “Woman, Life, Freedom!” As in Iran, some demonstrators voiced more extreme demands such as the overthrow of the current regime, “death to the dictator”, etc.
It might seem odd, but there are organizations here in the U.S. that call themselves “leftist” but who oppose people voicing any support for the struggle in Iran. Human beings around the world are outraged by the treatment accorded to Mahsa Amini and other women in Iran and feel compelled to speak out against it, but these organizations oppose that on the basis of some weird allegedly “anti-imperialist” principles. Among others, this includes WWP (Workers World Party) and PSL (Party for Socialism and Liberation). (3) These organizations’ leaders are outraged by the hypocrisy of American government leaders and media that denounce the anti-woman policies of Iran while maintaining anti-woman policies in the United States and supporting them in countries like Saudi Arabia. OK, U.S. government leaders are hypocrites; but is that any reason why workers and revolutionary activists in the U.S. cannot denounce the anti-woman policies in Iran? WWP and PSL are themselves practicing hypocrites as they denounce anti-woman policies in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia but refuse to denounce them in Iran.
What prevents them from denouncing the savage oppression of women and others in Iran? Because the U.S. government has contradictions with the Iranian regime, WWP is afraid that any criticism of the Islamic Republic will be taken as “piling on”. They say, “We refuse to march in lockstep with U.S. capital and its machinations. We know that no intervention by U.S. imperialism can liberate women or other oppressed sectors of another nation.” But why not denounce the oppression of women in Iran AND ALSO oppose intervention by U.S. imperialism? No, WWP cannot do this, because they are locked into their brilliant grand strategy of unity with reactionary governments like Iran, thinking that this is the way to overthrow imperialism. The women of Iran and their male supporters are fighting a desperate struggle in the streets and campuses of Iran; they have suffered hundreds of casualties, but they continue to defy the reactionaries. In this struggle they look to people in other countries for support, hoping that others will “pile on” to isolate and defeat the reactionary rulers of Iran. But WWP forbids it; they stand aloof from actual struggle because, they say, they are “independent communists” proudly opposing this progressive struggle.
PSL takes this opposition to imperialist intervention to ridiculous lengths when they oppose the Biden administration’s easing access to the internet in Iran. Previously U.S. administrations had blocked internet access to Iran as part of sanctions against the government there. Now, in order to make it easier for anti-government protests to spread, the Biden administration is lifting the block. And Elon Musk has made access to his Starlink system available for free to people in Iran. PSL seems to oppose these actions as “intervention” by the U.S. But what’s wrong with people in Iran having internet access? Denouncing U.S. sanctions against Iran that harm the people is a good idea, but PSL is so nervous about imperialist intervention that they don’t even support the lifting of some sanctions, afraid that this is more “intervention.”
PSL goes so far in avoiding criticism of the Iranian regime that they even give credit to the Iranian rulers for promising to “steadfastly investigate” the death of Mahsa Amini. They don’t mention that the regime also refused to allow an independent investigation, refused to allow the family access to Amini’s body, and already prejudged any investigation by saying Amini had “prior medical conditions” that contributed to her death. Yeah, “prior medical conditions” like a functioning brain. Any promises of “steadfast investigation” by the regime cannot be taken seriously.
WWP’s and PSL’s opposition to support for the struggle in Iran is a good example of what’s wrong with the American left. It’s hard for people to take leftist organizations seriously when these organizations cannot lend their support to an obviously progressive struggle. Fortunately, organizers of demonstrations in Berlin, Los Angeles and other cities did not pay attention to these organizations’ prohibitions.
(1) Previous Detroit/Seattle Workers’ Voice list articles have reported on the movement in Iran. See “Mahsa Amini has not died in vain: Solidarity with the rising women of Iran!” by Frank Arango (Sept. 21), and “Code Pink blames sanctions while Iranian women fight the Iranian regime” by Eric Gordon (Oct. 20).
(2) See “Protests in Berlin, US cities in solidarity with Iranian women”, Al Jazeera, Oct. 23, . and “’Woman, life, freedom’: L.A. protest over Iran draws thousands”, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 1 .
(3) See the Sept. 26 editorial in Workers World, “Morality, Iran and the U.S.”, and this article in the Sept. 26 issue of PSL’s newspaper, Liberation News, entitled “Hypocrisy of U.S. government, corporate media on display in reaction to Iran protests” <>
Picture: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2022/10/23/protests-in-berlin-us-cities-in-solidarity-with-iranian-women.
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