May Day is the hope of the world!

This year’s international workers’ day is arriving at a time when there are signs of a global financial and economic crisis. The World Bank warns governments about the threat of food riots. And the prospect of crisis and catastrophe makes a bleak world - already reeling from the shock of the New World Order and the global war of terrorists - even bleaker.

The hope of changing these conditions lies in the struggle of a class that makes up the majority of the world’s population. This inverted world has been founded upon the wage slavery of this class, and for the preservation of this slavery. May Day, the day of international solidarity and struggle of the working class, is at the same time the day of unity of repressed humanity to change this inverted world. We call on the people of the world to stand up on May Day to capitalism and the catastrophes it causes, to starvation and war, terrorism, ignorance and domination of religion, to deprivation and inequality and in support of freedom, equality and human identity.

In Iran the working class faces the same conditions as May Day approaches. The difference is that in Iran the Islamic regime of the bourgeoisie is facing a deep economic, political and cultural crisis and there is an ongoing powerful anti-regime and revolutionary movement. The slogans “We Don’t Want Islamic Regime” and “You’ve Been Wasting our Time since 1979” which the youths in Tehran chanted recently, clearly depict the essence of the political situation in Iran. The working class is the backbone of this revolutionary movement. This is not only because of the numerous strikes and protests by workers, which are getting even more radical each day, as in the case of Kian Tyre workers, which ended up in barricades and direct clashes with the security forces, but also because the slogans and demands of the working class such as “Freedom, Equality, Human Identity,” “Socialism or Barbarism,” “End Sexual Apartheid,” “Abolish the Death Penalty,” “Woman’s Liberation is Society’s Liberation,” and “Human Life is Our Certain Right”, are echoed in mass demonstrations of teachers, women and youths on different occasions. Public executions, the attacks on millions of women for not observing Islamic veiling, punishing gays by throwing them down from heights, stoning to death, amputating hands and feet as a form of punishment, brutal attacks on leftist student activists, jailing workers’, teachers’ and women’s rights activists, flogging worker leaders for celebrating May Day - these are all a reflection of the Islamic Republic’s efforts to stop this unstoppable movement. May Day in Iran is in the frontline of this massive social confrontation, and it terrifies the Islamic regime more than anything else. The government’s “Workers’ House” has not even dared to organise the state-sponsored rally for this May Day in Tehran because in the past years they lost control of these masquerades, and the puppetry turned into workers’ march chanting socialist slogans.

This year’s May Day should be celebrated stronger and in greater numbers than ever before. Great masses of workers and all those yearning for freedom should be mobilised for May Day. In recent years, the workers’ movement in Iran has been supported internationally more then ever before, acknowledged as a political force that can change society. These are strong foundations upon which to build a powerful May Day. This May Day in Iran should attract massive sections with the call for “Freedom, Equality, Human Identity” and should be made the hope of the working people of the world.

WPI calls upon all workers, students, women and youths to mobilise for a magnificent and powerful May Day.

Long Live May Day!
Long Live Socialism!

Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI)
April 17, 2008

Secularism, Sharia law and the future of civil society

Maryam Namazie will talk about Rowan Williams' recent comments on Sharia law's inevitability for Britain and the future of secularism and civil society tomorrow, April 29 at 8pm at St John's College, St Giles Street, Oxford, OX1 3JP. She will explain why political Islam needs to be challenged, and how her organisation is helping.

The talk is sponsored by Oxford Secular Society.

Interview with Radio P4 Boras on Islam and political Islam

To hear a part English, part Swedish 25 minute interview on Radio P4 Boras with Maryam Namazie, Click here.

For Du'a Khalil: on the anniversary of her stoning to death

To see my speech commemorating Du'a Khalil, stoned to death last year in Iraqi Kurdistan for falling in love with the wrong boy at an international conference organised by the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq, click here.

Top hundred hottest atheist blogs

For your information, my blog has been rated one of the top hundred hottest atheist blogs here.

Behrouz Karimizadeh and Majid Pormajed have been released

Student activists Behrouz Karimizadeh (pictured left) and Majid Pormajed have been released! Congratulations to all who campaigned on their behalf.

We need to keep the pressure on though as Qasaban, Tavakoli, Mansori and Tavanche remain in prison.

Report on Boras speech on medieval executions

120 people came to see Maryam Namazie speak about medieval executions, Islam and women's rights in Boras, Sweden on April 15.

Maryam was interviewed by a number of radio stations and news of her talk was covered in the local press.

Here are a few pictures of the event.

Medieval Executions in 2008

Maryam Namazie will be speaking on Islam, stonings, honour killings and women's rights on April 15 from 19:00-21:00 at Kulturhuset i Borås Lilla scenenArr: Globala föreningen i Borås i samarbete med Mångkulturkonsulenten VästraGötalandsregionen och Kulturkontoret.

Here is the PR:

KVINNOR STENAS TILL DÖDS I LAGENS NAMN.

Två systrar i Iran är dömda till stening för otrohetsbrott eftersom de setts i sällskap av
två män. Mannen till en av systrarna hade lyckats få videobevis på detta. Högsta domstolen
i Iran har nu bekräftat dödsdomen och nu väntar stening. Systrarna blev till en
början dömda för olagligt umgänge vilket ska ha resulterat i 99 piskrapp var, men i
följande rättgång dömdes de istället för otrohetsbrott, trots att videobevisningen inte
innehöll några sexuella aktiviteter. Detta händer år 2008.

Varför straffas kvinnor på det här stenåldersmässiga sättet?

Under rubriken Stenålderstraff 2008 föreläser Maryam Namazie, om just dessa frågor.
Hon är en mycket välkänd rättsaktivist, programledare och kommentator i tv-program
om Iran, Mellersta östern, kvinnors rättigheter, kulturell relativism, sekularism,
humanism, religion, islam och politiska islam. Hon är också taleskvinna för
Ex-muslimska rådet i Storbritannien m.m.

Tisdag 15 april kl 19:00 Kulturhuset i Borås Lilla scenen
Arr: Globala föreningen i Borås i samarbete med Mångkulturkonsulenten Västra
Götalandsregionen och Kulturkontoret
Frågor kontakta

Marie-Louise Weise, 033-35 71 79
eller Omid Salehi 0706-339153

A state that arrests, detains and flogs workers should not be in the ILO!

To all labour organisations around the world

The ninety-seventh annual conference of the ILO will be held between May 28 and June 13, 2008. Every year this conference hosts a delegation from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Beside the Islamic Republic, the ILO also recognises Workers’ House and Islamic Workers’ Councils – i.e. organisations made by the regime against workers - as “workers’ organisations from Iran”.

The International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran strongly protests against the participation of the Islamic Republic in the annual conference of the ILO and calls for the expulsion of this regime from the ILO.

Unfortunately, it has been argued that the attendance of the Islamic Republic and its Workers’ House at the annual conferences of the ILO is conducive to dialogue and to pressuring the Islamic Republic to recognise and respect the minimum rights of workers. However, this approach has plainly proved itself wrong. The Islamic Republic continues to arrest and imprison worker activists. It has not recognised any of the basic worker rights such as freedom of association, collective bargaining and the right to strike. Moreover, it has shamelessly added flogging to its techniques of repressing workers. Workers in Iran are right in condemning the ILO for its continued recognition of the Islamic Republic and its delegations.

In the past year alone, hundreds of trade unions around the world called for the release of two Iranian labour leaders, Mansoor Ossanlou and Mahmoud Salehi, and for respect for worker rights in Iran. However, the Islamic Republic has simply ignored these calls. Indeed, as documented by numerous human rights organisations, the atrocities of the regime in Iran against workers and all sections of the people have only intensified. The Islamic regime’s continued membership in organisations such as the ILO has thus become totally indefensible.

Our committee values highly the tremendous solidarity shown by labour organisations throughout the world with workers in Iran. We also believe that a decisive step towards supporting the struggle of the workers in Iran is the isolation of the Islamic Republic on an international scale and its expulsion, together with its Workers’ House, from the ILO. A state that arrests, detains and flogs workers should not be in the ILO! We request all labour organisations around the world to exercise their influence to expel the Islamic Republic of Iran from the ILO.

International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran

Shahla Daneshfar, Coordinator
Bahram Soroush, Public Relations

Anti-riot police attack Iran tyre workers

Over 50 arrested, scores injured
Tehran – April 13, 2008

Around 7.30pm last night, anti-riot police smashed the gates and climbed over the walls of Kian Tyre factory, in the outskirts of Tehran, to forcefully evict hundreds of striking workers. Scores were beaten up and arrested, with some needing hospital treatment.

“They used axes and kicked in doors and began brutally attacking the workers with electric batons” - reports Farhad Ghaasemi, WPI reporter in Tehran. “Roaming the site on motorbikes, they battered anyone who happened to be on their way… Scores were arrested and at least two busloads of detained workers were taken out of the factory”.

The workers of Kian Tyre (formerly Alborz Tyre) have been on strike since Tuesday in protest at the non-payment of their wages - overdue since the fall of 2007. With their repeated calls having fallen on deaf ears, the workers yesterday decided that they had had enough and partially blocked the main road outside the factory with burning tyres to draw attention to their plight.

Earlier on the day, Tehran’s governor and deputy governor arrived at the factory to promise that the overdue wages would be paid within 48 hours. In another development, around 6pm, the head of the local security forces issued a warning that if the road was not cleared by 8pm, the police would move in. The workers rejected the promises as empty talk and said they would only end their action if the company’s Director came to talk to them and once the outstanding wages were paid in full; otherwise, they would stay put in the factory overnight.

According to WPI report, prior to the attack, a 5-6km zone around the factory was evacuated, and specialist and managerial staff were secretly led out from the back of the compound. Police and ambulance sirens could be heard throughout the area.

The whereabouts of the 50 or so detained workers remains unknown. However, an Iranian labour news outlet and several workers’ organisations in Iran have named the location of detention as Ahmad Abaad Mostofi police station.

Kian Tyre employs around 2,000 workers, who are owed from five to eight months’ unpaid wages. According to one worker, so far only one month’s pay, from last autumn, and a $120 New Year’s allowance has been paid.

WPI has called on labour and human rights organisations around the world to condemn this vicious attack and to demand the immediate release of all those detained. It reiterated the call for the expulsion of the Islamic Republic from the ILO and all international organisations.

URGENT ACTION REQUESTED:

Please publicise, as widely as possible, the news of this outrageous attack by the Islamic government in Iran, condemning it in the strongest possible terms. Letters of protest may be sent to the following offices of the Islamic Republic government. Please forward a copy to WPI’s International Labour Solidarity Committee for info:

Supreme Leader:
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei
Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street
Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran, Iran
Email

The President:
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Iran
Email

The Head of the Judiciary:
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St.,Vali Asr Ave.,
South of Serah-e Jomhouri,
Tehran, Iran
Email

International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran (ILSC-WPI)

Head office:
Co-ordinator: Shahla Daneshfar
Public Relations: Bahram Soroush