34 cities in 16 countries there will be various actions in support of Iranian workers. Join them if you can. Here’s more information on the various protests.
The Islamic Republic has recently handed down heavy prison sentences to labour and political activists in Iran. These criminal acts of repression must be met by an international protest.
Calling for the release of imprisoned workers and all political activists in Iran, we, together with a number of labour and human rights organisations, declare Saturday November 5th the International Day of Solidarity with Iranian Workers!
All sentences against jailed workers and political activists must be overturned, and all political prisoners must be released immediately and unconditionally. Such a regime should be thrown out of all international bodies, and from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
We expect the strongest support from labour and human rights organisations across the world. We call on you to join this day of action and support the imprisoned workers in Iran in any way you can.
Free Them Now!
(Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran)
This list is regularly updated. For the latest info, please see, amongst others.
I wish to convey my gratitude for your kindness supporting those people that require help on that area. Your real dedication to passing the message all around had been certainly important and has regularly permitted workers like me to realize their dreams. This interesting facts can mean so much to me and even more to my fellow workers. With thanks; from everyone of us.
Muslim Lipka Tatar women only wore veils at weddings, girls and boys received the same education, in the upper of this image you can see a Tatar woman openly breast feeding. And that was in the early modern era!
http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/ntstar/tokcourt.jpg
We need to keep in mind that like Islamism what is generally referred to as Sharia and attempts to establish an Islamic state are recent phenomena, not something inseparable from Islamic identities; look at Turkic history for example. The Crimean Khanate had more freedom than Muscovy, oligarchical instead of autocratic and no serfdom the Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Qırımoğlu is one of the bravest human rights activists who holds the record for longest hunger strike. The Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth welcomed and tolerated the Lipka Tatars, at a time when there was a genuine threat of an Islamic invasion thus there’s no excuse for crap like the SIOE. The Nogai Muslims lived in a traditional steppe horde, today Tatarstan is a peaceful, secular and prosperous entity of the RF. Iran shares a border with Azerbaijan which has a tradition of democracy and gave women the right to vote before the US.
Sakineh is alive because of international pressure by politicians who wanted to pressure Iran (not a bad thing fyi) that’s power not equivalent to protests. Claims that the regime is ditching stoning strike me more as PR attempts, at most they will have a ceremonial ‘ban’ on stoning that won’t alter things at the local level, kind of like the baseless hype about ‘reformists.’ We need to distinguish between sharia law and sharia the code; sharia law is a brutal system, sharia the code can be secularly observed. Vainakh Muslims followed sharia the code and for centuries lived under an unwritten customary law called Adat, Bosniak Muslims observe sharia while living in a secular state, Lipka Tatars observed sharia when they fought against the Ottomans at vienna. Attempting to dismiss communist atrocities as ‘state capitalism’ is just absurd denial, if communism and socialism is about freedom name one communist state you admire. Communism and Islamism both spring from the same problem; faith based thinking and the desire for utopia, the apologetics for both faiths are roughly identical.
Protests are a bunch of people stamping and holding their breath, it can be effective if the protests about a problem in the country that the protests are occuring, but protesting about a tyranny is just as silly as writing them an angry letter warning them to change. I didn’t say I didn’t care, certainly I have compassion for the IRI’s victim but I recognize that my feelings mean jack sh** unlike armchair warriors who think that compassion is some sort of superpower. Your attempt to dismiss the history of communist tyranny as “not real socialism” is absurd, by that logic whats to stop an Islamist from claiming that the taliban wasn’t real Islamism? I didn’t say I don’t care about things outside my country, I stated a fact that it isnt’ my problem and that protesting about it is just silly.
You should tell the people who are still alive as a result of protests that it’s all very silly. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is a recent case in point. She hasn’t been stoned because of the protests. Also the regime is considering changing its laws on stoning, not because it doesn’t like to stone people to death, but because of public opinion and outrage over stoning. So it does have an effect. And it also has an effect on those languising in cells under dictatorships and theocracies. The hope you get from knowing people are remembering you and fighting for you is something you hear over and over again from prisoners and those on death row. It’s not just about compassion; it’s about human will and taking it upon ourselves – not some god or spirit – to change our world for the better and to have some impact. You should try it sometimes. Plus I never dismissed the history of ‘communist’ tyranny; I said I never supported it and opposed it. to me that was state capitalism. The Taliban is Islamism because that is what sharia says – what they do is in the Koran, Hadith, and Islamic jurisprudence. What happened in the Soviet Union or still happens in China and so on were not about social and political equality and freedoms, which is what socialism is.
Sakineh is alive because politicians used her to pressure Iran (not a bad thing). At most Iran will adopt a ceremonial ‘ban’ that won’t eliminate stoning on the ground, just PR.
” You should try it sometimes.”
Now thats just crude, because I don’t share views I have no compassion? I believe in altruism I just recognize that it has limits; for example if I saw a rape in progress I would stop it, however worrying about rapes in China is just silly.
You say you don’t dismiss communist tyranny yet you go on to do just that since you argue that it isn’t ‘real communism’ since it doesn’t fit your fluffy pink version of socialism one of the most anti-freedom ideologies to date. Islamism and communism spring from the same problem; faith base ‘thinking’ and desire for utopia. Equating the taliban to Islam in general is a tad insulting since most of the Taliban’s victims were Muslims, we need to distinguish between sharia the belief system and sharia law. Remember that Islamism is very new, for centuries Muslim societies observed sharia the belief system without resorting to talibanesque levels of barbarism; Azerbaijan gave women the right vote before the US. Equating Islam with recent extremist movements might feel good but it only aids extremists and alienates Muslims.
Anyway your posts are the equivalent of a five year old holding his breath until mommy agrees to free tibet.
First off protesting is not holding your breath and stamping your feet. It’s about taking action, and historically it is social movements and political actions that have changed the world for the better. You may not care, which is fine but there are many who do. And I never supported state capitalist governments that professed to be socialist so I am not sure why I must apologise for them. Anyway I thought you didn’t care about anything that didn’t have to do with your country!?
Not my country, not my problem. Your keyboard warrior antics are amusing in a way but they’re certainly not going to achieve anything which is why you don’t have any practical solutions to deal with the bestial tyranny of the IRI. Besides you’re a communist; which means you support a different form of tyranny which explains why you have not condemned the PRC or DPRK.