Weekly Worker 678 Thursday June 21 2007 Subscribe to the Weekly Worker

Copenhagen launch

Hands Off the People of Iran’s sister organisation, the Campaign in Defence of the Iranian People (Against Imperialist War, Against the Islamic Regime) held its launch meeting on June 15 in Copenhagen. The meeting had two speakers, David Mather from Hopi, and Irene Clausen from the Danish campaign.

Comrade Mather spoke about the struggle of car workers in the Iran Khodro plant against casualisation and lack of job security brought on by the regime’s neoliberal privatisation policies, and made more acute by the absence of any independent workers’ organisations. He described the actions of the security forces, factory police (herassat) and the islamic shoras in suppressing workers, the breaching of health and safety regulations and the poor pay that forces workers to work three consecutive eight-hour shifts.

Comrade Mather emphasised the opposition of Iranian workers to any military intervention by the US and its allies, as well as their fears about current and future sanctions. Many workers fear that the regime will use the threat of war to increase repression, as it did in the 1980s, during the Iran -Iraq war.

His speech was followed by questions and discussion, during which a number of points were raised, including those relating to the state of the Iranian economy, Iran’s position in the world economic order and the regime’s nuclear policy.

Comrade Mather emphasised Iran’s position in a globalised world and its attempts to become a regional power. These aims are not in the interest of the majority of its citizens. Another Hopi comrade intervened to explain Iran’s nuclear policy: in the hands of a dictatorial regime it was extremely dangerous, not only because the peoples of Iran have no role in decision-making, but also because the state might use such capability against its own population

A number of contributors wanted concrete proposals on how to stop the threat of any attack against Iran and some mentioned the failure of the anti-war movement to halt the war against Iraq. Hopi speakers and a comrade from the Danish International Forum stressed the importance in this of exposing the policies of both the imperialist powers and the islamic regime - apologists for the islamists are party responsible for the falling support for anti-war actions. Which is why organisations like Hopi and the Campaign in Defence of the Iranian People have such a central role to play.

This session was followed by a short speech from Irene Clausen, who introduced the new Danish campaign: “We are not the friends of regimes which suppress the workers, women and students, not even if they are attacked by imperialism,” she said. “On the contrary we support the workers in Iran who are struggling for the right to form independent workers’ unions. We support the women in Iran in revolt against sexual apartheid, and we support the students who are demonstrating for freedom of expression and human rights.”

Comrade Clausen called for international coordination and the exchange of experiences between our different campaigns. The possibility of a joint teach-in in London or Copenhagen was discussed.

Faranak Farzad

Berlin solidarity

Offene Uni is a political weekend sponsored by various student groups and the trade union Verdi and took place in Berlin over June 16-17.

On the Saturday Ben Lewis,  of Hands Off the People of Iran, was one of the speakers. He described the current situation both in Washington and Tehran, stressing the need for principled solidarity with the political struggles in Iran.

This led to an interesting discussion amongst the 25-30 people that attended, particularly around the possibility of military intervention in Iran and whether the threat of war was to some extent abated as a result of the two powers meeting back in May. Comrade Lewis stressed that the question was still balanced on a knife-edge and that the apparent “breakthrough” in US-Iranian relations actually had more to do with the fact that the USA and Iran have come to a reactionary consensus over the occupation regime in Iraq, which is crucial for both of their strategic interests.

Following the meeting there was a brief get-together - one Iranian and a couple of German student comrades volunteered to coordinate work in Berlin as part of the growing network of Hopi contacts in the rest of Germany.

Josha Kümpel

North East to Far East

Stephen Hughes, Labour MEP for North East England, was among the many people who signed up to the Hands Off the People of Iran campaign in the last week.

Hopi continues to attract attention in North America. New signatories from Canada include sociologist professor Chris Doran (University of New Brunswick) and geographer professor Harald Bauder (University of Guelph), and, from the United States, economist professor John Roemer (Yale University), cultural critic professor Steven Shaviro (Wayne State University), historian professor Mike Davis (University of California, Irvine) and Manning Marable, professor of African-American studies at Columbia University.

And in the Far East, Marxist historian/anthropologist professor Arif Dirlik (Chinese University of Hong Kong), defence and strategic studies expert KS Balakrishnan (University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur) and psychologist Leo Marai (University of Papau New Guinea) have declared their support for Hopi.

If you would like to join the list of supporters, you can sign up via Hopi’s website at www.hopoi.org or email your name, position/affiliation and contact details to office@hopoi.info.

If you are interested in organising a local event for Hopi, the campaign team can supply speakers and advise on how best to publicise it. Don’t hesitate to call us on 07738 828540 or email office@hopoi.info.

Steve Cooke

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