Having looked at the birth and early years of the guerrillaist left in her first article Yassamine Mather turns to the internal struggles within the Fedai Splits in the Fadai started in 1979, following the Islamist revolution, and are still going on. It is impossible to cover every one of them, but the main ones… Continue reading Principle, confusion and hope
From symbol to failure
On February 8 1971, 50 years ago, the geurrillaist left began its armed struggle by attacking a gendamerie post at Siahkal. Three police were killed and two comrades rescued. Yassamine Mather spoke to Ardeshir Mehrdad. He was a member of the Organisation of Iranian People’s Fadai until 1980 and later became editor of Iran Bulletin… Continue reading From symbol to failure
Video from meeting on the anniversary of the Siakhal uprising
Held online due to the coronavirus pandemic, HOPI chair Yassamine Mather speaks about the incident in 1971 which marked the beginning of guerrilla struggles against the Shah’s regime.
Preparing for revolution
Yassamine Mather says that the Siahkal incident 50 years ago marked a break with the passivity of ‘official communism’, but the guerrillaist left was hopelessly outmanoeuvred when it came to the reality of revolution in Iran Fifty years ago this week, the town of Siahkal in northern Iran was the scene of an armed uprising… Continue reading Preparing for revolution
Limits of guerrillaism
Mohamad Reza Shalgouni was a founder-member of the Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar). He spoke to Yassamine Mather about his strategic reassessment as a prisoner of the shah and experience of the revolutionary years of 1978-79 How long were you a prisoner during the shah’s reign? I was in prison from January… Continue reading Limits of guerrillaism
Three waves of protest
Feelings of injustice, a lack of rights and a sense of betrayal have become universal and act as psychological and subjective drivers of protest, writes Ardeshir Mehrdad. But how can protest be forged into a movement than can topple the regime? Since the beginning of the 1990s, Iranian society has witnessed successive waves of protest.… Continue reading Three waves of protest
HOPI Statement
Assassinations should be condemned. The assassination of Iran’s ‘nuclear mastermind’ during an attack in Absard, near Tehran, is no doubt part of what the Israeli paper Ha’aretz called Trump’s “scorched earth” policy, aided by Netanyahu.If an Arab country or Iran had assassinated an Israeli, European or North American nuclear scientist in broad daylight, there would have… Continue reading HOPI Statement
Israel’s nuclear war
Yassamine Mather As Binyamin Netanyahu’s government tacitly admits its role, so why the Iranian regime is in denial There are strong indications that Israel was responsible for a number of incidents in Iran’s military and nuclear sites. On June 20 Tehran’s inhabitants reported a major explosion that lit up the skies east of the capital… Continue reading Israel’s nuclear war
Corruption in Iran’s Islamic Republic
Yassamine Mather Why attempts to ‘root out corruption’ are not taken seriously This week, as the world awaited Israel’s possible annexation of Palestinian territories, Iran’s Islamic Republic remained relatively quiet about the subject. In fact in recent weeks even ‘moderate’ Arab states, such as Kuwait and Jordan, have been vocal in expressing strong opposition to… Continue reading Corruption in Iran’s Islamic Republic
Double standards, misinformation and stupidity of the ‘regime change from above’ advocates
A week before Donald Trump made his infamous comments about drinking disinfectant as a cure for coronavirus, a self-appointed ‘Islamic medical expert’ in Iran had filmed himself on Instagram drinking camel urine. He claims it should be used to treat anyone suffering from the current pandemic. Exiled Iranian broadcasters – especially Saudi- and US-financed TV… Continue reading Double standards, misinformation and stupidity of the ‘regime change from above’ advocates