{"id":3227,"date":"2018-01-02T19:46:14","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T19:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hopoi.org\/?p=3227"},"modified":"2018-01-02T19:46:14","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T19:46:14","slug":"protests-by-impoverished-hungry-iranians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/?p=3227","title":{"rendered":"Protests by\u00a0impoverished, hungry Iranians"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Protest in Kermanshah, 29 December 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There has been a considerable amount of fake news about the demonstrations that started in Mashad and other towns in Khorassan province on the\u00a028th of December 2017. These demonstrations have continued, five days later in Tehran, as well as in many other towns and cities across the country. The protesters are angry and fearless, and their grievances\u00a0are reasonably\u00a0clear. What began with outrage against rising prices, unemployment and poverty has evolved into more political slogans against corruption and against the dictator, Ayatollah Khameini.
\nBasic food prices have sky-rocketed in the last few weeks, with\u00a0the price of eggs rising by 40% in a matter of days. In some of Iran\u2019s major cities, rents have risen by 83% in the last 3 years alone.\u00a0Mass unemployment is a big issue \u2013 particularly in the provinces where the protests emerged. The rate of inflation may have fallen from 35% under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but it remains at unsustainable levels.<\/p>\n

Despite being controlled by the factions of the Iranian regime, the relative diversity of the media inside Iran has ensured that most Iranians are aware of, and indeed well-informed about, the multi-billion dollar corruption scandals in which all factions of the regime are implicated. Rouhani\u2019s government, senior ayatollahs associated with more conservative factions of the regime and the former populist president Ahmadinejad (who claimed to be the defender of the disinherited) are all embroiled in corruption and embezzlement. Ahmadinejad and his close allies are currently facing criminal charges of serious corruption in Iranian courts. But the upshot of both factions exposing their opponents\u2019 bribery and fraud is that Iranians are increasingly conscious of the venality of the entire Islamic regime.<\/p>\n

Contrary to initial claims by Rouhani\u2019s allies,\u00a0the protests are definitely not part of a plot by \u2018conservative factions\u2019 to discredit his government. In Mashhad and other cities in Khorassan province,\u00a0the slogans were clear that the main target of most demonstrators was Ayatollah Khamenei. In the last few days, the most common political slogans were: \u2018marg bar dictator\u2019 (Death to the Dictator!) , \u2018Khamenei haya kon mamlekato raha kon\u2019 (\u2018Khamenei you should be ashamed \u2013 leave the country alone\u2019) and\u00a0 the more polite slogan, requesting that Khameni stand down: \u2018Seyed Ali (Khamenei), excuse us. Now we have to stand up\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the northern city of Rasht there were initially anti-Rouhani slogans, but they soon became focused on the dictator himself. In Tehran, the student protesters\u2019 chants were far more radical: \u2018na eslahtalab na ossoul gara\u2019 (\u2018No to the Reformists, no to the Conservative Principalists\u2019);\u00a0\u2018Student-Worker Unity\u2019 and \u2018No Longer should there be a Choice between Bad and Worse\u2019.<\/p>\n

For all the claims of exiled groups in the extended publicity they receive from sections of the media, including BBC Persian radio (but, interestingly, not BBC Persian TV),\u00a0 these protests have nothing to do with the Royalists or the Mujahedin. Following the slogans of protesters on\u00a0social media, it is apparent that pro-Shah slogans have only appeared in very isolated cases, such as in the religious city of Ghom. On one occasion, in Rasht, some in the crowd shouted slogans in favour of the Shah, prompting others to respond by calling for an Iranian republic (as opposed to an Islamic Republic). Indeed, protesters are countering possible Royalist influence by shouting \u2018na mir na rahbar ,na shah na rahbar\u2019\u00a0 (\u2018No Kings, No Shahs, No Supreme Leaders\u2019).<\/p>\n

The fact that the protest in Mashad coincided with a call to protest on television made by (one of) the pretender(s) to the throne, Reza Pahlavi, should not be taken seriously. He issues such calls on a daily basis and these are very rarely heeded. No, the catalyst for the demonstrations is the hunger and suffering experienced by Iranians, lead several protesters to claim that dying is better than continuing to live as they are now.<\/p>\n

No future in the past<\/h3>\n

However, for those Iranians who think that there was no poverty or hunger under the Shah, it might be worth reminding them of a quote by Empress Farah Diba. When informed by her advisers that ordinary people\u00a0were complaining that they couldn\u2019t afford to buy meat, she responded in true Marie Antoinette style by telling the nation that it would benefit from vegetarianism.
\nAs for corruption, it is true that the Shah\u2019s mistrust\u00a0of everyone, including former ministers, meant that only a limited circle of individuals close to the Shahs and the court benefited from rampant state fraud. The multiplicity of factions in the\u00a0Islamic regime means that a far larger group of individuals and their families are beneficiaries of global capital\u2019s riches for the wealthy in the third world. Moreover, the so-called \u2018targeted sanctions\u2019 imposed by the West between 2007 and 2015 period allowed sections of the Islamic Republic with access to both\u00a0 foreign currency and internal black markets to amass astronomic fortunes. As such, the Islamic Republic is in many ways even more corrupt than the Shah\u2019s Iran. But we live in different times.<\/p>\n

And corruption is certainly not unique to Iran or even just to developing countries. However, in most other countries, those\u00a0fed up with corrupt leaders have a chance to elect\u00a0political rivals. And although it takes a relatively\u00a0short time\u00a0before the new rulers surpass their predecessors\u2019 corruption , the whole process at least provides the illusion that the population has some control and can again test new leaders. But after 39 years of being in power, all factions of the Islamic Republic are steeped in corruption \u2013 even when they are in opposition.<\/p>\n

As for democracy\u00a0under the Shah, he merged what he called the \u2018Yes\u2019 and the \u2018Of course\u2019 party into one: Hezb Rastakhiz. Iran had only two daily papers, Keyhan and Etelaat. Both were pro-Shah and the lack of oppositional factions within the regime ensured that there were no expos\u00e9s of dodgy dealings by the Shah\u2019s opponents.<\/p>\n

When it comes to repression, let us remember that the shah\u2019s security forces, SAVAK, shot Catherine Adl, the paralyzed daughter of his own physician, while she was sitting in a wheel chair, for opposing inequality and injustice in Iran. You can guess what he did to opponents with whom he wasn\u2019t acquainted.<\/p>\n

Some Iranians, no doubt prompted by constant Saudi, Israeli and Western-sponsored media\u00a0outlets, blame Iran\u2019s interventions in Syria and Yemen for the worsening economic situation. This has led to nationalist slogans such as \u2018No to Gaza, no to Yemen\u2019. The regime is not blameless here either: promoting General Soleimany as an \u2018Iranian\u2019 warrior and\u00a0conqueror certainly has ramifications. However, the students and youth of Tehran responded to these slogans with their own: \u2018ham iran, ham ghazeh\u00a0 zahmtkesh taht setame\u2019 (\u2018The Poor are Oppressed both in Gaza and Iran\u2019).<\/p>\n

Capitalist Mullahs<\/h3>\n

The real reasons behind Iran\u2019s economic situation are more complicated than military expenditure in the Middle East. The promised economic boom\u00a0following the nuclear deal has not materialised and now doubts about the future of the deal \u2013 particularly given Trump\u2019s outspoken opposition \u2013 have created despair, especially amongst young Iranians. In responding to the riots, Rouhani claims that poverty, unemployment and inflation are not unique to Iran. This is certainly true, but what he failed to mention is that, for all its anti-Western rhetoric, the Islamic Republic is an ardent follower of the neo-liberal economic agenda. Rouhani\u2019s government of technocrats is rightly blamed for obeying the restructuring programmes of the IMF and the World Bank, which is one of the reasons behind the growing gap between the rich and the poor. This gap is reflective of a government that\u00a0constantly strives\u00a0to keep up with global capital\u2019s\u00a0demands for\u00a0restructuring, for the abolition of state subsidies and for privatisation. Food subsidies have been slashed. The official rate of unemployment (12%) is a joke \u2013 the real figure is much higher, even if we take into account low-paid, precarious employment. No one has job security, unless, of course, they are associated with a stable faction the regime or the security forces.
\n2017\u00a0might go down as the year when neo-liberalism\u00a0faced serious challenges in advanced capitalist countries. But until the recent protests, in Iran 2017 was a year in which neo-liberalism was going well \u2013 Rouhani\u2019s government was praised for its economic performance by the World Bank and the IMF. There can be no doubt, then, that this wave of opposition took the government completely by surprise. The Ministry of Information\u2019s pathetic calls on the population to request \u2018permits to organise protests\u2019 seems to have been ignored, for nobody believes that the state will allow such protests.<\/p>\n

And it will certainly not allow the working class to begin to assert itself: there are calls for strikes by teachers and steel workers, but the reality is that the \u2018capitalist mullahs\u2019 (as people are calling them in the streets of Tehran) have managed to decimate the organised working class. Steel and oil workers are no longer employed by single state-owned industries. Large industrial complexes are sub-contracting every aspect of work to smaller contractors. As a result, organising industry-wide strikes, let alone nation-wide strike action (a significant factor in the\u00a0overthrow of the Shah\u2019s regime) are no longer possible.
\nAs things stand, therefore, the protesters\u2019 demands are quite diffuse and there is no single organising and coordinating force which can set out an alternative for the struggle. As events unfold, this factor will become all the more necessary.<\/p>\n

Support<\/h3>\n

There are three main things that we can do in order so support the protests in Iran:<\/p>\n

Show solidarity with those arrested, support the relatives of those killed by the security forces and draw attention to the government\u2019s repressive measures.<\/p>\n

Remind anyone with illusions about the previous regime that it was no better than this one\u00a0and provide clear examples rather than just repeating slogans or insulting those who entertain illusions in the past.<\/p>\n

Expose the true nature of the Islamic Republic of Iran, while reminding those hypocrites like Trump that \u201cit is the economy stupid\u201d \u2013 the source of the current rebellion in Iran is precisely the neo-liberal economic model which he and his allies are seeking to enforce across the globe.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been a considerable amount of fake news about the demonstrations that started in Mashad and other towns in Khorassan province on the\u00a028th of December 2017. These demonstrations have continued, five days later in Tehran, as well as in many other towns and cities across the country. The protesters are angry and fearless, and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Protests by\u00a0impoverished, hungry Iranians”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solidarity-hopi-blog","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}