No to sanctions and war, no to the theocracy! Free the Iranian students! By Benjamin Klein

In early December 2007, dozens of socialist Iranian students were arrested for taking part in the National Student Day demonstration. This demonstration has a long history and can be traced back to the 1950s, when three Iranian students were killed for protesting against the visit of the (then) US vice-president, Richard Nixon. This year students were raising anti-war slogans.

According to even conservative estimates, the courageous demonstrations in Tehran and other cities attracted over 800 activists and there was strong defiance to the threats and intimidations dished out by the regime in the run-up to them. The slogans, some of which were inspired by active solidarity from the Hands Off the People of Iran campaign (Hopi), included: “No to imperialist war, death to the dictator!”, “Hands Off the People of Iran!”, “No to criminal imperialist intervention!”; and “Equality, democracy: boycott the elections!” (reference to the March 14 parliamentary elections).

Although a handful of students have been released, it is estimated that around 81 others are still subject to torture and the horrific conditions of the islamic republic’s prisons. Others have fled or are in hiding. A few weeks ago, one of those arrested, Ebrahim Latif Allahi, a law student in Payam Noor University in Sanandaj, was killed in Sanandaj prison. His family was told that he had “committed suicide”, but that his body was “already buried”. Ebrahim’s family are adamant that he was tortured to death.

The brutal response of the islamic regime should come as no surprise, given the regime’s past crimes and its vicious suppression of leftwing activists. Yet what it also highlights are the social contradictions increasingly coming to the fore within Iranian society. The portrayal of the students as ‘agents’ of American imperialism and ‘conciliators’ highlights how the regime is cynically using the pretext of sanctions and war threats to crack down upon any opposition in Iran. But a report in the radical weblog/newspaper Avaye Daneshsgah paints a different picture:

“Leftist student activists are adamant that their struggles can only succeed if they are united with the working class. That is because we believe that the working class is the only force capable of bringing about radical and fundamental change capable of freeing society of all class relations. The student movement has taken direct steps to forge solidarity with the workers’ movement. This was the right time for the working class to defend its supporters in universities and over the last few days we have witnessed support from many workers’ committees, unions and independent workers’ organisations.”

Communist Students firmly believes that these forces – along with those of the increasingly radical women’s and workers’ movements – are our natural allies against war. We hold no illusions in the ability of imperialism’s sanctions, wars or occupations to bring ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’. Genuine democracy must be won from below in a process of self-empowerment and liberation.

It is for this reason that we are active in Hopi. The campaign’s political perspective flows from two basic principles:

1. Imperialism has no progressive role to play in this region or in any other part of the world. We therefore campaign against the threat of any imperialist intervention and fight for an end to sanctions. Sanctions are not an alternative to war, but a form of war. We demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all occupying troops from the Gulf and an end to Israel’s expansion and aggression.

2. The islamic regime – whether in the sway of the ‘reformist’ faction around Mohammad Khatami (dubbed the ‘mullah with a smile’ by radical Iranian students) or the hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – is no friend of democracy. Its repressive and reactionary policies actually smooth the way for imperialist designs on the region. This means that we must build active, practical solidarity with grassroots, progressive and secular forces in Iran – the radical women’s, workers’ and students’ movements. The ongoing nightmare of Iraq underlines that US-led imperialist forces can only introduce social meltdown and chaos – a fertile breeding ground for reaction. Progressive, democratic change must spring from below – from the struggles of the working class and social movements.

In fact the question of imperialist threats and the islamic regime are directly interrelated, with the Iranian theocracy using the pretext of imperialist intervention to divert attention away from the country’s endemic crisis, deflect popular anger onto foreign enemies and thus prolong its iron rule.

Regrettably, the Stop the War Coalition in Britain also believes that raising criticisms of the Iranian regime or expressing clear solidarity with radical oppositionists in Iran is tantamount to supporting the foul plans of American imperialism. Using the most feeblest, wafer-thin of arguments, the STWC rejected the affiliation applications of both Hopi and Communist Students at last year’s annual general meeting – all in front of the cameras of the Iranian state’s Press TV. At this conference we also saw Campaign Iran speaker Somaye Zadeh inform us how “democratic” Iran is and how, although gay people were oppressed, the situation was not so “black and white”: Iran, after all, allows gay men to have a sex change!

Such blind apologetics can only hinder our cause. Any anti-war movement worth its salt must be principled and politically sharp. Only by taking a principled stance against the threat of war and for solidarity with radical anti-war activists in Iran can the anti-war movement progress and become a genuine force that can win the hearts and minds of millions. It is in this sense that Communist Students calls on all anti-capitalist forces, progressive political groups and social organisations to join activists of the Iranian left to both oppose imperialism’s plans and organise practical solidarity with the growing movement against war and repression in Iran headed by the working class, women, students and youth.