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and how we got kicked off the „solidarity demo”
The people in Iran once again have risen up and now are facing brutal repression by the regime. The immediate impetus for the latest protests was not so much the desire to overtun the rule of the ayatollah, but the crashing of the rial at the end of last year, worsening the real economic situation of millions of working people. Inflation rose to more than 52 percent in December (with food inflation even higher) and key industries which are among the largest employers shrunk, threatening the jobs of many young people. These issues drove people into the streets; anger at the leadership and the Islamic Republic also rose and manifested itself during the protests.
The regime has responded to all this with bloody murder. In this situation, we see a need to support the right to protest and the right to oppose the ayatollah and the Islamic Republic. When we learned that some Iranians in Poland decided to organize a protest, ZSP and the anarchist group „Czerń i Czerwień” (Black and Red) decided to go to decry the outrage and also to hand out some leaflets.
The night before the protest, which took place on January 17 in Warsaw, we thought of what we could say and it was clear to us that we wanted to show our opposition to both the ayatollah and the shah. When we arrive at the demo however, it turned out that the organizers of the protest were supporters of the shah. They tried to give our comrade a portrait of the shah to hold, which she refused to accept, explaining we support Iranian people against repression, but we do not support the shah. Our placards read: Neither shah or ayatollah, Solidarity with the people of Iran. The organizers then proceeded to kick us out of the demo.
Of course anybody can ask people to leave their demo if they think that people are there to interfere, but the fact is, these people in know way identified their politics or indicated that this was a pro-Shah demo. They only used the slogans „Solidarity with Iran” and „Free Iran”. We also noticed that they had an American flag next to their tent at the demo. America is clearly a fascist state run by an imperialist lunatic and murderous racist. They have already attacked Iran and would have no problem implementing regime change – but not to benefit ordinary Iranians. Just like historically some countries sought alliances with Nazi Germany, it looks like these folks are ready to get into bed with the devil if it achieves regime change. However, for sure those types of regime changes only benefit a few and seeks to replace one authoritian power with another.
When Poland fought against the Soviet Union, those who came into power did not worry about „freedom” in any true sense of the word – except for businessmen, whose „freedom” to exploit people is always the main freedom looked after by the government. The illusions of bourgeois „freedom” - accompanied by real misery for millions of working people, are fading. These particular Iranian people, who we hope are not representative of all people, follow in a long tradition of people looking to overthrow oppression, but choosing an alternative that has its own deep problems. Like the members of the Venezuelan elite who hope to benefit from an American invasion, gain power and amass fortunes, there are always those who want to replace one structure of unfreedom for another.
We hope that there will also be those who see that there are not just two options and reject the choice between the plague and cholera. Who want to wrestle the power away from tyrants, autocrats and kings and create a new world without any supreme leader.