[Peace-discuss] Code Pink Visit to Iran
David Green
davidgreen50 at gmail.com
Mon Dec 3 00:08:02 UTC 2018
>From Marxmail list:
The following is an open letter to Code Pink, which is organizing a
"peace
delegation" to Iran. This delegation will be used to legitimize the
Iranian
regime, both at home and in the US. We are requesting additional
signatures. If you are willing to sign, please let me know, either on
this
list or to me personally. Please include how you wish to be identified.
Open Letter to Code Pink
December 1, 2018
Dear Code Pink:
You have recently announced
<
https://www.codepink.org/peace_with_iran_delegation_to_iran_2019?fbclid=IwAR2nNOZTkEVMADQa5HoAAOc9Wb6PYar6Uedbp_5iLrmbnggF-RDgn2K63pY
>
that you will be organizing a trip to Iran. You state the purpose is to
help
"move our two nations from a place of hostility and military threats to a
place of mutual respect and peace with one another."
As socialists, and as supporters of the international working class, we,
of
course oppose any aggression - economic, political or military - by US
capitalism against Iran or any other country. However, we also do not
think
that the issue is simply a matter of lack of “mutual respect” between
this
aggressive and repressive US government and, we have to say it, the
smaller
and less powerful but also aggressive and repressive capitalist
government
of Iran.
We think that the real issue for discussion between Americans and
Iranians
is that of organizing links and mutual support between the working class
and the oppressed peoples of our two countries. This is as opposed to
talking about “mutual respect” between the “nations”, which always means
between the governments. Any agreement reached between the US and Iranian
governments will simply be an agreement for how to “peacefully” loot,
plunder and repress the peoples of the world as well as the global
environment.
We are concerned that your visit will actually help facilitate the
repressive role of the Iranian government. We note that you plan to meet
with “representatives of the Foreign Ministry and Parliament” - that is
to
say, representatives of the regime. You say you will be meeting students
and professors. But who will be selecting the students and professors you
will be meeting? In the absence of any hint to the contrary, we think it
is
safe to say it will be the same regime that will be selecting those
students, professors and anybody else you will meet with.
Your plans to meet with Iranian regime officials fly in the face of what
has been happening in Iran this year.
There have been a number of major labor strikes in Iran. These include
the strikes of 4500 Haft Tapeh sugar cane workers and of 4000 workers at
the National Steel of Ahvaz. (See Alliance of Middle East Socialists
<
https://www.allianceofmesocialists.org/new-wave-of-strikes-protests-in-iran-need-solidarity-from-international-socialists-and-progressives
>
)
There have been protests of ethnic Arabs in Iran, and these protests
have been viciously repressed, complete with sweeping arrests and even
executions. (See Amnesty International
<
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/11/iran-hundreds-arrested-in-vicious-crackdown-on-ahwazi-arabs/
>.)
The Iranian government has also executed Kurdish political prisoners and
continues to imprison other Kurdish political prisoners.
We have seen the courageous acts of Iranian women who have taken off
their head scarves in public. They too have been repressed, arrested and
imprisoned. Other feminist human rights activists such as Nasrin Sotudeh,
Narges Mohammadi, Zeynab Jalalian, Golrokh Iraee, Atena Daemi as well as
feminist men such as Farhad Meysami and Arash Sadeghi languish in prison.
Some are currently on hunger strike.
There is also the continued mistreatment of Afghan migrants/refugees who
do not have basic civil rights and are treated as a source of even
cheaper
labor.
Finally, we note that the Iranian regime has been involved in mass
murder and ethnic cleansing in Syria, and intervening militarily and
politically in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen as well.
We are alarmed that while you will be hearing the position of the
repressive right-wing government in Iran, you evidently have no plans to
hear from any of the progressive opposition forces mentioned above. That
can only mean that the end result of your visit will be to help
legitimize
this right-wing, repressive and reactionary regime.
Recognizing the nature of the Iranian regime does not mean supporting the
capitalist / imperialist government of the United States. We can and
should
oppose both by supporting the struggles of the oppressed and exploited in
both countries and around the world. The enemy of my enemy is not
necessarily my friend.
We hope you will reconsider your plans for your visit to Iran.
Our true allies in Iran are all those struggling against this regime, not
the regime that is even more repressive than the Trump regime.
Yours for international working class solidarity and for socialism,
John Reimann,
former recording secretary, Carpenters Local 713
Editor, www.oaklandsocialist.com
Cheryl Zuur
former president, AFSCME Local Union 444
Sarah Morken
former candidate, Tacoma City Council
______________________________________
Re: [Marxism] request for signatures for letter to Code Pink
------------------------------
------------------------------
As someone who has spent significant time in Iran over the past few
years,
who has written <https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:18855/> about my
research
<
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321730298_Literature_as_a_tribunal_the_modern_Iranian_prose_of_incarceration
>
there, and who maintains contact with many leftist colleagues in Iran, I
want to offer a different perspective to the one contained in this
letter.
I don't dispute any factual claim made in the letter and have no wish to
trivialise those documented abuses. It is right that they should be
denounced and that we protest them. But, together with my Iranian
colleagues, I fully support 'legitimizising' the regime as much as
possible. I am struck by how welcome this letter would be to the current
US
administration because it perfectly supports their agenda with regard to
Iran: violent regime overthrow, and starvation of the Iranian people
until
that happens. This would inflict much greater harm on the Iranian people
than the normalisation of its current authoritarian system.
Iranians today are excluded from the global economy. They cannot access
basic technology. They cannot travel freely. Most importantly, their
currency has entered a free fall
<
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-irans-currency-in-free-fall-as-american-sanctions-loom/
>
due to US sanctions which dramatically increases their economic
insecurity.
All of this is being done by the US, and often under the cover of the
same
reasons given in this letter.
During my many trips to Iran (2012-6), what most impressed me was the
strong mobilisation among the youth for democratic change. The voter
turnout in the last Iranian Presidential elections was higher than in any
Western democracy. Women constantly violate and challenge the hijab
restrictions, and, yes, sometimes they are punished, but often they are
not. The latest Iranian elections were conducted more openly than the
recent US elections and the reformist candidate won by running on a
platform of decriminalising the refusal to wear hijab and promoting civil
liberties for all. Afghan migrants are brutally mistreated, but (in
contrast to US treatment of its migrants) they can also access free
university educations. There is a strong movement for reform within Iran
and many progressives are active in politics. That they are being
silenced
and overpowered by hardliners due to US sanctions is the biggest tragedy
of
all, and a threat to peace in the Middle East. I very much hope US
leftists
and socialists will oppose the US agenda.
Finally, my understanding of the Haft Tapeh strike is that the workers
are
seeking economic justice, as do workers everywhere. This is great, but
hardly a reason to refuse contact with the Iranian regime, or to support
its overthrow.
In geopolitical terms, the only alternatives are normalisation of the
Iranian regime or its violent overthrow by the US. We can speculate about
other long-term goals (such as a true democracy and a socialist
government)
but there is no other geopolitical option at present. I therefore
strongly
support normalisation, and hope others will do the same, whether through
campaigning against the US agenda, reading and watching work
<
https://inferno-magazine.com/2018/07/08/festival-davignon-interview-amir-reza-koohestani-summerless-in-english/
>
by Iranians (in Iran) or travelling to Iran (with this delegation or
separately).
Best wishes,
Rebecca Gould
--
Rebecca Ruth Gould <https://bham.academia.edu/RebeccaGould/>
Professor, Islamic World & Comparative Literature
College of Arts & Law | University of Birmingham
Author, Writers and Rebels
<
https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Rebels-Literature-Insurgency-Caucasus/dp/0300200641
>
(Yale
UP, 2016)
Director, "Global Literary Theory: Caucasus Literatures Compared
<
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/lcahm/departments/languages/research/projects/globallit/index.aspx
>
"
University Profile
<https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/languages/gould-rebecca.aspx
>
Website <https://rrgould.hcommons.org/> Twitter
<https://twitter.com/rrgould>
______________________________________
Re: [Marxism] request for signatures for letter to Code Pink
------------------------------
------------------------------
I think Rebecca Gould did not seriously read the letter. It is very
clear.
It says: "As socialists, and as supporters of the international working
class, we, of course oppose any aggression – economic, political or
military – by US capitalism against Iran or any other country." It refers
to the US government as being "repressive and aggressive". It says: "Any
agreement reached between the US and Iranian governments will simply be
an
agreement for how to “peacefully” loot, plunder and repress the peoples
of
the world as well as the global environment." How could Trump - or the
liberal representatives of US imperialism for that matter - possibly be
happy with those comments?
In fact, in supporting all the protests in Iran - the strikes, the women
protests, the protests of various specially oppressed groups - it clearly
differs from the position of US imperialism, which has never really
supported such protests. They never did in Syria, for example!
Let's be concrete: What will be the practical effect of this Code Pink
visit? The Iranian regime will use it to trumpet that they are supported
by
the "people" of the US. This will strengthen their position domestically.
In the US this visit will be followed by a round of "reports" from Code
Pink. In those reports, they will report back on the excellent and
friendly
discussions they had with various officials, students, etc. To the extent
that they have any comments on the protests there they will pretend that
this shows there are (bourgeois) democratic norms there. Their role will
be
to strengthen all the worst tendencies of the alt left/"peace" movement
here - the same movement that supports Assad and Putin... and also
Rouhani.
John Reimann
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