• Iran – a power structure cracked but far from swept away
• CPI(MLM) communiqué no 6: "People beware! Mousavi isn't your brother and he's not on your side!"
• CPI(MLM) communiqué no 7: "We will smash the state of siege!"
• RCP,USA: Obama's Shift in Tactics
• Saturday, Azadi Street, Tehran
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Iran – a power structure cracked but far from swept away
22 June 2009. A World to Win News Service. Rage continues to sweep Iran. Young women and men are prepared to offer their lives to confront a brutal regime. The pillars of Iran's power structure have been shaken and cracked.
At Friday prayer services on 19 June, "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei firmly took the side of President Mamhoud Ahmadinejad in his electoral dispute with the opposition and announced that any attempt to repeat the week-long protests would be crushed. Nevertheless, thousands of youth and others came out into the streets the next day, knowing very well that they would face batons, teargas and gunfire.
The security forces tried to create an atmosphere of terror around the area between Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) and Enghelab (Revolution) squares. Nobody was allowed to gather. People of all ages were beaten indiscriminately. Then the security forces closed the cross streets to prevent those in one area from joining those in another. Some people, feeling powerless and discouraged, chose to go home. But thousands of youth had the courage and ingenuity to get around the obstacles. They gathered and marched toward Azadi Square. More people joined them and the crowd – tens of thousands according to some reports, hundreds of thousands according to others – began marching together from there. That was not the end of it. The protesters had to confront the forces of reaction blocking the way. Clashes continued throughout the day and until midnight. Some people who couldn't get to the main crowd joined another large march in Forsate Shirazi Street or smaller ones in various Tehran neighbourhoods.
People also protested in other cities, particularly Shiraz, Isfahan and Rasht, as well as others where confrontations with the security forces were reported. They faced special anti-riot police wearing body armour and the vicious club-wielding two-man motorcycle teams of the Basij, a volunteer vigilante corps led, trained and armed by the regime’s elite Revolutionary Guards. The regime presents the Basij as representatives of the masses of people, especially the poor.
Protestors shouted, "Death to dictators, Death to Khamenei, Death to this deceitful regime!" During moments when the reactionary forces were preparing to attack and moments when the protestors decided to break through the lines of the reactionary forces, they boosted their own spirits and the spirits of their comrades by chanting, "Fear nothing, we're all together, fear nothing…"
As the bullets of the reaction targeted the hearts of the precious children of the masses, this strengthened the determination of their comrades, as they shouted, "Death to Khamenei, Death to Ahmadinejad. " A young woman named Neda Agha-Soltan got out of the blocked car where she was riding with her music teacher to get some fresh air and sat down on a kerb. She was shot in the chest by a Basij sniper and fell to the ground. People all over the world saw a video showing the last moments of her life. She was murdered on Amirabad Shomali Avenue just north of Enghelab Square. People in the crowd that day vowed it would be renamed Neda Street.
On some of the footage that has appeared, groups of Basij militiamen can be seen firing their handguns directly into crowds – and people charge them anyway, running toward them under fire until the Basiji turn and run – and are overrun. The regime says 10 people were killed that day; others put the toll much higher. Angry protestors set fire to a Basij base facility and two petrol stations that night.
Sporadic protests continued on 21 June and the cries of "Death to dictators" echoed even louder. The next day, the Revolutionary Guards issued a threat that they would put down any further unrest themselves. Until then, the regime often tried to hide behind the phoney ''civilian'' Basiji and pretend that it didn’t know who was shooting protestors.
An hour later, thousands of young demonstrators gathered in Haft-e Tir Square in the more southern part of Tehran to express their determination. They shouted that they would rather die than accept being treated with contempt.
The significance of this protest stands out even more when Ayatollah Khamenei’s speech after Friday prayers at Teheran University is analysed. Many people were waiting for this speech to see how he would resolve the electoral dispute between the president and the opposition. Khamenei’s speech was unprecedented, and shocked some people. He not only took Ahmadinejad’s side more enthusiastically than ever, but also condemned and threatened anyone who questioned the election results. Cheating was impossible in the Islamic Republic, he said, and any suggestion otherwise represented impermissible questioning of the Islamic Republic itself.
This was aimed at opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has tried to keep the protest movement entirely within the framework of the Islamic Republic founded by Ayatollah Khomeini. Khamenei said that the election was a referendum on the Islamic Republic and that the 85 percent of the voters who allegedly took part were voting for the system. Then, using very strong language, he threatened protesters. He demanded that the candidates pursue their complaints through the legal system. But he also clearly said he did not recognize the legitimacy of any opposition to the Islamic Republic. He put aside the unbiased father-of-the- nation role that he had long cultivated and came out as the godfather of one faction of the Islamic Republic, claiming the right of that faction to bully the whole nation.
This Friday prayer service was a show of force, since the heads of all the military bodies, parliament and court system were present to show their solidarity and intimidate the people. He was clearly issuing orders to the other factions to shut up and accept his decision, submit to his faction and call off all protests – or else.
Yet while the people’s uprising was what had terrified the dominant faction and made the people the real target of Khamenei and his clique, there is no doubt that the internal conflicts were what triggered the whole upsurge. This speech was the sign of a new stage in the deepening crisis.
This speech could be taken as a parallel to Khomeini’s speech on 18 June 1981, which marked the end of the alliance between his Islamic fundamentalists (including Khamenei and Akbar Rafsanjani, now Iran's richest man, a pillar of the Islamic regime and a powerful backer of Mousavi) and the so-called Islamic liberals such as Abul-Hassan Banisadr, who was president at that time. Khomeini stripped Banisadr of his title as commander of the military forces and forced him out of office. Khomeini's coup d'état and the establishment of the Islamic Republic provoked mass protests. But the Islamic regime responded with extreme brutality. The arrest, imprisoning and massacre of the communists and other revolutionaries started immediately. The reign of terror continued all through the 1980s until the Iran-Iraq war ended. Then to try to make sure nothing of the spirit of revolution was left, in the summer of 1988 they massacred thousands (according to some accounts tens of thousands) of the communists and revolutionaries who were still in prison.
Despite the similarities, the situation today is not the same. Most importantly, a huge and growing part of the people no longer have trust or faith in the regime. People who had not yet voiced any response to the political situation clearly shouted, "Death to Khamenei", a slogan seldom if ever heard before at any protest in Iran. Others shouted, "You want a fight, let’s fight – we are fighting women and men!"
But Khamenei and his clique are not the only ones trying to maintain the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic and the economic and social system this power structure serves. While fighting for the interest of his faction, Mousavi is trying hard to restore the "values of the Islamic Republic of Imam Khomeini". These are not words – the state system called Velyat-e-Faqih, the regime's foundational doctrine of "the rule of the Supreme Jurisprudent" , is the apple of his eye. In a statement to his supporters he said, "We are not confronting the Basij, Revolutionary Guards or the army. The Basiji are our brothers, the Revolutionary Guards are the protectors of our revolution and our system. The army protects our borders. We are not confronting our sacred system and its legal institutions. We are confronting the wrong-doing and the lies, and we are seeking a reform that requires going back to the pure principles of the Islamic Revolution."
As the "reformist" ex-president Khatami, warned Khamenei, "When you close off the legal avenues of protest, you are in fact opening another way, and god knows where it may lead."
Because of the determination and persistence of the people's struggle, what began as a quarrel within the regime has brought Iran to a crisis of legitimacy and an institutional crisis. During the 1979 revolution, when the Shah could no longer hold onto power, the U.S. convinced him to abdicate to preserve the cohesion of the army and prevent the revolution from going any further. That's how that crisis was resolved, to the advantage of the imperialist system, and the people paid the price. The U.S. and the other imperialist powers have long done their best to determine events in Iran (invasions, coups, etc., not to mention the workings of the international market itself) and will do whatever they can to push this crisis toward a resolution that is to their relative advantage, which would certainly be to the disadvantage of the revolutionary interests of the people. Several observers have commented that American indignation about a stolen election is criminal hypocrisy coming from a power and a government that has for so long held up puppet tyrants like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, whom Obama embraced just a few weeks earlier in Cairo. When it comes to rigged elections and torture-enforced repression, Mubarak is hard to surpass.
As the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist- Maoist) said in one of their frequent leaflets addressed to the Iranian people during this period, "One thing is clear: We still have a long way to go on what we’ve started. People should prepare themselves for days and months ahead, to remain in the streets in different forms. The slogans of the uprising should become clearer and deeper, and the level of struggle raised so that it can seize victory."
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CPI(MLM) communiqué no 6: "People Beware! Mousavi is not your brother and he is not on your side! "
22 June 2009. A World to Win News Service. Following are excerpts from Communiqué no. 6 of the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist- Maoist),put out on the morning of 20 June.
These words might sound unpleasant for many of you engaged in bloody battle with the enemy, but open your eyes and ears!
Mir Hossein Mousavi called on you to "consider the Basiji your brothers". This means you should consider your brothers those who used knives and machetes on the bodies of your dearest sons and daughters. Mousavi told you "not to consider the army to be against you". This means considering to be your friends those who under the orders of Khamenei are trying to smash your uprising and are shooting our youth in many corners of the country.
Young people, be alert!
Mousavi claims that "the genuine call of Islamic revolution" is what has moved you. This is a blatant lie. He knows very well that what has moved you is a burning desire to change this world. It's impossible to change the existing order without overthrowing the Islamic Republic.
Mousavi claimed that "the heritage of the far-sighted Imam [Khomeini]" is what has inspired you. This is also a blatant lie. Khomeini's first measures after taking power were to slice women's faces with knives, force them to cover their heads and take away their basic rights. He sent the army to suppress the people of Kurdistan, Khoozistan and Turkmen Sahra. Is that what has inspired you?
Brave young women and men, pay attention to Mousavi's real demands!
He calls you to "the Islamic revolution as it was and the Islamic Republic as it should be". He tells you, "You are not against the sacred Islamic Republic system and its legal structures". He tells you that you must seek reform, "a reform with a return to the pure principles of the Islamic Revolution.. ."
Look at this society drowning in corruption, destruction, superstition, dark religious ignorance, drug addiction and prostitution. These are the fruits of those pure principles. Principles against which you have courageously risen.
Mousavi says, "Many of our problems are the consequence of lies". But he himself is lying... One of Mousavi's big lies in 1981 was to slander the Sarbedaran uprising in Iran as “inspired by the Shah”. The Sarbedaran uprising was waged to overthrow the Islamic Republic and save the people's revolution, but it was defeated. These are facts that you all must know.
In these decisive days, besides bravery and perseverance in the battlefield, you must arm and strengthen your mind with the truths of the last 30 years. These truths light up our road and further strengthen us. Mousavi, with his religious preaching, wants to numb your searching brains. If you know the truth – that the quarrel between Mousavi, Rafsanjani and [opposition figure Mehdi] Karoubi on the one hand, and Khamenei and Ahmadinejad on the other, is a quarrel between two power- and money-hungry Mafia gangs and has nothing to do with your interests – then you can find the real liberating road and dare to scale the heights for your liberation.
Young women and men – fight! But fight with open eyes and lofty goals!
Mousavi's trademarks are the slogan "God is great" and the [Islamic] colour green. Many of you think that these symbols are important for your unity. But they are first and foremost the symbols of the society that Mousavi promises to build – nothing but the same Islamic Republic with minor reforms to make it stronger.
Is this really the kind of society you want? Is it worth so much sacrifice? Why can't we make sacrifices for much higher and loftier goals? Why not struggle for a fundamentally different society and future? A society free of all oppression and exploitation. A society where everyone shares and cooperates. Where the equality of women and men is a fundamental and self-evident principle. Where the beautiful scenes of collaboration, mutual help and consideration we are witnessing in our common battles today would be institutionalized. A society that is rid of boredom and stagnation, and always lively and active.
Shouldn't we think about these things and debate them even in the midst of the battle? In fact it is decisive for the future of our uprising to know what kind of society we want and how we can bring it about. This view, perspective and commitment must be linked up broadly with your anger and struggle today against this bigoted and fraudulent rule. This is the only way to prevent our efforts in this historical juncture from going to waste and prevent us from confusing friends and enemies.
Let's raise our level of consciousness! And widely stir debate among the masses!
Form revolutionary cells of the most advanced young women and men in each neighbourhood, factory and university to widely distribute leaflets, do exposures and raise consciousness among the masses and bring more people into the various militant struggles.
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CPI(MLM) communiqué no 7: "We will smash the state of siege!"
23 June 2009. A World to Win News Service. Following are excerpts from one of the
Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist- Maoist) frequent statements to the people, put out on the night of 20 June.
The intensity of fighting in the streets and alleys of central Tehran tonight, and the number of women and men who, with their lives in their hands, stood firm in the front lines and drove back the armed herds of violent thugs, were unprecedented. If you want to see how weak and desperate the regime is, look at the only thing it can rely on: its security forces. That's all! Illusions have evaporated. Cunning religious preaching and the myth of the Imam Zaman [the Shia messiah] can no longer fool the angry people. The lies of the national media can no longer put the masses to sleep. Instead it increases their anger and hatred a hundred-fold. So the only thing left for the murderous ruling gang is guns, batons, teargas, chains, and herds of anti-riot and law and order forces, Basijis and finally the army.
This afternoon's brutal attack against scattered but numerous crowds did not end the demonstration – instead, it spread it to other areas of Teheran. The Basij units and anti-riot police used the tactic of dividing the crowd into smaller groups and then encircling and beating up each group. It worked at first, but before long the scattered masses regrouped in the streets and alleys in the surrounding area, this time with a spirit and methods totally different from that of the demonstrations of the last couple of weeks. This time the slogans directly targeted the Islamic Republic and its leader. There was not much room for "God is great! " A young person wrote in blue spray paint on a street corner, "Even Shah heard the cry of my revolution! [and resigned]. Jamaran [the Leader’s headquarters] is deaf! "...
Tonight, from east to west, from the north to south of Tehran, there is a state of siege. Tonight many eyes will stay open. Many people are thinking about tomorrow, the road forward, the methods that need to be taken up to advance the uprising of the masses and lead it to victory. Today, in the short moments that were found for discussion, there was talk of the need for a widespread general strike. Some said nothing can be done without weapons. One thing is clear: We still have a long way to go on what we've started. People should prepare themselves for days and months ahead, to remain in the streets in different forms. The slogans of the uprising should become clearer and deeper, and the level of struggle raised so that it can seize victory.
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RCP,USA: Obama's Shift in Tactics
22 June 2009. A World to Win News Service. Following are excerpts from the article "Uprising in Iran" in the issue dated 28 June 2009 of Revolution, voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA.
Opportunity for these reformers essentially came knocking with the election of Obama. To be clear, Obama has maintained the essential strategic course of the U.S. ruling class in the Middle East, including many of Bush's specific policies. And no major section of the U.S. bourgeoisie advocates a "live and let live" approach to the Islamic Republic of Iran. All these sections actually see Iran as a major problem for U.S. interests especially in the Middle East, but the difference lies in how to transform the regime and this has been a source of significant disagreement in the U.S. ruling class. While Obama shares the view that the IRI must be qualitatively transformed, he represents forces who agreed that the Bush tactics were not accomplishing those aims, and tactically he has made some shifts.
Obama's approach combines containment (military and diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions, and low-intensity warfare) with more flexible negotiations and various "soft power" initiatives (some economic overtures, cultural, etc.). He has also opened up the prospects of talks between the U.S. and Iran and stated that there should be allowances for nuclear energy capabilities limited to peaceful purposes. But there is no indication that he has suspended the covert military operations of U.S. Special Forces in Iran begun by Bush, and he has continued with the same exact assertion declared by the Bush regime (and Israel) that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and that such developments are unacceptable. Obama also emphasized that these talks cannot go on indefinitely and would need to come to a halt at about the end of the year. Such a statement implies moving from talking to something more draconian – from more effective embargos to military measures – if the deadline is not met. This shift (the "carrot" and the implied "stick") in U.S. policy in relation to Iran has likely contributed to the reformist forces within Iran gaining renewed political backbone and could very likely be even an element – in conjunction with the hatred for the current regime – of the rekindled support from broad sections of Iranian society for them.
But while the "reformer" forces were in part energized by Obama’s new tactics, Obama himself has up to now played the current crisis close to his vest, offering only relatively tepid condemnations of the violence against the protesters. This is for several reasons. First, as Obama himself said early in the crisis, he does not necessarily think that Mousavi would dismantle the IRI, nor cease attempting to pursue things which have been forbidden by the U.S. – including nuclear weapons. Second, also frankly admitted by Obama, because of the U.S. history of domination of Iran, including its principal role in the installation and backing of the hated 25-year rule of the Shah from 1953 to 1978, there is every chance that any statement of support for the protesters by Obama would backfire. Right now, the U.S. is "manoeuvring, but holding their fire" – trying to figure out what course will overall most weaken the IRI and best enable the U.S. to install a more pliant regime, and to carry out a more unfettered domination of the entire region. The fact that Khamenei in his 19 June speech aimed his main attack against Britain rather than the U.S. has been interpreted by some to mean that the Khamenei/Ahmadineja d forces were signalling to the U.S. that they were willing to make a deal if they made it through the crisis, and that it was in U.S. interests to work against Mousavi.
One factor that Obama is trying to play on is the lack of a clear understanding that imperialism is a system – not just a set of policies. Even as almost every section of Iranian society acknowledges and despises the U.S. for its role in overthrowing Mossadegh in 1953 and installing and supporting the hated Shah, Obama’s "admission" of a U.S. "role" in that coup was very much an attempt to convince Iranian forces and masses of a new "kinder, gentler" U.S. imperialism. These masses hate what imperialism does on one level – but even many of the more progressive tend to reduce imperialism to a set of policies and do not understand it as the worldwide system that it is. This leaves them subject to the influence of the demagogy of Obama
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Saturday, Azadi Street, Tehran
22 June 2009. A World to Win News Service. Speaking at the 19 June Friday night prayers, Iran's "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that further demonstrations would not be tolerated. The thousands who came out into the streets of Tehran the next day knew what they would be facing. This was the most violent day – on both sides – since the upsurge began.
Tehran, 4 -6 pm: side streets and alleys around the Azadi metro station
Sound of helicopters. Shooting. Smell of gunpowder. Teargas. Constant ambulance sirens.
People roaring. Nobody is chanting, "Give me my vote back" anymore. People hardly remember that it was electoral fraud that set everything off.
Shouts of "Death to dictators!" are constantly heard.
Paving stones are broken up. Everybody takes some pieces.
Charge! We attack and talk.
Blood brings blood. They have to pay for the last 30 years. They have to answer for those they executed. They are finished.
Don't be afraid. Watch for the roofs. The Basiji are shooting from up there. Listen guys [not gender specific], we're not alone. From Tupkhoone to all Teheran, people are out there. Everybody is fighting. In the streets, and in the back streets and alleys.
Things are getting worse: no, this is great.
Be calm. They'll kill everybody: No, they can't. They're showing their teeth. But they're scared. They're the ones in crisis, not us. It was the Leader who was crying and pleading [during his speech the night before], not us.
[Opposition candidate Mir Hossein] Mousavi is on Jeyhoon street. They say he has washed his body [symbolizing preparations for death – Mousavi had said he was ready martyrdom.] I hate all this talk about martyrdom; we're sick of it.
Hey, guys, bring some tissues. Light a fire. It's teargas. Don't wet your face. Make some smoke.
Hey, Majid, don't waste rocks. You threw a stone at his head. Can't you see he has a helmet on? Aim better, man.
Police station, Basij station, we should take them over and get some weapons. They say guys down the street attacked a Basij post.
They look like the Israeli soldiers we see on television.
The slogan resounds everywhere: “People, what are you waiting for? Iran has turned into Palestine!”
Somebody say, But even Palestine has been fighting for 60 years and hasn't won yet. Another person says, Because they have conciliatory leaders. A third person says, Because you can't answer bullets with stones.
They're right and looking for a path to victory in the middle of the battlefield.
Guys, get back, they're coming! Hey people, leave all your doors open.
Lets move towards Shadmehr.
Shadmehr Street, 6 -7 pm
"Death to dictators!" "Death to Khamenei!" "Death to dictators, whether Leader or doctor! " [Ahmadinejad has a doctorate]
The street is filled with smoke. Fires are lit everywhere to neutralize the effect of teargas. Those in the middle of the street, young women and men, have armed themselves with something. Some have batons snatched from the repressive forces during battles.
Hey, mister, back up! Don't park your car at the end of the street! These streets are people's only escape route!
"Down with the coup government!" "Dictator, shame on you, let go of the presidency!"
Guys, let's build barricades.
Stones and wood are collected. An old man says, that's right, my children – do you want a soft drink?
Somebody says, This is revolution. Another says, This is the beginning of the revolution. A third person says, It's just like during the Shah. And a forth person, Yes, it started in 1965 the first time Khomeini rose against the Shah, and then continued in 1979. Another says, No, that's not right, that's just their propaganda. The 1979 revolution belonged to the people, the people made the revolution, they just rode on it, stole it, and said it was the continuation of '65. Somebody else says, The last few days have concentrated months. Another asks, What's gonna happen now? And she answers herself, It all depends on us.
Oh oh, guys, they're coming. Go into houses. (People leave their doors open so that protestors can take refuge in them)
Somebody says, Hey, why did you run away? He answers, this isn't running away, it's called retreat, and it's a law of war. All of a sudden, Hey hey, what happened? What's going on?
They're beating them up! They beat up three of them! Who's 'they'? They're beating people? No, we're beating them! People grabbed three motorcycle riders [Basij attackers] and gave them a good beating.
Excitement reaches the skies.
They deserve it. That's what to do.
The slogan "Death to Khamenei" shakes the street. Somebody says: that's the end. This slogan means the end of it.
Sattar Khan Bridge, around 8 pm
People and security forces are fighting at very close quarters.
Guys, let's deal with the ones who've written "Protectors of people's security. Helpers of the Leader" on their shield.
Somebody says, "They're just poor things. They're like us. " Another say, "They came to kill us!" A young woman is seriously injured. People take her away from the skirmishes and hide her in a house. Somebody goes to get a doctor. News comes that the van that is coming carries two of our injured. Make way so that we can get them somewhere safe before they're arrested! Everybody moves out of the way.
Aria Shahr (Sadeghiye Square), around 9 pm
An angry torrent of people is flowing through the square and streets. There are fires everywhere Cries of "Death to dictators!" are shaking the square. The repressive forces are helpless. They keep throwing teargas. People help each other. They teach each other how to counter the effects of teargas. They hug each other. Kiss each other. Shake hands. A warm feeling has overtaken everybody. A feeling of satisfaction. Of resistance and struggle. The pride of not surrendering.
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