rosie is roxy is roshan

Anonfish, this labor crisis is a severe HUMAN RIGHTS

issue in the worst possible ways imaginable. I will explain why in a minute but first I have to tell you that I am extremely glad you brought this up because it will help me to clarify for the the general readership on ic (and any other platform)crucial things they need to understand. (Which is not to say you are a "general reader" in the sense of those [blurry] boundaries I proposed between them and the regular bloggers, just to say it helps me know what I have to clarify). So,

why is this labor purge  and the labor issue in general a primary and not "feeder" issue of human rights violations?

1) because these people haven't done anything wrong by expressing themselves from the standpoint of any international legal or  human rights organization, from the UN to Amnesty and more, and their punishments are the same as those of any other persecuted group (wonen, jouranlists, etc). On this blog I stressed the decimation of the Movement at the expense of that fact, which was a mistake even for the bloggers.  Let alone not telling those "stories" I know I need to tell; how these labor leaders get imprisoned, often for years, how many get flogged or are put into isolation, denied needed medical treatment, psychologically and even physically tortured-although physical torture "LITE", how their families are threatened, their jobs-livelihood-taken away, and so on.... So it is much more than the right to protest on the streets and have strikes, it is the chronic and direct punishments meted out which are the same as those of the other groups, the women's million signatures campaign, the Amirkabir students, etc0.

Even up to execution. There's a guy Kamangar in prison in Kurdistan. A labor organizer who happens to also be convicted of belonging to a Kurdish separatist group.Whether or not this is so and the extent of his involvement in organizing action, peaceful r violent, I don't know; of course he denies it. But the point is that as usual the trial has been deemed by Amnesty not to meet international standards and of course this is terrible in a capital case.The other thing is that there is no doubt his labor activities played a role in the extremity of his punishment. (The third --and corollary--thing is that in the course of reser\aching the labor movement I came to realize that regional activists as a group are on the bottom of the totem poles in the website and other forums within the human rights discussions too).

2) Labor issues are inherently human rights ones,primary not subsidiary, because the conditions of labor are often so extreme in Iran that the violations are primary even before the organizing. Many of these people simply can't feed themselves and their families. During the Haft Tapeh march in Shoosh (Susa) in October 07 5000 strong in the streets, the main chants were; We are hungry (they meant it, many hadn't received pay in months); and we would rather die than tolerate this or that...

3) Labor issues are the foundation on which all other human rights issues stand because if it weren't for labor there would be no lawyers, no women, no Bahai to persecute because there would be no life on earth. And yet labor, who as a GROUP among the persecuted groups, largely lives under far more miserable daily conditions, is at the bottom of the totem pole..

Well anyway I hope you get my point. The most important thing I got out of your post was to keep in mind what I told David we need to do--provide stories, stories and stories to a general readership. To get them to do something. And then more stories, to keep them doing it. As David and the postcard people who posted below explain, such simple actions as sending cards to prisoners, writing letters to IRI officials and international agencies, do have concrete effects.

Take care.

r.

this is fascinating

and i'm grateful to you, roiban mo chara, for introducing the subject.

my two cents and i admit right off that you and david have left me FAR in the dust...

labor rights or union rights, while very important, are secondary to human rights.  i think they're a feeder issue off the main one and would naturally be addressed within the larger issue of human rights.  one would follow the other.

Marjaneh0.  what's your point here?  while i don't always agree with david, i don't understand why you're stooping to the same old name-calling.  he's presenting his opinion in a very respectful and concerned manner. 

Why The Silence?

The reason is really not so difficult to understand.

In a nutshell, they honestly don't give a damn.

They're called leftists, but they're not even leftists, really. Because you can't really be a leftist, as in liberal, and stay quiet whenever this regime does their usual crap, which is of course, daily.

They're really nothing more than selfish, self-centered, egotistical, elitists who think they're more intelligent or more entitled than others. They believe they know better than everyone else, and that the way to go through life is to emulate them in every way.

These people aren't fooling anyone, except for maybe themselves. They claim to be supporters of human rights, but the only rights they care about are their own. On this particular issue, the only way you'll get a response from them is if they are pressed. And even them it will be a response where the behavior of the IRI is once again, condoned, excused, justified, apologized for, or otherwise explained away.

Hopefully this movement will grow in Iran. First, in order to ensure workers' rights, but even more importantly, to teach the population the concept of "power" or "strength in numbers", which is the single most important concept in any sort of democracy.

Marjaneh, your post is confusing to me too.

I have tried to draft a reply a couple of times but it's too confusing. So let me just ask a couple of questions and see if you can orient me in a clear discussion:

1) on what basis do you consider Darius and David right-wingers?

2) Do you consider David's explanation of why he spent so much time defending a dirt poor teenage girl from execution--because to defend the poor guarantees the rights of all, whereas to defend the privileged is just that, privilege--something objectionable to say? Or do you think he is not telling the truth? And if either, why?

3) Why do you say David compared Nazanin to Osanloo? He obvously didn't make a direct comparison. I think you mean something else but I'm not quite sure what.

Okay, so let's start there.

Take care,
Roxane 

PS Darius Kadivar is the person I spoke about in this blog who posted the newsfeed about the current labor purge in Iran here--the only mention of it on the entire site until this blog, and onlly the fourth mention of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Workers Union ever (two of the other three being very minor and completely incidental to the topic of the submission).

History of labor movment and....

Unionism in Iran goes back to almost 100 years. Unfortunately during which the labor unions/labor movement (like the democracy movement itself) except for brief periods of time either were crushed by repressive governments in Iran and/or taken advantage of by so called leftist organizations all throughout the last 100 years. I believe Iranian labor movement has the potential of becoming a strong voice in Iran’s struggle for democracy if it works towards independence away from government and political parties. And I also believe that Labor movement in Iran will be strong proponent of economic equality and democracy in Iran, these two elements go hand in hand.

Thanks Rosie, for this thought provoking blog!

marjaneh

  I have no idea who you are and WHAT you are talking about! Did I even bring up the name Afshin-Jam in any of my comments or even mentioned Nazanin in the same sentence or paragraph as Osanloo, that you are telling me that I am comparing them?!!

Stop living in your imaginary word to the point of even imagining what others write, or if you have to increase the dosage of what you are taking to have a better grasp of reality, do so now!

Indeed I do not condone of any kind of dictatorship at the exclusion of others under any flags in the name of monarchy, socialism,Mojahed, Islam, etc etc...

yet at the same time I support and promote a system that allows secular individuals , groups and parties (including Socialists) to freely organize, assemble, express, participapte and run for office by vote and choice of THE PEOPLE under a simple concept that some like you still have a hard time coming to terms with ...called: DEMOCRACY.

Now with your empty slogans , you can label me right, left, middle, zionist, IR supporter, ....etc etc, None I have not heard before! 

to: Marj-Aneh

I am puzzled about what you are trying to accomplish here. Are you saying unless you are leftist, the human rights' efforts is not recognized ? Do you think all human rights issues must come and solved by leftists? you may enlighten us in more details rather than being vague and barking rhetoric.

Marj- Aneh; the UN declaration of Human Rights is an universal answer to all nation, and doesn't not differentiate between right or left, so we better get use to it, unless you have other better ideas, which I am sure UN will listen to you!.

You mentioned "I promote human rights for Iranian workers in English...." please link us to a few of your writing, so we learn a bit from you, may be you need to be recognized for your hard work
.
Marj-Aneh, please explain which achievement of some activists are "joke" and more importantly, let us hear your achievement which is not a "joke"

Cheers

CORRECTED LINKS /other replies

I repost my first post below regarding the incorrect links:

correct url for the International Network in  Support of the Workers of Iran is www.workers-iran.org with a hyphen (dash)

and www.komitteyehamahangi.com

I spelled wrong but I did know the correct spelling.

www.ettehadeh.com has two h's. I did not know it.

This is terrible. I really thought I'd checked the links. Due to my bad keyboard, I guess I had to check the blog itself so many times that I forgot to check the URL's. I can't correct them above or the blog will go unfeatured.

_________________________

I will reply to the three "fish" shortly. Pls. check back.

David,

I'm replying at length to your last post. Your contributions here must've been very time-consuming for you and so I wouldn't expect another reply at length. I know you have other commitments, especially SCE. But I did want to leave you (and others) with the followng thoughts, in reply to yours (in boldface).

Ebadi, , Obama, , .. You and I...or Jesus !!

No one is perfect , especially when you get to know them in person but then that is the beauty of it ... The worst thing that we can do to them and to ourselves is to make them perfect and beyond questioning and then the dogmas begin

Yes, dogma is stagnation of thought, which tends to rally around turning leaders into icons (i.e. statues) of perfection.Nothing really moves.  As the poet Sylvia Plath wrote, "Perfection is terrible/it cannot have any children.' Dogma has no life in it, conceiving of people (leaders) as beyond reproach goes against the essence of life.  

Having said that. Let me share with you another one of my experiences for the first time right on this blog of yours!

Thank you for sharing the story below in your last post about your experiences with SCE and i.c. I would be interested to hear other readers' responses to it.

While we are at it, I have another story about Ganji and SCE too which I may share later!

Please do. It is high time we share these stories. Like you said, nobody's perfect, and the more we examine and discuss the warts of high-profile people along with their dedication, conviction, hard work, etc. the better off we will all be and the more progress we will make. Thus "insider stories" are very important.

Buit in answer to your question, Ali still is imprisoned but the execution verdict seem to have been lifted for a while. His fate is still to be determined 

Good/bad news. "Seems' is not the best word I would've hoped for. But it brings up again a point I have made in this blog and discussion a couple of times. When things are high-profile, dramatic, what is called in the media a "buzz" is generated which makes the issue even more prevalent. However there is usually little follow-through once this "buzz" subsides.

For example, I posted a few days ago a news feed on the terrible situation with the Amir Kabir students who are still in prison. when the riots happened and the en masse arrest (I think seventy students) this was literally plastererd all over this site as well as all the expat Iranian media. I think my feed has been the only follow-up on this site. Where did I get it? Gozaar, the human rights publication.

How did I find it? Beccause my research on the labor movement led me there, as a non-Iranian I'd never even known about that publication before. But I found out that lots of other people here do. So it seems that only the organizations specifically concerned with human rights have a commitment to follow-up once the "sensational" events have abated. Those organizations being anything from famous global ones like Amnesty to the relatively high profile but more speciific Iranian ones, like Gozaar, to the grassroots one like the ones who responded below on this thread.

This is not a specifically Iranian phenomenon, it is a general one. But it is a highly problematic one, for obvious reasons. If a truly effective human rights movement is to be organized, follow-up must be highlighted. As the "Postcards" post reveals, such follow-up actually helps the imprisoned people concretely. It also reminds the public that one day's student arrests are part and parcel of god knows, maybe hundreds of thousands of previous arrests, and ThOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN LANGUISHING AWAY IN PRISON THE WHOLE WHILE.

Otherwise people's attention ( will go from sensational riot to terrible execution as "events' in a series of equally important events, such as a soccer game, a new aircraft being built, an actress making porn, etc. You get my drift.

What does all these have with the subject of your blog?

Everything. I did not mean to imply in my  response to your first comment here that the whole big picture of human rights issues was not one and the same with my blog, but simply that in the blog I was ALSO seeking the answers to a specific question about Labor within the picture which I'd posed.

I think a lot. These are real life examples of how WE (the ones who have to tools to make a difference) chose to do so often only when it hits home, when it becomes high profile, when it.....

Yeah, I know, dot dot dot.."High profile" i discussed at length above. REAL LIFE EXAMPLES: let me say a few words about this.

In my blog here I explain that a blog was intended to come AFTER the publication of an ARTiCLE I'm writing for the general readership. I decided to write the blog first because it's taking too long to write the article due to my diffiuclty fact-checking in Persian (I have help now, don't worry). An article requires that, while a blog can be a "work in progress."

Anyway my article empasizes the HUMAN INTEREST aspect of the human rights issues. The flogged people's story, the Haft Tapeh people's story, these STORIES are very moving AND very interesting. 

Accepting the distinction I made in my blog between the general readership and the blogging community as GROUPS (however blurry that distinction might be here), the readership must have these stories because humans care about humans, not concepts. And we have an obligation to deliver these stories to them.

Bloggers, intellectuals, political theorists, well we are human too but with us it's a different "story". We want the context, the theory, the ideology, the rationale surrounding the human stories. Well maybe we want (or more accurately, need) both. In any case I wrote the blog first because I can provide all that from my standpoint at the present moment but I can't deliver on the story until I have done ALL the fact-checkiing, because, while minor, there are discrepancies in the English-language sources due mostly to their outdatedness, and I can't tell a story without accurate facts about it, while theorize I can. And anyway people accept a blog as a work in progress..

my major point right now being: yes, stories stories and more stories...

Indeed labor's fate is no different. We must raise their needs, their struggles , their stories, their demands, so that others associate with them, hopefully get to SEE them and start caring about them

Operant words: stories, SEE, care, as above. Again: humans care about humans as humans, not as statistics or ideas. Humans DO things for humans, not for concepts. Humans will MOBILIZE for humans. Intellectuals, political theorists, etc. are also humans but are spurred on by concepts as well as by, say photos of Sousan. To actually mobilize people, human RIGHTS issues must be shown to be human INTEREST issues.

That is part of the reason why women's rights issues are always in the forefront. Everyone has a female cousin in Iran, expat women go there regularly, so it's ALWAYS of human interest.

Actually the same must also happen with the "intellectuals", otherwise we get back to the frozen dogma agan, maybe I SHOULD'VE used Sousan's photo here...dot dot dot ...

//3.bp.blogspot.com/_laqZVajHOjw/SKwwP6Z1SCI/AAAAAAAAAAw/jjzlOL9qqFs/s400/photooftheday.jpg

 as dissassociated as we may feel from their situations...

Operant word: dissociated.

I have this image now in my head of the chief videographer  in Kiarostami's Baad maaraaa Khaahad Bord...and how he is so dissociated from ordinary people's struggles that he wants the old lady to die before hs budget runs out and is upset when he finds out she's recovered--until the country doctor takes him through the blooming fields and quotes Khaayam...

David ET, it's all "bahaneh"

Rosie is right once again. Almost all so called "human rights" activists like David ET or Darius Kadivar are right wingers who cannot stand Unions or anybody who wants to fight inside the system.

Comparing Osanloo with Naz-anin AJ is pure comedy. This is the secret: The Unions do not get publicity because they never say they want to overthrow the IRI, same with Osanloo. This fact makes him unacceptable to "brave" self proclaimed human rights warriors.

I did not want to respond to this blog. But listening to David ET pretend to "feel our pain" was just too much. He said everything except WHY HE never talked about Iran's Unions or Iranian socialists. And now he acts like he is in the same boat?

I am a long time reader but I basically gave up on this site. I promoted human rights for Iranian workers in English speaking or some leftist Persian websites. People should expect far more from people who are officers in "human rights" organizations.

Pure shame.

lashes

to get more information click on this link:

//www.komitteyehamahangi.com/post241.htm

and also read this:
Message of gratitude from Shiva Kheirabadi and Sousan Razani to all workers and working-class supporters!

Workers of the world!

We, the prosecuted participants of May First 2008 in Sanandaj, have witnessed all your protests against the inhuman flogging sentences. We thank all you beloveds for your response.

We believe that May First is the international day of unity and solidarity for the working class, when it demonstrates its global power, and it deserves to be celebrated throughout the world.

Working class women and men striving for a better life, free of poverty, impoverishment, and torture, are pursuing a human imperative, a necessity that has always been repressed through most vile methods by the guardians of Capital. But workers have always confronted these injustices with a greater sense of coherence and consciousness.

In our case the guardians of Capital meant to intimidate and ridicule us, but the lively presence and receptiveness of our working class mates proved that floggings and incarceration couldn’t stop us from pursuing our just demands.

Working class women and men have long waged struggles for an end to all inequalities, and prejudices, and until these goals are attained, their struggles shall continue with more coherence, unity and consciousness.

From bottom of our hearts, our sincere gratitude goes to all the workers, unions, and all free people who have supported us and condemned the unjust judgment; from a long distance we shake all your hands!

Iran-Sanandaj

Sousan Razani- Shiva Kheirabadi

February 21, 2009

Its all related

Ebadi, , Obama, , .. You and I...or Jesus !!

No one is perfect , especially when you get to know them in person but then that is the beauty of it ... The worst thing that we can do to them and to ourselves is to make them perfect and beyond questioning and then the dogmas begin

Having said that. Let me share with you another one of my experiences for the first time right on this blog of yours!

With Fatehi case we had hard time getting her info presented in the old Iranian.com . Even when the world media and spotlight was on it. This was very puzzling to me those days but now I knwo why ....Even when we were calling for raising money to save her, JJ was absent! Yes they were some news items at times but not anything to support the campaign at the time to make a difference through this site. In fact there were some ARTICLES against Nazanin Afshin-Jam filled with nonesense featured in Iranian.com at the time which was hurting the cause....anyway ....It was not until after SCE was formed and until Ali Mahin-Torabi , the nephew of friend of Azarin Sadegh (who is Friend of JJ and an associate here) was sentenced to death that Azarin contacted SCE and it was only then when the child execution in Iran hit home with JJ which that eventually we were worthy of more attention. In fact now writings by azarin about the subject were featured as articles one after another.

So many others went unnoticed until then...In fact because of Ali Mahin-Torabi and thanks to the insider connection (Azarin), Iranian .com eventually became more pro-active on the subject. Regardless , I am yet very thankful to JJ that he has provided a blog of this medium to the cause.

While we are at it, I have another story about Ganji and SCE too which I may share later!

Buit in answer to your question, Ali still is imprisoned but the execution verdict seem to have been lifted for a while. His fate is still to be determined 

What does all these have with the subject of your blog? I think a lot. These are real life examples of how WE (the ones who have to tools to make a difference) chose to do so often only when it hits home, when it becomes high profile, when it.....

 Indeed labor's fate is no different. We must raise their needs, their struggles , their stories, their demands, so that others associate with them, hopefully get to SEE them and start caring about them as dissassociated as we may feel from their situations...

Thank you for doing that here.

Peace 

David, you're right,, we just don't get it yet

operant word being"yet". Gotta keep on truckin'.

I will respond to your thoughtful post in interspersed form with your cmment in boldface:

The only thing I can add is that historically the so called intellectuals are more occupied and representative of what might happen to their own than to the labor, farmers and masses.

Back in the day we used to call them coffee table Marxists.

Not that they don't care , just that they somehow may think for example an academic is worth mentioning more than an average worker beside the fact that they associate with the first one more not to mention they think they get more publicity that way. 
 

Which relates to, although is not the same as, how I originally framed a prelude to this blog several weeks ago when I first found out about the labor purge. Labor, I said, is not "sexy.' Women, journalists, students are "sexy". Of course it was a joke (a kind of "gallows humor" but one meant to implicitly suggest a class issue at work here. I also related that "sexy" to the (for middle and upper classes) sleek world of the globalization. Which relates to your current blog.  Madame la First Lady. Sleek. My previous labor blog:

//iranian.com/main/blog/rosie-roxy-roshan/labor-pains

I can even give you an example of Dr. Ebadi.

It is an excellent, although somewhat disturbing, example. This is not the IMPRESSION that is conveyed about Ebadi. Sleek.

It wasn't until after Fatehi's freedom and all the publicity that surrounded it 

Was there also publicity before? I am remembering the Ali  Mahin Torabi campaign and all the pressure exerted on the Iranian government finally turning out to be successful. It doesn't happen often, but the fact that it happens at all is better than never. Also I think if Obama is fair, he can use human rights as a bargaining chip. However he better not let Israel bomb iran and better cooperate with IRI on getting OUT of Afghanistan asap or he will lose all credibility and if the Reformists lose you will see Ahmadinejad and ilk running to all the Sudans of the world  supporting the al-Bashirs by calling out Western hypocrisy!

Btw what is the current status of Ali Mahin Torabi?

Not that she had not mentioned the child execution issue in the past or was not involved

How so? Did Ebadi ever represent an accused minor or just publicly endorse the SCE?

In fact it was someone from "the left" (Mina Ahadi) , A Communist who gave all their supports  and resources inside and outside Iran to the two Nazanin's and the cause when it was needed the most and despite lack of publicity at the time.

My resonse is a bit tangential, but people have to bear in mind that Communists are more independent-minded these days because there is no USSR to follow or China either, as it is state capitalist now, and a terribly cruel brand of it at that. I did say in this blog that I did NOT think the neglect by our left (which has nothing to dowith Communists) was the ONLY reason I'd thought of for the silence on labor here. I think it is also because these labor movements in Iran tend to be associated with Communists and people have this draconian image of Communism, justifiable actually. In the past. But they forget that everything is in transition these days. The rhetoric may be similar but the means and even the shape of the end envisioned by modern Communists may not be the same as that of the "Old Left."

Of course once Fatehi was released and it was on every major international network even the far right of the opposition e.g. Pahlavi) jumped on the bandwagon of support... 

My point about Osanloo, Freed or not freed, he was a kind of "celebrity oppressed, and so he was widely discussed here. But I don't think any other leader has been and I know that there is silence now.

often and sadly even human rights is prioritized based on profile ..

i call this hierarchy of the oppressed, I realized I had it too, and that's why I probed deeply into the labor purge once I found out about it. My discovery of my own subconscious attitudes alarmed me. 

It now has changed much though and this specific issue has eventually come to social awareness in Iran

Congratulations! Again, operant word being "yet". Slow and steady wins the race. we must remain optimistic, as you and I have discussed before. Optimism is pragmatic, not idealistic, because without optimism (whether guarded or not) everything is doomed to fail

However in my view if we stand for the human rights of the LEAST FORTUNATE ,(labor included) or even those accused of murder, in essence we are standing for the right of ALL including the ones who are more fortunate, more educated or innocent or of higher profile

Beautifully put. I never thought about it quite that way before. I will remember that one. As I have remembered other things you've said, little soundbytes of wisdom, and used them from time to time.

The Iranian LEFT have been an intellectual movement  not rooted in the labor movment

Don't know enough about it, will take it into account as I explore further. I read that the various Revolutionary factions pre-Khomeini were divorced from the peasantry, I guess that means Labor too (hard to imagine though, as labor is largely urban so it was right under their noses), Anyway, the idea of what I read was that they thought they could use Khmeini so he could communicate with ordinary people, poor people, and they could not. Nor would they try to learn. Since this sounded plausible to me I have told people from time to time here that if they don't understand why the poor country people saw Ahmadinejad like Jesus riding in on his donkey, instead of making fun of them, they are making the same mistake they made in '79.

Labor have historically had minimum representation in Iran versus students, academics, political groups etc.

Well there you go! Providing answers to my questions. Historical roots of the problem are deeper than just the emergence of this new New Left (macro-Left, as I call it) so prevalent on this website.

Osanloo in my view initiated a turning point in the labor movement which we have yet to realize and appreciate. Alas! 

Yes but if it is not seized upon and publicity continued to be generated it will just be fifteen minutes of fame. And that is why the neglect of the Haft Tapeh union in Iran is so dangerous, they are carrying the torch for Vaheb, and if they are decimated it will be disastrous. Anyway I predict their leader Ali Nejati is in for quite a ride. I think seven leaders were arrested in February DURING the trial of the five leaders of the strike of October '07, Nejati was the only one who went into hiding, he must've been aware of what lay in store for him. But he turned himself in after about a week. What other choice did he have, really?

"Post Cards for Iran"

Under the guise of protecting its “national security”, the Iranian government has orchestrated a crackdown on rights activists, outspoken critics and ethnic and religious minorities. Braving the threats of violence, imprisonment and even execution, dissidents within Iran continue to rise up and demand for their rights.

If unchecked, the Iranian government will continue with its wave of repression, and i’ts incumbent upon the international community to support the citizens of Iran in their struggle for freedom.

The Campaign
To stand in solidarity with our fellow citizens in Iran, and to call on the Iranian government to uphold its commitment to protecting the rights of its citizens, Mideast Youth is launching a new campaign - “Postcards for Iran“. As the name suggests, the “Postcards for Iran” campaign involves sending Iranian officials hundreds of postcards, urging them to bring an end to the violations occurring within Iran.

But it’s not only the Iranian authorities that we seek to address through the campaign, but imprisoned prisoners of conscience as well. We wish to send them a message that we are aware of their plight and supports them in their struggle.

Combined with pressure from governments and human rights bodies and unabated media attention, grassroots initiatives such as “Postcards for Iran” have proven to be effective in . Furthermore, former detainees have testified that prisoners receiving mail received better treatment, as authorities were aware that the world is monitoring their situation.

Get Involved
You can send a postcard in three easy steps:

Select a recipient
You can choose to send either a Postcard of Concern to an official, or a Postcard of Support to a prisoner
Write a short message
Upload a graphic of your choice for the postcard
And that’s it! We will take it from there and ensure that your postcard is printed, stamped and sent to your chosen destination.

Please take the time to send a Postcard for Iran and invite others to.

//www.mideastyouth.com/2009/04/03/update-on-p...

Because we just don't get it yet!

The only thing I can add is that historically the so called intellectuals are more occupied and representative of what might happen to their own than to the labor, farmers and masses.

Not that they don't care , just that they somehow may think for example an academic is worth mentioning more than an average worker beside the fact that they associate with the first one more not to mention they think they get more publicity that way.

I can even give you an example of Dr. Ebadi. When we were trying to save Nazanin Fatehi (A teen Kurdish girl from a poor family accused of murder with only a short article about her buried in a newspaper),  despite all our efforts and contacts with Shirin Ebadi, even while she was in US, we were being given all kinds of reason about her being busy with her book tour etc etc,,,she didn't even sign that Fatehi petition...but at the same time she was raising the fate of those who were more high profile or politically correct ...

It wasn't until after Fatehi's freedom and all the publicity that surrounded it and until after the issue of child executions came to the forefront of Iran's politics and that we became more known worldwide and in the news that she became more outspoken and then she even signed the SCE petition. Not that she had not mentioned the child execution issue in the past or was not involved but the fate of a poor, uneducated , accused of murder, low profile girl was just not on list of priorities as there are so many of them in the society but imprisonment of an intellectual, or a high profile case gets more attention.

In fact it was someone from "the left" (Mina Ahadi) , A Communist who gave all their supports  and resources inside and outside Iran to the two Nazanin's and the cause when it was needed the most and despite lack of publicity at the time.

Of course once Fatehi was released and it was on every major international network even the far right of the opposition e.g. Pahlavi) jumped on the bandwagon of support... 

I am making this public for the first time right here on Iranian.com not to put Dr. Ebadi down as I have much respect for all that she has achieved and is doing including putting her life in danger but to just make a point that often and sadly even human rights is prioritized based on profile ..may be bacause there are 24 hours a day and so much that can be done... and that is why I have been in SCE because I feel a major portion of the society, the least fortunate, had been unrepresentated (It now has changed much though and this specific issue has eventually come to social awareness in Iran)

However in my view if we stand for the human rights of the LEAST FORTUNATE ,(labor included) or even those accused of murder, in essence we are standing for the right of ALL including the ones who are more fortunate, more educated or innocent or of higher profile.

The Iranian LEFT have been an intellectual movement and not rooted in the labor movements and therefore despite their words they do not really associate nor represent or understand the needs and demands of the labor.

Labor have historically had minimum representation in Iran versus students, academics, political groups etc. Osanloo in my view initiated a turning point in the labor movement which we have yet to realize and appreciate. Alas! 

David,

There is no doubt a lack of care on the part of many for internal human rights issues which is very distressing. This blog, however, is referring to the specific website discourse. Now talk may be cheap, and as you yourself often say, "Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk." However within a discourse talk cannot be deemed apathy with no walk we might best call it 'inaction.'

Within our website discourse I have observed that, to use the categories for lack of better terminology, the non-Left is often very vocal about human rights depredations in Iran, at least when they are in their most dramatic stage whether there is follow-up is another story. But on Labor there is really nothing (Osanloo having been the exception) and my thesis is that this Left of mine is so absorbed with geopolitics they condemn the Labor movement to silence. And if I'm wrong, I'd like someone to explain to me how, why and what other reasons are there for the silence. I mean if I found out surely someone else could. Did?,

Oher than expressing my lack of support for this strategy of absorption in geopolitics at the expense of internal rights depredations, I have really focused on labor here, on this eerie silence.

You have been in this game for years and I totally understand your anger. But consider that if I asked someone here who was at least talking about human rights to talk about the whole issue off the top of their heads, I am sure that the executied as a GROUP would figure prominently. Whereas I'm not sure labor would come up at all. As for the talk and walk consider this: with all the support of the million signatures people, if someone chose to seriously take on the role of harnessing that energy to get people to do something, I bet they could, even if only letter writing. But how can you harness anyone for something they don't even know about/ (Or are they pretending not to know about the Labor persecutions, seriously, I don't KNOW, I'm not even Iranian, that is why I'm ASKING on this blog).

As regards your comment about the Palestinians, what can I say? It's true. If a member of the IDF flogged a Palestinian labor activist 70 times you'd hear about it.  But you'd ALSO hear about it if one of these million signature people were flogged 70 times. Probably from different groups of the political rainbo, but you'd hear about it.

Dear Rosie

I too had often been puzzled by the lack of care or in a more politically correct terminology : not giving a shit by so many Iranians about what has been happening in their country to those in women movements , labor movement, etc .

As I have mentioned couple of times here, despite so much complain by some and justifications for their inactivity, that we do not have leaders or "heroes", I actually believe that we have and had SO MANY, and we just don't care, dolt see them , don't appreciate them, do not support them, do not back them and even often oppose them , accuse them and label then just to justify our own weaknesses. Like I have said, in case of many nations having just one of such people would have been enough reason to unite and make a difference. Look at South Africa, Eastern Europe and so many other countries who stood behind their imprisoned oppositions, freed them and in process freed themselves, their own nation and country....

So I no longer am puzzled to see those such as Osanlou, ......... behind bars for so long and we not giving a damn anymore  an instead busy arguing over what happend in 1953 or 1978 and rest of BS JUST TO AVOID OUR SHAMEFUL OBSERVANCE OF OUR SHAMEFUL PPRESENT

Shameful to see what has happend to the children of Kourosh, Dariush, Kaveh, Babak, Rostam, Arash, Ferdowsi, Afshin, Molavi, Amirkabir, Bualisina, Razi, Hafiz, Khayam, Dariush, Mazdak, Mani,........Tahmineh, Roudabeh, Mosadegh,  Reza Shah, ....Afshin...it is shameful that we have such people  still among us and we are either busy with our parties and chelokabobs  or our latest fashions or with our Haj and Roozeh and Nazri's or with our ideological mumbo jumbos that we simply are too numb or too busy to give a damn anymore: Left, Right or those in the middle ! 

Also if any of the incidents and names that you mentioned were Palestinians, you would have seen a long row of commentators and articles by now!  "Shame"

As usual I end my comment with a Persian Expression: Khalayegh Ancheh Laayegh (people get what they are worthy of)

Photos of the people who were flogged

Actually four people were flogged in Senandaj, two women on February 18 and two men on February 22. The Komitte has excellent photos on this page:

//www.komitteyehamahangi.com/post241.htm

I really should've mentioned that there were four of them in the blog but the 70 lashes is so excessive and disturbing that it has been preying on my mind. The woman who received the 70 lashes is Souzan Razani, in light blue, she is 36 years old. The other woman is Shiva Kheirabadi, 25 years old, she got (only) 15.  Both women received suspended prison sentences while the two men Qaleb Hosseini and Abdullah Khani received 50 and 40 lashes respectively  and six and three months imprisonment I think there is a clever message here from IRI, using Sousan to say, okay, if you are a woman we may treat you less cruelly (suspend sentence) BUT also more cruelly if you're not a good little girl.

The pretext for their imprisonment was participating in a May Day rally last year, which is charged as "acting against the security of the state". However the four people punished this February were also active in the Komitte and/or Women's Council (a central organizing body for women). IRI does not usually arrest "just anyone' and I would surmise that the extent of the punishments are related to the extent of their involvement in these central groups. 

Another important thing is that these May Day rallies are common in Kurdistan, as have been many arrests in general, now and previously (such as the Saqez 7 in 2004).. I believe such activity is because there is a long tradition of activism there, due to the regional issue. (Regional activists btw. are another ignored persecuted group). However Kurdish organizations consider the numerous arrests and floggings (four Kurdish labor activists were also flogged last year) a matter of persecution against Kurds in general. Khuzestan is also a hotbed of labor activism which has a regional movement too. Not only Haft Tapeh, but many workers actions, including several in Ahvaz alone, have taken place there in recent years. 

Then there is Kamangar in Kurdistan, the only labor activist on death row. He was also accused of being part of a Kurdish separatist group but (surprise surprise) Amnesty International declared the trial did not meet international standards.

CORRECTION ON THE LINKS

The correct e-address for the International Network in  Support of the Workers of Iran is www.workers-iran.org with a hyphen (dash)

and www.komitteyehamahangi.com

I spelled wrong but I did know the correct spelling.

www.ettehadeh.com has two h's. I did not know it.

This is terrible. I really thought I'd checked the links. Due to my bad keyboard, I guess I had to check the blog itself so many times that I forgot to check the URL's. I can't correct them above or the blog will go unfeatured.

Roxane,

Maybe I missed it, is there a link to the story of the woman that got 70 lashes, or a picture of her?