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NEWS & LETTERS, July-August 2010
Freedom for Iran!
Protesters marched in New York on June 12, the anniversary of last year's fraudulent election in Iran and the murderous repression against the opposition. Slogans included Freedom for Iran; Down with the Dictator; Political Prisoners Should Be Set Free; and No Sanctions on Iran, Human Rights for Iran.
Chicago--Demonstrators gathered on North Michigan Ave. June 12 to protest the continued bloody repression in Iran, one year after the stolen election that brought millions into the streets at risk of death. Our picket-line signs demanded the end of theocracy and dictatorship and demanded freedom and rights for students, workers and women. We held graphic remembrances of martyrs hanged, beaten or shot to death like Neda Agha-Soltan. Response from passersby was positive--one young man even joined us from the streets.
One marcher told us that, contrary to the bourgeois media, the Green Movement is alive and vigorous. Commenting on the debate within N&L about the role of Iranian workers, he said, "The movement does not belong to anyone. It includes students, workers, teachers, and radicals, and no one has the right to exclude other groups' demands. It is mainly the youth, and they are not stopping."
This was demonstrated by the general strike May 13 in Iranian Kurdistan, the largest since 2005. A number of cities came to a halt in protest of the executions of five Kurdish workers and activists. On the anniversary itself, clashes with security forces broke out in Tehran. Clearly, the struggle for freedom remains alive in the hearts of Iran's women, students, and workers.
--News & Letters marchers
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