Kevin Sullivan

Selective Outrage

Posted by Kevin Sullivan under Uncategorized

I feel Peter Tatchell’s pain:

In the last three weeks, several workers have been fined and flogged in the city of Sanandaj, according to a report by the National Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers of Iran. Their crime? Taking part in May Day celebrations in 2007, which the mullahs deem to be “anti-Islamic.”

Today’s protest outside the Iranian Embassy in London is a timely solidarity with Osanloo, Salehi and all the workers of Iran. It is coordinated by the International Transport Workers Federation and the International Trade Union Confederation, and supported by the Trades Union Congress and the unions Aslef, GMB, RMT, TSSA, Unison and Unite.

Similar protests are taking place in more than 40 countries worldwide, involving hundreds of thousands of trade union members.

Notably absent from the protests in support of Iranian trade unionists are most activists from the “revolutionary left” and “anti-imperialist” movements. They protested night and day when Franco, Pinochet and Botha jailed trade union leaders. But with a few honourable exceptions, many of them are now silent about the anti-worker regime in Tehran. Their justified opposition to US war threats against Iran has led them into a wholly unjustified collusion with Tehran’s Islamist tyrants.

Tyranny is not too harsh a description. Both Osanloo and Salehi have suffered sustained persecution by the Iranian authorities for campaigning peacefully and lawfully for workers’ rights. They have been beaten, denied medical treatment and imprisoned because of their legitimate activities as trade union organisers.

Free Osanloo!