The “electoral fraud” in Iran’s presidential election has triggered a movement of a magnitude not seen since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Not only have millions of people poured onto the streets but they have also showed a strong defiance to the once much-feared oppressive apparatus of the Islamic Republic. This blow to the Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the most brutal anti-worker regimes in history, has shaken not only Iran but also the whole world. On 18th July, members of the International Marxist Tendency in Quebec, organized the first public meeting on Iran in Montreal with two prominent guest speakers: Amir Khadir, the first member Quebec solidaire (QS) elected to the Quebec National Assemby, and Arash Azizi, an Iranian journalist currently living in Toronto.
The meeting was a success, attracting not only members from the Iranian community in Montreal but also the general population of Montreal, some of whom were members of Quebec solidaire, a left-wing party in Quebec which was formed in 2006. Around 40 people filled the room at the McGill Students’ Union building.
The meeting, which was held in three languages (French, English, and Farsi), started with Arash Azizi who talked about the nature of the movement we are witnessing now in Iran. The movement in Iran caught everyone by surprise, even many Iranian leftists themselves. Arash pointed out that for the past 30 years, almost everyone on the right and left have said that the people of Iran will never move because they are apathetic and many of the youth are drug addicts. Piles of books have been written by scholars to prove that the Iranians can never move to challenge the Iranian regime. Overnight, these scholars are forced to throw their books to the dustbin and write new books when millions of Iranians took the street last month, first to protest the “electoral fraud” and within days it grew to become a protest against the whole regime.
The second speaker was Amir Khadir, a member of parliament from Quebec solidaire. Amir Khadir was born in Tehran and immigrated to Quebec at the age of ten. He started his speech with a question: who rules Iran? Going back to the Iranian 1979 revolution which was hijacked by the mullahs because the movement lacked a leadership, he traced the roots of the current Islamic Republic. The current Iranian regime was not born out of the 1979 Revolution but was born out of a counter-revolution against the 1979 Revolution. There isn’t a trace of progressive characteristics at all in this regime.
Amir then spoke about the blatant “electoral fraud” that brought people onto the streets, where less than one day after the closure of polling stations, Ahmadinejad was declared winner. In Iran, where the election is still done through paper ballots, it usually takes several days to count the votes. However, he also pointed out that all the presidential candidates are fundamentally the same because they have been part of the Islamic regime. Mousavi was the prime minister of the Islamic regime in 1981-1989, a period where he oversaw the killing and torture of thousands of left-wing revolutionaries, and a period of the consolidation of the reactionary Islamic regime. Mohsen Rezaee, another candidate, was the chief commander of the notorious Pasdaran or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from 1981 to 1997. Mehdi Karroubi was the speaker of the Iranian parliament in 1989-1992 and 2000-2004.
“The movement doesn’t have any clear direction”, said Amir Khadir, correctly pointing out one of the major weaknesses of current movement. Lacking any revolutionary organization and leadership, the movement gravitated toward Mousavi’s presidential election although Mousavi himself never has a control over the movement. He repeatedly called people to stay away from the street, but people in tens of thousands kept marching for weeks and he was forced to attend these mass rallies or else he would lose whatever base of support he has.
What is needed now is a revolutionary organization that can give the movement an organized expression and put into motion the will of the millions, which is the end of this dictatorial regime of Islamic Republic.
The last speaker was Mike Leiden, a member of the International Marxist Tendency. Ted spoke about the global economic and political crisis that serves as the background to the movement in Iran. One will be lost in understanding the movement in Iran without an international perspective. Iran is entering its most turbulent period since 1979 as the whole world is experiencing the beginning of the biggest crisis of capitalism.
The discussion afterward was lively as the attendees were asking questions about the role of the working class in Iran, the intervention of the imperialist countries, and also about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s support to Ahmadinejad. Arash Azizi was quick to point out that Chavez, as a head of a state, has the obligation to make diplomatic relations with other countries in order to establish trade. However Chavez has made a big mistake by calling Ahmadinejad his brother and confuses the true nature of the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime is not an anti-imperialist regime despite its rhetoric and Chavez’s support has alienated many Iranian revolutionaries. However, Chavez is not the sole voice of the Venezuelan Revolution. The Venezuelan Marxists from the Corriente Marxista Revolucionaria have published a statement criticizing Chavez’s position. As well, the Second Latin American Meeting of Worker-Recovered Factories in Caracas sent a solidarity message to the Iranian people. Ted added that if Chavez was in Iran and did what he has been doing in Venezuela (establishing social missions, empower the trade unions, calling for factory occupations, establish communal councils, telling workers to take power, etc), he would have been killed by Ahmadinejad.
The International Marxist Tendency (IMT) in Quebec, which is also a collective within Quebec Solidaire, will continue to organize and participate in the solidarity movement with the Iranian people in their struggle to overthrow the Islamic regime. This event on Iran is a part of IMT’s struggle to build class solidarity. It was very encouraging that the bonds of international solidarity can cut across the divisions of nation, race, language and religion. The IMT is fighting for a genuine “Quebec Solidaire” and this successful meeting was an important step forward in achieving this aim
