Iranian clericalist regime shaken by mass protests

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After a week of massive protests and street confrontations, the Iranian government appeared to gain firm control of the streets in Tehran and other large cities. To achieve control, the government appeared to rely mainly on the Basij, a large volunteer militia force. Reports from bloggers in Tehran claimed that the Basij who suppressed the protest demonstrations were largely unemployed youths from backward rural areas that had been highly paid to do their work.

There are reports that protests are continuing in non-confrontational ways—buyers’ strikes, workers’ stayaways from work, chanting from rooftops at night, turning on car lights, the releasing of balloons in the green color of the opposition. But such actions are invisible to the outside world given the tight censorship the regime has imposed on newspapers and even the new electronic media.

The main bourgeois opposition candi-date in the presidential elections, Mir Hossein Moussavi, has announced that he is applying for permits to hold any further demonstrations. That could reduce his protest to a formal one, since there is no indication that the authorities will issue any permits for street protests. He has also said that the struggle can no longer be carried on in the streets. That has shifted the attention of the commentators in the capitalist press toward rumors of a behind-the-scenes struggle among the ruling clerics.

It is likely that a layer of the rulers of the theocratic state have been frightened by the breadth and depth of the protests and fear that the Islamic Republic cannot be continued indefinitely in its present form. But it will be hard for the top leaders—in particular, Ayatollah Khamenei, the “Supreme leader”—to accept any compromises. So far, their response has been essentially stonewalling and threats of wider and more ruthless repression, even the execution of activists.

The newspaper that has been the ideological flagship of the regime, Jumhuri Eslami, has denounced Moussavi and the protesters as “anarchists” and “extremists.” The Basij are combing the city for opposition activists. Hundreds have been arrested. The regime is trying to brand the protesters as allies or dupes of foreign enemies.

However, even the conservative speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, has declared that the majority of Iranians are convinced that the results of the June 12 presidential elections were faked. Actually, the government’s response to the protests is evidence enough that it knows that (continued on page 7, in “Solidarity with the Iranian people! U.S. hands off Iran!”)

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55. Provide unemployment and retirement payments at the level of union wages and We propose an EMERGENCY CONGRESS OF LABOR to discuss and take steps to 6) To combat inflation: A sliding scale of wages and pensions that matches the rises in comsumer prices. To combat high medical costs: A free, universal, public health-care 1) Bail out the people, not the bankers! Open the account books of the banks to full public inspection. Nationalize the banks to be supervised by workers’ committees. 7) Immediate citizenship for all undocumented workers. No job discrimination; equal 2) No foreclosures! No forced evictions! Cancel usurious debt payments, and reduce pay for equal work — regardless of gender, sexual orientation, skin color, or national 3) Full employment at union wages! An emergency public works program to employ 8) Nationalize manufacturing, big agribusiness, energy, and transportation corporaall jobless workers and youth! Employ people to build what we need — low-cost quality housing, efficient mass transportation, cheap and renewable sources of power, 9) To mobilize support for the demands it adopts, the EMERGENCY CONGRESS schools, clinics — and to conserve our water, forests, farmland, and open space. should organize ACTION COMMITTEES in every workplace and neighborhood threat4) Immediate and full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq & Afghanistan! Close all ened by the crisis. These committees can draw up more concrete demands than the U.S. bases abroad! No money for the military — use funds instead for public works!

Convert the war industries to making products for people’s needs and to combat global 10) To put all these measures into effect, we need a LABOR PARTY — based on a fighting union movement and all people who are oppressed and exploited. For a work5) Reduce the workweek to 30 hours with no cut in pay, and cut the retirement age to Editor: Michael Schreiber. International Editor: Gerry Foley. Canada Editor: Barry Weisleder.

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Among many of today’s prominent artists are bits and pieces of Michael, just as he borrowed from the irrepressible James Brown. In Usher, Omarion, NeYo, Ciara, Genuwine (just to name a few), are glimpses of Michael Jackson’s frenetic, almost robotic dancing style. As a commercial artist, he had no peer. His 1983 “Thriller” not only earned a Grammy award, but spawned a dozen hits. The album would go on to sell more than any single artist’s: 27 million copies.

Years ago, I told my wife I didn’t care for the artist; she told me to ignore all the criticism, the press -- all of it, and look at him as an entertainer, say, like Sinatra.

I did. She was right. He was a master entertainer, who moved millions not only with his distinctive vocals, but his dancing changed the art like Muhammad Ali changed the sport of boxing. I never failed to marvel at his sheer brilliance and artistry. Recently, the prison station showed a video of Jackson’s concert in Bucharest, Romania. An outdoor concert, with more people than any of us would care to count, Jackson was in rare form, transfixing the immense throng with a show that was unlike anything they’d ever seen.

For those who feel his music was mere bubblegum pop, and thus devoid of serious social commentary, check out one of his post ‘Thriller’ songs; “They Don’t Care About Us.” Filmed in what apA WORKERS’ ACTION PROGRAM TO FIGHT THE CRISIS implement the following demands — mortgage payments in proportion to their capitalist-caused decline in value.

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2 Socialist Action july 2009 pears to be a Brazilian favela, surrounded by thousands of dark skinned boys and girls, many drumming to the beat, the song is an anthem of how the rich world treats the poor of the world.

Michael Jackson was a master of his art. He may be gone; he certainly won’t be forgotten.

The stateless ‘state’ of Palestine T he presidential election of Barack Obama has swept past reality into the realm of the silly.

Some of this is surely driven by the corporate media, which no longer covers the news but engages in what might be called “pre-news,” as it tends to predict what will (or may) happen, the better to not be scooped by competitors. And as news makes its hard turn to opinion, it sometimes builds up Obama as a world leader, in ways that are simply unreasonable.

This was seen in the run-up to the Iranian presidential elections, where news coverage all but benefits.

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Address State Zip E-mail tions and place them under the control of elected committees of workers. Chicago P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657 [email protected] Connecticut (860)478-5300 Florida [email protected] Kansas City [email protected] (816) 221-3638 Minnesota Duluth: P.O. Box 16853 Duluth, MN 55816 [email protected] www.the-red-raven.blogspot.com Twin Cities: (612) 802-1482 [email protected] New York City [email protected] North Carolina Carrboro: (919) 967-2866; [email protected] predicted the election of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi and the fall of the irascible Mahoud Ahmadinejad. The result predicted, talking heads opined about the global influence of Obama over the elections. (As for stolen elections, did millions of Americans take to the streets to protest the stolen elections here—in 2000?)

Similarly, much news coverage centered on Obama’s hard-line on the Israelis, as in his Cairo address when he called for a freeze in settlements. So slanted is U.S. policy towards Israel that a halt in construction in illegal settlements is seen as somehow “hard-line.”

For their part, Israeli right-wingers, many supporters of newly elected president Binyamin Netanyahu, have postered Tel Aviv with images of Obama wearing an Arab headdress (known as a kaffiyeh), emblazoned with the words “Jew Hater” and “Anti-Semite” in English and Hebrew (an allusion to his Muslim name and family background).

To “freeze” a situation that is fundamentally unjust is to preserve the status quo—a state of affairs that leaves the Palestinian people in an unjust and untenable situation. On top of that, Netanyahu recently announced an essential rejection of Obama’s “freeze,” and an alleged support of the establishment of a Palestinian state—albeit a demilitarized one, with foreign affairs to be overseen by Israel. This is a state only in the sense that the old South African Bantustans were independent territories (that is to say, not at all).

The Palestinians have had their best lands seized and Swiss-cheesed by settlements, their parliament has been cast into prison, their water is rationed, and their homes have been bulldozed, all while Western leaders crow about a “peace process” that is, ultimately, a freeze in oppression.

Meanwhile, Israel, not only the most powerful military in the region, but an undeclared nuclear-armed state, accepts the idea of a Palestinian state, but only if demilitarized—and this is seen as progress! ­— © MAJ 2009 WHERE TO FIND SOCIALIST ACTION For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office: P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610, [email protected], (510) 268-9429 Socialist Action newspaper editorial offices: [email protected] Website: www.socialistaction.org Philadelphia [email protected] Oregon PORTLAND: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] Ashland: damonjure@ earthlink.net San Francisco Bay Area P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610 (415) 255-1080 [email protected] Wisconsin Ashland: [email protected] Superior: [email protected] National Office 526 Roxton Road, Toronto, Ont. M6G 3R4 (416) 535-8779 www.socialistaction.org/ca.htm

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Seth Wenig / AP (Left) Labor supporters of GM workers protest outside N.Y. bankruptcy court against cutting of pensions and retiree health benefits, June 30.

Times, the most recent GM plans call for a 98% increase in autos produced in Mexico, China, South Korea, Japan, and other overseas countries bound for the U.S. market. The UAW and the Steelworkers union launched a campaign against Chinese truck imports based on reactionary “Buy America” chauvinism (not cross-border organizing) and succeeded in having imports slowed by Washington. The high price of surrender The new GM agreement, which is a modification of the 2007 contract, includes a wage freeze and a suspension of cost-of-living allowances. Performance bonuses and some holidays were also lost. It also includes job title consolidation, much like “broad banding,” which gives bosses the right to assign a worker any job almost at will.

The “job security” provisions of the 2007 contract are suspended. Part-time “flex employees” will be hired as needed. Pensioners will be paying $76 a month in Medicare contributions, formerly paid by

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Michael Jackson — Master Entertainer T he shocking passing of megastar Michael Jack-

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