Iranian Free Workers' Union: The Freedom-Seeking of Teachers, University Professors, and Youth Cannot Be Suppressed

The Iranian Free Workers' Union condemned the "dismissal of teachers and university professors" in a statement and emphasized the "solidarity of the labor movement with teachers and other social movements." This independent labor organization stated that "no degree of repression will be able to force the roaring wave of modernism and freedom-seeking of teachers, university professors, and the youth of Iran to retreat," adding that the government cannot further "drive education and all aspects of social, cultural, economic, and political life in the country into decline." The statement referred to the dismissal of Ismail Abdi from education after he had been imprisoned for nearly 9 years, stating: "Ismail Abdi and others like him, including Badaghi, Ghasemzadeh, Ebrahimi, Habibi, and hundreds of thousands of committed, caring, and freedom-seeking teachers, are the foundation and cornerstone of a modern education system that serves the interests of society and has either been executed, detained, or forced into retirement and isolation over the past 46 years." According to the Iranian Free Workers' Union, "the destruction of education and the regression of knowledge and social and political awareness is merely one aspect of the destructive policies of a government that, after 46 years of rule, has brought Iranian society to a deadlock in all dimensions of economic, social, cultural, and political life, exposing it to a deadly collapse." This labor organization stated that "if the Islamic Republic, at the height of its power and human slaughter in the 1980s, succeeded in creating a barrier against the social tendencies of adolescents and youth towards modernism, freedom-seeking, and equality by purging education and universities and executing and dismissing thousands of teachers and professors, this time, even at the peak of a political and economic crisis, it will be able to return society to an era of barbarism." Recently, the Tehran Teachers' Trade Association and numerous teachers' and educators' unions in various provinces of Iran condemned the dismissal of Ismail Abdi and the prison sentence issued for Mohammad Habibi, another teachers' rights activist, due to his opposition to the school naming policy in 2022. These organizations have also called for an end to administrative, security, and judicial actions against teachers and their activists.