Statements from Labor Organizations on International Workers' Day: Prison and Exile Sentences for All Activists Should Be Revoked

Several labor, retirees, and teachers' organizations issued statements on the occasion of International Workers' Day, calling for the release of imprisoned activists and the revocation of their exile sentences. The Coordinating Council of Cultural Associations of Iran, the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran Bus Company, and the Free Workers' Union of Iran criticized the Islamic Republic's policies towards workers in a statement on Wednesday, May 1, demanding the "unconditional freedom of all labor activists from prison, the cancellation of exile sentences, and the reinstatement of dismissed workers in various cultural, labor, women's, and environmental sectors." They noted in part of their statement regarding the Islamic Republic's policies: "In this religious and capital-centric governance, no human being has any recognized existence, and what has materialized in these social relations is the death of life." The three organizations added: "Members of the ruling class are the product of a fundamental lie called the promise of an equal and free society and the trivialization of these stolen human concepts." According to these labor and teachers' organizations, "It is based on this inhumane trend that the dominant minority and the oppressed majority are reproduced; the same minority that does not work and lives, and the majority that works and does not live." The statement continues: "This totalitarian oppression, derived from a violent ideology, is bound to exploitation and legalized plunder, where human beings and their world are commodities for a market where torture, blood, and death are normalized." The Coordinating Council of Cultural Associations of Iran, the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran Bus Company, and the Free Workers' Union of Iran also pointed out the ruling class's view towards women, stating: "In this completely unequal and patriarchal system, women are merely tools that come under the control of power, and any form of autonomy from them can be stripped away." They added: "The expansion and deepening of slavery and the lack of critical thinking, facilitated by the ruling ideology, have blocked the path to liberation, equality, and becoming human from childhood." The statement reads: "This world constructed from violence, exploitation, and plunder calls us to remain in the human domain, to seek life, to responsibly self-found, to achieve awareness leading to liberation and equality." These organizations emphasized the importance of "remaining in the human domain, seeking life, responsible self-founding, awareness leading to liberation, and equality," stating: "We, the teachers, workers, retirees, and oppressed people, believe that building a world endowed with the will of free humans is possible and achievable." They also stressed the need to "continue the Woman-Life-Freedom movement and to promote, expand, and implement the charter of minimum demands of the labor and civil organizations of the people of Iran," considering it "the path to liberate the oppressed people from the grip of the ruling tyranny." They added: "As free humans, we have the right to liberation from slavery, violence, and systemic exploitation by any means that the people choose," and emphasized: "We have the right to determine our political, economic, and social destiny based on free elections and a fully democratic method for fundamental changes in these areas." The statement also emphasizes the "right to know, education, education in the mother tongue, and teaching for all," stating: "No individual should be subjected to humiliation, threats, and biased judgments by the ideological agents of the government through official education." The Coordinating Council of Cultural Associations of Iran, the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran Bus Company, and the Free Workers' Union of Iran pointed out: "We have the right to critically review any matter that has been sanctified by the ruling power based on knowledge and human reason, without fear of repression, because sanctities have always been the source of cruelty." These organizations wrote about the status of women in Iran: "Women in our society are subjected to double oppression due to tradition, religion, religious politics, family, educational institutions, and laws derived from them, and emphasized that to be liberated from this oppression, women have the right to choose their lifestyle in the broadest sense." They referred to the recent plan of the Islamic Republic to enforce mandatory hijab as "a declaration of war against the people," which, according to the statement, "will be dismantled by the sacred and revolutionary anger of the people." They wrote about the conditions of workers: "A worker is not a slave to any master or system, and the exploitation of humans by humans, under any contract, is condemned." The Coordinating Council of Cultural Associations of Iran, the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran Bus Company, and the Free Workers' Union of Iran also emphasized the "right of workers" to be "liberated" from "the logic of capital accumulation due to the expropriation of labor power and tools." Other points in the joint statement of these three organizations include the "restoration of the marginalized, the sidelined, religious and ethnic minorities, etc. to the center of life" and the "establishment of peace in the region and the world, which leads to the permanent defeat of both regional and global rulers." Signatories of the "1403 Pact" to the Islamic Republic: You cannot push back people's struggles by expanding the scope of war. Several labor, retirees, and professional organizations spoke in a joint statement about the labor and political demands of workers and wage earners. The Union of Retirees, the Electrical and Metal Association of Kermanshah, the Council of Retirees of Iran, the Council for Organizing Protests of Contract Oil Workers, the Council for Organizing Protests of Informal Oil Workers (Third Parties), the Council for Coordinating Nurses' Protests, the Voice of Iranian Women, and the Justice Seekers Organization are signatories of this statement. In this statement, it is announced that this year is a year of persistent pursuit and standing by the pact made in the cry of woman, life, freedom two years ago, stating: "Women have been subjected to various forms of oppression and harassment since the revolution, up to these days when, under the pretext of war with Israel, systematic, brutal suppression and war against women have been waged to impose mandatory hijab, but women continue to resist, and the struggle in its various forms has not stopped for a moment." The statement reads: "We stand until the end, and we will remain committed to this pact and will pursue the path of liberation from poverty, oppression, and discrimination." They wrote in part of their statement: "We stand against discrimination, class oppression, poverty, against the shameless wages of this year for workers and all wage earners, and the crushing taxes imposed on the people." The signatories of the statement demanded that "the contractors' system be dismantled" and that all "forms of slave-like and temporary contracts" come to an end, adding: "We emphasize social insurance, including access to free healthcare services for all people and free education for children, and the necessary facilities for housing for the entire community, and we will fight against anything that threatens human security and life." These organizations declared that "private education is against the interests of the general public" and added: "Free and non-ideological education, in accordance with international standards, must be provided for all children. We consider the imposition of marriage on children a crime and a sin and fight against child marriage." "The prohibition and complete cessation of executions" is another demand raised in this statement. The signatories of the statement described execution as "governmental murder" and pointed out: "The government seeks to suppress activists and push back social protests by intensifying repression and increasing executions." They emphasized the fight against "the issuance and implementation of any form of capital punishment, execution, and retribution under any title" and added: "We consider any form of psychological and physical torture and forced confession as prohibited." In the statement, "unconditional freedom of belief, expression, and thought, press, political parties, local and national labor and civil organizations, gatherings, strikes, marches, the existence of social networks, and audio-visual media, the unquestionable right of all people" is described and stated that these rights must be recognized. The signatory organizations also emphasized that "religion should in no way interfere in the political, economic, social, and legal laws of the country and the private lives of individuals" and demanded that all political prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally, that the criminalization of political, labor, and civil activities be stopped, and that all security sentences and cases against activists be revoked. They also announced that "those responsible for suppressing popular protests must be tried and held accountable before the people." "Complete equality of women's rights with men in all political, economic, social, and familial spheres," ending "mandatory hijab and any form of apartheid and gender discrimination," abolishing "all discriminatory laws and traditions against sexual and gender affiliations and orientations," and recognizing the "rights of queer individuals" are emphasized in this statement. These organizations strongly condemned the government's warmongering policies, which have entered a phase of confrontation and direct confrontation and continue to plunder the people's resources to maintain the regime, stating that "you cannot push back people's struggles by expanding the scope of war." They also condemned "the massacre of the people of Gaza by Israel and the attacks of Hamas against the people of Israel." At the end of the statement, the signatories of the "1403 Pact" stated that they are fighting for the dismantling of repressive organs and the direct and permanent involvement of the people in managing the country's affairs through local and national councils, and they call on all people to join this pact.