Iranian Junta Increases Repression Of Workers Ahead Of May Day

international | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Sunday April 27, 2008 14:58 by Yassamine Mather

This year the Iranian government's repression of workers has started before the 1st of May with the arrest of a number of labour activists in the last week of April . Two of the leading members of the newly found 'Free union of Iranian workers' ( who despite its unfortunate choice of name has declared its intentions to work within the confines of the current regime and avoid 'political' opposition to the regime) were arrested ahead of plans for a May Day demonstration in Kurdistan. The government followed the arrests by banning unofficial May Day celebrations in various parks in Tehran.

In recent years workers and labour activists in Tehran have celebrated May day with a family outing on the last Friday in April (weekend in Iran). However this year , on Friday the 25th of April the Islamic regime deployed hundreds of military and security personnel who surrounded the main park where Tehran workers intended to gather and stopped buses and cars entering this area. Despite these measures workers walked to the park through other entrances and some workers gathered in another park near Karaj.

This latest repression comes at a time when the working class and the poor are facing unprecedented rates of inflation and severe economic hardships as a direct result of the sanctions imposed by US compounded by total mismanagement of the economy by Ahmadinejad's government.

According to none other than the government's outgoing Economics's minister Jafari: The president failed to listen to opinions and solutions offered by experts, which only added to the country's economic woes...Subsequently, a huge increase in liquidity injected into the country as a result of high oil prices and lowering bank interest rates fed the wild inflation further.” 23rd April 2008

In addition as each faction of the regime reveals corruption amongst leaders of other Islamic factions, Iranians have began to realise that their worst worries about the scale of government corruption underestimated government sponsored corruption. Last week Ahamdinejad admitted that the "economic mafia" and "financially corrupt" people in high positions were harming the economy .He blamed some ministries and government offices for some of the economy’s shortcomings. And guess what was his solution: “martyrdom”. “If we want to build the country, maintain our dignity and solve economic problems, we need the culture of martyrdom," Ahmadinejad speech 24th April 2008.

Ahmadinejad went on to describe martyrdom as "a quick and short cut way to reach the summit of salvation." He did not say how becoming a martyr would help Iran's economy, or high inflation

The decision by many European and Japanese banks to stop all dollar transactions with Iranian banks as well as renewed fears of a military strike, following the appointment of general Petreaus as US military commander , are creating new economic conditions with most experts putting the current rate of inflation in Iran closer to 30 percent rather than the official rate of 18.5 percent

Last year food prices rose by a third from March to August 2007, the cost of housing went up 14%, and the cost of medical care increased more than 18% according to IMF figures. (IMF monitors Iran's economy as it dictates new privatisation and 'reconstruction ' policies in accordance with the conditions of its loans. In the first month of the current Iranian new year ( from 21st of March) has gone up by another 20 % .