Hands Off the People of Iran held a protest at the central Babk Plaza on Saturday 27 June. The event was late kicking off due to the Pride Parade but that gave us an opportunity to do even more leafletting.
Speakers included Cillian Gillespie from the Socialist Party, Anne McShane from HOPI, Fariba Talebi, Iranian political activist. Councillor Cieran Perry had to leave before the event started but left a statement to be read out.
Councillor Cieran Perry said:
Its only fitting that I should be here today in solidarity with the Iranian people whose government is supported by the IMF in war against the ordinary people. The IMF also support the Irish government in its attacks on the people I represent.
Its obvious now that the protests on the streets of Iran have gone beyond upset at the fiddling of an election result. The very foundations of the theocratic state are being questioned . Those who are on the streets are not just the middle classes. The majority of the protesters are workers, the unemployed and the poor...
People in Iran are entitled to what are ordinary human rights:
The right to join a union
The right to strike
The right to vote for a candidate of your choice
The right not to wear a hijab
The right not to be dictated to by a Theocracy
The right not to be invaded by the Imperialists, we have seen what such intervention has caused in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What we are seeing in Iran is an upsurge by ordinary people against a dictatorship. A dictatorship which bans independent unions and imprisons and flogs striking workers.
Contact Anne on 086 23 43 238
Anne@hopoi.