Version imprimableSince the murder of Jina-Mahsa Amini on 16 September by the morality police, a popular uprising unprecedented in its scope, depth and duration has shaken the Islamic Republic of Iran. In less than 48 hours, the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom" spread throughout the country, then around the world.
The fight for the fall of the Islamic Republic is on
Soon other slogans flourished: "Death to the dictator", "Death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Supreme Guide", "Bread, Work, Freedom", "Poverty, corruption, high cost of living, we will go until the overthrow”.
This radical protest movement brings together women, young people, national minorities, workers with or without jobs, in a total rejection of this theocratic, misogynistic and totally corrupt regime. The uprising is anchored in the long term and affects more than 160 small and large cities. With more than 50% of the population below the poverty line and the absence of elementary democratic and social rights, it is the whole system that the people of Iran want to overthrow.
Calls for strikes are increasing, especially among university teachers, workers in petrochemicals, steelworks in Isfahan, public transport in Tehran and its suburbs, truck drivers... The strikers suffer dismissals , arrests and torture.
Fierce and unlimited repression
To date, the repression has caused more than 500 deaths, including 69 minors, thousands of injuries, more than 19,000 prisoners and missing persons, kidnappings. In Iranian Kurdistan and Sistan Balochistan, the Revolutionary Guards are waging a bloody war against the rebellious population. Kurdish towns are undergoing a state of siege that does not say its name.
The violence of this criminal regime knows no bounds. Numerous testimonies attest to the incredible brutality of the conditions of detention aimed at breaking the determination of the detainees. Prisoners are tortured, raped, beaten to death.
In order to create a climate of terror and put an end to protest, the judiciary pronounces increasingly heavy sentences against demonstrators. Despite this, the mobilization does not weaken. With courage and determination, students, young people, women, workers, artists and journalists continue to challenge the regime, and it has decided to take it a step further.
The proliferation of death sentences
For the simple fact of having demonstrated, at least 65 people (including 11 women and five children) have been charged with "enmity with God", "corruption on Earth", insurrection or murder. The judiciary connects parodies of trials, without any right of defense and multiplies death sentences.
After the executions of Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard on December 8 and 12, the Iranian authorities proceeded, on January 7, to hang Seyed Mohammad Hosseini and Mohammad Mehdi Karami. Their crimes: having dared to express their revolt in the face of the death of Jina-Mahsa Amini in Tehran or of Hadis Nadjafi in Karaj. The worst is to be feared for those who wait on the death row of Iran’s sordid prisons and more broadly for all prisoners.
The people of Iran must be masters of their destiny
In this context and faced with the spectre of a political and social revolution in Iran, the leaders of the great powers are working, more or less discreetly, for the constitution of a Transitional Council, bringing together all the currents of the opposition of the Iranian right, including the monarchists. These currents, liberal on the economic level and authoritarian on the political level, are the opposite of the dynamics of the mobilizations and the social and democratic aspirations which are expressed in Iran.
From the 1953 coup organized by the CIA and the British secret services against the Mossadegh government and its policy of nationalizing oil, to the Guadeloupe conference in 1979 where the heads of state of France, Germany, of the United Kingdom and the United States accelerated the Shah’s departure into exile and decided on his replacement by Khomeini, the great powers have always acted, unsurprisingly, in favor of their own interests against those of the peoples of Iran.
Contrary to the solutions imposed from outside, we defend a real campaign of international solidarity with all those who are mobilizing in Iran to put an end to the Islamic Republic.
To live up to the determination and courage of the Iranian people
The outcome of the current uprising will be decisive for the peoples of the region and the world. It is therefore our responsibility, within our means, to help the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising achieve its emancipatory aspirations.
Indeed, the repressive machine that is the Islamic Republic will not be broken without a powerful international campaign and without a strong mobilization of world opinion.
– We demand an immediate end to death sentences, executions and the abolition of capital punishment.
– We demand the immediate release of all imprisoned political and trade union prisoners, teachers, students, doctors, artists, activists and demonstrators, etc.
– We demand the establishment of an international committee made up of jurists, trade unionists, journalists and NGOs to carry out an independent investigation into places of detention in Iran.
– We support women’s fight for the right to control their bodies. We demand with them the abolition of all misogynistic laws as well as gender apartheid.
– We support the fundamental and democratic rights of Iranian men and women, whether they are Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, Azeris, Lors, or Persians.
– We support the workers of Iran in their struggle for dignity, their rights to defend themselves through strike action and the building of trade unions and political organizations.
– We strongly demand from France and Europe the freezing of the assets of the highest leaders of the Revolutionary Guards and the Islamic Republic, including those of the Guide Ali Khamenei and his entourage, the total amount of which is estimated at $95 billion. These fortunes acquired through the plunder of resources, the overexploitation of workers, predation and corruption must return to the peoples of Iran.
– Like what was done against the Russian oligarchs, we demand the freezing of the assets of the Iranian oligarchs.
– We demand the lifting of banking and commercial secrecy in France, in Europe and in the world to block the wealth accumulated by the leaders of the Islamic Republic, the Revolutionary Guards and the companies linked to them.
– We demand the cessation of all industrial, economic and diplomatic collaboration with the Islamic Republic.
As signatories to this platform, we reaffirm our full and complete support for all those who fight in Iran for equality, social justice, democracy and against all forms of autocratic and authoritarian power.
We are at their side by all the means at our disposal, and we are committed to multiplying initiatives of solidarity with the peoples of Iran. Until the victory of this irrepressible revolutionary momentum!
First signatories :
Nicole ABRAVANEL, historian EHESS
Gilbert ACHCAR, Professor SOAS London
Christophe AGUITON, anti-globalisation activist
Mateo ALALUF, Professor Emeritus of the Université Libre de Bruxelles
Tassos ANASTASSIADIS, journalist - Greece
Behrouz AREFI, Socialist Solidarity with Workers in Iran - France
Rolando ASTARITA, Professor of Economics - Universidad Nacional de Quilmes - Argentina
Manon AUBRY, MEP LFI
Clémentine AUTAIN, Member of Parliament, Seine-Saint-Denis
Ludivine BANTIGNY, historian
Alain BARON, international commission of the Union syndicale Solidaires
Jean BATOU, Professor, University of Lausanne
Abraham BEHAR, doctor
Emma BELLE, British civilisationist, Savoie Mont Blanc University
Olivier BESANCENOT, spokesperson for the NPA
Alain BIHR, Honorary Professor of Sociology, University of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Sophie BINET, General Secretary of the UFICT-CGT, member of the CGT Executive Committee, leader of the women’s equality collective
Jean-Jacques BOISLAROUSSIE, Ensemble !
Alexandra BOJANIC, FSU international sector
Manuel BOMPARD, LFI deputy for Bouches du Rhône
Michel BONNIN, director of studies at the EHSS, centre for studies on modern and contemporary China
Mickaël BOULOUX, MP for Ille et Vilaine
Alima BOUMEDIENE, lawyer
Tiago BRANQUINO, cultural and political activist, trade unionist, elected politician - Switzerland
Nicole BRENEZ, academic
Michel BROUÉ, mathematician
David LIBREROS CAICEDO, professor, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Raul CAMARGO FERNANDEZ, spokesperson of Anticapitalistas - Spanish State
Ana CAMPOS, doctor - Portugal
Robert CANTARELLA, director
Daniel CERIOTTI, nutritionist - Uruguay
Fernando CHARAMELLO, trade unionist - Uruguay
Claude CALAME, historian, director of research - EHESS
Salavatore CANNAVO, journalist - Jacobin Italia
Carmen CASTILLO, film-maker
Hélène CHANTEREAU, CGT info’Com trade unionist and Aplutsoc activist
Lou CHESNE, ATTAC spokesperson
Ramiro CHIMURIS, lawyer and economist - Uruguay
Herbert CLAROS, international relations secretary of CSP Consultas - Brazil
Eliana COMO, trade unionist, CGIL Steering Committee
Jorge COSTA, Bloco de Esquerdo (Left Bloc Portugal)
Pierre COUTAZ, CGT international sector
Léon CREMIEUX, aeronautical trade unionist, Solidaires
Joseph DAHER, academic
Christian DANDRES, PS National Councillor (Switzerland)
Cybèle DAVID, national secretary of the Union syndicale Solidaires, in charge of international affairs
Sonia DAYAN-HERZBRUN, sociologist
Sophie DESROSIERS, retired lecturer, EHESS
Bernard DREANO, President of CEDETIM
Penelope DUGGAN, editor International Viewpoint
Sabine ENDERS, ATTAC activist
Behrouz FARAHANY, Socialist Solidarity with Workers in Iran - France
Patrick FARBIAZ, PEPS (for a popular and social ecology)
Nejat FEROUSE, confederal adviser to the CGT’s International Space
Marina FERRERUELA, deputy and parliamentary assistant
Berivan FIRAT, spokesperson for external relations of the Kurdish Democratic Council in France - CDK-F
Téo FREI, climate strike activist - Switzerland
Bernard FRIOT, economist and labour sociologist
Mario ROSSI GARRETANO, trade unionist - Uruguay
Franck GAUDICHAUD, historian, Jean Jaurès University, Toulouse
Sigrid GERARDIN, national secretary for women’s rights, FSU
Paolo GILARDI, teacher trade unionist
Liliane GIRAUDON, poet
Alain GONTHIER, municipal councillor in Vevey - Switzerland
José María GONZALEZ, Mayor of the city of Cadiz - Spain
Sébastien GUEX, Honorary Professor, University of Lausanne - Switzerland
Murielle GUILBERT, co-national delegate of the Union syndicale Solidaires
Marie HOLZMAN, Sinologist and human rights activist
Jocelyne HALLER, Member of the Grand Council of the Swiss Left - Geneva
Ernesto HERRERA, journalist - Uruguay
Chantal JAQUET, philosopher, professor at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Claire JOBIN, sociologist, feminist strike activist - Switzerland
Samy JOHSUA, member of the Scientific Council of ATTAC
Leslie KAPLAN, writer
Andy KERBRAT, Member of Parliament, Loire Atlantique
Babak KIA, Socialist Solidarity with Workers in Iran - France
Aurore KOECHLIN, sociologist, feminist and anti-capitalist activist
Isabel KOIFMANN, trade unionist - Uruguay
Pierre KHALFA, economist, Copernic Foundation
Jacques KIRSNER, producer and scriptwriter
Nicolas KLOTZ, film-maker
Hubert KRIVINE, physicist,
Dominique LABOURIER, actress
Michel LANSON, retired professor
Michel LAUVERS, historian, Côte d’Azur University
Michèle LECLERC-OLIVE, Professor of mathematics, sociologist, CNRS
Olivier LE COURD GRAND MAISON, academic
Irma LEITES, plenaria memoria y justicia - Uruguay
Fred LEPLAT, Anticapitalist Resistance - England, Wales
Elodie LOPEZ, member of the Vaud Grand Council, Ensemble à Gauche, municipal councillor, décroissance alternatives
Francisco LOUÇA, economist, University of Lisbon - Portugal
Mickael LOWY, Emeritus Research Director at the CNRS
Christian MAHIEUX, international trade union network of solidarity and struggle
Jan MALEWSKI, journalist, editor of Inprecor
Gilles MANCERON, historian
Pierre MARAGE, professor emeritus at the Université Libre de Bruxelles
Maguy MARIN, choreographer
Gustave MASSIAH, CEDETIM
Omar MENONI, trade unionist - Uruguay
Roland MERIEUX, member of the Ensemble! animation team
Silvia Fernandes MICHELI, teacher - Uruguay
Anwar MIR SATTARI, environmentalist
Mathilde MONNIER, choreographer
Manuel AGUILA MORA, historian, Autonomous University of Mexico
Noel MOREL, external relations, libertarian communist platform network
Mariana MORTAGUA, Member of the Portuguese Parliament
Olivier NEVEUX, academic
Stanislas NORDEY, Director of the National Theatre of Strasbourg
Françoise NYFFLER, feminist strike activist and member of parliament of Ensemble à Gauche - Switzerland
Danièle OBONO, LFI MP for Paris
Solenn OCHSNER, trade unionist, feminist and climate activist - Switzerland
Andrés OLIVETTI, trade unionist - Uruguay
Annick OSMOND, socio-anthropologist
Ugo PALHETA, sociologist
Mathilde PANOT, Member of Parliament for Val de Marne, President of the LFI group in the National Assembly
Ian PARKER, Professor, University of Manchester (England)
Olivier PARRIAUX, professor emeritus at the University of Lyon-Saint Etienne
Jaime PASTOR, political scientist and director of the journal "Viento Sur" - Spanish State
Roland PFEFFERKORN, sociologist, University of Strasbourg
Elisabeth PERCEVAL, filmmaker
Jean-François PELLISSIER, spokesperson for Ensemble!
Martyne PERROT, sociologist
Serge PEY, writer
Nicole PHELOUZAT, sociologist at CNRS
Boris PLAZZI, CGT confederation, confederal secretary for international relations
Christine POUPIN, NPA spokesperson
Philippe POUTOU, NPA spokesperson
Stéphanie PREZIOSO, Member of the National Council, Ensemble à gauche - Switzerland
Nadège PRUGNARD, author, actor, director
José Manuel PUREZA, Professor, University of Coimbra - Portugal
Martine RAIS, doctor - Switzerland
Rebeca RIELA, economist - Uruguay
Laurent RIPART, historian at the University of Savoie Mont Blanc
Teresa RODRIGUEZ, former Member of Parliament and spokesperson for Adelante Andalucía - Spanish State
Ema Graciela ROMERO, lawyer - Uruguay
Pierre ROUSSET, internationalist, director of the online newspaper ESSF
Henri SAINT-JEAN, association leader
Sara SALEMI, Socialist Solidarity with Workers in Iran - France
Pauline SALINGUE, spokesperson for the NPA
Catherine SAMARY, alterglobalist economist
Mariana SANCHEZ, journalist and editor, activist with SNJ CGT and Ensemble
Cobas SARDEGNA, UNICOBAS - Italy
Jacob SCHÄFER, trade unionist - Germany
Janick SCHAUFELBUEHL, Associate Professor Faculty of Social and Political Sciences University of Lausanne - Switzerland
Marc SCHLESSER, Decroissance Alternative - Switzerland
Houshang SEPEHR, editor of the website Iran Echo - Socialist Solidarity with Workers in Iran - France
Yasmine SIBLOT, sociologist
Omar SLAOUTI, teacher, anti-racist activist, elected in Argenteuil
Alda SOUSA, mathematician, University of Porto - Portugal
Claude STAZAN, CEDETIM
Isabelle STENGERS, philosopher - Belgium
Quentin TALON, mathematician, municipal councillor in Montreux - Switzerland
Daniel TANURO, ecosocialist author
Imad TEMIZA, Secretary of the Palestinian Postal Service Workers Union - Palestine
Benoît TESTE, General Secretary of the FTUU
Julien THERY, historian at the University Louis Lumière Lyon 2 and president of the Media
João TEIXERA LOPES, sociologist, University of Porto - Portugal
Sylvie TISSOT, sociologist
Marc TOMCZAK, teacher-researcher at the University of Lorraine
Pascal TORRE, deputy head of the international sector of the PCF
Éric TOUSSAINT, political scientist, Universities of Liège and Paris 8, member of the International Council of the World Social Forum
Enzo TRAVERSO, historian
Josette TRAT, academic, feminist activist
Anne TRISTAN
Aurélie TROUVÉ, Member of Parliament for Seine-Saint-Denis
Franco TURIGLIATTO, former Senator - Italy
Charles-André UDRY, economist and director of the Alencontre website - Switzerland
Mario UNDA, sociologist - Ecuador
Miguel URBAN, MEP - Spain
Roseline VACHETTA, former MEP - NPA
Christiane VOLLAIRE, philosopher
Thomas WEYTS, SAP Anticapitalist, Belgium
Eleni VARIKAS, Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris 8
Youlie YAMAMOTO, ATTAC spokesperson
Erika DEUBER ZIEGLER, art historian - Switzerland
Jean ZIEGLER, sociologist, internationalist, politician - Switzerland
