We Are
This is a publication of the Communist Youth Organization of the Workers Communist Party of Iran
The 99%
ISSUE 00 MONTH YEAR
January 2014
This issue There is another alternative to “Isamophobia” and neo-Nazism! Conservatives attack workers’ right to strike action
Charlie Hebdo: “I rather die than live like a rat!” The new cover for Charlie Hebdo is a step backwards! Greece: replacing the power of bondholders with the power of the people The Islamic regime of Iran’s online “dating” website Irish water crisis Thousands march in Madrid in support of Podemos
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Editor: Chia Barsen Assistant Editor : Arash Yazdan javanan.tamas@gmail.com http://cyo-iran.blogspot.co youtube.com/user/sjkiran1
There is another alternative to “Isamophobia” and neo-Nazism! The BBC and other major European news media are once again apologizing for Islam in the wake of three arson attacks on mosques in Sweden. The attacks on the mosques follow recent neo-Nazi demonstrations in Germany and an Islamist attack in a café in Australia. The arson attacks on Swedish mosques have once again awakened a new wave of Western governments and Muslim groups coming to the rescue of Islam: waving their nonsensical go-to card “Islamophobia”. This word is now being used as weapon to essentially stop all critique of Islam and to prosecute human rights activists, women’s rights activists, atheists, and socialists as both “racist”, “hateful” and “intolerant”. This attack on political activists are taking place given the reality that Islam is itself the most intolerant ideology and continuously promotes and propagates gross human rights violations with misogyny and child abuse being at the very heart of it. On the other hand, the neo-Nazis are often displayed in the media as an isolated group that emerges now and again and is outside the ruling capitalist economic class: they are portrayed as holding views that are the not concurrent with the ruling class. This is far from the truth; in fact the neo-Nazi groups are at the very heart of the system and are used by the system to promote divisions within the working class to suppress wages, benefits and workers’ solidarity and to give the neoliberal governments a facelift during
times of heavy austerity cuts. It is important to note that it is only under capitalist dictatorship of society that you have both a neo-Nazi group as well as Islamic apologists marching down the streets with full police protection. Meanwhile any person or political group that raises its head above the rest to criticize economic inequality that is embedded within the wage slavery capitalist system is viciously oppressed and prosecuted. The working-class has a third alternative to Islamists and neo-Nazism. The choice is never between supporting a religion and a far right capitalist group. The economic, social and political interests of the working-class are not divided between neo-Nazis and Islamists. Both these choices are minorities in society. They both represent the same political class that pillages economically and alienates humanity from his/her own self. Both these groups are tools to suppress the working class and to put a tape over the mouth of those who struggle for a better world. Only by joining the struggle for a world without wage slavery and religion can one truly dignify humanity. This is the struggle of 21st century conscious person, the working-class, and the 99%: we are the majority. The economic, political and social interests of the working-class are to do away with all archaic and oppressive ideologies such as Islam and to dismantle the economically exploitative machinery of capitalism: this is humanities’ real alternative.
Conservatives attack workers’ right to strike action The working-class’ key historical weapon against the capitalist ruling class is the withdrawal of its labour through strike action. In order for surplus and profit to be generated under capitalism the labour of the working class is necessitated in production. Without labour power, society, as it is under capitalism, will come to a standstill. One of the so called “freedoms” that individual workers, as “free” agents, can claim under a capitalist regime is the “freedom” to sell their labour in the market. It is labour’s economic interest to unionize. Unionizing enables the working class to sell its labour at the highest possible price and receive benefits and job security. After the conservative government’s recent waves of austerity measures in the UK, the Tories are promising further assault on the working-class by taking away one of their fundamental rights: their right to strike action. The new law will enforce limitations on union strike action specifically, public sector workers in key sectors such as health, transport and education can only strike if the ballot is supported by 40% of eligible union members (currently workers can strike if a simple majority reached). This is despite the fact that the Tories have opposed online secure balloting that would have guaranteed increased turnout. This comes after years of media bombardment of the strike actions; framing strikes as “disruptive” and an “inconvenience” to people’s lives rather than revealing the reality: public sector workers’ desperation due to low wages and job insecurity. Another Conservative/Tories plan includes allowing agency workers to cover strikes. This action will effectively make union strikes ineffective as it undermines the workers’ ability to use their labour as a bargaining tool. Further, allowing agency workers to cover and break strikes predicates the eventual plan of the conservative government to eliminate millions of public sector unionized jobs. It is not unusual for a hard right conservative party to directly attack the worker’s most fundamental right, the right to unionize and strike. However the Tories, confident in winning the coming elections, are doing this openly without guise. This is in part due to the prolonged absence of strong, and publicly present, Left-Winged emancipatory representation. This has left the way open for
political parties such as the Tories and Labour to have their way in parliament: taking away all the hard-fought for social services from the British working class. If public sector workers do not act immediately and boldly they will not be able to survive the next round of cuts. Labour unions in the UK have thus far acted within legal bounds: limiting the number of “illegal” strikes. By making strikes “illegal” the Tories will be able to use the state, such as financially penalizing “illegal” strikes as well as the police force to break strikes, something they are currently not easily able to do. The current political atmosphere in the UK necessitates that public sector workers to set an example for the rest of the British working class. My suggestion for combatting conservative legislation, should they come to pass, and negative media attention is the following: It is possible for certain divisions within the public sector workforce to strike without stoppage of public services itself. That is, where possible, workers must take over each service sector during a strike rather than shutting it down and walking off the job. This act will function to demonstrate both symbolically and in effect the power of organized labour and the importance of the public service as a necessity for society, in opposition to its commodification by the capitalist regime. As a possible example, public transportation workers can provide services free of charge to the otherwise paying passengers. Such change in strike action methodology can go a long way to gain public support and reduce the media’s ability to deprecate and criticize strike action. It will also remind the working class that their hands turn the wheels of the capital.
“I rather die than live like a rat!”
The attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris was an attack on the freedom of speech and a black mark on the face of basic 21st century human rights and values. The massacre at the Charlie Hebdo office, once again reminds the world of the reality of Islam as a religion in the face of Western apologists of a “peaceful” and “tolerant” Islam. The aftermath of this tragedy and other attacks such as this, is important in the way that it shapes the political world and social consciousness towards Islam as a religion. Islamists around the world may be celebrating that they have won a battle against a small French magazine, and that they have protected the image of their Prophet, but this is in fact far from reality. The reality of Islam and the life of Muhammad are both bursting with human rights violations, one of many being paedophilia (Prophet Muhammad marrying and raping a 9 year old girl). Every strike against human rights and values, any attack against human dignity, will only expose Islam further and will only marginalize and undermine the Islamic apologists. Any person today that holds 21st century human values and opens the Quran will be appalled and repelled by the Koran’s misogynistic, child abusing, and inhuman verses. To those that say that people’s beliefs must be respected: we say that no belief is sacred, and no belief is precious. We must, and should, criticize all beliefs, and we must especially be able to voice our anger and disdain towards those belief systems that propagate and promote gross human rights violations! It is the human being and his/her rights and freedoms that must be protected not a system of fictitious ideas! Islam as a religion represents intolerance and fanaticism. How many more attacks will take for some of us to see the reality of Islam as we now see that of the Catholic Church? In the face of an attack on our human right to the freedom of speech we must expose Islam even more than ever. We must drive back the Islamists with our voices and break the “sacredness” of Islam wherever it may be. And most importantly, we must not let the Islamists win with their method of using terror and intimidation! When the editor of the Charlie Hebdo was asked why he does not stop using images of Mohammad he simply said: “I rather die than live like a rat”.
The new cover for Charlie Hebdo is a step backwards! After the horrific attack which killed 12 people at cartoonists office, a new copy of the Charlie Hebdo is release. This new copy of Charlie Hebdo now has international attention and a wide distribution that the magazine has never had in its history. The new cover of the Charlie Hebdo was supposed to be in many ways a reply to the massacre that occurred in its office that created a global wave of protest in defence of the freedom of speech and against religion. Sadly, the Charlie Hebdo magazine did not deliver. Charlie Hebdo, in its previous issues that depicted Islam’s prophet Muhammad in various humiliating ways, attacked Islam as a religion. These previous covers of the Charlie Hebdo magazine said to the world that no system of ideas is too precious to escape mockery and ridicule. It portrayed Islam as an ideology that should and must be criticized and to break the ‘taboo’ of judging Islam. It is publications such as these that further open the way for society to see Islam’s inhuman and misogynist fundamental core. After the wake of the massacre in Paris, millions of people are now demonstrating in the streets to defend the flag of the freedom of speech. In this global movement is a group that is against Islamists and is also very critical of Islam as a religion: a religion that continually promotes, propagates and spawns Islamists groups around the world. There is a second group within the international movement against the attack on Charlie Hebdo. This is the Islam apologist group. These are the people that are desperately differentiating between Islam as a religion of “peace” and the actions of the Islamists. The third group in this movement is the ultraright-wing anti-immigration group. This group is using this event to promote racial and ethnic divisions within the working-class in order to win the next round of elections in Europe. This is the nationalist group that is using the excuse of “Islamification” of Europe in order to be elected to deliver other things on its agenda: a profound repression of the working-class through deep cuts to social services. The new Charlie Hebdo magazine, with its new cover, had the opportunity to reply and stand up to the Islam apologists as well as to the European nationalists, but failed to do this. The new cover is a cartoon drawing of the prophet Mohammad crying while holding a sign saying “I am Charlie”. The new cover image shows that the prophet Muhammad would not have agreed with the attack on Charlie Hebdo and he is sympathizing with the victims. This cover
image puts a good face on Islam and differentiates between the so called “peaceful” Islam and the Islamists. This is a big step backwards when considering that this is the same magazine that printed a humiliating image of Muhammad. The goal of Islamists was to put a tape over the mouth of freedom through violence and intimidation. This was precisely what happened. A magazine that was boldly critical is now joining the Islam apologists. The cartoonist responsible for the new cover image proudly said that he is a “Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Atheist”. There is nothing in religion to be proud of. Whilst it is every human beings fundamental right to believe in what they like, at an institutional and ideological level it is the responsibility of every person to criticize ideas that compromise our human rights. Islam today is a reactionary international movement that must be pushed back in every way possible. Just as it is important to differentiate between Muslims and Islam, we must also differentiate between Islam and what we consider our human rights and freedoms (gender equality, children’s rights, women’s rights and much more), and condemn Islam for violating them!
Greece: The new left-wing party in Greece, Syriza, wants to re-negotiate the terms of the Greek bailout. The bailout plan that is being implemented in Greece is essentially a “sink” for accumulated surplus capital in the Eurozone setup by the IMF (International Monetary Fund), ECB (European Central Bank) and EC (European Commission). These bailouts serve to unclog the arteries of capitalism in Europe and to restart the flow of return on surplus capital. Further, the bailouts always promote and protect the interests of the bondholders while the resources of the indebted countries are free to be plundered through the harsh conditions of debt repayment. Currently Greece has been given 250 Billion Euros in bailouts. Other European countries such as Ireland, Portugal, and Italy have also been given similar bailouts. Institutions such as the ECB work between banks and the state to protect the interest of the lending bond holders. IMF is a monetary institution setup to protect, promote and propagate US currency hegemony of the world. These institutions also play an important role in financing the election of pro-bailout governments into office, which protect the interests of the bond holders, such as the current New Democratic Party in Greece. With 25 % unemployment, cuts to wages and pensions, the people of Greece know very well that the “debt repayment” and “bailouts” have a capitalist class character and are not a path to prosperity for Greek people. Greek people also know that the bourgeois state of Greece is in direct collusion with the ECB and this partnership has meant nothing but poverty for millions of Greeks. The power of the capitalist state is centred on two major pillars: the armed forces (the monopoly of violence) and currency ma-
replacing the power of bondholders with the power of the people nipulation. The main job of the Syriza government, if it truly wishes to emancipate the working people of Greece, is to untangle the Greek economy from the tentacles of financial institutions such as the IMF and the ECB as much as possible: replacing the power of the bondholders with the power of the people. This move may entail leaving the Euro currency and strengthening the Greek state sovereignty that is currently highly eroded. The Greek anti-austerity movement is not alone. Other parties in Europe such as “Podemos” in Spain, and left-wing parties in Italy and Portugal are also very much present. If the Greeks maintain their momentum to overthrow and uproot all the exploitative financial institutions, the rest of Europe is sure to follow. However, this is all completely contingent on these left-wing parties remaining loyal to the working class economic interests and not stopping at short-term gains and small reforms that only ensure the continued dictatorship and longevity of capitalism.
The Islamic regime of Iran’s online “dating” website The Islamic republic of Iran is continuing its assault on the human rights and freedoms of the Iranian youth by introducing an Islamic online “dating” website. This dating website is yet another attempt to inject Islamic barbarity into the lives of Iranian youth. The website is created to promote the regime’s misogynistic ideology and to control and channel the revolutionary zest of the Iranian people. This website will also be another form of social control, and severe repression of the most revolutionary age group in Iran. With this website, the Islamic regime of Iran is also trying to combat “immoral” online dating websites that many Iranian young people utilize. There is no such thing as “dating” in Islam. If the word “dating” means anything, it would suggest an element of choice for both parties, which is especially important for women. Islam as a religion is profoundly patriarchal and the pages of Quran are bursting with verses that are both humiliating and oppressive towards women. Women in Islam do not have a choice, most notably when it comes to matters of marriage. For example, the Islamic law (sharia law) makes it legal to marry a 9 year old girl: legalizing paedophilia, as practiced by the prophet Muhammad himself. Under Islam women are also passed on as possession and sexual objects within the family structure. What the regime considers as “immoral” is what the rest of humanity calls basic rights and freedoms. These “immoral” actions include holding hands, kissing, and any sexual contact outside of marriage. Further, Islam severely punishes adultery (execution by stoning) and homosexuality (flogging and hanging). It is difficult to envisage the horror of a website that would promote paedophilia, patriarchy, and homophobia, while perpetually collecting data for the Iranian secret police. The Iranian youth want nothing less than to escape the Islamic regime’s tyrannical clutches on their life. The Iranian youth continuously resist the regime’s different attempts to deny them their right to enjoy their youth by any means possible. Iranian youth are joyful, jubilant and fiercely revolutionary! The regime’s “dating” website is another reminder of the desperation of the Islamic regime to control the youth that have found numerous ways to subdue the regime’s repression. This so called “dating” website is also another humiliating reminder to the regime that it is archaic and incompatible with the 21st century.
Irish water crisis
Thousands of people have taken to the streets across Ireland to protest against the privatization of water. In Dublin, 30,000 people took part in the rally chanting “No way, we don’t pay” and “the Banks got bailed out, we got sold out”. Major protests also took place in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, and Letterkenny. The privatization of water is part of the restructuring program set by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for financial bailouts. Ireland was given 85 billion euro bailout loan in 2010. In order to receive this loan the government of Ireland guaranteed its creditors to pull out of its obligations for public provisions such as water, education, healthcare, and other public utilities that was paid for through taxes. This is why the people of Ireland are now being forced to pay 200 to 400 euros per year for water. Neo-liberalism has created a world where capitalism’s crisis is being paid by the working class through economic restructuring. The neo-liberal and proausterity governments in countries such Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy have accepted large bailouts in order to save the financial institutions in their country and to revive capital accumulation. These bailouts only serve to prolong the life of capitalism at a very large cost and exploitation of the working class. Right now neo-liberal governments around Europe are busy putting a price tag on everything possible and inserting public services into the exchange-value system of capitalism. Placing a price tag on water and other life essentials is a form of secondary exploitation. The working class through its struggle may be able to increase its wages, however bourgeois is able to reclaim its surplus through the increasing cost of living.
The protest against the privatization of water must continue. However, this protest must also join a larger movement and organize around a working class, anti-austerity, political party to remove the neo-liberal government that is currently in power in Ireland. Such working class and anti-austerity political parties are already taking charge and re-shaping the economies in countries such as Greece (Syriza) and Spain (Podemos). Only a government with a working class character can transform the economy to promote the interests of the working class. As long as the working class is fighting for its rights as opposition the bourgeois will find new ways to rob the working class: either through primary exploitation (lowering wages and benefits) or secondary exploitation (increasing the cost of living).
Thousands march in Madrid in support of Podemos Podemos which translates in English to “We can”, is a left-wing antiausterity, anti-capitalism, political party in Spain. This party has become the focus of Spanish politics since it was founded in 2014 by Pablo Iglesias. Since 2014 it has become the second most powerful party in Spain, and won 8% of the European Parliament votes within just four months of its creation. In only a few months Podemos also gained over 300,000 members and is rising. In its first party congress (Citizens’ Assembly - “yes, it can be done”) it adopted resolutions including: improving education, anti-corruption measures, improving healthcare, and re-structuring the European debt. Podemos also presented a collaboratively written programme that emphasizes healing the Spanish economy through promoting social dignity via universal basic income, and changing the taxation system. The programme also emphasizes abandoning free trade agreements, leaving institutions such as NATO, and redefining the Spanish sovereignty. The Spanish Economy is heavily embedded in trade treaties, and financial bailouts from institutions such as the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). All of the previous governments have continued the neo-liberal agenda of deficit reduction, and austerity measures i.e. lending public money (taxes) to financial intuitions while selling off public services. Also countries such as Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Italy are used like financial sink holes to absorb surplus capital: indebted countries’ resources are ransacked while the crediting countries (such as Germany) are protected. Major bourgeois political parties in Europe, from centre-left to centreright, are using “debt repayment” and “debt reduction” as an excuse to
pass deep austerity cuts to social services via privatization. However, if Podemos remains loyal to its working class power base, at the least it will have the ability to renegotiate its bailout and will not need to play by the rules of European neo-liberalism. That is, Podemos needs to create and maintain the confidence in the working people of Spain that their class political and economic interests are at the forefront. As long as Podemos continues on the path of untangling Spain from the web of capital accumulation and financial institutions such as ECB and IMF and towards the social division of surplus, the working class, in its millions, will defend it and keep it in power. The working people in their thousands marched in support of Podemos in Madrid chanting “Yes we can” and “Tick tock tick tock”: suggesting the end of political elite in Spain. This call for change was echoed in Greece by Syriza that swept into power this week. Change is coming to Europe and perhaps it will mean an end to the humiliating robbery of the working people of Europe.