Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed by Iranian security forces as they try to repress what is fast becoming a generalised uprising against the Islamic Republic’s leadership. Independent trade unions including the bus workers’ union in Tehran are warning that workers need to have independent organisation which is not linked to foreign powers and rejects intervention by the US and Israel.

What you can do:

• Share the statement from the bus workers union and the statement on the protests by Iranians for Palestine UK on the protests here
• Pass a resolution in your union branch condemning the crackdown and the mass killing of protesters, opposing foreign intervention and sending a message of solidarity to the Tehran bus workers and other independent unions in Iran.
• Read more of our coverage on Iran, including the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising from 2022 on our website here

Workers’ Union of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company statement

While declaring solidarity with the popular struggles against poverty, unemployment, discrimination and oppression, we explicitly declare our opposition to any return to a past dominated by inequality, corruption and injustice.

We believe that true liberation is only possible through the conscious and organised leadership and participation of the working class and oppressed people, not through the reproduction of old and authoritarian forms of power. In the meantime, workers, teachers, retirees, nurses, students, women and especially young people, despite widespread repression, arrests, dismissals and livelihood pressures, continue to be at the forefront of these struggles.

The Workers’ Union of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company emphasizes the need to continue independent, conscious and organized protests.

We have said many times and we repeat it again—the path to the liberation of workers and toilers does not lie in the path of a leader carved from above the people, nor in reliance on foreign powers, nor through factions within the government.

Rather, it lies in the path of unity, solidarity, and the creation of independent organizations in the workplace and on a national level. We must not allow ourselves to be victims of the power games and interests of the ruling classes once again.

The Syndicate also strongly condemns any propaganda, justification, or support for military intervention by foreign governments, including the United States and Israel. Such interventions not only lead to the destruction of civil society and the killing of people, but also provide another excuse for the continuation of violence and repression by the government.

Past experiences have shown that Western domineering governments do not place the slightest value on the freedom, livelihood, and rights of the Iranian people.

We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees and emphasize the need to identify and prosecute those who ordered and perpetrated the killing of people.

Long live freedom, equality and class solidarity.

Translation from Socialist Worker website, please click here for the original article