Farhad Mirzaei
Happy May Day, International Workers’ Day
I am Farhad Mirzaei, a teacher from Iran in Islamabad, Kermanshah. I’m glad to be with you. First of all, I greet all of you workers in Iran and in the world on International Workers’ Day. May Day is an important day because all attention is drawn to the working class, of which we teachers are a part. The working class is exploited and has to fight for a living. Such a day is naturally a good opportunity to talk about our common pains and to raise our voices in protest against all this insecurity and deprivation. Today is our day as workers, we as teachers and all the people that our lives been ruined by poverty and misery. We, who came to the streets with the slogan of “livelihood, dignity, our inalienable right”, and demand our rights.
We teachers in Iran are protesting against poverty, against discrimination, against inequalities, and against embezzlements and theft. We are protesting to to be deprived of the most basic necessities of life such as free treatment and the right to housing. And when the voice of our protest is raised, we have committed a “crime” and a security case will be filed against us, and our legitimate demands will be met with threats of expulsion and imprisonment. Why should be there a situation that some people get astronomical moneys , and astronomical salaries and some has no place to sleep on the night?
We want to increase salaries to the extent of an acceptable life standard, and abolition of astronomical salaries. We want free health care and free education for all. We want decent housing suitable for living. We do not want poverty and insecurity. As long as there is poverty, discrimination, embezzlement, insecurity, then the right to protest, the right for gatherings, the right to strike, is our inalienable right.
We must somehow raise our voice and say, where is our dignity then? We demand an end to security cases, summonses and demand the release of all imprisoned colleagues and all prisoners.
How much child work and street?! How long do people have to send their dear ones to work on the streets to get a piece of bread to not starve? We object to this. That’s why we said our protest is not just about livelihoods. The pain of our students’ hunger, their difficulty in continuing their education, their inevitability to accept marriage in childhood, is all our pain.
Therefore, one of our demands has been free, quality, happy, modern and non-ideological education for all children. In our country, Iran, any person and anyone who works more is more oppressed and tortured than others. The momentary and staggering increase in inflation and the price of goods, services and food items, along with the very slight increase in teachers ‘and workers’ salaries at the beginning of each year, has caused workers and teachers and a large part of society’s wage earners every year, to suffer more and more. It can be said clearly and explicitly that workers and teachers have always been oppressed and it can be definitely said that more than 80% of Iranian teachers and more than the same amount of my country’s working people are below the line of absolute poverty and the so-called red line.
Today, teachers, workers, and the insecure sections of society, such as unemployed workers, live in absolute poverty. The price of housing is so high that having a shelter is a dream for many. To me, the idea of having a simple car seems like a luxury dream. Teachers and workers in Iran are so oppressed in terms of livelihood that their only and most important concern is trying to survive. Not to think of comfort and tranquillity.
It is interesting that on days like Labor and Teacher’s Day, the rulers only take pictures with the worker and the teacher to show off. But in these days, the worker and the teacher who tried to celebrate their International Day are arrested and convicted!
Over the past few years, large-scale protest and trade union movements have sprung up in various labor organizations and various sections of the working class and protesting people inside the country, or in teachers’ unions in most cities of the country, witnessing in the form of widespread protest rallies and street demonstrations. We have been all over the country. The demand movement of educators and teachers ‘union associations in cities across the country and after the calls of the Coordination Council of Iranian educators’ unions in 2021, there were eleven national rallies and social protests on the streets. This is a sign that millions of Iranian cultural figures are suffering from oppression. As workers put it, “the thieves are free and the workers, teachers and the demanding people are in prison”. It is in such circumstances that we either have to endure a life full of hardship and suffering and witness the embezzlement of billions and billions every day and the theft of managers and their children and the aristocratic and luxurious life of rulers and ministers and thieves and incompetent managers, and doing nothing. Or if we want justice and demand our basic rights from the rulers, we will face arrest and imprisonment, dismissal and the issuance of long prison sentences and harsh treatment and beatings.
So our question to the Director General of the ILO is how long do you want to remain silent? We call on the International Trade Unions, the International Teachers’ Union, human rights organizations and free-thinking people around the world, to take action and not to allow the millions of workers and teachers of Iran to be oppressed. Condemn the repressions and demand the release of all imprisoned teachers and workers and political prisoners. Organizing, gathering, protesting and to have a decent human life is our inalienable right.
Long live May Day, International Workers’ Day
