Salvatore Marra;s speech :“Director of the European and International Policies Department at CGIL”
Erik Lee’s message: founding Editor the founding editor of LabourStart, the news and campaigning website of the international trade union movement
Message from Mark Osborn a teacher and NEU union rep in a South East London Academy. He is a member of the UK-based group Workers’ Liberty
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MAsoud Arzhang’ speech: Masoud Arjang: Deputy Secretary-General of the British Columbia General Employees’ Union.( BCGEU)
Translation into English:
Masoud Arjang, Deputy Secretary General of the BCGEU (the union of public service workers in Canada), was one of the speakers at an online conference marking International Workers’ Day. This conference was held on April 26 by the Campaign for the Freedom of Imprisoned Workers. A summary of Masoud Arjang’s remarks is as follows:
Thank you, and thanks as well to your viewers.
Allow me first to congratulate the working class of Iran, as well as each and every oppressed person in Iran, on the arrival of May Day, International Workers’ Day.
More than 47 years have passed since the establishment of a capitalist and anti-worker regime in Iran—a regime that, from its very first days, demonstrated its hostility toward workers and the toiling masses by attacking unemployed workers in Isfahan and by arresting and executing labor activists. The dark record of the Islamic Republic as an anti-worker and anti-human regime is well known to all freedom-loving people and activists in the equality movement around the world. This awareness is the result of the work and efforts of organizations such as the “Free Them Now” campaign.
Friends, labor movement activists and equality-seeking activists must organize. We must build organizations within labor associations and local networks. There is no path other than ending these 47 years of oppression. We must become organized and unite our fundamental demands in cooperation with other labor organizations. Comrades and friends, one of these demands is an end to internet shutdowns. Under no circumstances should we accept a tiered or restricted internet.
In closing, comrades and friends, I know we have gone through very difficult times. In this turbulent and tense period, it is only our unity, our organization, and our collective voice that can bring down this decades-long oppression.
We must move toward a general strike.
Long live May Day, International Workers’ Day (May 1).