Mansour Osanlou speaking in a panel in Washington University On United Labor Power with other Iranian Organizations acting for their rights and against the Regime !
Mansour Osanlou Iranian Transit /Bus Workers Union leader who is currently living in exile:
The Islamic regime after 30 plus years of revolution was unable to deliver the silent demands of Iranian people which was echoed in slogans during revolution of 1978-79 and those demands were;Bread , Shelter and Freedom. The other slogan was;Independence,Freedom and social justice.
After all these years these silent demands are unfortunately still on the table . And yet the statistics on execution has increased , the freedom of political prisoners did not happen, and some of those political prisoners released was because their prison terms were almost coming to end, and at the time when i was in prison together with other prisoners like Heshmatolah Tabarzadi, Reza Shahabi and many others,we came together without asking on which group or party they belong or without asking what were their faith or belief ,but came together on common goals to work and support the silent demands of people in green movement. Most of the people participated in green movement including student, women or middle class were from wage earning families, plus a 10-15% of people who were owner of a small business. This shows a national solidarity or unity exist in the society. It is not long since the green movement and therefore this movement and it's demands still exist. Even before green movement there were workers movement like the opening of bus drivers unions office in 2005,these did not happen over night ,it took 20 years , workers from different part of Iran were coming together to know more about labor union and labor rights. In every movement the social fabric of the society is important , for example on the issues of labor rights ,my own mother was collecting signature from the women living around majidieh square, all of these shows that in our society a desire exist to achieve their rights,these rights at the time of revolution were in slogan like independence , freedom and social justice. In recent time when president Rohani was visiting city's in the provinces ,some slogan like; political prisoners must be freed or No to execution were heard , at present one of the most important of these demands is the demands by workers from all over Iran, even you look at the ILNA news agency ,you can see news about workers protest ,strike or gathering for their unpaid wages and demands, workers of : Folad Zagros, petrochemical workers from different part of "Pars Jonoubi " or " Traktor Sazi " and "Iran Khodro " ,the workers in Iran khodro went on strike not receiving their food and called for increase in wages and decrease in production speed , 10,000 workers participated in this protest which is still going on , workers of " Neyshekar Haft Tapeh " and Karoon are also continuously in strike or protest for their five months unpaid wages and insurance and other rights, Workers of " Traktor Sazi " in the city of Tabriz went on protest in front of Governor office and the Friday prayer imam of that city got involved and asked the authorities to pay the workers unpaid salaries,... the teachers union has become more active in recent years ...therefore Iranian people wherever they live are calling for their demands as part of national demands and their activities are becoming more organized. Another demand is " NO to Forced Hijab " which has become increasingly popular and strong and women or girls are fighting back by rejecting the veil or loose cover all dress.... since the main forces in Iran are wage earners, they are the strong forces in the future movements in Iran...
My friends like Tabarzadi and Reza Shahabi told me to go and tell these stories to all over the world and ask for the solidarity between the people inside Iran and the opposition outside Iran. For example working in solidarity in the coming March 8 the International women day events and making this a social movement .....
Thank you.....
See the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0IBQh2aLoQ
The Islamic regime after 30 plus years of revolution was unable to deliver the silent demands of Iranian people which was echoed in slogans during revolution of 1978-79 and those demands were;Bread , Shelter and Freedom. The other slogan was;Independence,Freedom and social justice.
After all these years these silent demands are unfortunately still on the table . And yet the statistics on execution has increased , the freedom of political prisoners did not happen, and some of those political prisoners released was because their prison terms were almost coming to end, and at the time when i was in prison together with other prisoners like Heshmatolah Tabarzadi, Reza Shahabi and many others,we came together without asking on which group or party they belong or without asking what were their faith or belief ,but came together on common goals to work and support the silent demands of people in green movement. Most of the people participated in green movement including student, women or middle class were from wage earning families, plus a 10-15% of people who were owner of a small business. This shows a national solidarity or unity exist in the society. It is not long since the green movement and therefore this movement and it's demands still exist. Even before green movement there were workers movement like the opening of bus drivers unions office in 2005,these did not happen over night ,it took 20 years , workers from different part of Iran were coming together to know more about labor union and labor rights. In every movement the social fabric of the society is important , for example on the issues of labor rights ,my own mother was collecting signature from the women living around majidieh square, all of these shows that in our society a desire exist to achieve their rights,these rights at the time of revolution were in slogan like independence , freedom and social justice. In recent time when president Rohani was visiting city's in the provinces ,some slogan like; political prisoners must be freed or No to execution were heard , at present one of the most important of these demands is the demands by workers from all over Iran, even you look at the ILNA news agency ,you can see news about workers protest ,strike or gathering for their unpaid wages and demands, workers of : Folad Zagros, petrochemical workers from different part of "Pars Jonoubi " or " Traktor Sazi " and "Iran Khodro " ,the workers in Iran khodro went on strike not receiving their food and called for increase in wages and decrease in production speed , 10,000 workers participated in this protest which is still going on , workers of " Neyshekar Haft Tapeh " and Karoon are also continuously in strike or protest for their five months unpaid wages and insurance and other rights, Workers of " Traktor Sazi " in the city of Tabriz went on protest in front of Governor office and the Friday prayer imam of that city got involved and asked the authorities to pay the workers unpaid salaries,... the teachers union has become more active in recent years ...therefore Iranian people wherever they live are calling for their demands as part of national demands and their activities are becoming more organized. Another demand is " NO to Forced Hijab " which has become increasingly popular and strong and women or girls are fighting back by rejecting the veil or loose cover all dress.... since the main forces in Iran are wage earners, they are the strong forces in the future movements in Iran...
My friends like Tabarzadi and Reza Shahabi told me to go and tell these stories to all over the world and ask for the solidarity between the people inside Iran and the opposition outside Iran. For example working in solidarity in the coming March 8 the International women day events and making this a social movement .....
Thank you.....
See the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0IBQh2aLoQ
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posted by Mori A. at
12:59 PM
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