FAU International Committee supports the feminist revolt in Iran

Since the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini by the Tehran guidance patrol police a good four weeks ago, people across Iran have taken to the streets under the slogan “Jin, Jian, Azadî” (“Women, Life, Freedom”) and are fighting for spaces of freedom. Workers, especially women* and ethnic minorities, have entered an explicitly revolutionary phase and see the end of the Islamic dictatorship as within reach.
A turning point in the history of the Islamic Republic has already been marked by the nationwide uprising at the turn of 2017/18, when millions of workers rebelled against the ruling oligarchy and a life of misery and precarity, and society expressed its rejection of the system as a whole. Since then, spontaneous unrest on the one hand, and organised struggles of various occupational groups on the other, have become chronic and take place at ever shorter intervals, with an increasingly “militant” character. The fundamental changes sought by the unions pose an existential threat to the ruling classes.
However, the death of Jina Mahsa Amini has unleashed something qualitatively new, a break with the historical period of uprisings triggered by explicitly economic intrigues. The current unrest ignited over the state murder of a Kurdish woman due to the hijab requirement, a structural pillar of patriarchal rule in the Islamic Republic since its founding in 1979. Women*, as the social class that is oppressed, dominated and exploited above all others, are accordingly at the forefront of the struggles. With their ethnic and gender dimension, these have fundamentally changed the political dynamics in Iran. The fear of turning against a nihilistic regime has been replaced by anger, power and solidarity between the oppressed classes and the traditionally hostile ethnic minorities, between the “centre” and the “periphery”.
International solidarity must therefore focus above all on the radical currents within the revolutionary movement that do not want to stop at political transformation, but seek a social revolution reshaping the main social structures - even after the fall of the Islamic Republic. A victory for the feminist revolt in Iran would spur a multitude of similar struggles against patriarchy, advancing resistance to capitalism and the state in other parts of the world.
As IC, we call for support for the revolutionary forces: Organise and participate in solidarity actions, spread information from Iran and donate to the comrades.