Posted on 03/06/2007 3:15:59 PM PST by nuconvert
Tehran, 6 March (AKI) - Thousands of teachers staged a rally on Tuesday in front of the Majlis, the Iranian parliament, in Tehran asking Iranian education minister Mahmoud Farshidi to step down, their salaries to be raised and that colleagues fired for political reasons be reinstated. The protest, the second in just a week by teachers, was called by 30 teachers' unions. Last Saturday, an estimated 50,000 professors protested, threatening to block mid-term exams and to strike until their fired colleagues, as many as 1,500 only in Kurdistan, were given their jobs back.
Iranian authorities are openly worried about the wave of protests also by workers in other professional sectors.
In an editorial on its mouthpiece, the magazine 'Sobhe Sadegh', the Revolutionary Guard Pasdaran wrote that "apparently someone is exploiting social discontent to undermine society and cause a crisis." According to the Pasdaran, "the teachers' protests, the strikes by labour workers, the students' dissent along with international pressure on the nuclear issue, the explosions in Baluchistan [recent violence in the southeast province blamed on separatist groups], ethnic strife, allegations of government in-fighting and the news of an alleged illness of [Iran's supreme leader Ali] Khamenei are all part of a strategy to hit the Islamic Republic."
On Tuesday, a group of workers with the furniture factory Taleghani who have not been paid for the past seven months and workers with electronics industry Damavand, who have not received a salary for the past 15 months, also staged rallies in front of parliament.
Many protests have also been taking place in Tehran universities including Shahre Kurd, Shahroud and Shiraz.
In the Amir Kabir university, where Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was publicly challenged for the first time last December by a group of students, members of the Islamic association of students clashed with university guards who were trying to prevent them from participating in a rally of solidarity towards 33 women's rights activists arrested on Sunday.
All students' associations in Iran had been notified by university authorities after the arrests that they would not be allowed to organise any rally or university meeting on feminism or women's rights before International Women's Day on 8 March.
I'm gathering pictures and more info.
if they were there to protest the U.S., it'd be the lead story on the perky show..
pong
Rule #2: Protests against tyrants and dictatorships are obviously foolish and misguided and therefore need not be discussed.
BTW, how does someone work at a factory for 15 months without getting paid? I think I'd be moving on to a better paying job.
Hmmmm....
Notice any women there?
Me either.
there are women in other pics
It's kinda wierd to see that many men together when there's no sporting event.
protests? How can this be? I'm told Iran is a great paradise on earth.
--It's kinda wierd to see that many men together when there's no sporting event.--
Just like any Saturday night in West Hollywood.
I salute their bravery and pledge my support.
as many as 1,500 only in Kurdistan,
I didn't know they had a region called Kurdistan even though I know there's a large Kurdish population there.
Sounds like the wheels are coming off the govt there. It would sure be nice if their problems were solved by internal means and we got a govt we could deal with. Just dreaming out loud here.
WHERE IS THE SOLIDARITY AMERICAN FEDARATION OF TEACHERS?
ping
That Communist movement is only in this country.
>>asking Iranian education minister Mahmoud Farshidi to step down, their salaries to be raised and that colleagues fired for political reasons be reinstated. <<
I wonder what kind of "political reasons" we are talking about. Its one thing if they are talking Al-Quaeda or Sadre militia ties and something very different if they mean voting for the wrong party.
go for guys.
They continue to work without pay in the hope that one day they will be paid, because there are no other jobs to go to.
They are fired for being outspoken against the regime or being too westernized.
Video link and photos from rally 3 days ago here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1796400/posts
of course they ignore it. there aren't any HATE BUSH signs
>.They are fired for being outspoken against the regime or being too westernized.<<
Hmm... That sounds like a bad sign from several angles... its the regime we picked, its smart people that are protesting (hopefully the teachers are smart not having had time to unionize)and we'd like the schools to be reasonably pro-western.
I think you're confused.
This is IRAN.
I believe you're thinking of Iraq.
>>I think you're confused.
This is IRAN.
I believe you're thinking of Iraq.<<
Yep, I read the story wrong. That's totally different. Thanks for the correction.
I wrote them an e-mail requesting information on what they were doing to support Iranian teachers protesting for their freedoms.
Here's a blurb from their website: The AFT's commitment to international issues has guided the union's work to support the development of free and independent trade unions throughout the world and to oppose anti-democratic movements and regimes that deny human and trade union rights.
I guess in their view that doesn't describe Iran.
F- the MSM. They are as evil as they are useless.
Is anyone in our government paying attention to this this?
"apparently someone is exploiting social discontent to undermine society and cause a crisis."
Now why would anyone want to do that?
/sarcasm
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