Last Friday as expected there were huge demonstrations in Tehran and other places. The occasion and central place of gathering was the Friday prayer and sermons that were announced to be led by Rafsanjani, a central pillar of the Islamic republic and one of the main contenders and competitors of Khamenei for power within the Islamic Republic and had not been seen or heard in public since the election day.
Tehran Friday prayers are held inside Tehran University and this was not an accidental or convenient choice. At the time of 78-79 revolution and indeed throughout its history, TU was a bastion of communism. The decision to hold Friday prayers there was an indirect and clever eviction order served on communism and communists right at the start of the rule of the new reactionary regime in Iran. This eviction order was followed by further campaigns of eradication (what was called cultural revolution and targeted communist and progressive students professors and staff) and “extinction”: the wholesale massacre of communist, revolutionaries and progressives.

Thirty years later, in an atmosphere that the only legal political gathering allowed was this Friday prayer, and in a move, in some ways reminiscent of the Russian 1905 gathering in front of the winter palace, headed by priest Gabon, people of all classes and strata were encouraged to converge on Tehran University to air their views and grievances. This event was one of a kind from several angles and has to be deeply studied and analysed for all its possible positive and negative content and effects.
I say one of a kind and unique because I know of no other occasion where the two sides of a bloody conflict, who the day before were confronting each other and would do so again in a few hours later, had ever held a joint gathering. The first world war fraternisation was completely different for obvious reasons.
No doubt a big chunk of the demonstrators had gone there to serve them eviction notice. But this was not a ground favourable for revolutionary left, although they had to be there to divert it for in Iran it is the rasputins who are wearing the cloak of Gabons.

Anyway, I want to focus on a certain aspect of this uniqueness and ask people to help start a debate and discussion with Iranians on these and other questions.

On Friday two very important things happened that were unprecedented:
A well organised section of the demonstrators started chanting two slogans among others. The first one was whenever the minister of slogans shouted Death to Britain or the u.s., they replied with Death to China and Death to Russia.
The second slogan, again by the same organised group was “Na Ghazzeh, Na Lobnan, Faghat Mardome Iran” meaning literally “ Neither Gaza, Nor Lebanon, Only the people of Iran.” The connotation being “ we don’t care for what happens to the people of Gaza or Lebanon; we care only about the people of Iran.”

I think the second slogan is highly reactionary and all Iranians have to be confronted to condemn it loudly and clearly for what it is: pure and unadulterated racism and hatred of Arabs. It is a persian equivalent of whites in the U.S. demonstrating against school integration. How can any Iranian call upon the people of the world to support them in their struggle against a vicious reactionary regime while shouting “I don’t care about anyone else especially if they are Arabs.”

The first slogan could be called a muddle or a wrong view had it not come from the mouth of the same people. Russia and China are two reactionary states that support the Iranian regime and have their own geopolitical and economic reasons to support the Islamic Republic just as the U.S., EU and Israel are pursuing their own reactionary ends by supporting a particular section of the ruling elite in Iran right now. Any attempt to introduce death to russia and china in the movement against the regime is clearly a pro u.s. imperialist diversionary tactic and amounts to throwing dust in the eyes of the people.

Within minutes of the demonstrations in Tehran, Shirin Ebadi, the pride of the reformists and chosen Noble peace prize winner held a live interview with German Farsi Radio station and excitedly and repeatedly announced the death to china and death to russia slogans as if it was the slogan of all the two to three million people in the streets. Her explanation and justification for those slogans was that the regime had been supported by russia and china in the security council. She was a judge during the Shah’s regime and for the past twenty five years she had judiciously argued against revolution and any slogan that started with death to and down with as a way of making things worst.
She did not utter a single word about the slogan against the People of Palestine and Lebanon, not because she is not a racist and arab hater, but because she is clever enough to know that it would be hard to ask for support while saying who gives a shit about arabs.

So far no one, no left organisation has said anything against this slogan, but I have no doubt about their disagreement and disgust toward such slogans. The point is that we cannot wish it away. We have to confront it. Clearly and boldly.

Some people might accuse me of indirectly asking people to withhold support for the iranian anti regime movement, while others might see this as a further justification for their support of the reactionary regime against the people. Both would be wrong