On the 23rd occasion of the massacre of political prisoners
We neither forgive nor forget!
Break the prison walls!
The Islamic Republic of Iran, in order to consolidate its political, economical and ideological foundations, from the very beginning of its seizer of power, started its brutal suppression of the revolutionaries and the masses of people who had dared to overthrow the reactionary Monarchy and had risen for a society free of oppression and exploitation. The new reactionary Islamic regime was wanted to break the determination of the people who were fighting against the oppression and put the country under the oppression and suppression. The Islamic regime suppressed arrested and imprisoned freedom fighters and the revolutionaries. The new rulers started to expand the prisons that their walls and gates were broken by the power of people during the 79 revolution. They imprisoned and tortured thousands of young Iranian women and men who became conscious and were fighting for democratic rights and equality during the revolution. The new rulers executed on daily bases hundreds of political prisoners to stop the revolutionaries from sowing the seed of liberation and published the list of their name to terrorise the people and the country. The highest point of such crime that had started at the beginnings of 80’s was the summer of 1988.
The criminal Islamic regime weakened following its defeat in the reactionary Iran-Iraq war in a period of two months executed thousands of revolutionary political prisoners in few minutes long ‘death commission’ courts because they refused to approve the Islamic republic and its crimes. This horrendous massacre was carried out consciously and in an organised manner by the order of Khomeini in collaboration and endorsement of all factions of the regime.
The brave and fearless women who had rebelled against backward laws and relations and the reactionary traditions were at the forefront of the 1978 revolution in order to achieve a society in which the inferiority of women and all patriarchy laws are abolished. These women constituted a significant part of the political prisoners in 80’s and continued their struggle in prison against compulsory hejab (head scarf) and resisted all other anti women Islamic laws under brutal torture, rape and execution without giving in to the anti-woman reactionaries of the Islamic regime. The women’s bravery and their struggle for their goal and their determination to break with the old traditions was the foundation of a women’s movement that today is one of the factors of instability of Islamic Regime of Iran.
During this turbulent period, imperialists and all western media’s economical and political interests were tied to preserve the system of the Islamic regime in totality so by their deafening silence endorsed a terrifying crime.
The reformers within and outside the government have constantly tried to white wash these horrendous massacres. Now, after several decades, and under pressure of the society’s public opinion, particularly the mass struggles of the past two years, they have tried to distance themselves from the massacres of the communists, revolutionaries, and freedom fighters, and point their fingers to the other faction in the government. Today they are also trying to popularise the slogan of ‘we will not forget but will forgive’ and by this way to preserve the totality of the Islam republic system.
Forgiving these crimes can only mean endorsing the system that oppression arrest; rape, torture and execution is an inseparable part of it. Forgiving these crimes can also mean barring people from accumulating historical memory in continuing their struggle to establish a society without oppression and exploitation.
We will not forget because in the last 32 years of shameful rule of Islamic Republic there has been nothing for the people except bloodshed, suppression, torture, execution and terror…. We will not forgive because we are going not to patch up and preserve the system whose survival is tied to the continuation of these crimes.
As we are commemorating the massacre of 80’s and in particular the summer 88, the regime is in its weakest situation and has lost its effectiveness and the deception. And its resort to nationalism has lost all its effect, nothing can save the regime and the people will continue their struggle to overthrow the Islamic republic and establish a new and revolutionary society.
The 23rd anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners provides us with an opportunity to continue our struggle even more united, powerful and organised. We salute our martyrs and popularise their uncompromising message, and on such an occasion, we are even more determined in our struggle to overthrow the Islamic regime and break the prison gates!
8 March Women’s Organisation (Iran – Afghanistan)
24 Sept 2011
www.8mars.com
zan_dem_iran@hotmail.com