“We enter a situation in the month of Ordibehesht, after the Nowruz holidays, where day after day, the wave of protests, strikes, and street gatherings opens its wide mouth, ready to take on the glorious uprising on the eve of the 11th and 12th of Ordibehesht, 1401, known as “International Workers’ Day” and “Teachers’ Day”. During this time, several movements and actions have been reported, including:
– Gatherings of retired oil industry workers in front of the pension fund buildings in cities such as Shiraz, Arak, Ahvaz, Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, Abadan, Ardabil, Shahinshahr, Kermanshah, and Tabriz.
– A gathering of farmers in Isfahan in front of the governor’s office.
– Protests by retired telecommunications workers in Tehran, Isfahan, Ardabil, Rasht, Sirjan, Semnan

In the face of this series of protests by workers, teachers, and other social groups such as women, students, and writers, demand-seeking movements continue their activities on the eve of the month of Ordibehesht. It should be noted that without any doubts, the increasing growth of field movements of the country’s teachers cannot be considered as a unified movement. Working and retired women teachers, as well as the group of women teachers who are struggling with uncertainty, have a special place and role in this protest movement. This is because women make up about sixty percent of the body of teachers and in various groups, mostly teachers, literacy educators, pre-school instructors, official and unofficial forces, contract teachers, service-buying teachers, and freelance teachers, along with nurses and caregivers, they have a decisive majority and a constant presence in the serial street protests, even in the difficult conditions of the coronavirus pandemic, while struggling to make a living and earn their bread. Therefore, they cannot be ignored.

We must not forget that in this very moment, we are witnessing summonses and arrests, including those of women and men: Maryam Akbari Monfared, Reza Khandan (Mahabadi), Shahab Sultanian, four activists of the Iranian Women’s Rights Movement (Nahid Shaqaqi, Akram Naserian, Maryam Mohammadi, and Asrin Darkaleh), Mohammad Sharifimoghadam, Mostafa Abdi, and Abbas Dehghan, imprisoned Dervishes in Tehran’s Great Prison who are banned from visitation, as well as the Lordegan Prosecutor who has summoned nine cultural figures by the names of Nader Sharifi, Kourosh Ghanbari, Zadeh Ali Mahmoudi, Mohammad Saeedi Aboushaqi, Kourosh Sharifi, Hamid Aboushaqi, Mohammad Amiri, Gholamhossein Mousavi, and Ali Babamir to

A look at the protests and demands and the wave of arrests and issued sentences shows that large parts of these protests are defined around common issues that are closely related to each other. These common issues include: inflation and the need for wage increases, receiving overdue wages, lack of job security for wage earners, wage inequality between men and women at all levels, the issue of healthcare in all professions, imprisonment of a large number of male and female activists and their demand for freedom, unemployment and return to work, the issue of harmonization and external summons, and so on.

Each of these common demands is a bond of solidarity that can tie together International Workers’ Day and Teachers’ Day on the 11th and 12th of Ordibehesht. On this day, with joint action, we can unite the massive contract workers in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries who have been protesting and striking against private contractors, the serial movements of retirees, solidarity with Isfahan farmers, victims of financial losses, nationwide protests of nurses and caregivers, serial protests of municipal workers in various parts of the country, protests of steel and mine workers, protests of journalists and independent reporters, independent lawyers, the vast population of disabled war veterans, the millions of landless and waterless villagers, the masses of homeless and marginalized people, the numerous hardworking kolbars in the vast border region of Kurdistan, and the fuel carriers in the vast border region of Sistan and Baluchestan, and dozens of other protest movements across the country. For example,

The Khorasan newspaper reports on the current inflation as follows: “…for example, potatoes have increased by over 70%, Iranian grade 1 rice by over 60%, liquid oil and chicken by over 50%, eggs by about 50%, foreign rice by over 40%, and lamb meat by about 30% in the year 1400 compared to 1399.” (1) In addition, metro, bus, and taxi fares will increase by 25% from the beginning of April according to the decision of Tehran City Council in the current year. According to Tasnim News, due to the government’s policies, we should expect the dollar to reach 40,000 tomans. Ferial Mostofi, head of the Money and Capital Market Commission at the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, said: “If the JCPOA is revived and the government injects the freed funds into the market to reduce the exchange rate, this reduction will be short-lived and due to the government

These are the shortcomings of the overall quality of life of our society. Only through harmony, cooperation, overlap, and continuous convergence of demands can we overcome them, and undoubtedly, the only way to achieve this is through organizational and independent organization. In this cultural struggle, educators refer to legal provisions, stating: “Enforcing Article 30 of the Constitution means providing free and high-quality education for the children of Iran, which is the demand of 80 million Iranians.” The emphasis on free education, as opposed to commodifying the educational system, ties the struggle of the teachers’ movement with the children of the suffering and working groups of society and other social groups.

It is worth remembering that on Sunday, April 16, 2022, Ramin Safarnia, the lawyer of Rasoul Badaghi, announced in a tweet: “His client, Mr. Rasoul Badaghi, has been sentenced to four years in prison for gathering and collusion, and one year in prison for propaganda activities. Rasoul Badaghi has also been sentenced to a two-year ban on leaving the country and a two-year ban on residing in Tehran and all neighboring provinces.” These types of sentences and punishments, which the rulers use as a political pressure tactic to suppress the ongoing struggle of teachers, women, students, retirees, and workers, will not lead to any solution. We must assure the leaders that this repressive method, in response to the demands of the people, especially the educators, has never been effective in solving any problems throughout history. We cannot wait for the lives of Sepideh Ghaliyan, Zeinab Jalalian, Esma

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Footnotes:
1- In 1400, the inflation of low-income households was higher than that of the wealthy, Khorasan Newspaper, 24 Farvardin 1401.
2- Be prepared for a 40,000 toman dollar with the policies of the government, Tazeh News, 10 Farvardin 1401.