On Wednesday afternoon, the AFL-CIO, the Solidarity Center and the Washington Metro workers union joined like-minded activists around the world in a call to promote workers’ rights in Iran.
Activist groups protested throughout the day Wednesday in observance of an International Day of Action on Iran. These groups organized the event to rally support for Iranian union members recently denied the right to strike in Tehran.
Iranian police disrupted a Jan. 28 strike, planned to protest the arrest of Mansoor Osanloo, president of an Iranian transportation union, in December. On the eve of the strike, the police arrested other leaders of the union as well as their wives and children. The following morning, the police detained hundreds more workers using tear gas, batons and guns, leaving approximately 30 hospitalized and nearly 600 imprisoned, according to The Washington Post.
Participants in yesterday’s rally protested these events outside Iranian embassies and foreign ministries.
Global protesters included transportation unions from the Americas, as well as throughout Europe and Asia.
D.C. groups gathered at the Iranian Interest Section located within the Embassy of Pakistan at Wisconsin Ave, as Iran does not have an embassy in the United States.
While the Iranian Interest Section could not be reached for comment, Iran Focus, a news service that focuses on Iran, Iraq and the Middle East, reported this week that the Iranian government “has accused some labor unions of action against national security, holding illegal gatherings and being linked to banned communist and Kurdish groups.”
The activists sought to promote grassroots democratic change in the Middle East by supporting the union workers, according to Emil Totonchi (SFS ‘06), a member of the Georgetown University Solidarity Committee who took part in the Day of Action.
Totonchi emphasized the importance of the protests in promoting change in Iran.
“This event underscores the importance of trade unions in every corner of the world… in guaranteeing the rights of workers,” he said. “Without a union, workers have very little power and incentive to defend themselves at the workplace for fear of repression and job loss from management at least, or government security forces at most.”
