Iranian Slavery…Today.

Looks like the people of Iran are getting fed up with their president’s priorities: They want fair labor laws, not nuke’s…Show by mass protest. In a country not afraid to kill or imprison its citizens for dissent, a 10,000 strong anti establishment rally is very telling. Kudos to those brave soul's. Now imagine the hardship they will endure due to their president's foreign policies and ambitions as well as their apparent slavery...

CNN

TEHRAN, Iran, (Reuters) -- Thousands of Iranian workers on Monday protested the growing use of short-term employment contracts. It was the most vociferous May Day demonstration the Islamic state has seen in years.

The protest came as a reminder to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that, although embroiled in an international dispute over his country's atomic ambitions, he was elected to improve living conditions for the poorest members of society.

Short-term contracts, while better paid than regular staff contracts, allow bosses to fire workers more easily and cheaply.

And this from one protester:

"The short-term contract is a slavery law."

Slavery.


[edit on 1-5-2006 by skippytjc]

Now...now Skippy..........you left out that this is all Bush's fault.

Actually this is because of Iraq.....that's right!

What else will the usual anit-american crowd on this site come up with....???

wow what a day!! I'm glad to see that the Iranians taking to the streets to voice their opposition for the cause that means the most to them. It can be seen as either scary or hopeful when people all around the world are marching to bring change.

Now as for the slavery part, many immigrants here in the US can say the same too, cheap pay, no benefits and fears of being deported make them work in conditions very close to slavery. Sweatshops in California staffed by illegals in deplorable conditions are not out of the ordinary and those poor people can't complain because obviously Americans have no sympathy for those who enter this country illegally, so their slavery is much easier to tolerate and allowed to happened.

Originally posted by worldwatcher
Now as for the slavery part, many immigrants here in the US can say the same too, cheap pay, no benefits and fears of being deported make them work in conditions very close to slavery.

I understand your point, and agree that some may feel that way, but your analogy is poor:

We aren’t talking about immigrants to Iran; we are talking about Iranians themselves. Big difference.

And as far as the analogy itself, I don’t feel sorry for UNDOCUMENTED people feeling like slaves here in the US, there is a reason they are undocumented in the first place: They don’t want to pay taxes or health benefits, they chose to come here illegally ("chose" being the operative word). So it’s simply not the same, its a self imposed position.

Now if you thought some American citizens are being treated like slaves due to its laws, then that’s another can of worms.


[edit on 1-5-2006 by skippytjc]

And so it begins.

I don't know if you remember when Mr. Bush told the Iranian people "we respect your right to choose your own future and win your own freedom."

If Iran tries to put growing dissent down with violence, then you can bet your bottom dollar that a strike force of F-16's will be enroute to begin regime change.

Thousands of people protest all the time in many different countries about employment, and what about the millions who protested against the Iraq war. "slavery" - Yet more propaganda geez

[edit on 1-5-2006 by Xeros]

[edit on 1-5-2006 by Xeros]

Yeah... slavery...

Not like Saipan....

And not anything like the migrant worker slavery of Saudi Arabia or the UAE...

And certainly not anything like the actual slavery of, say, the Sudan...

People actually protesting against short-term labor contracts because they expect something better. I'm guessing the possibility of seeing that in America died in the Eisenhower years.

Please.

If a protester here made that slavery comment, you could bet they'd be derided as

1.) an illegal immigrant, or
2.) a communist.

But it's Iran! OMG! It must really be slavery!

In fact you see plenty of the former when dealing with the current US protests and plenty of the latter whenever similar protests happen in Europe by the exact people who take every opportunity they can to lambast Iran.

Presenting a labor protest as some kind of indictment of the evils of the Iranian state. .. please.

Are there any US citizens who care any more about what happens in their own country?

[edit on 1-5-2006 by koji_K]

Saipan is not subject to U.S. labor laws, it is a commonwealth.

Research what that means, while doing that you may learn that while the conditions may not be acceptable to you, people are there willingly, and legally. They are making far more than they would in their home countries.

The median household income in Saipan is $20,644. Far from "slavery"


If you don't like slavery in the Sudan, don't eat chocolate. Don't like the worker program in Suadi, don't buy gas.

But you won't do those things will you?

Yes, I care about issues in my country, but you didn't raise any.



[edit on 1-5-2006 by crisko]

Originally posted by crisko
Saipan is not subject to U.S. labor laws, it is a commonwealth.

Research what that means, while doing that you may learn that while the conditions may not be acceptable to you, people are there willingly, and legally. They are making far more than they would in their home countries.

The median household income in Saipan is $20,644. Far from "slavery"


If you don't like slavery in the Sudan, don't eat chocolate. Don't like the worker program in Suadi, don't buy gas.

But you won't do those things will you?

Yes, I care about issues in my country, but you didn't raise any.



[edit on 1-5-2006 by crisko]

I'm afraid you misunderstood my post. I was not trying to name specific issues in America. Nor did I mention anything about Saipan's status. I'm talking about how there are much worse labor-related injustices in other parts of the world, and what's going on in Iran doesn't sound like it would make the top of any lists and certainly isn't slavery, regardless of what some sign says at a demonstration. But because it's in Iran, some people view anything going on in that country as peculiarly evil, despite worse problems elsewhere in the world and on our own doorstep. If you want an ssue in America, I'm quite sure you will find a lot more people within our borders who would love a chance to get any kind of written contract, short term or not, for their labor.

What we need is perspective.

[edit on 2-5-2006 by koji_K]

[edit on 2-5-2006 by koji_K]

I want to reiterate a point I made in the original post, it’s very significant when you are considering your responses:

Iran DOES NOT TOLERATE self criticism. At all, they routinely jail and execute citizens that defy the state. So for 10,000 people to risk their lives and march is HUGE. Would you go out and march in the streets if the possibility of being jailed, tortured, and possibly executed was very high? Most people wouldn’t, so imagine how terrible conditions must be there for these people to protest labor laws. It must be horrific; it would have to be for them to risk their health and lives like they did.

Originally posted by skippytjc
And as far as the analogy itself, I don’t feel sorry for UNDOCUMENTED people feeling like slaves here in the US, there is a reason they are undocumented in the first place: They don’t want to pay taxes or health benefits, they chose to come here illegally ("chose" being the operative word). So it’s simply not the same, its a self imposed position.

Many of Iran's labour problems and unemployment problems are derived from the massive undocumented refugees that have flocked Iran from Afghanistan and Iraq. I think they number over one million workers alone. So in order to resolve the crisis the government introduced the short-term employment contracts.

It is also very interesting that you call Iran "a country not afraid to kill or imprison its citizens for dissent", whilst completely ignoring the fact that this demonstration is a sign of growing freedom of speech. I don't see such demonstrations taking place in countries allied to you, such as Saudi Arabia.

Another fact also worth noting (seeing as you sincerely enjoy witnessing the growing freedom of Iranians) is that just before Khatami left office he invited students who opposed his slow movement towards reform (revolutionary students, rather than evolution supporters) to a conference. In that meeting he was yelled at, cursed at and slogans were shouted against him. Can you mention an instant where the same has been allowed to take place in the US?

Originally posted by skippytjc
I want to reiterate a point I made in the original post, it’s very significant when you are considering your responses:

Iran DOES NOT TOLERATE self criticism. At all, they routinely jail and execute citizens that defy the state. So for 10,000 people to risk their lives and march is HUGE. Would you go out and march in the streets if the possibility of being jailed, tortured, and possibly executed was very high? Most people wouldn’t, so imagine how terrible conditions must be there for these people to protest labor laws. It must be horrific; it would have to be for them to risk their health and lives like they did.

If you were saying the same about North Korea, I would completely agree. I would even say that protests directly challenging the rule of the Mullahs or the religious character of the state might risk meeting with routine jailings and executions. The protestors are indeed laudable. Iran is not the land of milk and honey. Freedom of speech is lacking. Freedom of assembly is lacking.

But Iran is a democracy. A flawed one, perhaps. Key figures might go "missing" after large demonstrations, but there's a whole host of democracies where that's the case, and in many of them a labor protest wouldn't bat an eyelid. But it is a democracy nonetheless, with a large middle class, and protests and other forms of popular organization are common. The Iranian people are no strangers to this sort of thing. They did it against the British, they did it when Mossadegh was around, they did it under the Shah, they do it under the Mullahs. Just google "protests" and "Iran" and you'll find a slew of news articles reporting where Iranians have protested against a lot more than their working conditions, even in the last year or so.

So, props to the protestors, sure. They are doing a brave thing. But to say that they must be living under horrific, terrible conditions worthy of being called slavery because they're all risking their lives just isn't logical given the facts of Iranian society and recent events - it's inaccurate and sensationalist, at best.

[edit on 2-5-2006 by koji_K]

Then there's also the remote possibility that the whole protest was staged by the Iranian government. It's not that far-fetched.....we all saw the footage of the Saddam-Fests put on by his "fans" leading up to the war.

Heh...

How many are there in iran...around 68 million...10, 000 aint thet much ^^

This point hhas already been iterated but, when iran does something like this its: OH NOES!! THOSE BADD PPL

The condition Nike puts children in is worse!

And yet i see npothing about this anywhere it seems!

I guess the propaganda machine just keeps on pumping out new news stories.