Nedayeh Mardom - Issue #3

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THE AFGHAN-IRANIAN YOUTH PRESS

NEDAYEH

FEBRUARY 2010, ISSUE #3

MARDOM

Surging Into Disaster: Obama’s Doomed Troop Surge U.S. President Barak Obama promised the world change and hope; however as with most of his promises, he has disappointed a world that was hopeful for an American president not hell-bent on imperialist expansion. This especially applies to his policy decisions on Afghanistan. Obama approved a surge of 30,000 troops, totaling the U.S. military presence there to 100,000 and the total coalition military presence (including Canada’s) to 140,000.

Although the troop surge is already in motion due to widespread bipartisan support among both Democrats and Republicans, there are more and more voices coming out in opposition. Not only is the troop surge poised to fail militarily, the political strategy is also equally flawed. After having been engaged in Afghanistan for almost a decade, the imperialist powers must surely be aware that the foreign occupation of their country will never be welcomed or accepted by Afghans.

The Movement in Iran : Reform or Revolution? What many perceived as short-term turmoil in Iran is still moving forward; the people have now united as a force against the Islamic regime, rather than a force against the disputed election results cheering for Mousavi. The Iranian people have continued their demonstrations eight months after the first spark, but the demands of the masses who are truly risking their lives are being disregarded by political figures and by a lot of the Iranian diaspora. The political portfolio of Mousavi, the person whose name has been recognized as the future of the Green Movement, is not a very promising one. The gross exaggeration by some leading political analysts calling the contrast between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad like “day and night” is deluding. Mousavi was one of the pioneers of the Islamic regime and just like Ahmadinejad, he has dedicated himself to “Islam, the revolution and Imam Khameini’s line”. The current series of incarcerations and killings happening during Ahmadinejad’s presidency are a déjà vu of the occurrences which happened while Mousavi was prime minister. Although he is speaking against certain government actions and calling for the release of political prisoners, freedom of press and

This war of conquest is justified through the demonization of a people, who are described as a people that can’t help themselves. Because of this, the Afghan people will have to endure increasing imperialist presence, along with increasing civilian causalities that are ignored by a corrupt Afghan government that is under direct American influence. With a U.S. led troop surge, civilian casualties will no doubt further increase (they’ve doubled the past year) and in

response this will give an excuse for Islamic Terrorists to recruit and increase their ranks. In reality, the occupation by their erstwhile masters is the best gift to Taliban and co. With such a disastrous and predictable outcome, what is then the purpose of this troop surge? To answer this question, one has to look at what an imperialist would have their eyes on these days: oil rich Iran. Once this troop surge

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Workers, Get Organized! by Rashin Alizadeh

permission for peaceful protests, he is not fully dismissing the system. In contrast, the people’s outspoken resent against the regime is quite clear. Iranians are now demanding a secular government and the establishment of a true democracy. Reform, as the people have realized, is not the solution. Mousavi’s presidency would not change the undemocratic position of the Supreme Leader or the discriminatory laws which are based on a single religion. Many people’s solution to the current problems is support for foreign diplomatic interventions in Iran. This naive request is an open invitation for intervention, ignoring the fact that the international community, including the United Nations, are the sum of states that look to secure their own political and capital interests. The occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq are clear examples of the aims of the western capitalists. The United States’ intervention in the Middle East gave them access for the building of the TransAfghanistan pipeline, carrying natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, into Pakistan and India. The Iraqi and Afghani people are being cheated out of their natural resources, and interference in Iran would have

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by Navid Lal

by Farshad Azadian

The Afghan-Iranian Youth Network Will Help Workers Organize Unions The Afghan-Iranian Youth Network believes that one of the central means of improving the conditions of working people, whether they be Afghan, Iranian or any other nationality, is through building of labour unions in our workplaces. Having a union is a first step to providing a means for workers to fight, as a collective, against their employers. It is self-evident to workers in all sectors of Canadian society that they are powerless in relation to their employers, that is, the terms of their employment are dictated by the bosses. The result is that workers are paid pennies in relation to the huge profits their employers take home. Harassment, underpayment, favoritism, workplace unsafety and intimidation are often the result of such a worker-owner relationship – as many of our readers can personally attest to. Building a union, that is, an organization of workers for the purpose of fighting for the interest

of workers is the central means through which you can improve your living standards. Unions allow workers to bargain with their employers as a collective and to engage in forms of labour action, such as strikes, to force their employers to offer better terms of employment. It is a known fact that unionized workers are paid significantly higher than their non-unionized counterparts. On top of that, unionized workers often enjoy benefits, more secure working hours as well as a means to fight workplace abuses by managers and the bosses. In today’s economy crisis, it is even more important for us workers to fight for better living standards. The upper class (or capitalists) have been making billions of dollars over the past decades while tossing us working people crumbs from the table. As the world economy collapses, at the fault of bankers and big business, workers are being expected to

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Non-Unionized

Unionized

$10.60

$17.31

Women’s Wages as Compared to Mens

71%

89%

Pension Plans

33%

83%

Dental Coverage

45%

77%

Average Part-Time Wages

Source: Statistics Canada


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