On Monday the 25^th of June 2012 the thugs and ruffians of the Islamic bourgeoisie, supported by security forces, organized a brutal attack against the working class people whose parents or themselves were born outside the borders of Iran of the Yazd, in a repeat of the «Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht)» in Nazi Germany on the ninth and tenth of November 1938. The houses of workers of “Afghan descent” were set on fire or destroyed and an anti-foreign campaign was provoked against this part of the working class.

The excuse for the anti-foreign campaign was the rape and murder of an 18 year old “Iranian” girl by two people of “Afghan descent”. The rape and murder was a personal crime and had nothing to do with workers of “Afghan ethnicity”. This policy is a known policy of the bourgeoisie: when the bourgeoisie goes down in crisis, it presents workers of “foreign origin” as being responsible for the spread of insecurity, theft, and crime in the community. This policy is not specific to the Islamic bourgeoisie and it can clearly be seen in European and American countries.

Xenophobia is a part of the superstructure of class society that, with the formation of national states and nations as a product of the growth of capitalism, has been followed by national pride, and assumed a particular form. In the periods when the bourgeoisie need a cheap labor force, it tries to adjust to this issue, but in the periods when the capital is floundering in its crisis, it tries to present immigrant workers as a part of the reason for the capitalist crisis. It is in these times that insiders and outsiders are more visible.

The comprehensive crisis of the infamous Islamic Republic has meant a tightening of certain areas of life for the working class and lower segments of society. The bourgeoisie want to find scapegoats to blame for all the problems of the capitalist system. Workers of “Afghan ethnicity” are part of the Iranian working class. This part of the working class has suffered the most and is the most deprived. Without the suffering of “Afghan” workers, no buildings would go up in Iran. These workers, these free slaves are forced to carry out the hardest and most humble work that the native workers will not do. The story of these free slaves tells of the huge suffering of this part of the working class.

The Islamic bourgeoisie, with the expulsion of illegal Afghan refugees, and the passing of the most recent inhuman laws against workers of “Afghan descent”, has become a routine part of itself. These free slaves have been prohibited from living in 14 provinces of the country, and access to schools and universities for the children of workers of “Afghan descent” is prohibited. Their presence has been banned in some public places, including some parks.

The working class of Iran cannot be indifferent to the fate of its class brothers and sisters. Collective punishment of a part of the working class by the Islamic bourgeoisie is an attack on the entire working class. We should rise up to defend our class brothers and sisters!

Internationalist Voice                     

3 July 2012