Defend Majid Hamidi

I worked in a maintenance union for 4 years, and while I am critical of the labor movement in the West, I still feel labor unions are one of the best ways for working folks to organize and focus their collective desires to make their lives better.

In nations like Iran, they are at the center of the fight for democracy. Therefore, they are attacked by the ruling elites:

“On the morning of Thursday 18 October, 2007, three masked men shot Majid Hamidi, a 48-year old grocery worker and labour activist in Sanandaj, Iran, seven times in his arm, shoulder and neck. Hamidi was eventually taken to Tehran for specialist surgery and remains in critical condition. Iranian labour activists are convinced that armed attacks of this type are done with the knowledge and support of the government. Already Iranian labour activists face jailings, beatings, and other forms of persecution, including the jailing of labour leaders Mahmoud Salehi, Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, as well as the severe repression of strikers at the state-owned Haft Tapeh sugar cane company. But this represents a considerable escalation. Iran is a member of the International Labour Organization and we call upon the ILO to press the government in Tehran to stop these attacks immediately.”

Thanks to the New Centrist and Bob from Brockley for the heads up. I know that these petitions mean little in the real world, but if it helps spread word of this man’s cause then it is worth doing.