WE DON’T HAVE AN IMMIGRATION PROBLEM; WE HAVE A CAPITALISM PROBLEM!

By Hasse-Nima Golkar
WE DON’T HAVE AN IMMIGRATION PROBLEM; WE HAVE A CAPITALISM PROBLEM!
The broad and deep socioeconomic and political crisis has forced the ruling Shia Islamic state in Iran, like any fascist-racist state, to place the blame on the shoulders of immigrants, rather than on the plundering and corrupt capitalist system.
The ruling Islamic state in Iran has long-faced serious challenges since its takeover on February 11, 1979, due to, on one hand, severe repression of protesting political activists and groups, and ethnic communities; Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, …, especially against women and LGBTIQA+ groups. On the other hand, factors such as rising inflation, currency devaluation, and not least, the international sanctions—which the authorities themselves have created through their reactionary religious and political actions, including the export of the Shia Islamic “revolution,” the occupation of the American embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, and the unnecessary and very costly nuclear weapons program.
Now, after all these failures, the capitalist religious rulers, in close cooperation with far-right forces, especially monarchists, want to place the blame on the country’s “foreign people,” that is, the refugees and migrants from Afghanistan.
The concerned migration authorities, with the help of the police, have already begun sending undocumented individuals to some detention camps for deportation, and the commander-in-chief has also announced that by March 2025, about two million “illegal foreign citizens” will be deported from Iran.
The prosecutor’s directive on “the ban on selling bread to foreign citizens,” which indirectly targets refugees and migrants from Afghanistan, is also the latest fascist attack on people from Afghanistan. In this context, the “Bakers’ Union” in Kerman province in southeastern Iran has warned bakers that they will be punished if they violate the regulation!
Limiting the sale of bread – a staple food – to foreign citizens is a discriminatory move that will reflect concern for the refugees and migrants from neighboring Afghanistan, who have sought and will seek refuge in Iran and other countries.
Such racist policies are, however, controversial and raise questions about human rights and the treatment of non-citizens, especially those who are displaced or in need.
The decision may also have broader social consequences, potentially affecting the progressive world opinion and its humanitarian stance.
Active anarchists and antifascists, together with other freedom-minded forces in Iran and other parts of the world, stand by all defenseless people and, in solidarity with one another, will forcefully resist this ongoing fascist-racist wave in Iran and across the world.