Feature

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Iran: Welcome cease-fire brings new crisis

A.F. Faraz, an Iranian research scholar, is
executive director of the U.S.-based Commit-
lee in Solidarity with the People of Iran.

ecently in Toronto on a speaking tour, he
talked to the Tribune just two days after the
announcement of the United Nations-
arranged cease-fire between Iran and Iraq
that it is hoped will end eight years of bloody
war,

Tribune: Why a cease-fire now?

Faraz: For a long time the Iranian
§0vernment was faced with serious internal
°pposition to the war. Its last mobilization
effort failed; young people refused to go.

© economic impact has been disastrous.

here were compulsory deductions from
Wages to pay for the war.

Iranian army morale was extremely bad.
Soldiers simply refused to fight, as they saw
the futility of the effort, especially as U.S.
Imperialism pursued a policy of allowing
Neither belligerent to win. All these things
threatened the very existence of the Iranian
Tegime. People’s anger against the war, and
the Tegime’s insistence that it continue,
turned into popular opposition against the
Tegime itself.

This took the form of spontaneous pro-
test. Families of political prisoners would
demonstrate in favour of their loved ones in
Jail. If an Iraqi missile landed in a specific
area, local residents would demonstrate
their Opposition to the war. This became
Very broad, very massive, reaching the point
Where the regime was unable to handle the
Situation. Finally the Iranian leaders went
to Khomeini and told him that the war had
toend: Khomeini very reluctantly agreed to
4 cease-fire, although his mind-set was
totally opposed.

Tribune: Why then did the war continue so
long?

Faraz: The war broke out as an attack on
Tran, which was really a plot to defeat the
Initial popular revolution, and it partly suc-
Ceeded. In the first year of the war, the
Nght-wing forces in Iran, (consisting of)
those who had lost their positions as a result
of the revolution (and) some of the newly-
€merging merchant capitalists, who were
More or less repressed by the Shah because
Of the dominance of foreign capital, used
the emergency situation caused by the war
‘0 make super-profits.

There suddenly appeared a very rich,
Very powerful economic category of mer-
Chants who managed to take over the econ-
Omy as the result of the emergency
Situation, and accumulated enough money
fo be able to influence policy. First they
Penetrated parliament, and then had repre-
Sentatives chosen for the government.

They had a vested interest in continuing
the War, because they were making profits

Tom it. So once the Iranian army had
Pushed the Iraqi forces back over the

Order, when the call came from the demo-
‘ratic forces and most of the people in the
Country to end hostilities and commence
Negotiations — at that time Saudi Arabia
Was prepared to give $60 billion in damages
to Iran — the right wing refused. They

New the continuation of the war would
Make more money for them, and pushed for
It to go on.

Internationally, of course, the arms mer-
Chants, oil corporations and insurance
ompanies benefitted. The Israelis also had

J€ir Own reasons to push for the continua-
“ion of the war. So all these factors com-
ned to prolong the war for as long as
Possible. There were also the subjective

Slamic” factors.

T believe that had it not been for internal
Pressure and the possibility of the collapse
the regime, the war would still be going

Nn, =

lraqi soldiers return home after declaration of cease-fire. Inset: Young Iranian girl, a

victim of chemical warfare.

Tribune: Will this cease-fire hold?

Faraz: We can’t assume our task is over.
First, the Iranian government did not
accept this crease-fire of its own volition. It
was forced to do so. But it has not given up
the idea of the export of the Islamic
revolution — if not to Iraq now, perhaps
somewhere else.

Second, it appears not in the interests of
the United States or Israel to see the war
end. They may erect obstacles preventing
total implementation of a peace accord.

Third, the U.S. forces, which are one of

Letters

the main sources of tension, remain in the
Persian Gulf. And until they withdraw there
is no chance of a genuine peace. So it will be
a tough struggle to move from a cease-fire
to an all-embracing peace settlement.

Tribune: So one of the terms of a peace
accord should be the scaling down of foreign
presence in the area?

Faraz: Yes, one of our demands is the
total demilitarization of and total withdra-
wal of foreign forces from the Persian Gulf
and Indian Ocean, especially since many of
the U.S. ships in the gulf are carrying

AIDS just one of many
Third World epidemics

Harold E. Macy, Courtenay, writes: In the
July 13 edition the article on AIDS research
gave rise to an interesting comparison.
Since 1981 over 72,000 people have died of
this disease worldwide. During that same
time period 14 million have died of measles!
This figure is from the United Nations
World Health Organization statistics.

Despite its probable origins in Africa, I
cannot help but think of AIDS as a Western
disease, and measles as a Third World afflic-
tion. Research into the causes and preven-
tion of AIDS takes precedence on nightly
news, but nowhere is there mention of the
epidemic of common, yet curable, sick-
nesses which are still rampant in developing
countries. °

I am not suggesting that we abandon
AIDS research, but can we not cure other
ills with the same zeal, or do we not because
AIDS stalks our white bourgeois streets?

Vote denied

Harry Rankin, Vancouver, writes: For a
lifetime humanity has fought for the right to
vote. People have died for that simple bal-
lot. People have gone to jail and rotted in
dungeons.

The Non-Partisan Association council,
in one fell swoop, has disenfranchised
85,000 voters.

How’s that for progress?

nuclear weapons. Without it I don’t think
we will be able to achieve a lasting peace.

One of the objectives of the war was to
weaken the two strongest anti-Israel coun-
tries in the gulf, and increase the presence of
U.S. forces in the gulf. The U.S. is seeking a
permanent base for its rapid deployment
forces in the region; most probably it will
press for a permanent presence and maybe
even bases in the gulf.

Tribune: Do you think this cease-fire could

‘lead to opening the door to democracy in

Iran?

Faraz: If you refer to opening wide the
government, I would say no. This peace
process will bring the government a lot of
problems.

For example, Iran’s economy has been
geared to war for the past eight years. Now
it has to return to civil production. Unem-
ployment, even during wartime, stood at
about 40 per cent. Those who were working
were in the weapons assembly and muni-
tions plants. They look to now join the
ranks of the unemployed. That will intensify
the economic crisis the regime will face.

Of course, our people are now asking
what was the reason for all the eight years of
war, since nothing was achieved at a cost of
millions of people and billions of dollars. I
think we can look ahead to mass opposition
to the policies and practices of the Islamic
government. We may see more repression
by both regimes against the Kurdish people,
split between the two countries.

Internal opposition will be intensified, as
will repression. Asa first sign of that we can
see that a wave of political executions has

~ already started in Iran. Twelve to 15 politi-

cal prisoners were executed in the past two
weeks; another 55 are on death row await-
ing execution. They represent the same for-
ces who declared their opposition to the war
in 1982.

So the attack has already begun on the
peace and democratic forces in Iran. We
expect violations of human rights to con-
tinue and even intensify. We are asking for
solidarity with the political prisoners in
Iran, as this will be one of the major issues
before us from now on. The cease-fire may
release some popular anti-government feel-
ing in both Iran and Iraq, and both regimes
can be expected to reply with even greater
repression in order to maintain their con-
trol.

Let’s have
more letters

Bill Campbell, Kamloops, writes: I
believe that readers of newspapers
generally, after they’ve looked at the
front page headlines, turn to “letters
to the editor.” Consequently it was a
particular pleasure to see a whole half
page of such letters in the Tribune of
July 27.

Let’s hope that our readers will
keep them coming and you at your
end will do everything to encourage
this.

Pacific Tribune, August 31, 1988 « 5