Amid tanker crises, and US sanctions against Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif and continued economic and political isolation, Iran’s domestic unrest is escalating.
The news of recent waves of teachers and nurses protests, which rocked several cities in Iran, exploded on social media.
On Sunday, August 4, more than 1,000 part-time, contract teachers from all over Iran protested in front of the regime’s Ministry of Education. “Teachers and educators made history today,” said one demonstrator. They demanded official hiring terms and chanted slogans such as “30,000 part-time teachers need to be hired”, “Detained teachers must be freed”, “NO to prison for teachers”, “Teachers’ futures must be secured,”,and “What happens to the state-allocated funds?” The protestors also held signs stating other demands. “The oppressed part-time the teacher won’t accept discrimination,” one sign read. Protestors demanded to be hired before schools open in September.
One of the part-time teachers, who had participated in a protest from the western Lorestan province said, “I worked in kindergarten for 12 years. It has been five years since I’ve become a part-time teacher. Our lives and youth was spent in the classroom; now that the Majlis (parliament) has approved the budget for hiring 30,000 part-time teachers, the Ministry says it will hire only 12,000. I’m almost 40 years old. Will I have the chance to be hired again after all this?”
Nurse Protests
Nurses held various protests in different cities across Iran because they do not receive their salaries and wages despite working under harsh and harmful conditions.
Women of Nasrabad village in Yazd held a protest on Tuesday, July 30, 2019. They demanded freedom of the men who had stood up to the plunder and confiscation of their lands. The women gathering outside the Governor’s Office in Taft, held a placard which read, “Either stop confiscation of our lands or listen to our grievances or releases those who have been imprisoned in this regard.”
The protesting women said, “There is no one left in Nasrabad. They should arrest the remaining few and pave the way for the confiscation of our lands.”
State-run media did not cover the strikes and there were no official comments from the authorities. The mullahs, predictably, reacted badly. They sent out their special plainclothes agents from Iran’s detested secret service and ordered them to surround the protesting teachers in some cities. However, the protesters ignored the pressure and continued.
Nurses working in hospitals of Mashhad held a protest outside the Governor’s Office in this capital of Khorasan Razavi province in northeastern Iran, on Saturday, August 3, 2019. They demanded to receive their wages and overtime dues.
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