Iran ‘s war against the poor people “ The Dark Side of the Persian Occupation” or a Pretext for Managing the Markets?

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As it seems to the Iranian News agencies, it’s commonly known that the Iranian municipalities pretending to manage the markets by their attempts and their direct intervention by creating zones for the local hawkers, these markets is the main source of income for them, and the Iranian occupier regime alleged that the main goal of their attempts in managing the market is to eliminate the corruption and on the other hand to fight against the randomness in the market, as they convey the message to the world media that all of these phenomena reflect a bad image about the country. But is this the image which is conveyed by the Iranian media press to the public about the government attempts to eliminate the hawkers or is there something hidden which is the Iranian government going for?

In recent years, the fight against the hawkers have been escalated across all Iranian map and it occupied a huge place in the Iranian news agencies with different names based on the Iranian claim. But this report will particularly speak about the war against these poor people in the country of wealth and the infinite mine of the Iranian regime, that is occupied Al-Ahwaz.

We all remember how and why Younes Asakarah, the poor man, became a symbol against this war when he burned himself in front of the Al-Mohammareh Municipality. And also, why thousands of the hawkers in different Al-Ahwaz cities have joined hands and showed sympathy against these indiscriminate campaigns of the Iranian regime and revealed the real face of them.

Recently, we have seen thousands of hawkers demonstrating in front of the municipalities, addressing and encountering this phenomenon; this phenomenon aimed to destroy their livelihood; and they begged to end their suffering in any possible way, but what we see daily from the government completely different than their claims.

For example, Ahwaz capital municipality, launches brutal campaigns in a daily basis in the markets and assault sellers of all kinds, whether they are men or women and even children (maximum 10 years old). We have also witnessed how human beings are brutally treated in these markets where these poor people have fled because they have found no other work to earn for their livelihood. Furthermore, we witnessed how the municipalities steal their money in the cruel way of the mafias and imposes ransoms (such as pirates of Somalia) from these hawkers in return for their money and allowing them to work again. But the important issue why the government imposes all these campaigns against unarmed people who can barely make a living?

The Iranian government is well known for all by its corrupted strategy; is does not take a step in all Al-Ahwaz cities unless there is dirty plan behind it against any human being who speaks Arabic, imagine a Parrot which has learned Arabic from its owner Ahmad, he paid tough efforts to teach the Parrot few Arabic words to be able to sell it in the Arabic market in the Ahwaz capital; to help Ahmad to survive in order to sell it and earning money.

Ahmad the Parrot owner said “It took me so long that I could teach it some Arabic words to present it in the market and earn small amount of money for my family which consists of wife and three children”.

Ahmed, one of the salesmen in the Arab market studied agricultural sciences and obtained a master’s degree from the University of Azad in Ahwaz, but as he says: I studied agricultural sciences and got a master’s degree, but I did not find job in any governmental and non-governmental department that matched my field of study, so I have been forced to enter the market in order to earn a living for my family.

Thousands of people like Ahmad whom subjected to these brutal practices by municipalities in Ahwazi cities; these practices by the Iranian government have a clear goal which is well known by those who pursue Iranian strategies to displace Arabs, change the demography of Ahwaz and give facilities and offers to buy houses in the capital Tehran or other cities.

Recently the Iranian regime established a small city near Khomeini Airport in Tehran and it began promoting for these new residences in the small city in Ahwaz and other Arab cities; it provides attractive offers in one hand and on the other hand it used the dirty work to stress them in their work, markets and any other place in order to push these people with malicious plans to impose them to migrate to places which are far from their hometown; until they will be dissolved in the Persian society. Unfortunately, the regime didn’t get enough from all the attempts, it tried also to steal the money from all people who made this movement by migrating to Tehran through people who pushed them among these new arrivals and thus tried to destroy the most basic elements of the Ahwazi Arab life in any way even if he accepted leave hometown and migrate thousands of kilometers to get a new opportunity.

This cruel regime insisted to fight the poor people in Al-Ahwaz; there are activists in Al-Ahwazwho documented the moment of confiscation of one of the poor men stall by the occupation forces that is related to the municipality, and the poor man failed to defend his stall from hands of Iranian mercenaries.

In a related context, Ahwazi activists documented another young man who is a university graduate and after confiscating his stall he started to shout loudly “I am a university graduate and I have a bachelor degree”.

Iran ‘s war against the poor does not stop on the hawkers, but it is a continues in other forms such as floods (recent deliberate floods), fires, unknown diseases (Congo fever CCF) and forced migration.

Written by: Mrs Hawra Ahwazi

Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights

14-September-2019