On January 28, a Day of Grassroots Solidarity with Iran’s rebels on the streets and in prison was held amid an extraordinarily fraught situation. The date had been set to coincide with the culmination of two years of the “No to Execution Tuesday” weekly hunger strike among prisoners, now in 56 prisons across Iran. It was co-hosted by the IEC and the Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco (UUSF) Human Rights Working Group. 

In late December, a powerful uprising broke out in Iran, said to be the largest and most destabilizing uprising in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). The regime responded with a horrific massacre in the streets to crush it, and massive arrests. As January 28 dawned, the massive USS Lincoln and three destroyers arrived in striking distance of Iran, Trump making a gangster-style offer: “MAKE A DEAL… The next attack will be far worse.” These events made the solidarity actions with the radical politics of both supporting the Iranian people AND opposing the U.S./Israeli war moves all the more significant, and at the same time, controversial. 

On January 28, people passing through the busy intersection outside the UUSF showed their support for a couple dozen people holding signs and banner with messages like “U.S. & ISRAEL: No War Moves on Iran! IRAN: Stop the Executions! Free All Political Prisoners!”; “104 Weeks of hunger strikes to stop executions, 55 prisons across Iran”; “From U.S. Fascists to Iran Mullahs, Down with Anti-Women Tyranny”; as well as hand-drawn posters against ICE and Trump. 

That evening, a program at UUSF greeted the in person and online attendees with four videos: a freestyle rap from The Neighborhood Kids supporting the people of Iran; animated drawings based on photos of the uprising; a statement from Miles Solay of the band Outernational; and a music video produced by music students in Iran.

Co-initiator of the IEC and contributor to revcom.us, Dolly Veale, welcomed the attendees with a tribute to the late IEC co-initiator Carol Downer, who died in 2025. Dolly Veale’s introduction to the PBS documentary about the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom Uprising, spoke to the source of the fury of women and the liberatory revolution needed. She said,

Because we do live in extraordinary times in world history, I feel a responsibility to speak frankly tonight and not hold back. The film tonight is very powerful in capturing the raw fury women feel about the world and the need to end gender oppression. But as much as I admire the courageous people in repeated uprisings in Iran, there is a question that asks itself… Are we condemned to just rise up repeatedly or are we reaching for emancipation?

Dolly Veale’s opening remarks are posted in full here.

She directed people to the website of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist (cpimlm.org), which has translated many of Bob Avakian’s writings and speeches into Farsi. “They have great clarity about the new breakthroughs he has made in the science of communism.” A Revolution Books Berkeley spokesperson also pointed to works by Bob Avakian and from the CPIMLM available at the store. 

Four inspiring statements were sent to the program highlighting polemical elements of the struggle in standing with Iran’s rebels and against U.S. imperialism. See links for full statements.

• “Nota de Solidaridad/Note of Solidarity” from A Quemar la Jaula (Colombia)
• “We stand with the people of Iran… We have learned some of the horrors U.S. imperialism inflicts on the people of the world through being part of its war machine:” Two members of Veterans for Peace Seattle Daniel Ellsberg Chapter
• “To those imprisoned: you are not forgotten… We will continue to speak where you are silenced until freedom, justice, and life prevail”: Zanan Group Northern California, an independent Iranian women’s group
• “To Trump and Mossad: Hands off Iran! To the People of Iran: We will Overthrow the Islamic Republic Ourselves!”: Osyan (“Rebel”), a group of women from Iran and Afghanistan

The conclusion of the Quemar la Jaula (Burn the Cage) statement puts out a sharp and eloquent challenge:

Amid the recent uprising in Iran, some have emphasized that in spite of the brutality with which the Islamic Republic repressed the demonstrators, the solidarity and support from the world was absolutely insufficient and they felt “alone” in this struggle. This must change. The Iranian people and political prisoners are not alone, the people of Iran are our people, their struggle is our struggle, and it is our duty to work so that their struggle not only invokes the world’s solidarity but that it serves as an inspiration to advance in the struggle to put an end to all the oppression and exploitation that weighs on humanity.

During the Q&A period, Dr. Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, spoke about the history of Iran, the complexities of its power relations and its relation to the U.S. in particular. He countered in numerous ways the erroneous thinking that 1) the IRI is “anti-imperialist” simply because it has conflicts with the U.S., and 2) U.S. intervention could have any kind of positive effect, and emphasized: “It could only make things much, much worse.” 

Grave Danger to Political Prisoners and Recent Detainees

Still under a near-total internet blackout, inmates in Iran’s Ghezel Hesar Prison managed to send out the sound of their chants on the day that marked the start of the third year of consecutive weekly hunger strikes against executions.

The No to Execution Tuesdays campaign managed to send another communication, posted by Burn the Cage. In it they warn:

During these days, the government of execution and repression executed more than 355 people this month alone [December 21-January 19]... Not only has it not stopped executing people, but it has also brought the wave of killing and execution to the streets, hospitals, detention centers, and even people’s homes…

Therefore, we, the members of the "No to Execution Tuesdays" campaign, warn against any harsh sentences against those arrested in the recent [January 2026] protests and their harassment and killing.

Threats against Narges Mohammadi and Dissident Leaders

On January 28, a doctor in Los Angeles known for his slavish promotion of the monarchist Reza Pahlavi (self-marketed to Trump as a pro-U.S., pro-Israel regime change leader), posted a photo of Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate¹ currently imprisoned incommunicado in Iran. The comment from the fascist doctor, Shahram Makoui, was, “Narges Mohammadi: ‘Stop the War’. Shahram Makoui: ‘Execute Narges Mohammadi.’” Then in his reply to himself, as reported by readers and later deleted, he demanded, “They should all be slaughtered according to Islamic law.” This is ugly self exposure of the basic symbiotic unity between the fascist pro-U.S./Israeli and fascist pro-IRI axis in the world today. It reveals the thoroughly reactionary nature of the die-hard monarchists: they hate and fear the Iranian masses and their leaders, and they fawn on bloody warmongers like Trump and Netanyahu. They are both ruthless oppressors who are against the interest of the people for a better world. 

50,000 Detainees in Grave Danger

The exact toll of the street massacre which occurred mainly on January 8 and 9 varies to date, but its scale and ferocity was unprecedented, even in Iran’s turbulent history. As of February 1, HRANA confirmed only 6,713 deaths, with 17,091 more reported deaths still to verify. Because they verify each individual report, these figures are somewhat conservative, and do not reflect the number of forced disappearances, burials in mass graves, and the dead and injured hidden by their families.² Several other accounts indicate the death toll to surpass 30,000.³

Of especially grave concern is the situation of almost 50,000 detainees, many not identified, sometimes held in irregular facilities such as local military bases or warehouses where they are subject to torture, often forced to confess on TV to being foreign agents and/or killing security agents. The great majority are reportedly youth under 30.

In the weeks since the street massacres, the Islamic Republic has raided neighborhoods, hospitals and schools and hauled away hundreds or even thousands more. A particular target has been activists, doctors, and lawyers and writers.

This fact underscores the urgency for justice-loving people around the world to highlight the grave situation of political prisoners in Iran and to amplify their extraordinary tenacity and courage in the face of great odds.

The concluding words of our Emergency Appeal of 2020 ring all the more urgently true today:

The governments of the U.S. and Iran act from their national interests. And, in this instance, we the people of the U.S. and Iran, along with the people of the world, have OUR shared interests, as part of getting to a better world: to unite to defend the political prisoners of Iran. In the U.S., we have a special responsibility to unite very broadly against this vile repression by the IRI, and to actively oppose any war moves by the U.S. government that would bring even more unbearable suffering to the people of Iran.

We demand of the Islamic Republic of Iran: FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!

We say to the U.S. government: NO THREATS OR WAR MOVES AGAINST IRAN, LIFT U.S. SANCTIONS!