Yesterday, the Stop the War Coalition, and the Socialist Workers Party organised a meeting about Iran. Amongst the speakers were a couple of Trade Unionists, Iraqi author, Haifa Zangana, a mother from Military Families Against War, and the SOAS lecturer Elaheh Rostami.

We went along with leaflets which basically said "Oppose any Attack on Iran but Oppose the Tyranny of the Islamic Republic Too". We started handing out some leaflets outside and had a few discussions with the SWP members. It was amazing to find out how ignorant these so-called Socialist Workers activists were about what was happening in Iran. I asked a few of them what they knew about the 1300 jailed Iranian bus drivers and how the families of the Iranian bus drivers were beaten up, simply for demanding an independent trade union and better wages. None of them knew. So much for international workers solidarity they keep on about.

The meeting started with speeches by two Trade Unionists. They didnt say much about Iran but more about the plight of London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, claiming that the mayor was victimised because he was anti-war.

Then a mother who had lost her soldier son in Iraq spoke. I felt for her and passed her one of our leaflets with a note saying, "by supporting the democratic opposition in Iran we can avoid war and more suffering by families like you. My condolences to you. Your son did not die in vain". She read the leaflet and my note, and with tears visible in her eyes, whispered "Thank You" to me.

Then the chair of the panel stood up to speak. I can only describe her as a frustrated looking feminist who was craving for a little authority and attention. She was wearing the type of head band worn by domestic workers in hotels but it just looked completely out of place, making her look even more of a weirdo. Perhaps she thought she looked more working class by wearing the head band, but when she started speaking, her accent soon revealed she was some upper class drop out.

She started speaking some nonsense about Islamophobia in UK, and how she was on the side of the Muslims who felt insulted by the cartoons row. Amazingly she then went on about the erosion of freedom of speech by the UK government. She continued by going on about the horrors of the Guantanamo Bay prisons. Her nonsense was just too much for another Iranian in the room, who had suffered in Islamic Republic prisons.
"Why just Guantanamo? What about when I was in Islamic prisons and was beaten and raped with a bottle? Where were you lot then? You can have these meetings in UK but we dont have this privilege in Iran".

The SWP activists then surrounded the Iranian guy and told him to be quiet, showing no sympathy to what he had endured. This reminded me of how the old age pensioner was man handled by the security guards in the Labour Party conference for heckling Tony Blair. To these lot that old age pensioner was a hero for heckling, but when they get heckled themselves, it is a different story.

Next speaker was Elaheh Rostami. She continued and amplified the previous nonsense. First she talked about Afghanistan. She claimed nothing, not even one road was built for the Afghans since the Taliban overthrow but the Afghans had internet coffee shops where they watched porn on the internet.

I thought to myself "But at least girls can now go to school and women can work and wont have to die of basic illnesses for not being able to see male doctors" but I bit my lips and thought I will say all this in the question time.

Rostami then claimed that the majority of Iranians inside and outside Iran are in favour of having nuclear power. Again I thought to myself "What free poll did she use to come to that conclusion?"

When Rostami claimed that the Iranian women had more rights and family protection after the revolution than before, it was just too much for the Iranians in the room. There was an uproar of protest at her nonsense, especially from the Iranian women.

Another Iranian walked up to the panel and placed pictures of Islamic Republic crimes before each panel speaker. The chairperson with the headband, showed no sympathy and turned the pictures over, but another Iranian in the audience walked up to the panel, turned over the page and showed her the pictures again. The chairperson of the panel then tried to look away from the pictures of human rights abuse in Iran. I sort of sensed she felt if Americans were not responsible for human rights abuses, she was not interested.

I was innocently writing down my questions, thinking soon we will be given time to question the panel. I was perusing which questions I should ask. Some of which were:
"
- You have the privilege of protesting and marching against nuclear power in this country, do the Iranian people have this right too?

- You mentioned you are siding with the Muslims who felt offended by the cartoons, what about the Sufis in Iran who had their shrine completely raised to the ground recently and their members, including women and children who were beaten and maimed. Do you not think they were insulted too?

- You say you value your freedom of speech, are you not worried about Muslim extremists taking that freedom away?
"

But as I was ponderig over these questions, Elaheh Rostami finished and the chair declared the meeting was over. What? No time to question all this nonsense that was spluttered out at this poor English public? The Iranians were furious. Even I, normally a placid person, couldn't stop myself from going to the panel and shouting
"You talk about freedom of speech. You have a meeting about Iran and yet you don't let the Iranians in this room speak?" I roared at the panel.

By this time SWP activists were calling for more reinforcement on their mobiles. Elaheh Rostami finally had to be escorted out of the room surrounded by a ring of SWP activists, while Iranians were shouting "Shame on You, Shame on You" at her.

It is amazing that a party - SWP - based on teachings of Karl Marx, who said "religion is the opium of the people", is now siding with Islamic Fascists in Iran and worrying about cartoons offending the sensitivities of some religious people.
But I had to remind myself that the Left in Iran also made a similar mistake and helped the Islamists take control of power, and soon they became the very first victims of Islamist Fascists.