Did the agency of workers represent a driver for change between the 1979 revolution and the 2009 Green Movement in Iran? On what terms? How did discourses around labor transform relations of power... Show moreDid the agency of workers represent a driver for change between the 1979 revolution and the 2009 Green Movement in Iran? On what terms? How did discourses around labor transform relations of power and domination during this period? Which processes shaped workers’ subjectivity within Iranian society in terms of class, social justice, collective thinking and solidarity-building?The abovementioned questions guide 'Precarize' and Divide: Iranian Workers from the 1979 Revolution to the 2009 Green Movement. This dissertation analyses political changes and social transformations in the Iranian labor realm from 1979 to 2009 through the lens of discursive shifts and transformations in hegemonic relations. Whereas workers were crucial to the success of the 1979 revolution, in 2009 they were absent as a collective force. This dissertation examines the reasons explaining this absence. It shows that—beyond state repression—the processes leading to workers’ precarization, both structurally and discursively, hindered workers’ active role in shaping and determining grassroots politics. On the one hand, legal, economic and social factors marginalized workers. On the other hand, the shifting context mirrored the Islamic Republic of Iran’s official discourse and its necessities to consolidate its power. As a result, workers were not able to develop robust solidarity-building mechanisms and cross-class alliances in 2009 as it was in 1979. Show less
This paper explores the transformations of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s dominant narratives on labor between 1979 and 2009. By analyzing official May Day speeches of this period, it navigates... Show moreThis paper explores the transformations of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s dominant narratives on labor between 1979 and 2009. By analyzing official May Day speeches of this period, it navigates multiple constructions of workers’ roles, which were systematically propagated by the IRI’s Supreme Leader and president over time. The analysis relies on the following primary sources: from the 1979 May Day sermon, pronounced by Ruhollah Khomeini, to the 2009 speech given by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, together with messages sent by Ali Khamenei, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. Showing how workers’ role—understood as a collective and distinct group—was gradually minimized, this paper argues that a bottom-up cleaning up process slowly purified May Day. In fact, the IRI progressively neglected workers as (revolutionary) social actors and interlocutors, as it stopped talking to masses and started speaking to middle classes. Show less
