Joint Statement by Labor Unions, Retirees, and Social Organizations in Solidarity with the Popular Uprisings

We stand at one of the most critical junctures in our contemporary history. What is unfolding today in the streets, in strikes, and in nationwide protests is the continuation of the 1401 (2022) uprising—an uprising that began with the slogan #WomanLifeFreedom and laid bare institutionalized discrimination, systematic humiliation, overt repression, and structural poverty. This uprising made it unmistakably clear that society is no longer willing to endure an imposed life under an unjust order.

The stronghold of compulsory hijab was breached, and we declared that we will not tolerate sexual and gender apartheid. We declared our rejection of superstition and our refusal to barter away human dignity. When the response to our demands was bullets, prisons, and executions, we stood our ground and, with the call for unity, declared that we would not retreat until our unfinished revolution is brought to fruition.

Today, faithful to that pledge and commitment, we have taken to the streets and cry out: Freedom, Freedom, Freedom.

Today we are in the streets not merely for bread, but for life; not merely for survival, but for dignity, human worth, and a humane future.

Runaway inflation has crushed the majority of the population. Wages and pensions that fall far below the poverty line and the minimum cost of living, predatory privatization, rent-seeking and corruption, the proliferation of mafias, repression, imprisonment and executions, and warmongering policies have pushed people’s lives to the brink of collapse. Society has reached a boiling point, and nationwide protests are the direct expression of this deep and multifaceted crisis.

Merchants and shopkeepers, long regarded as the barometer of the country’s economy, have entered the struggle through strikes of their own.

Today’s protest is directed against a parasitic billionaire class that has brought people’s lives to ruin. The issue is not merely the soaring price of the dollar or rising costs; the issue is the entire structure that, day after day, tramples on the human dignity of the people. It is this reality that has driven everyone—from Generation Z to retirees who daily chant “livelihood, dignity, our undeniable right”—into the streets.

Today we—workers, teachers, nurses, retirees, students, women, and all the long-suffering people—are taking to the streets, city after city, raising the cry of freedom and equality.

How long must poverty endure? How long slavery? How long captivity in the grip of contractors and the water, electricity, and healthcare mafias that, intertwined with power networks, grow richer by the day while people’s lives are increasingly devastated?

How long prisons, executions, compulsory hijab, and repression patrols?

We are not at war with the people of the world, nor do we need nuclear enrichment or proxy forces. These policies are what have crushed the livelihoods of the people.

We, the undersigned organizations and collectives, consider ourselves an inseparable part of this nationwide uprising. In unison with the slogan Woman, Life, Freedom, we declare our full support and solidarity with the ongoing struggles of the people for freedom, welfare, justice, and human dignity, and we emphasize the following demands:

We will stand united and resolute against state repression and killing, and alongside the families of those who have lost their loved ones in the struggle for justice. Protest is our right. We will work with all our strength for the release of all detainees from popular protests and all political prisoners, and we demand an “Iran without executions.”

In support of nationwide strikes, together with our families we will bring gatherings into city centers and further strengthen the ranks of street protests.

In the face of attempts to sow division, we will unite our ranks with the slogans “Unity, unity, against poverty and corruption” and “Death to the dictator,” and in solidarity with the people of Zahedan we will shout: “Now is the time for unity; now is the time for revolution.”

A monthly subsidy of 700,000 tomans is no answer to poverty imposed by wages that are multiple times below the minimum cost of living. Do not speak of an empty treasury. The astronomical budgets allocated to repression forces, proxy forces, and ineffective religious institutions must be cut. The multibillion-dollar wealth of ayatollahs, regime insiders’ families, and ruling networks must be returned to the people and used to improve living conditions, including lowering the cost of bread, fuel, and other essentials.

We have no need for imposed leadership. Once again, we emphasize that our demand is to put an end to a century of exploitation and despotism and to build a society in which a predatory minority does not decide the fate of the people from above.

The determined continuation of protests, the expansion of strikes, vigilance, and unity are the guarantees of our advance and the realization of our long-suppressed aspirations. We will continue on the path we have chosen with resolve, and through our unity and solidarity we will bring an end to this slavery, poverty, humiliation, and inequality.

Signatories:

United Retirees

Kermanshah Electricity and Metal Association

Don’t Execute

Justice Seekers

Coordinating Council for the Protests of Contract Oil Workers

Coordinating Council for the Protests of Non-Formal Oil Workers (Third-Party Contractors)

Coordinating Council for Nurses’ Protests

Voice of Iranian Women

13 Dey 1404 (January 3, 2026)