Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Nov. 18, 2018 – The farmers of Isfahan continue to protest over lack of access to the waters of Zayanderud River. They’re demanding their due right to water because their livelihoods are in danger. Protests to the conditions of water in Isfahan started seven years ago in 2011 and have continued ever since.
The farmers are protesting to the plundering of Iran’s water sources by government institutions and the policies of distributing water in the province.
Due to these problems, the people of Isfahan have been staging demonstrations and strikes in protest to the Iranian regime’s policies. The farmers of Isfahan have become fed up with unfulfilled promises and the lies of government officials.
The new round of demonstrations that began this week are in protest of the destructive water distribution policies of the government as farmers are undergoing their autumn planting.
Farmers insist that the government’s policies have caused serious problems for their livelihoods
On Monday, the farmers of east and west of Isfahan demonstrated in Khourasgan for several days. The protesters stressed that they will claim their rights and threatened to take more serious measures if regime officials continue to lie and renege on their promises. On Thursday, as officials had still not responded to the demands of the protesters, the farmers continued their demonstrations.
The farmers of Varzaneh also continued their protests on Monday. The protesting farmers persisted on their demands to their right to water sources.
Farmers of Ghahdarijan continued the protests and strikes
On Friday, the farmers of Ghahdarijan continued the protests and strikes they had begun the previous day. They too demand their most basic rights, which is to have suitable access to water.
In Najaf Abad too, farmers continued their protests and chanted: “The water of Zayandehrud is our right!”
The farmers stressed that none of the promises made by government officials have materialized yet and they will not be deceived by the government’s trickery. The farmers insisted on solidarity with each other.
The farmers insist that the government’s policies have caused serious problems for their livelihoods.
In an interview with the state-run ILNA news agency, Hessam Nazari, head of the Islamic Council of Isfahan, said that the banning of farming by the government has caused unemployment for many of the citizens of the province who have no other source of income.
In a video posted on social media, a Ghadarijan farmer is saying, “What is our crime? We have been deprived of water for 18 years! The incumbent energy minister is the same person who redirected the [province’s] water to Yazd.”
Hassan Kamran, a member of the Iranian regime’s parliament, said, “The energy ministry is allocating 20 times more than the current capacity to the steel and foundry industries, which is more than 15,000 million cubic meters.”
While the farmers of Isfahan are deprived of access to water, regime officials are making hefty profits from selling the province’s water to other places.
One of the farmers said, “We want our basic rights. A person from Shahr-e Kord has come here and has stolen our water in three provinces, has destroyed the harvest in Isfahan and has cultivated peach trees for himself. He has destroyed our livestock. He has destroyed our rights.”
Previously, Yusef Tabatabaei, the Friday prayer leader in Isfahan, had called the protesting farmers “seditionists” and said they had no right to protest.
But the farmers of Isfahan don’t need permission from anyone to raise their voices for their rights. Along with other social classes and communities across Iran, the farmers of Isfahan have continued their protests in full fervor in the past months. They are among the millions of people whose lives have turned to misery because of the destructive ideology and policies of the ruling mullahs.
The persistence of Isfahan’s farmers is the continuation of the uprising that began in December and has targeted the regime in its entirety, marked by slogans such as “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to Rouhani” and “Mullahs! Have shame and let go of the state!”
As their protests show, the farmers of Isfahan will achieve their demands when the regime of the mullahs topples.
