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Upfront international

Cuba talk

Cuba’s education system is universally recognised as outstanding. NUT ex-president Bill Greenshields has put together an illustrated talk about it, which will provoke lively debate at your association or division.

Contact Bill on 07979 230175 or email him at billgreenshields@tiscali.co.uk.

Special offer for NUT members – one-third off normal price of £14.99. The education revolution – Cuba’s alternative to neoliberalism. NUT/Manifesto publication. Send cheque for £9.96 + £2 p&p, payable to Manifesto Press, to Manifesto Press, 23 Coombe Road, Croydon CR0 1BD.

Iran: Teacher secretly executed

Iranian teacher Farzad Kamanger was executed by hanging on 9 May this year, along with five others. He was 35 years old.

Farzad, a member of the Teachers’ Union of Kurdistan, had lived with the threat of the death penalty since February 2008 when he was accused of ‘endangering national security’ and ‘enmity against God’ after a sham five-minute trial.

The NUT has written to Foreign Secretary William Hague, and to the Iranian authorities urging them to investigate the legality of the execution and clarify why Farzad’s file was not reviewed by the Supreme Court in accordance with Iranian law.

The union is demanding guarantees that the fair process of law established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights will be adhered to, including the elimination of torture and ill-treatment in prison. We are also urging a moratorium on further executions.

Many other teachers and trade unionists like Farzad are still detained in Iranian prisons, facing torture and living with the threat of execution.

The NUT and other campaigners are demanding full and fair trials for teacher trade unionists Rasoul Bodaghi, Hashem Khastar, Bahman Goudarzzade and Abdolresa Ghanbari – all currently imprisoned in Iran. Also in prison are leaders of the International Transport Federation-affiliated Tehran Bus Workers’ Union and the chairman of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company Workers’ Syndicate.

Members are asked to support the campaign by writing to the Iranian authorities. A model letter and links to further information about the campaign are on the NUT website at www.teachers. org.uk (go to ‘International’ and click on ‘campaigns’).

• Hands Off the People of Iran (Hopi) is raising awareness about the imprisonment of Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi. He is under considerable pressure from the Iranian prison authorities because of his well known sympathies for the democratic opposition ‘green’ movement that exploded on to the streets in the aftermath of the rigged presidential election in June last year.

Find out more at: www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/mar/02/jafar-panahi-arrested-in-iran.

Global education: Help and resources for teachers taking a world view

Link Community Development works to increase understanding of life in sub-Saharan Africa. It helps schools to sponsor or link with African schools, and to raise awareness of global issues through the curriculum.

With EU funding, it now offers:

 • support and training to help schools understand their partner school, the aims of school linking and how to learn together and support development

 • resources to help partner schools learn from each other about global issues such as climate change – linking global citizenship, school partnerships, and the curriculum

 • improved information about African partner schools available online and through email.

For details, email linkschools@lcd.org.uk, visit www.lcdinternational.org or call 020 7691 1818.