Against the War on Iran
Against the War on Iran
June 24, 2025
GEO resolutely condemns the US government's illegal act of war against Iran and its people. This latest attack is a clear escalation of the US government’s continual sponsorship of Israel’s genocide in Palestine and aggression against neighboring Middle Eastern nations.
In addition to the resulting death and violence, this act endangers hundreds of UIC graduate workers from Iran and throughout the Middle East. The mental and psychological distress from fearing for families' safety is compounded by a federal policy of hostility and aggression. After all, the imperialist apparatus that oppresses Palestinians and Iranians is the same that trains ICE and police here in the United States. Faced with increased surveillance and extra barriers from immigration enforcement, many grad workers will not be able to return home. At the workplace, this precarity leaves our coworkers more vulnerable to discrimination and racial profiling.
If UIC is to be a global institution, it must implement real protections for international workers here. GEO has already proposed to the UIC administration just such a plan: a Memorandum of Understanding that would bar ICE from campus, prevent UIC from reporting immigration status to workers, and guarantee funding and legal services to international workers especially in cases of status disruption. Admin needs to come to the table and sign this deal before things get much worse for all of us.
Given these dire circumstances, UIC administration also needs to condemn the war, as well as the federal surveillance and xenophobic discrimination against Iranians that is sure to follow. All workers affected by the war must be granted accommodations as necessary, from reduced hours and workload adjustments to personal leave. Finally, UIC must respect all graduate workers' rights to address working conditions and take action together free from retaliation.
We call on the entire UIC community to stand together and oppose the war, hold UIC accountable, and defend our Iranian coworkers’ equal rights to dignity, safety, and freedom.
As graduate workers, our struggle is global or it is nothing. We refuse to be divided by wars of aggression meant to conquer and exploit. Solidarity with the Iranian people; let's unite across borders for the future we all deserve!
Signed,
GEO Steering Committee & Communications Committee