anonymous submission –
On Wednesday, June 18, a group of Iranians in the diaspora spontaneously organized an emergency anti-war rally at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle. Their stance was unapologetically anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-zionist, anti-fascist, anti-dictatorship – rooted firmly in the solidarity of peoples, not states.
Their goal was to amplify the cry against war from inside Iran and to break the dominant narrative being pushed by mainstream media, which is pounding the drums of war with alarming fervor.
They had planned to read aloud statements and letters that have emerged from inside Iran in recent days: statements from the Teachers’ Union, from laborers, from the Iranian Writers’ Association, from Afghanistani migrants in Iran, and from Baloch women – all voices of the ordinary oppressed people.
Despite the short notice, a respectable crowd turned out. The majority were there specifically to denounce any U.S.-backed aggression against Iran and to stand firmly with the Iranian people, not their oppressors.
But amid this atmosphere of resistance a small minority attempted to sabotage the action: The Iranian monarchists and zionists, and the spineless campists.
Let’s be clear: the Iranian people have already dealt with monarchist fascists and Iranian zionists. They have no place in our collective struggle.
This address is aimed squarely at you, campists!
You, who reside in the heart of empire, getting a rush of adrenaline from watching Iranian and Israeli missiles on your cell phones – how dare you!
We, Iranians, have stood with the Palestinian cause long before it became fashionable. And yet you, Campists who didn’t even know where Gaza was before October 7 – have the audacity to show up at a spontaneous anti-war rally organized by Iranians only to parrot support for the Islamic Republic, a fascist regime that executes, imprisons, tortures and guns down its own people in the streets? How dare you!
You, beating the drums of war from the safety of distance, you who are complicit in the deaths of Iranians.
Yes – we want to see Israel dismantled and we want our Palestinian siblings to be free.
We also know that in times of war, we must oppose it with all our might – not revel in its spectacle.
We know – clearly and without illusion – that Israel, a settler-colonial state built on massacres and ethnically cleansing, will never bring liberation to Iranians.
But do you understand that the regime of Iran – an apparatus that executes dissidents, shoots protestors in the streets, and crushes even the faintest murmur of opposition – cannot be a force of liberation for any either?
anonymous submission –
On Wednesday, June 18, a group of Iranians in the diaspora spontaneously organized an emergency anti-war rally at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle. Their stance was unapologetically anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-zionist, anti-fascist, anti-dictatorship – rooted firmly in the solidarity of peoples, not states.
Their goal was to amplify the cry against war from inside Iran and to break the dominant narrative being pushed by mainstream media, which is pounding the drums of war with alarming fervor.
They had planned to read aloud statements and letters that have emerged from inside Iran in recent days: statements from the Teachers’ Union, from laborers, from the Iranian Writers’ Association, from Afghanistani migrants in Iran, and from Baloch women – all voices of the ordinary oppressed people.
Despite the short notice, a respectable crowd turned out. The majority were there specifically to denounce any U.S.-backed aggression against Iran and to stand firmly with the Iranian people, not their oppressors.
But amid this atmosphere of resistance a small minority attempted to sabotage the action: The Iranian monarchists and zionists, and the spineless campists.
Let’s be clear: the Iranian people have already dealt with monarchist fascists and Iranian zionists. They have no place in our collective struggle.
This address is aimed squarely at you, campists!
You, who reside in the heart of empire, getting a rush of adrenaline from watching Iranian and Israeli missiles on your cell phones – how dare you!
We, Iranians, have stood with the Palestinian cause long before it became fashionable. And yet you, Campists who didn’t even know where Gaza was before October 7 – have the audacity to show up at a spontaneous anti-war rally organized by Iranians only to parrot support for the Islamic Republic, a fascist regime that executes, imprisons, tortures and guns down its own people in the streets? How dare you!
You, beating the drums of war from the safety of distance, you who are complicit in the deaths of Iranians.
Yes – we want to see Israel dismantled and we want our Palestinian siblings to be free.
We also know that in times of war, we must oppose it with all our might – not revel in its spectacle.
We know – clearly and without illusion – that Israel, a settler-colonial state built on massacres and ethnically cleansing, will never bring liberation to Iranians.
But do you understand that the regime of Iran – an apparatus that executes dissidents, shoots protestors in the streets, and crushes even the faintest murmur of opposition – cannot be a force of liberation for any either?