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“They are asking parents of young protestors killed by the IRGC to either pay them $15,000 for their bodies, or to give it in writing that their kids were killed by the protestors for supporting the regime”, said Amir Hossein (name changed), as I asked him what’s the update on his friends who were still in Iran and were a part of the protests. I met him and a host of other Iranians during my recent trip to Sri Lanka and was lucky enough to experience the famed Persian hospitality. But behind that warm veneer hung a cold heaviness that they all carried silently.
Now that the internet blackout has been partially lifted in Iran (limited to VPN users), the horrific videos and images of thousands of protestors getting fired at have started coming in. More than 20,000 civilians have been killed so far, during a protest that started barely a month ago. Young Iranians, and even the elderly, took to the streets, waving hijabs like flags, armed with nothing more than slogans, songs, and an almost reckless bravery, demanding nothing more than freedom. And they paid for it with their lives. Those who died had their bodies confiscated for ransom from their grieving parents. Those who were wounded were followed by the IRGC to the hospitals and shot again.
The Selective Megaphone
The Iranian government did what any authoritarian regime does – used bullets and blackouts to coerce, maim, and murder the rebellion. But the one section that failed to do what it was supposed to do, was the Left. No hashtags. No referendums. No ICC sessions. No flotillas. No boycotts. None. And not for the lack of a reason or cause.
Let’s get something straight though – empathy is not a zero-sum game. Compassion is not a competition. Both Ukraine and Palestine needed those eyes and voices. But by not giving the same voice to the plight of Iranians, just because opposing their villain might inadvertently help the people we don’t like, turns activism into opportunism. Whether it was the Green Movement of 2009, the economic protests in 2018 – 19, or the Women-Life-Freedom protests after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022-23, every time the Iranian populace revolted against tyranny and oppression, they were left to fend for themselves.
That was just hypocrisy. Then came the mockery.
If the moral test is whether you support people resisting oppression, Iran should be an easy case. Women and young people are demanding bodily autonomy, freedom of speech, freedom from the morality police, and a state that does not police identity through compulsory religious law. But after repeated reminders, when the centrist and leftist news portals reported on Iran, they received a flurry of ‘laughing emojis’. Not from some petulant right-wing trolls, but from the same progressives who rallied behind Ukraine and Gaza. The reason? They dismissed the uprising as a charade orchestrated by the CIA and Mossad. It went so far that the few Iranians who could access the internet and appeal to the consciousness of the world leaders were labelled foreign agents – including the very people I was sitting with in Sri Lanka. This is not just unfair to their cause. It is an evil way to discredit their sacrifices.
The War of Narratives
There is a consensus among the academics that western imperialism has had its murky hands behind many of modern world’s woes. So automatically, in that framework, opposing U.S. intervention becomes so central that it morphs into minimizing the crimes of regimes positioned against Washington. Iran’s government understands this dynamic and constantly frames domestic dissent as a CIA plot, a Zionist plot, or a foreign “hybrid war.”
The tragedy is that some people end up repeating the regime’s logic: if the U.S. dislikes Tehran, then all of Tehran’s opponents must be western proxies.
The bitter fact is that the fall of Ayatollah regime will benefit both Washington and Tel Aviv. The Iranian Regime has been the single biggest benefactor of the Hezbollah, which has been a key opponent of Israel. But it has also been a key supplier of the drones that keep raining down upon the Ukrainians from Russia. Which is also one of the reasons why Russia has objected vociferously to any direct action on Iran, military or otherwise.
A similar kind of statement from Russia on Ukraine flooded the internet with #SlavaUkraini. But when it comes to #FreeIran, an awkward silence permeates across the same podiums. This is a moral misjudgement. Human rights should not be subjective. The fact that a freer Iran might shift the balance of power in the West’s favour cannot be the reason to negate the legitimacy of Iranians demanding freedom from oppression.
Solidarity is either absolute, or with a political agenda.
I remember the news of a plane crash in Pakistan in 2020. I remember seeing the ‘laughing emojis’ and sarcastic comments from some Indians on it, and I remember how they received angry rebuttals and censuring from most of us. What’s happening in Iran isn’t an accident though. It’s a brutally organized suppression of civilians demanding a right to live with freedom. But this time, in response, they’re either getting mocked, gaslighted, or judged on their morality. And the left is keeping mum, because the enemy doesn’t have the right skin colour or religion.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.