Last year Israel bombed Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iran, Qatar as well as the territorial waters of Tunisia, Malta and Greece. It’s now stoking violence in Iran and some “leftist” Canadians are helping set the stage for something even more horrible.
On Tuesday NDP leadership candidate Heather McPherson posted a long statement boasting that she’s long promoted sanctioning Iran and listing part of its military (IRGC) a terrorist organization. She stated, “I commend the bravery of Iranians protesting the regime, and I stand in solidarity with the Iranian people, who have suffered under a brutal regime for decades. They deserve to live in freedom. Iranian people, like all people, deserve a future that is democratic and free.”
There’s nothing in the 700-word statement about the Israeli/US role in stoking, funding, and arming the protests in Iran or their probable role in the currency manipulation that sparked the initial demonstrations. Mossad/Israel have been open about their efforts to destabilize/fragment a country that checks the Jewish supremacist state’s military domination of the region. According to leading Israeli diplomatic correspondent Tamir Morag, “We reported tonight on Channel 14: foreign actors are arming the protesters in Iran with live firearms, which is the reason for the hundreds of regime personnel killed. Everyone is free to guess who is behind it.”
Deeply hostile to the left, Morag supports Israel arming the MEK and Kurdish opposition groups in Iran. Today he posted, “The opportunity to get rid of the Iranian regime is one that might not return, and realizing it would fundamentally change Israel’s national security situation and the stability of the entire Middle East for decades to come.
“Trump will likely act soon, but if he doesn’t, Israel must take up the challenge and go all out against Iran until the regime collapses. There will be costs, but the payoff justifies them.”
If you bothered to look/think, it’s obvious Israel wants violent protests to legitimize a large-scale US/Israeli attack. Still, large swaths of the ‘respectable’ left have (not for the first time) enabled imperial forces while ignoring their principal responsibility. As Justin Podur previously noted, “Imperialists don’t need you to love the empire. Hating all their enemies, on their schedule, is just as good.”
My reaction to the violence/protests in Iran, like other international instances, has been to challenge what I assess to be Canada’s nefarious role. I posted a seven-point list of demands of Ottawa I crafted during the Canadian-backed Israeli/US attack in June. It calls to restart diplomatic relations, end sanctions, de-list the IRGC, remove Iran from Canada’s state sponsor of terror list, return stolen diplomatic assets, stop politicizing the flight PS752 tragedy and apologize for backing the 1953 coup.
Engrossed in Western imperial culture, some leftists have responded to my position by accusing me of lacking solidarity and backing the Iranian government. In a Facebook back and forth, Niall Ricardo stated, “you’re pretty adamantly supporting the murder of Iranians opposing the Islamic Republic in the name of farcical ‘anti-imperialism’… You can’t play both sides you either oppose the Iranian regime or you don’t.”
As an atheist, socialist who has largely lived in Vancouver/Montreal, and has never denied that the Iranian government is repressive it’s a bizarre claim. In response to the Avi Lewis supporter, I noted, “sitting in Montreal I ‘either oppose the Iranian regime or I don’t.’ Seriously? Do I either support or oppose the regime in Botswana? Cambodia? Sri Lanka? Swaziland?”
I’m near certain that leftist activists/thought leaders in Uganda or Nepal don’t feel the need to declare their support or opposition to the government of Iran. (It’s notable that leftists demanding statements of ‘solidarity’ for protesters/working class in Iran have largely ignored the multi-week general strike against neoliberal reforms in Bolivia.) The fixation on denouncing the Iranian government is thinking imposed by the imperial core, by states targeting Iran. It must be rejected since it’s about ‘manufacturing consent’ for a new wave of imperial violence against Iran.
In fact, the best help we can offer all Iranians is doing everything possible to ensure Canada doesn’t once against support Donald Trump bombing their country.
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