Does Avi Lewis back monarchical rule in Iran? The NDP leadership candidate and the party’s foreign critic have echoed some of the pretext for the US/Israeli aggression, which has already killed over 1,200.
In a statement critical of Mark Carney’s support for US/Israeli war on Iran Lewis wrote, “These leaders justify this war as serving Iranian liberation. But the courageous movement in Iran that has been fighting tyranny for nearly five decades(italics mine) — and is still reeling from the worst massacre in the country’s modern history in January — will suffer a massive setback from these foreign bombs.”
Forty-seven years ago, Iranians overthrew monarchist rule. 26 years earlier the Shah was imposed after a brief democratic experiment was expunged by the US and UK (with passive Canadian support). With Canadian arms and diplomatic support until the end of his rule, the Shah’s SAVAK intelligence forces killed tens of thousands. To suggest the Iranian Revolution instituted “tyranny” is imperial propaganda.
Lewis’ statement wasn’t a slip. Recently Iranian Canadian politics have been taken over by monarchists who seek to turn the clock back 50 years. They call for the return of the Shah, chanting “This is the final battle — Pahlavi will return!”
Lewis previously echoed the US-Israeli pretext for war. Quote tweeting a statement Lewis posted on January 14, Mathew Sloly recently noted, “NDP leadership front runner, Avi Lewis knows better than to cheer for the bloody sausage but we recall how he lobbied for its making. His social democratic table manners are impeccable.”
In January Lewis posted, “My heart is with Iranians in Canada and elsewhere in the world as they watch an escalating crackdown unfold in Iran. For almost two days, they have been cut off from loved ones by the Iranian government’s internet blackout, which it has used in the past as cover for mass arrests and deadly force.
“The protests are the latest expression of a struggle that has gone on for decades: against tyranny, against the crushing of the rights of women, workers, minorities, and dissidents, and against the impossible cost of living. The courage of those taking to the streets in cities, towns, and villages from across society is extraordinary.”
But that violence was part of an Israeli/US destabilization effort seeking to set the stage for a new round of aggression. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent boasted that US sanctions and currency manipulation stoked the protests. “In December their economy collapsed,” Bessent noted. “We saw a major bank go under. The central bank has started to print money. There is a dollar shortage. They are not able to get imports and this is why the people took to the street.”
With large sums pumped into opposition groups, the US and Israel also armed MEK and Kurdish opposition forces. As the New York Times reported, “The C.I.A. has previously given small arms to the Iranian Kurdish forces as part of a covert program to destabilize Iran, an effort that began before the current war.”
The violence in January wasn’t simply state backed repression of peaceful protesters. It was also a foreign stoked and armed destabilization effort part of rekindling the summer war and current aggression.
For his part, NDP foreign critic Alexandre Boulerice promoted another part of the pretext for aggression. Three days ago he posted, “The oppressive and bloody regime of the Ayatollahs is reprehensible, but its nuclear program must be managed through the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In fact, its Director General, Mr. Grossi, recently indicated that he was working with the Iranian administration to resume inspections and reiterated that there could be no solution other than a diplomatic one.”
Leaving aside whether Boulerice has ever labelled the rogue genocidal Jewish supremacist state “reprehensible”, the nuclear argument is a red herring. Donald Trump ripped up the JCPOA nuclear accord, then claimed to have “obliterated” the country’s nuclear enrichment capabilities in June and Oman’s foreign minister said Iran agreed to never stockpile enriched uranium during the indirect talks with the US before the aggression. Additionally, the US and Israel have nuclear arms — in Israel’s case outside the NPT framework — so they would be the last countries to have anything to say about Iranian nuclear policy.
NDP interim leader Don Davies deserves praise for posting repeatedly about the US/Israeli aggression. In response to a Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and Just Peace Advocates email petition campaign calling for the “withdrawal of all Canadian soldiers assisting the aggression on Iran”, he wrote: “I strongly agree that Canadian personnel must not be placed in harm’s way or implicated in an illegal conflict. If our forces are assisting this operation in any capacity, they must be withdrawn immediately. Canada must end all military support contributing to these strikes and return to playing a constructive role by supporting diplomacy, advocating for deescalation, and working for long-term solutions based on dialogue and peace.”
The NDP must raise questions about the Canadians troops stationed at US bases in the region, Canada’s base in Kuwait and Canadians assisting the aggression through NORAD. They should also be calling to restart diplomatic relations with Iran, remove it from Canada’s state sponsor of terror list and an end to Canada’s sanctions. The NDP could also raise pausing arms sales to the US and the hundreds of military accords with that country.
All NDP representatives should be pressed to forcefully oppose this horrific war, a position polls show most Canadians support.
Please email the defence minister and opposition critics to call for the withdrawal of all Canadian soldiers assisting the US/Israeli aggression on Iran.
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