(28/28) For now, focus on removing them. Treat Reza Pahlavi as a symbol at best and nothing more. Acknowledge Trump as someone as bad as the mullahs.
Do that, and watch progressives join your fight. The ball is in your court.
(27/28) If you want progressives on your side, focus on the fight against the mullahs rather than supporting Trump or advocating for Reza Shah II. I'll suggest to you what you suggest to the rest of us: save your political preferences for the referendum after the mullahs are gone.
(26/28) What is my suggestion?
Be specific and realistic. Many progressives will never support another monarchy or call for military intervention from someone like Trump. You are allowed to want those things, the same way they are allowed to not join you if that's your banner.
(25/28) Progressive activism is about fighting against authoritarian intervention, not advocating for one dictator's intervention because the other dictator is worse. Try to understand why activists aren't joining you, instead of just attacking them.
(24/28) What is our demand for the Iranian movement? What can they do for us except calling for military intervention by Trump or Netanyahu (which me and many others will never advocate for)?
(23/28)Now, back to the initial topic: We resent activists for supporting Palestine but not us. But what exactly do we want from them? I watched Palestine protests at my school and they had a clear request: MIT should cut ties with the IDF, and our tax money should not be spent on bombing people.
(22/28) And as a symbol of a movement, you should be careful who you choose as allies. When you side with a dictator like Trump, people like me wonder: is this who the country will be handed to? Understand why I, and many others, don’t follow him.
(21/28) how he will “be a father or a shepherd to people because they want him to be,” or how “he” will be in charge until the country is ready for an election. I can’t respect someone who considers such a “supreme” role for themselves.
(20/28) But now he (and his followers) see him as a new Ayatollah Khomeini, ready to step off a plane and “Make Iran Great Again”. Reading his “plan for after the regime falls” (read his interview with WSJ), I see so many similarities to Khomeini’s 1979 playbook:
(19/28) His father, Shah had many flaws but wasn’t an evil king. But I can’t see Reza as anything more than a symbol. I actually had some respect for him years ago, when he openly said he didn't want power and if people needed a unifying symbol, he could be that and nothing more.
(18/28) One can argue that Trump will not replace Mullas, Reza Pahlavi (Shah’s son) will. Honestly, to me he is nothing more than a rich kid raised in exile. He is neither a bad guy nor a good leader. He has no political doctrines for me to even like or dislike.
(17/28) Haven't you seen ICE agents killing civilians in the streets and the IDF bombing children? Doesn't what happened to Renee Good in Minneapolis remind you of Kian Pirfalak? Is this really who you want to replace the mullahs?
(16/28) But let's take a step back.
How can you hate the mullahs and support people who are just as evil (or maybe 5% less evil at best)? How can you hate Ali Khamenei and his hounds yet support Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu?
(15/28) To Iranians outside Iran:
No one should ever go through what our families in Iran are going through. The regime is butchering people. The only way forward is for them to go. The brave people are fighting with their lives, and the day Iran is freed from mullas is a happy day for humanity.
(14/28) So my suggestion to you all: Call your Iranian friends. Make sure they are doing okay. And in the meantime, share their stories. Let them be heard. Let them inspire us in our own fights.
(13/28) Also, Iranians fighting their regime are powerful examples of standing up to authoritarianism which we can learn from to stand against our domestic dictators, giving us more reasons to share their fights.
(12/28) These small actions may or may not change the outcome of their fight, but will stop 90 million people from drifting toward conservatism. We've seen what conservatism has done to the states. I don't want it to happen to Iran.
(11/28) It will remind them that supporters of monarchy aren't the only ones who care about them. That liberals believe in their liberty too, even when their oppressor isn't in the Trump-Netanyahu camp.
(10/28)This is where I push back.
To clarify, I'm against US military intervention in Iran. That's just one dictator replacing another (beside being totally unlawful). However, sharing their bravery and acknowledging their fight, despite not overthrowing the dictator, will help them feel seen by us.
(9/28) What happens in response? They chant for a dictator like Trump because he acknowledges them. His supporters share their bravery on social media. They feel seen by them but invisible to us, because we're being "practical." We tell ourselves there's nothing we can do to help, so we stay quiet.
(8/28) But this isn’t how Iranians see it. They see you protesting for Gaza while staying silent when similar horrors happen in Iran. They see you valuing the lives of children in Gaza more than the lives of children in Iran. I know that's not true, but that's how it feels to them.
(7/28) This is a foreign government killing its own people. It's brutal, our hearts go out to them, but there's no clear action to take. So what would we even demand of our politicians? I understand that logic. But let's have some theory of mind here.
(6/28) That's simply not okay. If the Islamic Republic were getting US funds to kill people, we'd need to be in the streets demanding those funds be cut. But they're not.
(5/28) A friend made a great point today: we didn't have activists protesting across the country for the Sudan civil war or the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. The Israel-Palestine situation was different because one side was funded by our tax money, with military ties to labs in our own schools.
(4/28) I had to get that off my chest. Now, for those of you who don't think that way (hopefully the majority), I understand why you're not as vocal about Iran as you were about Palestine.
(3/28)The Islamic Regime is a brutal dictatorship butchering its own people. The only path forward is for them to go. If you support this regime for any reason, you are no better than conservatives backing dictators like Trump or Netanyahu.
(2/28) To my activist friends:
First, let’s set boundaries: if you believe what's happening in Iran is the fault of the US, and people would have good lives under the Islamic Regime without American interference, you are assuming only rich white people are capable of doing evil and THAT IS WRONG!
(1/28) Okay, so I've been conflicted about what's happening in Iran. I see my progressive activist friends staying silent while my Iranian friends attack them for it. It took me a few days to process, but I think I've some thoughts to share. So here’s a thread:
