The Iranian Massacre and the Silence of the West

This has been, in short, one of the largest, bravest protest movements in modern history and one of the worst massacres of civilians by their own government.

The protests in Iran may not have lasted particularly long – less than two weeks from start to violent end – but they continue to resonate. At least to some of us. The near unimaginable courage that ordinary Iranians showed in taking to the streets to confront, head on, the murderous theocratic regime that have been oppressing them for more than four decades, is matched only by the depravity of a regime that would kill tens of thousands of their own citizens just to maintain power.

With internet and cell phone signals blocked throughout the country, it’s impossible to know just how great the Islamic Republic’s crimes against the people of Iran were, but at the time of this writing, we’re looking at something like 30,000 Iranian protesters killed in cold blood over just two days (8 and 9 January), as well as more than 330,000 injured and who knows how many arrested. Not only may this number be well below the final tally, “arrested” in Iran almost definitely means torture, very possibly rape, and ultimately, execution.

This has been, in short, one of the largest, bravest protest movements in modern history and one of the worst massacres of civilians by their own government since – well, I would love to say in decades, but at least, presumably, since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

And yet, however much it’s impossible not to be moved by both the heroism of the Iranian people and the barbarism of the Islamic Republic, what was (and is) truly difficult to get one’s head around is the reaction to these events abroad. Not surprising, exactly, in the wake of the past few years, but certainly a shocking reminder of just how twisted and confused the current moral order has become.

Where Are They Now?

There have been certain allegations made against Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel groups that they have been drawing so much attention to what’s happening in Iran as a way of deflecting from the so-called “genocide” in Gaza. And I will get to these and other similarly repugnant distortions of reality shortly, but on the most basic level it is undoubtedly true that there is a direct correlation here: overwhelmingly, the social media accounts of those who have stood by Israel over the past two years, have stood firmly with the people of Iran over the past few weeks; those who didn’t, haven’t.

One has to wonder why after years of professing to deeply care about the lives of Middle Easterners, the likes of Mark Rufallo, Cynthia Nixon, and Javier Bardem have chosen to remain conspicuously silent about the mass slaughter of Iranian civilians by their own government. These civilians have given everything, including their lives, to protest for the same rights that these sanctimonious celebs claim to hold dear, and they have been rewarded with silence.

Certainly, at last weekend’s Golden Globe Awards, which occurred as these massacres were unfolding, not a word was stated calling for a “free Iran” and certainly no pins or stickers were worn in commemoration of the blood shed. Attention was focused on the insanity happening in the US itself - and very rightly so - but it’s not like they’ve ever had much trouble speaking out against Trump and what was happening in the Middle East in the past.

There have at least, in fact, been quite a few protests against the Islamic Republic in many countries over the past few weeks, but it’s notable that they have been rather quieter and less well-attended than equivalent marches against Israel. And unlike those anti-Israel protests, they tend to peacefully fly the flags of Iran (the non-Islamic Republic version), Israel, the UK, the US or whichever country they’re taking place in, with nary a terror flag or slogan in sight.

These pro-Iran marches have, alas, failed to capture the hearts and campuses of today’s youth, who are either silent about Iran or have launched “hands off Iran” campaigns that are less about protesting military intervention per say (which would be more than fair) than about evil colonialist Western forces “oppressing” the poor, misunderstood Iranians – with no apparent distinction made between the Islamic Republic and those they have actually been oppressing them for 45 years.

This, inevitably, is accompanied by the usual conspiracy theories about the whole thing being an Israeli ploy to undermine the regime and that the protests do not represent the true will of the Iranian people. Take, for example, Cenk Yughur, the founder of the popular left-wing YouTube channel, the Young Turks, who posted extensively on X about support for Iran online being faked by Israeli bots and the whole thing being just an elaborate attempt for Israel to create a puppet government in Iran in an effort to undermine the Palestinian cause. Roger Waters, meanwhile, continues to be Roger Waters, standing once again on the wrong side of history and sanity by supporting the IRGC, just as he supports Hamas and Putin.

As for the media, it’s again notable that though these protests have been reported on by international outlets, they have seldom grabbed the lead headlines and have been reported on without sensationalism and with a solid amount of caution. This does, however, stand in rather stark contrast to their reporting on the Israel-Hamas war, which was often treated as the only conflict in the world that mattered, and where every unsubstantiated statement or statistic released by Hamas was immediately viewed as holy writ. That they have been reporting on Iran like proper journalists is obviously a good thing, but where were these journalistic ethics when they reported about a neighbouring (but directly related) conflict over the past two-plus years?

What It All Means

The double standards concerning Israel, though, are really nothing new and the hypocrisies of Israel’s greatest critics can be seen just as easily in Syria or South Sudan is recent years as it is in Iran now. As such, though part of this is undoubtedly fuelled by antisemitism across the political spectrum, there is something much bigger at play here. Right-wing isolationism and far-right bigotries are easy enough explanations for the right’s increasingly hostile attitudes towards not just Israel but Ukraine too, but it’s the other side of the political divide that is most of interest.

This is not because the left is any more prone to antisemitism, fuzzy logic, or weird conspiracy theories than the right, but because so much of the “progressive left” has been captured by a particularly insidious philosophy that presents itself as liberalism, but is actually its ideological opposite. It’s so underhanded that even finding the right name for it is an exercise in futility. “Woke”, I suppose might work, had that term not been so frequently misused and abused that it has lost all meaning.

Either way, this “post-liberal” philosophy has many facets, but for our purposes, its main inversions of liberalism concern both Martin Luther King’s ideal of “judging people by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin” (or other immutable characteristics), and the belief that liberal-democracy is the way in which we can uplift the previously oppressed and create a fairer, more equal society.

This is a philosophy that no longer view people as individuals or as fellow human beings, but as an inter-sectional web of group identities that are weighted according to the binaries of victim/ victimiser; oppressed/ oppressor. It is a philosophy that no longer views empowerment as the ultimate goal and greatest virtue, but victimhood.

As such, powerful liberal-democracies are no longer considered flawed enterprises that are constantly working to fix their past sins, but as fundamentally and uniquely evil. On the other hand, the people of the “powerless” Global South are now and forever victims of the Global North, whose sins – no matter how great – can always be explained away and forgiven as the unavoidable consequences of foreign interference.

It’s every bit as ridiculous as it sounds, and even more dangerous. Because coming from such an ideological framework, what are they to make of these Iranian protests and attempted revolution?

How can they wrap their confused heads around the idea that the Islamic Republic is evil not because of American or Israeli interference, but because it is based on a barbaric ideology that wishes to undo thousands of years of progress in human rights in the name of religion? How can they possibly imagine that the “powerless” Iranian people can do anything as empowering as fight back for their own freedom without being controlled by outside forces? And how can they possibly accept that Iran may be guilty of colonialism even as the Islamic Republic occupies Syria, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Yemen with its terror proxies? Isn’t Israel the great “coloniser” in the region?

Is it any wonder that they even the loudest quarters of the “New Left” have been so silent on what’s happening now in Iran?

Where to Now?

As of this writing, it is impossible to know what is actually going on. The regime has successfully blacked out the country with its nationwide internet shut down, but whatever is happening you can be guaranteed that it’s not good. And whatever is happening, the people of Iran need the world’s help. What form that help should take is a very valid and difficult discussion. Some form of military intervention is presumably needed as the Iranian civilians are entirely out-gunned and the regime won’t just leave of their own behest, but obviously the situation is extremely delicate and no one wants a long, even bloodier war to result from it.

What is clear, though, is that even as the regime has never been weaker, it can’t be taken down by its people alone. Not when it is willing to commit any atrocity to guarantee its own survival. And it’s also clear that whatever form that outside help takes, it has to start with the rest of the world’s basic ability to recognise evil for what it is – and to accept that the fall of the Islamic Republic may be a huge boon to Israel, to America, and to the whole region, but that it is first and foremost the will of the Iranian people.

They’ve paid too much already in making that point.

Ilan Preskovsky is a Johannesburg-based freelance writer, who has covered everything from international politics to Jewish culture/ religion to film and TV reviews. His work has been featured online on the likes of News24, Popverse and BizNews, and in print in Business Day, Jewish Life Magazine and the Star, among others.