I Don’t Have An Iran “Take”
Sorry in advance, I typed all this on a ten year old iPad.
Born Just In Time To Die In A War In The Middle East
Israel and the US bombed Iran last night after I’d taken 15mg of melatonin and was halfway to dreamland. My entire body was aching from two days of ski lessons (I’m class traitormaxing) and I was cranky so I fired off a few posts on the Threads App reaffirming that I hate everyone involved in this story and then fell asleep.
I awoke to tens of people (tens!) clamoring for my “take” on the Iran strikes so they would “know how to feel about it.”
On one level, I sort of understand why. I am humbled that many people believe that I have a strong enough record of taking principled stances on geopolitical issues that they adopt a posture of anticipation towards what I will say on any given subject. That’s a huge compliment, and a lot of responsibility!
On another level, I often feel like I’m just being “invoked” as some kind of authority on these subjects so that chronically online people can argue with each other in their DMs, appealing to my perspective as if it is authoritative. It’s not. I am not an expert on Iran. I do not have the proper linguistic, historical, or geopolitical knowledge to be much of an expert on anything
Nevertheless, many Iranians have expressed intense feelings of gratitude for how I have, in my own imperfect way, outlined the broad strokes of their struggle for a Western audience, all while nuancemogging the “anti-imperialists of convenience.”
I have endeavored to use my platform to humanize the struggle of Iranian protestors, while not shying away from important context like the US record of manufacturing consent for intervention as well as the intense racism, Zionism, and Islamophobia nurtured by elements of the Persian diaspora.
I’ve been based and clearpilled on Iran for years but this recent uptick in support can be traced to a video I made in early January about the ongoing protests in the country. It was equal parts playful, straightforward, and pragmatic. It resonated strongly with many Iranians, particularly those anti-Zionist Iranians who have had to wage a two front war against racist or Islamophobic elements of their own diaspora as well as the many thousands of people who were vocal about the persecution of Palestine but completely silent about the Iranian government’s own repression.
This latter position is often rationalized by a moral calculus that insists that (un)critical support is owed to anyone willing to support the Palestinian resistance, even if that means doing free propaganda for a bunch of brutal religious fundamentalists who pin their own people under the heel of clerical fascism.
Many Iranians recognize this stance for what it truly is; the elevation of one popular struggle over another, simply because the former is easier to geopolitically rationalize than the latter.
Zionist Persians (and the occasional Kurd) do the same thing when they insist that their struggle is more important than the struggle for Palestinian liberation, especially since the latter is funded and supported by the Islamic Republic.
That leaves the anti-Zionist Iranians in the difficult position of having few and temperamental allies. So, when they feel seen, they tend to express this with gratitude.
