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Why are none of the people I saw posting non-stop about Palestine saying anything about Iranian freedom? Would honestly love to hear a genuine response from any

Why are none of the people I saw posting non-stop about Palestine saying anything about Iranian freedom? Would honestly love to hear a genuine response from anyone who is against the movement in Iran. Or even conflicted about it.

seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
I’m not against the movement, but the last time Iran had protests this bad was in 1979. It didn’t get better afterwards. It’s a huge mess and I hope they figure something out to fix it, but I’m just pessimistic.
- Rover222 9mo ago
  Thanks for the reply. Makes sense.
tekla 9mo ago
I hope the movement succeeds. I've been curious myself about why the activist class seems weirdly quiet on this issue. On a quick scan of media feeds I've seen a couple of things that stand out (I do not confirm or deny how true these claims are) 1) Current Iran is a enemy of the USA and thus activists can't support the destruction of the current regime. Iran is able to create nukes so can put pressure on the USA in Middle East Politics (esp. Palestine and Israel) 2) The uprising and the Shah are CIA/Western Backed and thus supporting the protestors is de-facto colonialism/imperialism. 3) Contrary to popular belief Iran is not actually a Muslim nation, only the leadership is. The population is significantly more varied and people do not want to be seen supporting the firebombing of Mosques because Islamphobia. I don't know how widespread these opinions are, but it IS very strange how I don't see more outrage.
- Rover222 9mo ago
  I think the left-leaning activist people in the Americas are so against any position that could align with a Trump position, that they can’t think beyond those lines. If Trump supports the revolution it must be bad.
  - Rover222 9mo ago
    Or because the Iranian Islamic regime supports Hamas? And they somehow align with that side. I don’t know.
    - oldandboring 9mo ago
      You are more right than you realize. Around the time the US and Israel bombed the Iranian nuclear sites, I personally witnessed our local pro-Hamas protesters add 'stop bombing Iran' signs to their repertoire.
- baggy_trough 9mo ago
  The core of far left activism is being anti-Western. Therefore, they can't say anything bad about even the most despicable anti-Western governments.
  - Rover222 9mo ago
    That is what it seems like
- breppp 9mo ago
  There's an alliance between the new left and islamism due to some ideological similarities. Sure one side would march for pride and the other hangs gays on cranes. However, in foreign policy both explain anything as some product of colonialism, a phenomena that essentially disappeared 60 years ago. This is due to the effect Edward Said had on US humanities, which was in turn was influenced by Muslim Brotherhood thought in his home country of Egypt
  - Rover222 9mo ago
    Ironic considering Iranians consider themselves to be under Islamic colonial oppression.
  - Rover222 9mo ago
    I hadn't heard of Edward Said, thanks for mentioning.
danny_codes 9mo ago
I offer two possibilities: 1. Iran has frequent large protests that consistently get crushed. So while I assume the vast majority of Americans oppose the Iranian government, it’s hard to get worked up for the 5th, 6th time. 2. The US doesn’t support the Iranian government. We already sanction them. What additional support can US citizens lobby for? In the case of Israel, decreased US support would have a tangible effect. Unclear how increased US support for Iranian protestors would matter.
- Rover222 9mo ago
  Makes sense!
- oldandboring 9mo ago
  > The US doesn’t support the Iranian government. The US does support the Saudi government, though, and the collective response from the concerned citizens brigade about their relentless 10+ year pulverization of Yemen has been... nothing.
DesiLurker 9mo ago
I have a less charitable and more direct answer. Right now there is a notion in Left that Israeli are the oppressor. In Iran large majority of population is Persian but MINO (Muslim in name only due to dictatorship). They are struggling to get freedom from the Islamic regime and getting some help from Israel. This flips the narrative in Left's mind (if they accept it) that Muslims can be oppressors too and that is untenable for them. especially because Left in Western nations has basically aligned themselves with muslims so its easier for them to just ignore it. BTW its not just left here, I originally hail from India and you can feel the pin-drop silence from left on Iran there too. They just hope the rebellion gets crushed by regime like other ones and they'll pretend status quo. My TLDR takeaway: Muslims only care about when they are oppressed & Left is completely aligned with them right now.
- Rover222 9mo ago
  I completely agree with you.
- omgmajk 9mo ago
  In certain subreddits I have seen the idea that there is no revolution, it's all mossad/CIA propaganda. It's quite conspiratorial but it's the same subs that typically love China, NK etc so it's not surprising. However, I have seen these thoughts spread to more seemingly mainstream geopolitical subs as well. I am not sure how much astroturfing is going on here. Probably quite a lot.
whatshisface 9mo ago
There are a lot of signs that the leader being suggested would be a king, which is not something most citizens in democratic nations would feel natural fighting for.
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
TiredOfLife 9mo ago
Because the Iranian regime was the one pushing that pro Palestine narrative.
- Rover222 9mo ago
  Yup. Hard to be pro Hamas and then cheer a secular revolution in Iran.
almogo 9mo ago
Speaking from an American perspective, many left-leaning commentators I've seen are focused on the ICE situation in the states right now. But that's the most optimistic take I can conjure.
- Rover222 9mo ago
  Definitely part of it. But the Mexican leftists I know are equally silent. As they were on Ukraine too. It’s really only when then can root against the US or Jews, as far as I can tell.
  - terminalshort 9mo ago
    [flagged]
feb012025 9mo ago
I would say it's really about opposition to death and suffering. The activists want the excessive death and suffering to end in Palestine, and they want to avoid death and suffering in Iran. Many politicians want to use the protests as a pretext for military intervention in Iran, and my blunt opinion is that they don't actually have the interests of Iranians in mind. There are many reasons to believe it will end up worse for both America and the Iranians than our interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. A valid response would be to say that you think abuses in Iran are bad enough that a military intervention is justified and that it will lead to a better outcome for Iranians. My intuition would be to disagree with that, based on the results of past interventions, etc...
- wybiral 9mo ago
  You don't have to support military intervention to pay attention. People supported Palestine without wanting to bomb Israel. Also... Are the executed protesters not also death and suffering? What about victims and conflicts resulting from the groups Iran funds?
  - feb012025 9mo ago
    The problem is, I really do believe any kind of mass support for the Iranian protesters will in fact be co-opted to start a war with Iran--at least at this particular moment in time. And the executed protesters are a bad thing. But I don't think military intervention will lead to a better outcome. Supporters of Palestine had pretty specific requests, none of which apply to Iran (conditioning weapons sales, divestment, etc...)
    - wybiral 9mo ago
      You're the one certain about military intervention. I just want them to keep pressuring a regime that's killing it's own people.
- oldandboring 9mo ago
  > The activists want the excessive death and suffering to end in Palestine, and they want to avoid death and suffering in Iran. And yet they are silent on the death and suffering in: Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo, Myanmar, Libya. Just to name current active conflicts where people are dying, to say nothing of all the others that have flared up and subsided in my decades on this earth as I've watched "activists" ignore them all so they could hyper-focus on whatever Israel was doing at the time to protect its citizens and the Jewish diaspora. The word "exhausting" doesn't even scratch the surface of how it feels to deal with otherwise smart, educated people who roll around in this hypocrisy-laden dogpile.

seanmcdirmid 9mo ago

I’m not against the movement, but the last time Iran had protests this bad was in 1979. It didn’t get better afterwards. It’s a huge mess and I hope they figure something out to fix it, but I’m just pessimistic.

Rover222 9mo ago
Thanks for the reply. Makes sense.

tekla 9mo ago

I hope the movement succeeds. I've been curious myself about why the activist class seems weirdly quiet on this issue. On a quick scan of media feeds I've seen a couple of things that stand out (I do not confirm or deny how true these claims are) 1) Current Iran is a enemy of the USA and thus activists can't support the destruction of the current regime. Iran is able to create nukes so can put pressure on the USA in Middle East Politics (esp. Palestine and Israel) 2) The uprising and the Shah are CIA/Western Backed and thus supporting the protestors is de-facto colonialism/imperialism. 3) Contrary to popular belief Iran is not actually a Muslim nation, only the leadership is. The population is significantly more varied and people do not want to be seen supporting the firebombing of Mosques because Islamphobia. I don't know how widespread these opinions are, but it IS very strange how I don't see more outrage.

Rover222 9mo ago
I think the left-leaning activist people in the Americas are so against any position that could align with a Trump position, that they can’t think beyond those lines. If Trump supports the revolution it must be bad.
- Rover222 9mo ago
  Or because the Iranian Islamic regime supports Hamas? And they somehow align with that side. I don’t know.
  - oldandboring 9mo ago
    You are more right than you realize. Around the time the US and Israel bombed the Iranian nuclear sites, I personally witnessed our local pro-Hamas protesters add 'stop bombing Iran' signs to their repertoire.
baggy_trough 9mo ago
The core of far left activism is being anti-Western. Therefore, they can't say anything bad about even the most despicable anti-Western governments.
- Rover222 9mo ago
  That is what it seems like
breppp 9mo ago
There's an alliance between the new left and islamism due to some ideological similarities. Sure one side would march for pride and the other hangs gays on cranes. However, in foreign policy both explain anything as some product of colonialism, a phenomena that essentially disappeared 60 years ago. This is due to the effect Edward Said had on US humanities, which was in turn was influenced by Muslim Brotherhood thought in his home country of Egypt
- Rover222 9mo ago
  Ironic considering Iranians consider themselves to be under Islamic colonial oppression.
- Rover222 9mo ago
  I hadn't heard of Edward Said, thanks for mentioning.

danny_codes 9mo ago

I offer two possibilities: 1. Iran has frequent large protests that consistently get crushed. So while I assume the vast majority of Americans oppose the Iranian government, it’s hard to get worked up for the 5th, 6th time. 2. The US doesn’t support the Iranian government. We already sanction them. What additional support can US citizens lobby for? In the case of Israel, decreased US support would have a tangible effect. Unclear how increased US support for Iranian protestors would matter.

Rover222 9mo ago
Makes sense!
oldandboring 9mo ago
> The US doesn’t support the Iranian government. The US does support the Saudi government, though, and the collective response from the concerned citizens brigade about their relentless 10+ year pulverization of Yemen has been... nothing.

DesiLurker 9mo ago

I have a less charitable and more direct answer. Right now there is a notion in Left that Israeli are the oppressor. In Iran large majority of population is Persian but MINO (Muslim in name only due to dictatorship). They are struggling to get freedom from the Islamic regime and getting some help from Israel. This flips the narrative in Left's mind (if they accept it) that Muslims can be oppressors too and that is untenable for them. especially because Left in Western nations has basically aligned themselves with muslims so its easier for them to just ignore it. BTW its not just left here, I originally hail from India and you can feel the pin-drop silence from left on Iran there too. They just hope the rebellion gets crushed by regime like other ones and they'll pretend status quo. My TLDR takeaway: Muslims only care about when they are oppressed & Left is completely aligned with them right now.

Rover222 9mo ago
I completely agree with you.
omgmajk 9mo ago
In certain subreddits I have seen the idea that there is no revolution, it's all mossad/CIA propaganda. It's quite conspiratorial but it's the same subs that typically love China, NK etc so it's not surprising. However, I have seen these thoughts spread to more seemingly mainstream geopolitical subs as well. I am not sure how much astroturfing is going on here. Probably quite a lot.

whatshisface 9mo ago

There are a lot of signs that the leader being suggested would be a king, which is not something most citizens in democratic nations would feel natural fighting for.

deleted 9mo ago

[deleted]

TiredOfLife 9mo ago

Because the Iranian regime was the one pushing that pro Palestine narrative.

Rover222 9mo ago
Yup. Hard to be pro Hamas and then cheer a secular revolution in Iran.

almogo 9mo ago

Speaking from an American perspective, many left-leaning commentators I've seen are focused on the ICE situation in the states right now. But that's the most optimistic take I can conjure.

Rover222 9mo ago
Definitely part of it. But the Mexican leftists I know are equally silent. As they were on Ukraine too. It’s really only when then can root against the US or Jews, as far as I can tell.
- terminalshort 9mo ago
  [flagged]

feb012025 9mo ago

I would say it's really about opposition to death and suffering. The activists want the excessive death and suffering to end in Palestine, and they want to avoid death and suffering in Iran. Many politicians want to use the protests as a pretext for military intervention in Iran, and my blunt opinion is that they don't actually have the interests of Iranians in mind. There are many reasons to believe it will end up worse for both America and the Iranians than our interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. A valid response would be to say that you think abuses in Iran are bad enough that a military intervention is justified and that it will lead to a better outcome for Iranians. My intuition would be to disagree with that, based on the results of past interventions, etc...

wybiral 9mo ago
You don't have to support military intervention to pay attention. People supported Palestine without wanting to bomb Israel. Also... Are the executed protesters not also death and suffering? What about victims and conflicts resulting from the groups Iran funds?
- feb012025 9mo ago
  The problem is, I really do believe any kind of mass support for the Iranian protesters will in fact be co-opted to start a war with Iran--at least at this particular moment in time. And the executed protesters are a bad thing. But I don't think military intervention will lead to a better outcome. Supporters of Palestine had pretty specific requests, none of which apply to Iran (conditioning weapons sales, divestment, etc...)
  - wybiral 9mo ago
    You're the one certain about military intervention. I just want them to keep pressuring a regime that's killing it's own people.
oldandboring 9mo ago
> The activists want the excessive death and suffering to end in Palestine, and they want to avoid death and suffering in Iran. And yet they are silent on the death and suffering in: Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo, Myanmar, Libya. Just to name current active conflicts where people are dying, to say nothing of all the others that have flared up and subsided in my decades on this earth as I've watched "activists" ignore them all so they could hyper-focus on whatever Israel was doing at the time to protect its citizens and the Jewish diaspora. The word "exhausting" doesn't even scratch the surface of how it feels to deal with otherwise smart, educated people who roll around in this hypocrisy-laden dogpile.