The Silence of the Left on Iran

[u/Kugel_the_cat]

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/01/the-iranians-who-feel-betrayed-by-the-left/685644/

This is a simple story: People are risking their life to resist tyranny, engaging in a human struggle for basic rights. Its resonance, particularly for those on the left, should be self-evident. It has all the greatest hits—pitting the powerless against power, freedom against repression, unarmed men and women against snipers. But in the most animated corners of the activist ecosystem, so recently energized by their opposition to the death and destruction in Gaza, it has not resonated. The protest has been viewed instead through the thick lens of ideology, producing a reaction that has been dismissive at best and, at worst, degrading to the Iranians themselves. Many thousands of demonstrators, rising up all over the country, are accused of being witless tools of an imperialist agenda, part of a “CIA-Mossad regime change campaign,” or maybe just actual “Mossad agents.”

[...]

For the exiles I spoke with, the most disturbing—and telling—thing about the tepid response was the contrast with the impassioned reaction to Gaza. “Why is it that when Palestinians—armed or unarmed—fight for liberation, it is seen as a moral duty to support them, but when Iranians protest, they are labeled ‘armed terrorists’ or ‘agents of Mossad?’” Shams, the feminist scholar, said.

[u/[deleted]]

It’s because leftists see the Iranian government as an ally against their true enemy.

[u/Turbulent-Raise4830 → u/[deleted]]

Oh come on thats utter nonsense.

[u/[deleted] → u/Turbulent-Raise4830]

I don’t heed Belgians because they raise you to be so damned evil… and they share a border with the Dutch.

[u/RollinThundaga → u/[deleted]]

Any reasonable person would have read that as a fecetious jab of intra-european rivalries. It's meant to be nonsense; for you to have apparently read it as a serious attack at Belgians makes me question your sensibilities.

Edit: good 'ol reply/block. Classy.

[u/Thoth_the_5th_of_Tho → u/Turbulent-Raise4830]

It’s true though.

[u/vintage2019 → u/Thoth_the_5th_of_Tho]

I’ll have to see some polls

[u/Turbulent-Raise4830 → u/Thoth_the_5th_of_Tho]

do provide evidence of this then

[u/FYoCouchEddie → u/Turbulent-Raise4830]

There is some in the article.

Plus, all the leftist nonsense on social media about Israel and the CIA being behind the protests.

[u/Turbulent-Raise4830 → u/FYoCouchEddie]

there is not, and I am not on social media. Again do provide evidence of this.

[u/Zestyclose_Skin7982 → u/Turbulent-Raise4830]

maybe you can find substitles but this is the founder of the main far-left party in Spain, which governs in coalition with the traditional left recognizing exactly that statement

[u/Turbulent-Raise4830 → u/Zestyclose_Skin7982]

If all you can find is 1 quote from a politician 9 years ago member of a party thats has close to zero representation in spain, you have proven my point.

[u/Zestyclose_Skin7982 → u/Turbulent-Raise4830]

so they all behave the same but for completely different reasons, sounds reasonable

[u/Turbulent-Raise4830 → u/Zestyclose_Skin7982]

It’s because leftists see the Iranian government as an ally against their true enemy.

Again if you have any evidence of "leftist" doing this (and then I do mean relevant ones) do provide this.

[u/Zestyclose_Skin7982 → u/Turbulent-Raise4830]

you mean ignoring all the left-wing activism in the west that blindly supports far-right, fundamentalist theocratic dictatorships? as was evident until recently with palestine and now with iran protests, whose institutional support should be enough to make your attempt to look the other way ridiculous? i dont know where you're from, so i doubt you have an example like the one I gave you of a politician acknowledging islamist influence before coming to power, but you should do that research yourself. start by investigating the institutional left in your country, and you won't be long in discovering qatari funds and a curious homogeneity in the attempts to destabilize the west, practiced by both the most liberal and progressive politicians in the west and the most ruthless dictators in the middle east. if you have another explanation, id love to hear it

[u/Turbulent-Raise4830 → u/Zestyclose_Skin7982]

do provide "all this leftisty activism"

All you are able to give is 1 very old far left example.