Amid US and Israeli aggression, segments of the Iranian diaspora push a narrative that frames foreign intervention as liberation, manufacturing consent for the killing of their own
The only good lines in the movie The Interview sum this up well imo:
“How many times will America make the same mistake?”
“AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES!”
Change imposed by force never works. Iranian people need to overwhelmingly decide to do it. Providing help is fine, but bombing them into “freedom” never works. It actually has the opposite effect, when you feel in danger (because for example bombs are falling around you) you’ll less likely to start a revolution.
Iranian people need to overwhelmingly decide to do it
The issue with this is that it’s terrifying for the vast majority of people to try and resist a murderous autocratic regime, especially when you’re not sure if enough other people in your vicinity will (successfully) have your back to make sure that you’re not kidnapped and tortured or shot right in the street.
Ideally, we should have an international nonviolent organization that could arrive wherever needed to help a population get out of the shackles (with no strings attached)
And who decides, which population needs to get out of the shackles?
Because according to Putin, Ukraine is under a Nazi regime. The US is arguably on the fast track to become a fascist regime and hasn’t had much of a good record before. Various European countries are also moving quickly towards authoritarianism…
The population. This theoretical organization would need to be safe guarded enough that the people would believe they can be frank in expressing their wants without being afraid of repercussions from their regime or external forces. (so for example, if the people say they want socialism, with things like cooperatives and local gardens, then the people from the international organization would help them achieve that)
It also gives the ruling regime legitimacy because it allows them to paint themselves as anti-imperialists defending their people from aggression.
I mean in this specific instance they are. Doesn’t justify how they treat their people, but the reason why Iran is getting so much attacks from the US and its allies/client states is because it is currently the only relevant country left in the region, that is not doing the bidding of Israel and the US.