|
Trending Topics
|
Why Western Streets Go Silent for Iran
(Substack) Nadav Eyal - Can you hear those thousands of voices, shouting in the streets and on campuses, "from the Gulf to the sea: Persia will be free"? I hear nothing. Actually, I did hear something. On Jan. 8, as Iranians fought for their lives and their freedom, demonstrators outside a synagogue in Queens shouted: "Say it loud, say it clear: we support Hamas here!" Those who preach uprising, resistance, and universalism are quiet when it comes to Iran. It is deeply connected to an outlook that has treated regimes like Iran and the Islamic Revolution as forms of resistance to capitalism and Western domination. Within that tradition, such regimes are often granted a moral waiver. The premise is simple: the West is presumed to be the source of all evil, and those who oppose it are therefore excused or celebrated. After Oct. 7, when Hamas carried out a coordinated attack of mass murder and abductions, parts of the same ideological ecosystem responded with quick justification or outright celebration. It was framed as "resistance." This is the moral failure George Orwell warned against: "Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them." The failure of the Islamic Republic to enable a good life for its citizens, or its well-documented role in exporting violence and terror across the region, should have rendered the regime a pariah for anyone who claims to care about human dignity.