A word with western leftists, from an Iranian

I'm sure you've already heard the news. Tens of thousands massacred by the Islamic Republic just because we demanded our most basic rights, freedoms, food for our families and a stable future. Things we were denied for almost half a century by the Islamic Republic.
And yet, the reaction I've seen online from some leftists has been extremely disheartening.

Some of you consider Iran, or the axis-of-resistance, to be the sole force against Israel. For some of you whose entire ideology is just anti-Americanism, it has become the only thing you care about. Unfortunately, I'm here to burst your bubble.

We cannot be a force against western imperialism or Israel. We're struggling far too much against our own dictators to even consider war with the entire west. Even as a militarized state we're simply incapable of such a thing without bringing down the whole nation into even more of a ruin.

The middle east is a place of doom. We're fucked no matter what happens. I just need you to listen and fucking think. The world isn't all black and white. Just because a state resists the west doesn't make them inherently good. Just because Trump wants to strike Iran doesn't mean the Islamic Republic are a force of good who need to be defended. Two things can be bad at the same time.

Fight your own goddamn battles if you want a better world and stop bootlicking a murderous dictatorship on the other side of the world.
You have ICE, you have an entire capitalist oligarchy burning down the planet, you have a fascist government posting reddit memes and funding a genocide.
You live at the core of what you consider the world's greatest enemy. This, is your battle. You as citizens of the west are the only ones who can, and must, actively organize against western imperialism including Israel. Only you can really demand that they put an end to their crimes and genocides. We cannot sacrifice the lives of 90 million people and sideline this tragedy for some presumed greater-good in the eyes of western activists.

We need international support now more than ever. The world remains silent, and what some of you are doing isn't helping. You need to stop legitimizing a terrorist state murdering its own people.

If you truly want to help, you need to demand your governments that they designate the IRGC as a terrorist entity, to sever all ties with the Islamic Republic and refuse to recognize them as a legitimate state. It's the least they can do.
This is a tragedy unlike any other. Some estimates reach over 18,000 killed, all in the last couple weeks. Don't let them get away with it. Advocate and be a voice for Iranians.

"Always Was, Always Will Be (Aboriginal Land)"
Seen in Fremantle, Western Australia

Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1844)

Auf allen Kanälen: Zu nahe an der Realität

Die belgische Serie «The Best Immigrant» nimmt den rechtspopulistischen Remigrationsdiskurs ins Visier.

…mehr

via WOZ Die Wochenzeitung - Kultur / Wissen (author: Tobias Müller)

The Atlantic—no friend to anti-fascist movements—is reporting that ICE Truppenführer Greg Bovino is being demoted.

No politician or political party did this. It only occurred because of grassroots resistance and direct action.

ICE will keep kidnapping and murdering until we ourselves stop them. 🏴

https://crimethinc.com/responserevolution

In Bolivien hat die größte Massenmobilisierung seit Jahren die neue konservative Regierung dazu gezwungen, ihr neoliberales Reformpaket zurückzuziehen. Der Erfolg zeigt, dass die Arbeiterbewegung trotz der Wahlniederlage der MAS nicht geschlagen ist.

https://jacobin.de/artikel/bolivien-morales-mas-neoliberalismus-lateinamerika

comedygold https://www.telezueri.ch/zuerinews/svp-delegierte-schauen-skirennen-waehrend-marco-odermatt-vor-halbierungsinitiative-warnt-163181327

Ein paar Filme, die ich im letzten Jahr geschaut habe. Reviews below

Sinners
https://youtu.be/bKGxHflevuk

Mickey 17
https://youtu.be/osYpGSz_0i4

Bugonia
https://youtu.be/NPeBKrdLlSU

The Phoenician Scheme
https://youtu.be/GEuMnPl2WI4

The Brutalist
https://youtu.be/GdRXPAHIEW4

1. (Blood &) Sinners (1/2)
The vampire horror film by Black Panthers director Ryan Cogler, now nominated for 16 Oscars, is stylistically a mixture of From Dusk Till Dawn and Django Unchained. The black experience in the USA is central to the film. Not surprisingly, African-American (blues) music also plays a central role. In the 1930s, gangster twins Smoke & Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) open an African American bar in the southern states in a barn they bought from a Ku Klux Klan member. It feels like every single film critic has highlighted the two-minute choreography in this juke joint, which starts as a blues piece and ends in a fever dream with African tribal dances, a P-Funk guitarist, ballet dancers, and a DJ. A quick run-through of black music history. I found the scene where the main characters drive past a chain gang with a washed-up blues musician (Delroy Lindo) even more brilliant.