Photo composition showing two TV screens, in which the image of Mahsa Amini and the other with no signal. Photo: Al Mayadeen.
By Fra Hughes – Sep 30, 2022
Be careful what you call for at a time when the imperialists want war with China, Russia, and Iran.
The tragic death of a young woman in an Iranian police station who was seen collapsing on CCTV is a devastating blow to her family and friends.
We all mourn the loss of an innocent young woman while we await the official outcome concerning the cause of her death.
While local police are still investigating the cause of death, the Western mainstream media claim she was beaten to death.
The reaction here in Ireland and the UK has been almost instantaneous and universal.
Rallies and marches defending the right of women to choose whether or not to wear the Hijab are taking place in towns and cities in the UK and Ireland.
The irony or hypocrisy of these rallies is open to debate, so let’s have a look at what’s happening.
There are no rallies for the millions starving in Yemen.
No mass rallies for the besieged people of Donbass, but we do have rallies to support Ukrainian fascists.
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No rallies against the daily brutality of the unelected, unmandated Gulf monarchies or the excesses of Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince of Al Saud and the man accused of ordering the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
They did have rallies against Saddam Hussein. Rallies against Gaddafi and rallies against Al-Assad; all presidents of countries that had to fight national wars of liberation to free their people from foreign imperialist military occupation.
They had rallies against Serbia.
They had rallies in favor of color revolutions, the so-called Arab spring, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Ukraine.
Question: What is the common denominator here?
Answer: Western imperialist foreign policy.
The West supports and indeed arms Saudi Arabia in its grotesque war on Yemen because it suits the regional aspirations of NATO, the EU, America, and “Israel”.
They destroyed Libya and Iraq while balkanizing Syria and sanctioning Iran.
China is bad, Russia is bad, Iran is bad, yet right-wing governments in Kiev, Warsaw, and Budapest are good, as are the death squads in Columbia and the assassinations of Iranian scientists.
We must be careful not to conflate civil rights with regime change.
Let’s be very clear about what is happening in Iran.
Syria has been destroyed by external forces using internal divisions to destabilize the government. The same happened in Libya, Ukraine, and most recently in Belarus. The last thing the people in Iran need is violence orchestrated by “Israel”, the UK, the US, France, and Germany, etc., using the hijab as a pretext not to “liberate women from religious domination” but to destroy the country.
Be careful what you call for at a time when the imperialists want war with China, Russia, and Iran.
If you stand against the Iranian government at this time, you will be supporting the destruction of another sovereign nation and all that entails; refugees, death, injuries, and destruction.
Is that what you want, or can you not see past the sound bites and propaganda photos?
Wake up, wise up, and grow up, to the realities of where this might be going.
I was at a protest one time at city hall in Belfast, where I called out, “Free Julian Assange.” A young woman turned towards me and said he was a rapist, “I believe the women.”
I told her she would be better believing the evidence as there was none.
This woman believed the lies of the mainstream media and simply repeated a sound bite, “I believe the women.”
She had not researched the data, nor looked behind the headlines.
Kier Stammer imprisoned Julian Assange on trumped-up charges as part of the elaborate ruse to extradite him to the US.
The Western masses are bombarded with a constant stream of lies, propaganda, and misdirection, while the demonization of peoples, governments, and sovereign nations that are not already under Western or Zionist domination runs riot.
How often have we seen this regime change handbook played out?
Do you remember the nurse in Kuwait who claimed to have witnessed seeing Iraqi troops taking babies out of warm incubators and leaving them to die on the cold floor while stealing the equipment?
It turns out that she was the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to America.
Now we have Western media claiming the young woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, who died in a Tehran police station, was beaten to death by the police.
That might happen if you are Black and living in America, but it doesn’t happen in Iran, unless, of course, you choose to believe the BBC, Fox News, CNN, Le Monde, etc.
“If you’re not aware, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are exercising oppression.” Malcolm X
Ultimately, the Iranian establishment must release all available evidence into how Mahsa died, including the post-mortem results.
Mahsa Amini’s Death and Western Obduracy in Accepting the Truth
If there is foul play, people must be held to account.
If she died of natural causes, then Western propaganda must be discarded.
Iran has been under sanctions and siege since 1979.
The only people who want destabilization in Iran are not the Iranians but the enemies of Iran.
I do have issues with the religious aspects of the Iranian government, but as the regional bulwark against Zionist expansionism and as leaders of the Axis of resistance, we need a strong, just, and civil rights compliant Iran to help create a more multi-polar world and equitable planet.
Let’s not destroy Iran on false allegations.
Let’s stand by the leader of the Resistance in West Asia and the cultural values of Persians.
Fra Hughes
Fra Hughes is an Irish political activist, commentator, and author. His most recent books are My Walk with Palestine: an Activist's Tale and Voices from Donbass.
