Iran rebellion

[iris lilies]

I’m sitting here in my comfy, comfy life, thinking about the brave souls in Iran who are protesting in the streets and will likely lose their lives. They’re going to have to fight hard if they want to topple that government and install one that’s more reasonable.


Before the Ayatollah, Iran was a modern country. So many people here are too young to remember that. Iran is such a center of culture in history, is tragic what it’s become in the past few decades.

I wish them well, And can’t help but be reminded of our forefathers 250 years ago who were fighting and dying to get independence from their overlords.

[bae]

During the Iranian Revolution, I was attending a boarding school on the plains of Colorado.

Two of the other boarding students were sisters. The daughters of an Iranian official. At some point during the conflict, the USA decided to deport them back to Iran. They would have likely faced execution (and indeed, their father was executed...). The school and the local community decided to hide them from the US government, and did so successfully. They are still both alive and doing well.

[iris lilies]

During the Iranian Revolution, I was attending a boarding school on the plains of Colorado.

Two of the other boarding students were sisters. The daughters of an Iranian official. At some point during the conflict, the USA decided to deport them back to Iran. They would have likely faced execution (and indeed, their father was executed...). The school and the local community decided to hide them from the US government, and did so successfully. They are still both alive and doing well.

That President would have been the kind and gentle Jimmy Carter who propped up the Ayatollah.

but I shouldn’t be snarky because these choices in the Middle East and elsewhere are often between two bad options.

[catherine]

bae, I'm happy to hear that your classmates are doing well.

IL, your post reminds me of the "favorite movies" thread, and the fact that I neglected to put "House of Sand and Fog" on my list, but it is one of my favorite movies. It centers around an Iranian officer who was forced to flee during the Revolution. He finds a house for his family in the US after it has been erroneously auctioned away from a young alcoholic woman. It is about place, family, belonging and need for roots.

It is frightening what is happening over there, and as contentious as our politics are here now, at least we can watch Jake Tapper grilling the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the mayor of Minneapolis telling the ICE agents to "get the f***k out of Minneapolis" without fearing that they will "disappear".

[iris lilies]

It would be nice to see some Keffiyah Kids out in our streets protesting in support of these rebelling Iranians. But there aren’t any.

they’re so weirdly selective in what they choose to protest.

[bae]

It would be nice to see some Keffiyah Kids out in our streets protesting in support of these rebelling Iranians. But there aren’t any.

they’re so weirdly selective in what they choose to protest.

Our local Protest People haven't said a damned thing about the firebombing of the synagogue in Jackson, Miss. either. Though they were out on the street corner with their Palestine cosplay signs today.

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/11/nx-s1...synagogue-fire

[frugal-one]

Probably because we have enough here to protest about. Seems contradictory to me that trump is talking about protecting protesters in another country while he continues to send more gestapo in Minneapolis and previously other areas. Interestingly, saw an article that referred to ICE as trump’s “secret police” … the actual definition of gestapo.

[iris lilies]

Probably because we have enough here to protest about. Seems contradictory to me that trump is talking about protecting protesters in another country while he continues to send more gestapo in Minneapolis and previously other areas. Interestingly, saw an article that referred to ICE as trump’s “secret police” … the actual definition of gestapo.

yes I saw that reference today on a forum so that must be the current talking point from the Dems.

[bae]

Recently, I attended a meeting held at our local movie theater (which has a stage). The event had to be relocated away from our community arts center’s stage, because some of the Board members there did not feel the content was appropriate. This change of location happened with < 24 hours notice, which may have impacted attendance, not sure in which direction though, the cancellation provoked a lot of angry discussion on local social media channels.

The meeting was advertised as presenting the experiences of one of our islanders who had participated in the recent Gaza Flotilla business, and who had been detained at-sea by the Israelis.

Following are my observations typed up that evening directly after the event, with some clarifying notes added in parenthesis:
—-----
It was a cold rainy windy night.

Attendance was perhaps 100 people. (Year-round island population is ~5500) The pre-event potluck was nice, as usual everyone brought tons of food. . The attendees were almost entirely female. Perhaps six males. The women were 20 to 30 years old mostly, though there was a contingent in the 40 to 60 year-old range.

At *no* point during the three hour meeting were the events of October 7 mentioned, or the number of Israeli casualties, or the sexual violence, or the number of people abducted from Israel by Hamas, or how long they were kept for, or in what conditions. The word Hamas was *never* mentioned. The very fact that there was an attack on Israel on October 7 was never mentioned.

The video presentation that began the evening was very one-sided. It used loaded language and was full of historical inaccuracies. It was very much selling the “Jews are colonizers” line of horse-shit. (I had in my pocket during this event several coins from the time of the First Jewish-Roman War, which I often carry as “challenge coins” to this sort of thing.)

Not a single person in the audience over the three hours in any discussions or questions challenged any of the narrative that was put forward by the film or the presenters. Not once did anyone, audience or presenter, mention the casualties suffered by Israel on the attack of October 7 or the 10,000+ rockets that were fired that day. Similarly, when Lebanon was discussed at no point was it mentioned that Lebanon fired thousands of missiles towards Israel before Israel attacked Lebanon - it was portrayed entirely as an unprovoked act of Israeli aggression.

The Israelis as colonizers narrative was repeated over and over and over again.

There was very little critical thinking displayed by anyone in the audience or on the panel. In the breakout session discussions similar lack of thinking was in evidence.

The direct personal testimony of the local 20-something woman who had been on the Flotilla was interesting, especially when it came to the logistics of the operation.. Clearly she meant well, had no historical context, and was being used as a patsy for other people. Her details of her claimed “torture” at the hands of her Israeli captors was laughable - “her bed was a bit lumpy…”. I reckon her as a “useful idiot”. Most of these folks, from her story, simply had no business being at sea in those boats, they are lucky they did not kill themselves. (I feel similarly about the moronic college students the Sea Shepherds sometimes recruits as cannon fodder).

Anyways, just some data.

[iris lilies]

Bae, that is something I might have attended if it was convenient enough mainly to hear her experience on the flotilla. That could be interesting. The rest of it… Well, that’s not surprising.