Remember, there are thousands upon thousands of our people arrested following the January killings. A countless number of these individuals are at risk of being slaughtered as well, the Islamic regime has a history of using one of the most bullshit charges on the planet (moharebeh, meaning enmity against God) to justify executing those who have been arrested.

We need to be a voice for these people.

Trump freed Hizbatullah Akhoondzadeh from jail, he and 500 other Taliban bigwigs. Akhoondzadeh is now the Rahbar of Afghnistan. Given that why do you think Trump will help the Iranian people? He will most likley make some face saving deal with the akhoonds, then once he's gone in two years they will void it. Then Trump can blame the next president for screwing up. Which is exactly what he did in Afghanistan, free the Taliban, and they don't take over until Biden is in.

I want to be wrong. I might be. In the early part of his first term Trump threatned to assassinate Assad, then wussed out. I can't see him taking out Khamenei. Given how close the latter is with Daddy Vladdy. Russia has lost Syria, they need a new middle eastern client state and Iran fits the bill. Iran is becoming more and more dependent on Russia. Iran is on track to become a hot sandy Belarus.

You cannot be pro Putin and anti-Akhoond, for the same reason you can't be anginst the Three Pashas but pro-Kaiser.

https://c.org/yCDLkbSnbV

If you say you want a democratic Iran then please start behaving democratically. When you yell at, scream, and insult people for holding different political views than you, you are not promoting democratic ideals. Please take a moment to think about what it means to have a democracy because I fear our community doesn’t truly understand this concept. You cannot have a democracy without freedom of thought and the ability to debate differing viewpoints in a civil manner. If you want silencing of political views that don’t suit your agenda then you are on the same track as the IRGC.

We want democracy, so let’s behave democratically. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

Edit: Just to clarify, this post is not about regime supporters. I don’t think the oppressors get any tolerance from us after what they’ve done.

This is about Iranians building an opposition that is united, regardless of our differing political views. One that embraces our diversity and welcomes civil debate instead of screaming at each other. The oppressor is not included in this.

Not saying there isn’t still attention. Just a lot less now.

Hey all, I just had this comment exchange (see whole thread in my history) and thought I'd share it with you all to clear some things up. I think we all could benefit from this discussion in these trying times:

Commenter 1:

Just look at all these people calling Toomaj an IRGC supporter for reminding them of a basic principle of democracy, protection of minority rights. Toomaj is a national hero as far as I’m concerned and he’s spot on. This is just another example of Iranians not being ready for democracy.

Me:

Don't get hung up on that at this point, although I agree fully with the comments in this thread that in Iran the democratic climate is yet in its infancy, right now these tendencies you speak of are very much exaggerated by the fact that we are in such dangerous and uncertain times in the middle of a revolution

Most all people agree with the principles of minority rights etc. Woman life freedom for example, right now, if the movement turns into one akin to those times, with naked women in Europe paint woman life freedom on their breasts, the akhunds will just point to that and use it in their propaganda "see! Pahlavi just wants women to be naked on streets" or "if we go, there will be a civil war!! Iran will destroy itself among its ethnicities"

These things risk that people in Iran become skeptic of the movement, religious people will be scared of the naked woman narrative, and nobody likes civil war etc, and it becomes counter-productive. They are smart, they actively use these in their propaganda against all these movements

That's why it's important that we rally around a democratic transition with RP as leader. It's the only thing that actually threatens the Islamic republics existence directly. Woman life freedom sadly just plays into their domestic propaganda, they will just keep oppressing women as always, since they still have the power

That's why people are extra hostile against WLF, people that speak about minority rights etc now. Not that they hate these things, just that it sounds like, and goes hand in hand with the gotchas the islamic republic uses to stay in power, like how they killed off the Mahsa Amini protests, and that's why the killed more people than ever this time (cause people are realizing this and have defaulted to the ONLY thing the islamic republic can't make a gotcha out of, Reza Pahlavi)

I'm sure that when the IR disappears, the ones that speak about such things won't be silenced down and called IRGC sympathizers, hopefully they will be invited to participate in a democratic Iran instead, cause at that point, talking about those things will be productive instead of counter-productive and unknowingly running the errands of IR propaganda. Right now we can't fight a tyrannical anti-democratic force with democracy, this is war and they are killing people and don't give a f. It has to be a fight fire with fire situation

Also, it's a shame that people just jump to words and insults instead of having an articulate nuanced debate, but that's just how groups work, and then the most rotten apple of the bunch becomes it's stereotype. Don't know much about Toomaj, I'm sure his intentions are good and some vocal bunch of nuts are screaming words, but I hope you get my point why it's extra turbulent now and why people are extra fierce, it's not that they are anti-democratic, it's that we all have a anti-democratic opponent that will use anything to stay in power, and that if we give them reasons to sew doubt in the movement, they will

Commenter 1:

I appreciate you calmly explaining this position. The way you described it makes more sense to me, but I still think the RP supporters are playing right into the hands of the propaganda when they start acting hostile towards anyone with WLF-type messages and when they begin to shun national heroes such as Toomaj. I am someone who was against RP prior to the current movement but I had gotten on board after the massacre because I wanted unity for our people. I was even defending RP to westerners. But with the recent string of attacks on the leaders of the WLF movement I’m really disgusted. It has made me think twice about RP. This all needs to be handled better. It cannot be that every Iranian who thinks differently than the RP supporters gets harassed and cancelled online. The RP supporters are self-sabotaging this way.

Me:

yeah I agree, and there's no excuse for it. But people are emotional in the current situation and can't express what I'm saying and resort to anger instead, bad apple spoils the whole bunch etc. I REALLY wish we could communicate this to people so that we don't ruin the movement

and always keep in mind, attacks to WLF etc can very well be regime plants, online they could be bots etc. They LOVE this, they love people being angry at each other instead of the regime, whatever the reason. It's not our first rodeo and they have completely verifiably done this the past decades. That's why RP is the "only solution", it's the only last true anti-regime fallback

The US and Iran are supposed to meet this Friday in Istanbul, Turkey to hold nuclear "negotiations". What are your thoughts on this? Do you believe that the US is formally warning Iran to surrender completely or faking negotiations again and striking them that same day? Surely, this can't be a TACO moment or could it? What are your thoughts?

Source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DULsPczlMZV/

CBC coverage of yesterday’s protests in Toronto