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On October 9, a powerful statement by 10 Iranian or Afghan groups was made opposing war moves and threats by both the U.S.-backed apartheid state of Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). The statement was signed and co-posted on Instagram by our sister organization Burn the Cage and five other organizations in Farsi, with a version in English and also in Arabic. The IEC feels this is an important statement and we take responsibility for any edits for clarification in the English version. We encourage people to read and share this statement via @iranprisonemerg on Instagram, X and Facebook.

Signers in order of slide graphic (left to right, top to bottom)

Uxan, Gilaks Media
Afghanistan House of Culture
Women Social Equality Organization WSEO
Youth In Exile (Bahamad)
Burn The Cage
Social Sciences Research Association
Osyan/Revolt
Communist Organization of Afghanistan
Je.cocreation
Finland Woman. Life. Freedom (nev.suomi)

The IRI’s missiles tear through the Iron Dome, and tears of joy fill the eyes of a section of the Palestinian people and supporters of Palestine. Apartheid Israel threatens to send a decisive response against the IRI, and the hearts of a section of the Iranian people melt with joy. Each side has their “reasons” leading them to escalate the war — a war that is growing closer and more massive, and could destroy the lives of millions of people in the Middle East! Some delude themselves that they will benefit from this war. But they are merely lending greater legitimacy to the murderers, who advance their barbaric war over the corpses of the people of this region. The rulers of both sides need the support of the public opinion to pave the way for their bombs, and the shameful record of each side provides more than enough fodder for the propaganda of the other side.

It seems that these warmongers have everything under control — everything except the fact that both sides, as part of the same system in global capitalism, are ensnared in a crisis that pushes them to contend, even to the point of a nuclear war, and is driving them ever deeper into the quagmire. The international courts and the United Nations have become so discredited that few people notice the collapse of these institutions and of what had been the ruling [international] order since World War II. The world is in an all-round crisis and the teeth-gnashing between the Islamic Republic and Israel is the expression of this crisis.

All the talk about “cutting the head of the snake” mistakenly focuses on Islamic fundamentalism as the source of the problem, ignoring the complex, multi-layered world capitalist system that fuels both Zionist and Islamic regimes. It also produces its opposite rationale — that the people of the region would be better off if the US were expelled from the region, replaced by China, and the Golan Heights became the [whole] Middle East. But what we are facing is not a snake, but a multi-headed monster, which encompasses the entire world, from the Zionist and [other] reactionary governments to the “democratic” governments.  For this reason, you cannot be a supporter of one of its parts against another part —the whole system must be replaced. And it is more possible to bring down a monster when it is flailing and floundering.

But why don't some people see this possibility, and align themselves instead with Israel or the IRI, when they do not necessarily support the policies or nature of these governments?

1) Hatred and revenge

If you feel justifiable outrage, but cheer for Israel, because of your hatred for the crimes of its enemy, the IRI —or vice versa—do not only feel outrage only at those crimes committed against you! That is not only immoral, it blinds you to an important truth on the path to freedom for everyone: that all these crimes are the result of one system, and that uniting with one section of this system’s criminals will not bring freedom to anyone.

2) Feeling powerless

If you feel that we must unite with one or another of these criminals because revolution by the masses of people is impossible, remember how even a spontaneous uprising like Woman, Life, Freedom shook the entire system. Politicians of the whole world lined up to prevent this from going forward.  But there exists the potential to break out of their controlled channels.  The real power lies in the hands of a conscious and organized people who refuse to become the cannon-fodder of this or that reactionary force.

3) The illusion of improving the situation within the current order

If you think you can keep one side — whether the Islamic fundamentalists or  the imperialist forces — and destroy the other; or can keep the entire system and its mode of production and social relations intact, but eliminate or even reduce  suppression of thought,  imprisonment, theocratic obscurantism, poverty, exploitation, the oppression of women and LGBTQ, national oppression, wars, and environmental destruction;  if you think that Israeli bombs will bring democracy to the Iranian  people – look at the ruins of Gaza and the Lebanese refugees.  If you think that the missiles of the IRI carry the message of freedom to Gaza and Lebanon, look at the Kurdish, Baluch and Arab people, and the women of Iran. Do not deceive yourself. There is no possibility of improving the situation without a radical emancipatory transformation of the system.

There is Another Way!

Superficially, it may look like the only the possibility before us is either to line up with one or the other of these outmoded forces, or to passively remain neutral. But the truth is that there is another way! he belief that no alternative exists is itself an obstacle to creating an alternative!

We need a radical, liberating change, one that doesn’t merely put new faces in high places of the existing system. There is no path of return to some non-existent “golden past.” We condemn not only the parties in this conflict, but also the international organizations that themselves are an extension of the same system that created this situation.

We are not the cheerleaders for the bombs of reactionaries and imperialists!  We are the seeds of a new world!