As ICE agents open fire on protesters in Minneapolis [16], Portland [17] and Los Angeles [18], Trump frames his military threats [19] against Iran [20] in terms of human rights and democracy—an atypical nod back to the neocons [21]. Following mass deadly repression [22], the protests in Iran appear to have abated—for now. In Minnesota, both Trump and protesters [23] are turning up the heat [24]. Trump's blatant hypocrisy highlights the imperative of international solidarity. The challenge for stateside protesters is to repudiate the calumny [25] that the Iran protests are CIA or Mossad astroturf, and recognize them as a genuine self-organized popular uprising [26]. The challenge for Iranian protesters is to repudiate Trump's bid to exploit them for his imperial ends, as well to reject the ambitions of the reactionary "crown prince" Reza Pahlavi [27] to install himself as leader. In Episode 313 [28] of the CounterVortex podcast [29], Bill Weinberg urges that explicit mutual support between the anti-authoritarian struggles in the US and Iran is what can move the historical process forward at this grim hour.
Work cited: "Order Reigns in Berlin [32]" by Rosa Luxemburg
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Production by Chris Rywalt [34]
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