I Every second Sunday in January, people in Berlin who see themselves as left-wing commemorate the socialists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, who were murdered by right-wing Freikorps on January 15, 1919. This year has changed compared to previous years A particularly large number of young people took part in the demonstration from Berlin-Friedrichshain to the memorial called the Cemetery of the Socialists.
This demonstration traditionally places great emphasis on international solidarity. The flags with the colors of Palestine were unmistakable this year. Many banners also expressed solidarity with Cuba and Venezuela. Here one generously ignores the fact that Rosa Luxemburg always spoke out in favor of class struggles, but strictly rejected positive references to states.
But one country was conspicuously absent from last Sunday’s demonstration: Iran. One had to search to find banners mentioning the uprising against the mullahs’ regime. Almost ten thousand people are marching through wintry Berlin, declaring the need for revolution in slogans and on banners and showing solidarity with countries all over the world that are labeled as left-wing.
At the same time, thousands of people take to the streets in many Iranian cities and thousands are murdered by the Islamist regime. Why are these people not worthy of a greeting of solidarity for the demonstrators in Berlin? Why is the regime’s repression not even denounced? Where is the passion with which people around the world have taken to the streets for “Palestine” and for “Gaza” in recent months when it comes to the protests in Iran?
In any case, it is doubtful that the left was primarily concerned with the rights of the people in Gaza. Finally, it was noticeable that many people used the slogan “Free Gaza” took to the streets, but the addition “from Hamas” was very rare to find. This seemingly small detail could provide an explanation for why at least some of the left are currently having such a hard time dealing with the insurgents in Iran.
A left-wing milieu that is unable to clearly criticize not only Israel’s conduct of the war but also the rule of the Islamist Hamas also has problems showing solidarity with the demonstrators in Iran, for fear that Iran will no longer be a supporter of Gaza.
The geopolitical perspective with which some leftists declare not capitalism but US imperialism as the main enemy is taking revenge here.
The geopolitical perspective with which some leftists declare not capitalism but US imperialism as the main enemy is taking revenge here. According to their interpretation, the Iranian regime belongs to the anti-Western camp. The permanent terror that was part of Islamism in power from the start is ignored. The mass murders of opposition members in Iranian prisons in 1988, the terror against sexual minorities, and the destruction of independent unions are just a few key words.
And they are known. In 2022, large solidarity events and demonstrations under the motto “Women, life freedom“, the slogan of the last uprising movement in Iran.
But of course it is also true that in the past few days, after more information became known about the extent of the terror against the protesters, Left-wing groups also took part in demonstrations in many German citieswhich had the motto “Neither Islamists nor the Shah”.
All leftists who care about emancipation must stand on the side of the Iranian insurgents. A fall of the regime would not only be a liberation for large parts of the Iranian population. It would also give people in Iran’s neighboring countries more breathing room. The cooperation of pro-Islamic forces in the Middle East, euphemistically called the Axis of Resistance, was also directed against emancipatory forces in these countries.
Finally, the fall of the regime in Tehran could also have a positive impact on Iran’s relationship with Israel. Finally, the Islamic regime pushed forward the fight against Israel with religious justification by building atomic bombs. It also sought to join forces with anti-Semites around the world, as became clear in the Holocaust cartoon competition in 2006 and 2016.
In 2022, Iranian speakers reminded the left in Germany of their central role the protests against the Shah’s visit on June 2, 1967 played for the extra-parliamentary movement in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. Almost 60 years later, solidarity with the Iranian insurgents could become a litmus test of how serious the left is about its universalist and emancipatory claims.