~ I don’t see why it should be considered contradictory to genuinely oppose imperialism, refuse to b

~ I don’t see why it should be considered contradictory to genuinely oppose imperialism, refuse to buy into its false utopian promises, expose its cynical claims of supporting the Iranian people, women, prisoners, and human rights while it simultaneously imposes sanctions, wages wars, and carries out bombings, and reject any collaboration with its projects—such as the idea of “regime change”—while at the same time resisting authoritarianism and its mechanisms of repression as much as possible.I remember from my childhood that members of my family were fighting in the war against Iraq while also opposing the policies of the government in Tehran. In the very same year that my younger uncle was killed in the war, my older uncle was in prison.What matters most, however, is that these are different dimensions of political practice. People often end up treating one side of this equation as more urgent or more central because of their own experiences, memories, and collective identities, even if they acknowledge both as legitimate political concerns. Time and again, we find ourselves trapped by “identities” and by the expectations that others impose on us.Whenever I hear an intellectual or political activist—whether inside Iran or abroad—speaking about imperialism or authoritarianism, I instinctively ask what they have said and done about the other. If someone was indifferent to Palestine or to the aggression against Iran, if their words and actions ignored these realities, or if they went so far as to say that “this is not our war,” then it is difficult to take their criticisms of authoritarianism seriously. And the reverse is equally true.@AminBozorgiyan