A message regarding Iran and the popular rebellion DiEM25, and I personally, are in full solidarity with Iranians resisting theocratic brutality — especially women, workers, students. We don’t forget: WOMAN-LIFE-FREEDOM, but also minorities risking everything for dignity and freedom. At the same time, I reject cynical attempts by foreign powers, the United States and Israel in particular, to hijack this uprising for their regime-change agendas or the return of Reza Pahlavi, the brutal Savac, the awful legacy of his father’s regime. Foreign interference doesn’t a legitimate uprising make. But nor does foreign interference make an uprising illegitimate. What it does do is that it makes its political independence more vital. Real solidarity means amplifying Iranian voices that are for Iran, not foreign powers; not the CIA or Mossad. Real solidarity means opposing war and coercive sanctions that punish ordinary people. Real solidarity means refusing externally curated “leaders”. As our governments continue to toe Washington’s line, the task is to pressure, inform, and educate — and extend concrete support to Iranians pursuing their own vision of a free Iran. History shows that regimes fall — sometimes with catastrophic results for the people, sometimes with beneficial results for the people. History also shows that oppressed peoples have no choice other than to rebel so that today’s popular struggle can become tomorrow’s organised force for political liberation.