One was the best of rallies, one was the worst of rallies

by John A. Lucas

This weekend I attended two rallies in Richmond, Virginia. Both claimed to support freedom for the Iranian people. But, to borrow further from Charles Dickens’ contrasting images of Two Cities, one stood for darkness with a platform of hatred, anarchy and antisemitism. The other symbolized light, even wisdom. One exuded despair; the other marked an unprecedented alliance that bore hope for the future.

I will offer some observations of both rallies. You can judge which of the descriptions in A Tale of Two Cities descriptions fit either of them.

The Saturday rally

The first rally was on Saturday in Richmond‘s Monroe Park. It was sponsored by the local “Party for Socialism and Liberation,” i.e., the PSL, with funding by the “Answer Coalition,” among others. Broadly speaking, it was characterized by opposition to the ongoing Operation Epic Fury, hatred of everything about the American system, and virulent anti-Semitism.

What I saw

For the most part, the photos speak for themselves and tell a good part of the story. Many attendees were uniformed with Palestinian keffiyehs. One Jewish friend sarcastically later asked me, “Isn’t that cultural appropriation?”

The young man waving the flag works at a local hospital, but he implied it was a low-skilled job. I asked him how he was selected to hold the flag. He said he did not know, “They just asked me to hold it, probably because I’m the tallest one here.” I asked if that meant that his heart wasn’t really in it. He assured me that his heart was “very much in it” and, sure enough, he later volunteered to speak to the crowd. His comments were not memorable and I did not take notes.

This fellow was proud to be photographed with his sign. Human skulls appear to be his jewelry of choice, both on his rings and waist chain. After I looked at his sign I asked him what the “Answer Coalition” was. He did not know, so he took out his phone and tried to find it on Google with inconclusive results.

Speaking of being proud of your sign, I couldn’t miss the guy below standing near the back of the small crowd. I always thought members of ANTIFA sought anonymity but when I asked if he would flip his sign around so that I could get a pic of both sides, he did not hesitate.

What I heard

I haven’t yet mastered the art of transferring videos from my iPhone to Substack, so my description of some parts, which I reconstructed from my rough notes will have to suffice.

There were a few speeches and a lot of group chanting orchestrated by speakers from the small brick structure that you can see in three of the above photos. Anti-Semitic screeds and the group chants were the order of the day.

The lead organizer, one Derrick somebody, prefaced many of his exhortations like a good communist (socialist?) with “Comrades!” He began what became a meme repeated by multiple others who followed him: “The Trump regime has no one who claims this war is for the benefit of Iranian women.”

Someone from the “Richmond Liberation Center” hit several high points:

• “Iran, Palestine, Cuba, and Venezuela are fighting for freedom across the world.”
• “The only thing we have brought to the women of Iran are death and destruction.”
• Our enemy is not the Islamic Republic, it is “Wall Street and the White House.”

One young self-proclaimed feminist unfortunately lacked the most basic understanding of what life for women is like under the Mullahs’ rule. According to her, women have prospered under the Islamic Republic. She announced that we [or Israel] had “bombed a girls’ school” because “they do not want that life to continue.” She has an answer for anyone who says that ridding the world of these radical religious fanatics might benefit women: “How can we say we are benefiting women in Iran when we are separating women from their children on the streets here?” So there!

Another young woman was wound a bit too tight and let it all unwind. Although she was somewhat incoherent, I can remember a sliver of what she said — She could not complete two sentences without throwing in a “fu*k” or one of its variations, whether as a noun, verb, adverb, or adjective. Other than that, I can’t remember a single word she said.

The group chants dominated the program, sometimes prompted by the speakers in the middle of their remarks. One example of that was when an organizer undertook to get the group’s buy-in to the idea that the U.S. should become totally isolationist and get the U.S. “out of everywhere.” After saying that, he paused and gestured to the crowd and all enthusiastically joined in with, “U.S. out of everywhere! U.S. out of everywhere!! U.S. out of everywhere!!!”

Many other chants were repeated in unison throughout the entire thing:

• “Hey, hey, ho, ho. This racist war has got to go.” [There’s an original for you.]
• “Ne-tan-ya-hu whaddya say? How many kids have you killed today?”
• “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever.”
• “There is only one solution. Inti-fad-a revolution.” [Only one solution? And that solution is killing Jews? Sounds like something Herr Eichmann would have approved.]
• Derrick followed that last one by telling the crowd, “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do if we don’t get it. We’re going to shut it down.” He then prompted, “If we don’t get it….” and the sheep dutifully responded by bleating at top of their lungs, “Shut it down!” Then more: “Shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down!” [followed by wild cheering].

Each of these slogans was brayed out multiple times.

What I didn’t hear

1. Anything suggesting that any of the participants love our country.
2. Any mention of our casualties, or anything at all that could be construed as support of our military.
3. Any suggestion that ridding the world of Khamenei might have some benefits.
4. Any comprehension of the what life is like for women under the Iranian regime.
5. Any empathy for the Jews slaughtered on October 7.
6. Anything about the innocents that Iran and its proxies have murdered across the world.
7. Any understanding of what would happen if their dream of the U.S. withdrawing from “everywhere” came true. Could that possibly be destabilizing and lead to more war as multiple actors competed to rush in to fill the vacuum? That inevitable next step escapes them. Clueless.

This list could go on for pages; I pared these down from a list of 20 or so that was still growing. But you get the idea: Not a single word was spoken supporting anything that the United States has ever done, or acknowledging any of the evil perpetrated by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Mullahs, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, or any of their terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and ISIS.

Sunday’s rally

The second rally on Sunday was organized by the small Richmond Iranian-American community. When the local Jewish community learned about their plans, they lent their support. As a result, it was attended by both Jews and Iranian-Americans. They were a proud and happy bunch.

What I saw

The Iranian diaspora in Richmond may lack a name but several of their signs proudly adopted “MIGA” as their short-hand slogan. And, as you can see from this and other photos, even their dress was a contrast to the PSL rally the day before.

MIGA began their rally with a prayer followed by the Star Spangled Banner. Nothing like that seemed to have occurred to the PSL. As the National Anthem was being played, most of the attendees stood with their hands over their hearts. A smattering of military veterans rendered a hand salute.

I saw Iranian-Americans and Jews together, getting along. Supporting each other.

Even the flags were different. Instead of the current flag of the Islamic Regime, the Iranian-Americans carried a historic Iranian national flag with its golden lion holding a scimitar backed by a rising sun. It was the national flag of Iran from 1907 until it was outlawed by the Islamic Revolution in 1979. It remains in use today as traditional and political symbol, particularly among the Iranian diaspora who seek a return to freedom for Iran.

There is a small display shown in the top photo that you see above. It includes pictures of all the U.S. servicemembers who had been killed. To the woman’s right, you also see photos of four Iranian men killed by the regime in recent weeks. All of them had relatives in attendance on Sunday.

Little things can be tells, like the choice of earrings. I particularly liked those worn by one of the women in traditional Persian dress. I then looked back at one of the above photos from the PSL rally for a comparison. Two styles, two messages. The light of the Stars and Stripes versus the darkness of Goth. Hope versus despair.

His nose ring was one of many worn by the attendees at the PSL rally. For some reason, not a one was to be seen at the MIGA rally.

What I didn’t hear

All were happy that Supreme Leader Khamenei, the man they regarded as evil incarnate, is gone. But I did not hear angry rants from anyone. I did not hear people trashing our Country or the President. I never heard a single curse word, even directed at Khamenei or the IRGC. Although everyone knew of the risks involved, no one complained of the risk or of the unknown.

What I heard

I head Iranian-Americans and Jews talking together. Someone said they were just there to enjoy everyone’s company. It was remarkably different from what I had seen the day before.

I heard speakers and just people in attendance thanking the IDF, the U.S. military, and President Trump for their support. Almost everyone I heard lamented and honored the U.S. service members who have been killed.

I spoke with one man who had comments that should be heeded by all Americans, particularly those in states like Virginia and California where the politicians who seek to rule over us are doing everything in their power to deprive us of Constitutional rights of which they disapprove. He lamented that it would be very difficult for the local Iranians to topple the current government because of the lack of anything like the Second Amendment. His exact words: “I wish we would have Second Amendment in Iran so we would not be massacred like we are now.”

Like autocrats everywhere, the Islamic Regime has made sure that its subject lack the means for effective resistance.

I will give you the words of the last speaker:

I did not come here planning to speak at all. But as I see this group, there are one or two things that I would like to impart.

The first is I’m neither Jewish nor Iranian-American. But I heard from a friend in the Jewish community of this gathering and I thought, ‘this is historical, this is unprecedented at least in my experience, for the Jewish community and the Iranian community to be working together against a common enemy’ and I applaud you all for that effort.

The second thing that I would ask you to remember — and I had not planned on saying this but it’s something that has stuck in my head for years — as I looked at the pictures of our American soldiers who were killed in action and of the Iranian men who have given their lives in the quest for freedom, I thought of something that a … British liberal said in the 19th century.

A very liberal man named John Stuart Mill. And John Stuart Mill said — and many of us in this group know this personally to be true — he said, ‘War is an ugly thing. But not the ugliest of things.’

He said, ‘The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.’

And then he continued and he said, ‘The man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.’

And so, [pointing to the pictures of American solders and Iranian patriots who were killed] I give you these better men and we should thank God that they exist.

We cannot see the future. Nothing is assured. All the President — and all of us — can do is to do our best to navigate these dangerous waters. In the end, we could experience a historic success or a massive failure. I am optimistic, but it is indeed risky.

This weekend we had two rallies that reflected two diametrically opposed viewpoints, like Paris and London in 1793. One is, I submit, a view blessed with light, hope, and confidence that the risk and the cost, although great, are worth bearing. That view is opposed by a view marked by darkness and despair, built upon a foundation of fear of shouldering the risk to act, even in the face of great danger. Who shall prevail?

Do your share.

Author’s Note: I have edited the original article to add the comments by an Iranian-American man lamenting the lack of anything like the Second Amendment in the Islamic Republic.

Richmonder John A. Lucas publishes the Bravo Blue blog. This column has been republished with permission from Bravo Blue.