Online Communists Come Unglued When Cornel West Endorses Overthrow Of Iranian Government

dailycaller.com

Former independent presidential candidate and democratic socialist Cornel West is facing backlash from the left after posting a video in support of Iran’s protest movement.

The video, which drew more than 1 million views Wednesday, called on his “comrades” to be “morally consistent” on repression — and sparked attacks on both his position and character from within his own political sphere. (RELATED: Iran Averts US Military Action — For Now)

“Long live the Iranian revolution, the heroic, courageous struggle of precious Iranians in face of overwhelming brutality and cruelty for 46 years,” West said. “And shame on those who would view those precious human beings willing to pay the ultimate cost as if they’re just pawns playing some ideological game.”

West called out both the right and the left — the former for hypocrisy, the latter for treating the struggle as a vehicle for domestic agendas.

“Right-wingers who claim that somehow American imperialism is all right abroad and fascism at home being justified, and then claiming to be in solidarity with the heroic struggle against oppression,” he said. “Shame on those on the left who view precious Iranians solely as pawns, not understanding, in fact, that you can never justify massive repression in the name of some anti-imperialist project.”

Invoking Martin Luther King Jr., West called for justice to “roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

He said “the genocide is still real” in Gaza and cited struggles in Venezuela, Minneapolis, Sudan, Haiti and Harlem before asking: “Can we be morally consistent to being in solidarity with all of those who struggle against any form of oppression? Or do we simply want to play games?”

Nick Cruse, cofounder of the Revolutionary Blackout network, a black radical movement, called West’s take “bullshit” and asked him what gives him “the right to erase” the voices of Iranians who support their government. He further accused West of ignoring alleged Mossad “infiltration” of the protests.

“You know exactly what you are doing. You imperialist dog,” Cruse said.

The backlash against West exposes a fault line on the American left — a divide between those who prioritize solidarity with popular uprisings and those who view any movement opposed by U.S. adversaries as a CIA front.

West’s critics represent the “anti-imperialist” wing that has defended governments from Iran to Russia to Syria against what they cast as Western regime-change operations.

Jimmy Dore, a comedian-turned-political commentator, said West had become “out of touch” in “ivory towers” and was functioning as a CIA mouthpiece pushing regime change.

Danny Haiphong, a pro-China and pro-Russia YouTuber who writes for Chinese state media outlet CGTN, dismissed the protests entirely.

“Iranians had their revolution. In 1979,” he said, accusing the CIA and Mossad of killing “100s in these riots” and told West that Iranians “need your lecturing as much as they need US bombs: not at all.”

The Marx Engels Lenin Stalin Mao Institute, a communist organization, called West “yet another imperialist clown” and “a disgrace.”