It would be foolish to not listen to an ex-Iranian refugee like me.
The 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran offers a great deal of lessons for contemplating today's far-Left "Woke" movement.
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This is a guest essay written by Maral Salmassi, an Iranian-German artist, engineer, and skeptic.
You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.
The rise of hatred against the West and Israel — manifesting across cultural landscapes, college campuses, and city streets under the banner of “Free Palestine” — evokes foreboding memories for people like me, an ex-refugee from Iran.
It strongly recalls the Islamic Revolution and the disastrous alliance of Marxists and Islamists who plunged Iran and the Middle East into decades of war and chaos after 1979.
Three decades before his rise to power, Ruhollah Khomeini became the first in Iran to introduce the myth of Jewish world domination — a notion he perfidiously wielded to fuel hatred. Calling the Shah (the last monarch of Iran) a “Jew in disguise” and an “Israeli dog,” Khomeini made antisemitism a central pillar of Iranian Islamism. This prejudice became a puissant weapon against the Iranian monarchy and its Western allies.
Until the Shah’s fall, Khomeini had the support of notable Western leftists like Jean-Paul Sartre and Michel Foucault. Between 1977 and 1978, Foucault traveled to Tehran several times, reporting for Italy’s Corriere della Sera, where he gushed about Islamism as “political spirituality,” ignoring Khomeini’s demagoguery and totalitarian ambitions.
Alongside other Western leftists, Foucault grossly downplayed the dangers of an Islamic state — jeopardizing the rights of women, homosexuals, and religious and ethnic minorities.
Today, history repeats itself as leftists and Islamists form alliances on the streets of Berlin, London, Paris, Toronto, Melbourne, and New York. In 1979, Khomeini’s supporters envisioned an anti-imperialist Islamic state, while communist students and intellectuals dreamt of an Iran modeled after Stalin and Lenin. The Islamists conquered and, upon taking power, executed thousands of their communist allies.
Now, the same anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist chants echo in protests, reminiscent of those from Tehran’s American Embassy occupation in 1979, when 52 American diplomats were held hostage for 444 days.
Today’s “Woke” revolutionaries, like the Iranian Leftists of that era, suppress dissent and spew incendiary hatred against the West, Jews, and capitalists in lectures, theaters, and even concert halls. As a modern cultural mutation, “Woke” culture draws from a mix of old-fashioned ideas, including the postmodernism of Herbert Marcuse and Michel Foucault’s generation, Jacques Derrida’s esoteric deconstructionism, and Frantz Fanon’s pathetic post-colonial fantasies about the “cleansing power of violence.”
This radical minority, with its totalitarian tendencies, now dominates public discourse, normalizing pathology and pathologizing the norm. Their narcissism, where group identity supersedes individual empathy, is a grave red flag and must be taken very seriously.
Although the Iranian leftists of the 1970s and today’s Woke radicals come from different historical and psychological contexts, both suffer from ideological blindness, where shared hostility toward a perceived oppressor eclipses any clear understanding of their alliances’ consequences. Psychologically, this reflects what Carl Jung described as “shadow projection,” whereby unresolved inner anger is projected onto an external enemy, reducing complex issues to a simple binary of good versus evil or oppressed versus oppressor.
In both instances, Islamists exploit the Left’s gullible willingness to fight for a “shared” goal, as well as their moral masochism, which prioritizes symbolic solidarity over self-preservation. There is also a sadistic element, where these revolutionaries identify with Islamist oppressors to project their inner conflicts onto others, taking pleasure in silencing critics of the Palestinian narrative, for instance.
Both the “Woke” revolutionaries and the Iranian leftists of 1979 embody the contradictions of ideological alliances rooted in a psychological need for purpose, belonging, and validation.
However, while the Iranian leftists faced ruthless betrayal by the Islamists, today’s “Woke” ideologues engage in a “cosplay” of revolution, obliviously larping through the ironies and dangers of their alliance. Both groups reveal how vulnerable identity can be to ideological manipulation and how an obsession with “justice” can lead down a self-destructive path.
European history shows that social progress is achieved through research, gradual change, and an evidence-based approach. The tribalism of “Woke” culture starkly contrasts the humanistic values at the heart of Western democracy. Freedom of speech, meritocracy, and inclusivity are democratic core principles which remind us that true identity can only be pursued by acknowledging each other’s differences.
Yet, democracy is fragile. As German filmmaker and author Werner Herzog said: “Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness.”
In the 1980s, I watched as millions of Iranian women lost their hard-won rights overnight and were degraded to second-class citizens. School textbooks became regime propaganda, filled with revolutionary songs and slogans. Instead of reading the great Persian poets like Rumi, Hafez, or Ferdowsi, we chanted, “Khomeini, Khomeini, you are the light of Allah” — as our Persian heritage vanished from the curriculum.
After fleeing in 1986, I found a new home in Germany, with interludes in France. Through countless journeys, I experienced various interpretations of democracy. Nowhere have I seen it so deeply rooted as in Germany, where openness, respect for diverse opinions, and a commitment to confronting history offered a sense of security and freedom — even for me, an Iranian refugee child.
Welcomed by the Hirth family in Ehingen Donau, a small town in southern Germany, we lived on the second floor of their home. Mrs. Hirth, a devout Christian, helped my family navigate German society, accompanied my parents to official appointments, and assisted us children with our schoolwork.
Our origins or religion were of no consequence to the Hirths or the German authorities; we were granted the same rights and opportunities as any native-born German. I doubt the same reception would be possible in a Woke-dominated Germany.
Through years in exile and my life experiences, I have developed a keen intuition for recognizing manipulation, particularly ideologically or religiously motivated totalitarianism. This journey was fraught with personal hardships, which I could only overcome by constantly challenging my beliefs.
Among the thinkers who have inspired me most is British author Christopher Hitchens — an unapologetic critique of religious oppression who empowered the oppressed voices in societies like Iran and Pakistan. His deep contempt for totalitarianism was evident in his regular and fierce condemnations of Iran's regime.
Hitchens’ words still resonate deeply:
“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”
 | A guest post by
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Beautifully written contemplation of past and present. Hoping that the people who need enlightenment about the threats facing us may read it! We Vancouver Jews have received terrific support from our local Persian community.
Outstanding essay!