Where are Hollywood’s progressives when Iranians need them? An article by Newsweek

While Iran is living through some of the most intense social movements in its history, driven by a push for progressive values, many observers have noted the striking absence of Western progressive voices that are usually quick to rally behind causes aligned with their worldview, regardless of geographic distance.

Iranians from across demographic groups and social backgrounds have for weeks been chanting for an end to the Islamic Regime, as well as for democracy, equal rights, and freedom of expression—principles upheld in many other countries and often championed by influential progressive and left-leaning circles in the United States.

Thousands of protesters have been arrested, the majority of them under the age of 30, while the country’s opaque information environment makes it impossible to assess the true death toll, which is feared to be tragically high. Despite this sustained and courageous push, an article by Newsweek highlights how prominent humanitarian figures and organizations have largely remained silent or spoken out only belatedly.

The British-Iranian author of the article points to the United Nations’ delayed response to the current wave of unrest.

“Through the ongoing communication blackout, Iranians have been calling on those outside of Iran to be their voice. On top of that, the values they have been trying to restore in their nation are those that humanitarian voices in the West claim to champion—so why did it take many so long to speak up? And why have others remained silent?” author Melissa Fleur Afshar asks.

An analyst cited in the article, Khosro Isfahani, a senior research analyst at the National Union for Democracy in Iran, voiced deep frustration over what he sees as a lack of support from Hollywood figures closely associated with progressive causes. Speaking from Washington, D.C., where he now lives after spending much of his life in Iran, Isfahani said this silence has been widely felt, particularly given how outspoken many of the same figures were on Gaza-related issues, a contrast he finds difficult to reconcile.

According to Isfahani, several factors explain this muted response. One is the tendency to conflate the Iranian people’s decades-long grassroots struggle against the Islamic Regime with the Israel-Palestine conflict. He noted that many Western observers have taken the regime’s performative support for Palestine at face value.

During the Iran-Israel war, posters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were displayed by some protesters in the West alongside chants of “hands off Iran.” While not all left-leaning activists feel compelled to support the Ayatollah, the visibility of Israeli flags at Free Iran rallies worldwide, and the blending of separate regional issues, has led some to believe that standing with Iranians would mean abandoning their support for Palestinians.

“Iranians last rose up in 2022 trying to reclaim their homeland for the 10th time. We have been on the streets nonstop. We have tried again and again,” Isfahani said. “The Islamic Republic has tried to erode life in Iran from existence with mass executions or censorship, and unfortunately, we have people who like to exotify the image of Iranian women in chadors.”

The senior analyst also argues that many in the West hold a deeply distorted view of Iran. He explained that some Westerners still see Iranians as loyal supporters of their Islamic dictatorship, despite recent events proving otherwise, and therefore frame the unrest as culturally complex or even Islamophobic territory they prefer not to engage with.

Isfahani further attributed some attitudes among younger Western audiences to a broader trend promoted by a collective left establishment. While awareness of Iran’s repression exists, he said many have absorbed regime-friendly narratives that have spread through online spaces, universities, and activist circles as part of a wider anti-West worldview, leading them to believe Western powers are inherently evil and that their adversaries must therefore be virtuous.

Some progressive voices have begun to recognize what is unfolding in Iran and are now raising awareness on their own platforms. However, Isfahani cautioned that turning the issue into an ideological debate rather than amplifying Iranian voices themselves risks doing more harm than good.

“When you talk about human rights in a context like Iran, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, freedom of religion, some people would retort that these are Western values, as if things are not equal,” Isfahani said. “But a lot of these values come from Iran…We had multiculturalism before they even had that word.”

He added that Iranians have long been reduced to a narrow stereotype that strips away their identity, history, and civilization, despite a cultural legacy rooted in art, poetry, human rights, and coexistence. In his view, this rich heritage—not the Islamic Republic—represents the true values of the Iranian people.

By Nazrin Sadigova