{"id":48221,"date":"2026-01-23T01:59:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T09:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=48221"},"modified":"2026-01-21T15:41:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:41:55","slug":"supporting-the-iranian-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2026\/01\/23\/supporting-the-iranian-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting the Iranian people"},"content":{"rendered":"

A huge demonstration filled the blocks around the Vancouver Art Gallery last weekend, part of a weekly presence of Persian and other Vancouverites calling for regime change and democracy for Iran. <\/i>(photo by Richard K. Lowy)<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i>As the street protests in Iran grow \u2013 and the death toll caused by the regime\u2019s police and military crackdown increases \u2013 so do solidarity rallies worldwide.<\/p>\n

A huge demonstration consumed the blocks around the Vancouver Art Gallery last weekend, part of a weekly presence of Persian and other Vancouverites calling for regime change and democracy for Iran.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The global movement against the Islamic regime has coalesced around Reza Pahlavi, son of the late shah who was deposed in the 1979 revolution. Posters of the crown prince fluttered among hundreds of pre-revolutionary Iranian flags amid chants of \u201cjavid shah<\/i>,\u201d long live the shah. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am Stephen and I am Jewish,\u201d said one of the speakers at the rally a week earlier, on Jan. 10, who preferred not to use his surname.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have attended almost all the Iranian rallies in recent years for one reason and one reason only: to tell the Iranian people loudly and clearly you are not alone,\u201d he said. \u201dAnyone who knows what the Iranian people have suffered over the past 47 years can empathize, especially now.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He emphasized the ancient and contemporary relationship between Jewish and Persian peoples.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Israel was attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, the Iranian people came out in bad weather, in the rain and the cold and the snow, to march side by side with Jews all over the world. Why? Because they understand our pain, because it is their pain,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is the collective pain of peoples who want what everyone wants: to live in peace and unmolested by those who want to control the world, who tell you what to think, what to wear, what to do, what to believe in.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Several people at the rally carried an Israeli flag. (photo by Richard K. Lowy)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPersia was the first empire in the world, under Cyrus the Great, that brought people together and did not, did not oppress them,\u201d he continued. \u201cThis is part of the Iranian historical identity. You can have all the Islamic revolutions you want. You will never erase this historical identity, with its great, great culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

He commended Iranian Canadians for their contributions to Canada and their devotion to democracy in their homeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou here are Iranians who know what I talk about because you have been living in freedom in Canada and look how you\u2019ve flourished. When people speak of Canadian Iranians, they do so with respect for a people that knows how to work hard and how to contribute to society, to give back, to become productive citizens of a free and open society,\u201d he said. \u201cIs that so much to ask for your brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters in Iran?\u00a0 <\/span>And it is a blessing that, when Iran is finally free, many of you will return to Iran to help rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called Pahlavi \u201ca man who understands the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows the Iranian people inside Iran and outside Iran. Anyone who questions his commitment to his people can read about how he has worked tirelessly throughout his life to pursue a free Iran and return independence to Iranian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds are dying in the name of freedom, Stephen said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe crackdown is brutal,\u201d he said. \u201cMany of us have seen the image of the older white-haired Iranian woman on the streets of Iran, bleeding from the mouth, her fist raised in defiance: \u2018I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I have been dead for 47 years.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He commended US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for forcefully supporting the Iranian protests, and called for the leaders of Canada and other Western countries to express their support as forcefully.<\/p>\n

David Zacks was one of several people at the rally carrying an Israeli flag. The response, he said, was\u00a0 <\/span>\u201ca hundred percent positive.\u201d People were asking to take photos with him and thanking him for his presence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIranians and Jews have been great friends for thousands of years,\u201d said Zacks. \u201cEverybody I talk to says, once the regime falls, they\u2019ll be great friends again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A huge demonstration filled the blocks around the Vancouver Art Gallery last weekend, part of a weekly presence of Persian and other Vancouverites calling for regime change and democracy for Iran. (photo by Richard K. Lowy) As the street protests in Iran grow \u2013 and the death toll caused by the regime\u2019s police and military […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4304,2462,3597,21227,22180],"class_list":["post-48221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-democracy","tag-iran","tag-politics","tag-protests","tag-rallies"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}