Desperation, Resistance, Leadership!

Abbas Goya - February 24, 2026

I'm not sure, as some on the left claim, that the right-wing has put all their eggs in the basket of "people's desperation" to use it as an excuse for their agenda, namely, military intervention by Israel and the U.S.

Iran International, on January 23, quoted Reza Pahlavi as saying, "The regime is desperate and is trying to buy time." On the other hand, the BBC reported on February 15 that "Prince Reza Pahlavi, referring to the desperation of the people in the face of severe repression, believes the only way to help is to weaken the Islamic Republic's repression machine (the IRGC and military forces)."

So who is desperate, the regime or the people?

Instead of interpreting this subjectively, let’s look at the facts. Gatherings of over 150,000 people in three cities—Toronto (50,000 people), Munich (60,000), and Los Angeles (40,000)—were remarkable and significant. (The governments of Canada, Germany, and the U.S. falsely "estimated" many times higher numbers to indirectly show a widespread sense of desperation).

Perhaps the spirit of those attending these rallies can be judged by the following signs: They carried flags of Israel and the U.S. alongside the lion and sun flag, repeated Trump’s slogan on Iran, "Make Iran Great Again," chanted the fascist slogan "One king, one homeland" in Germany, and explicitly called for U.S. military intervention. This spirit is truly one of desperation, because they see themselves as powerless. I am not concerned with the organizers of these gatherings, but rather the ordinary participants—young and old, men and women.

In Iran, the assessment by the Workers' Action Committee was that after the suppression of the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement and alongside Israel's genocide in Palestine, Israel demonstrated its military capability to strike the Islamic Republic by showing its power in Lebanon against Hezbollah and then weakening the Syrian government. In the 12-day war, it went beyond that. Unlike the U.S., it demonstrated the will and desire to overthrow the regime. Pin this point. Now, the prevailing spirit during the January protests was not desperation, otherwise, the movement would not have occurred. What nurtured the dormant seed of desperation after the 2022 suppression was the large-scale massacre of January.

Ismail Bakhshi, in an interview on February 7 with Bahram Ghadimi, says, "I have been away from Haft Tappeh for almost 6-7 years, but now I walk among people all over Iran. People are really tired of the regime and the Islamic Republic; they say there is no way out." He continues, "Many people say, 'Let the U.S. and Israel strike, there’s nothing worse that can happen... People have doubts; there’s anxiety about what will happen if there is war and what will happen if there isn’t war. You know what a war-torn society would be like, and if there is no war, that means the continuation of the Islamic Republic.'" No comments!

Can the above be generalized to the entire population and protesters? No, they cannot.

The composer of the anthem "I am still alive," says that what inspired him were the videos from the days of January repression. Amidst a flood of brutality and helplessness, voices were heard in the crowd that somehow declared, "Bastards, I am still alive." Additionally, we had the limited student protests almost immediately after the massacre. We had then the significant masses after the fortieth-day memorial gatherings for the lost lives, which subsequently led to the student protests in recent days. All resistance and struggle. There is no trace of desperation.

This elephant in the room has been judged in different ways. Some saw only desperation, while others saw only resistance and struggle. But to make an objective judgment, one must look at the whole picture.

Yes, part of the working class became angry and desperate, and another part did not. Accepting this truth helps us understand why Reza Pahlavi, who could not get a single person onto the streets last June, was able to do so in the days leading up to January 8 and 9. No one was actually chanting for Reza Pahlavi. He was a steadfast representative of the U.S.-Israel intervention. He had spent his entire life groveling and begging Washington for support. So, someone who is desperate enough to call for Israeli intervention must say "Pahlavi" and nothing more to welcome military intervention!

How else can we interpret those who responded positively to Reza Pahlavi’s call, those who placed their hopes on Trump’s "help is on the way"? Is it not true that they (and in my view, they were not many, perhaps a few thousand among the hundreds of thousands or millions) were governed by degrees of desperation? What difference does it make between these few thousand and the crowd calling for military intervention in Toronto, Munich, and Los Angeles? In my opinion, none.

Desperation, in any case, can be justified. In the case of Iran and resistance against the Islamic Republic, it is entirely understandable. If some people fall into it, it is not surprising. In fact, denying it is self-deception. Denying desperation will not lead to a solution because, first, desperation is not an inherent mentality; it is not a permanent, internal state. It is a function of the environment. Its recovery is determined by the speed of societal change. Secondly, the difference between us and Reza Pahlavi lies in our differing solutions, not in denying reality. Pahlavi deceitfully says, "The people are desperate, so let’s turn to America and Israel for help." As communist activists, we say that the solution lies in organizing struggles and changing the environment.

The gatherings held for the fortieth-day memorials of the martyrs, the shouts of "Bastards, I am still alive," the student protests—these self-organized actions helped heal the desperation, at least part of it. We cheered it. Initially, we denied the existence of the problem, and as such, we had no reason to offer a solution.

Interestingly, the day after such breakthroughs initiated by the protesters themselves, we become desperate! We ask why the "people" do not choose the leader of the revolutionary uprising? Perhaps it is because when a potential leader denies reality and thus fails to become a solution, they are not worthy of leadership.