The Other War on Iran (With Roya Rastegar)

The Other War on Iran (With Roya Rastegar)

Most of us who are against the war in Iran have been loudly calling it out. What we've seen less of, however, is the callouts of the regime before the war. And, more importantly, the uplifting of Iranian voices. As opposition to the war grows, Iranian voices that don't fit the anti-war frame are getting stifled even more. This hurts solidarity. It cuts us off from the people we should be learning from. Roya Rastegar is a scholar and filmmaker who runs the Iranian Diaspora Collective. She's in direct contact with people inside Iran right now, in the middle of a 53-day regime-imposed internet blackout.  And while we don't agree on the war, I believe Roya's voice (and many others) is essential to listen to. She brings the voices of people on the ground into a conversation that's mostly happening without them, people who feel caught between a 47-year war their own government has waged on them, and the one we just watched unfold. When I asked Roya how she felt about the ceasefire (we recorded before it occurred), I was struck by her response. She felt no war had ended. It was just one more phase in that war on Iranian people. This doesn't mean Roya speaks for every Iranian: there are many who are strongly against the war, both in Iran itself and in the diaspora. But it is important to hear this one in order to contend with why Iranians have often been left out of discussions, not to mention simply learning and hearing their experiences. What Roya talks about: - The internet blackout and what the IRGC is doing to its people right now - The January massacres and what they changed - Why some Iranians are saying "I would rather die by bombs than by the regime" - Why "pro-war" and "anti-war" is the wrong binary - What Kurdish feminist thought, and "Woman Life Freedom" in its original meaning, has to teach us - What she thinks the diaspora gets wrong, and what she thinks we need next Follow Roya: Iranian Diaspora Collective on Instagram: @iraniandiasporacollective Substack: Global Freedoms Her Vox piece on what Iranians are living through: https://www.vox.com/politics/482389/voices-from-iran-war-dispatches ------ Here We Come is a podcast about democratic movements and nonviolent transformation, hosted by Elad Nehorai. Subscribe so you don't miss what's next. ------ 00:00 Cold open 03:00 Meet Roya Rastegar 03:30 What Iranians are living through right now 06:30 Putting Iranians at the center 08:00 The false binary: pro-war vs anti-war 11:00 How social media distorts the diaspora 14:30 Taking cues from people inside Iran 19:00 The 47-year war: how we got here 25:30 The January massacres 28:00 "I would rather die by bombs than by the regime" 30:30 Rethinking the civilian cost of war 35:30 Responsibility to protect 39:00 What the diaspora needs to do now 40:00 Kurdish feminist thought and Woman Life Freedom 41:30 Where to find Roya's work

The Billion Dollar War on Trans People (With Alejandra Caraballo)

Alejandra Caraballo is a civil rights attorney, clinical instructor at Harvard Law School, and one of the most prominent trans voices in America. In this conversation, she describes what daily life feels like for trans people right now: driver's licenses revoked overnight, hospitals shutting down care, bomb threats forcing activists off social media.  We talk about the billionaire money behind the anti-trans movement, why transphobia and antisemitism are nearly inseparable, and what it means to fight for a future you might never see.  This episode is heavy. For this one, I felt it important we go deep, without qualification and without being afraid to name how dark the moment is. There is no better spokesperson for that reality than Alejandra. ----- Follow Alejandra: Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/esqueer.net Instagram: instagram.com/esqueer_ The Dissident (newsletter): thedissident.news

Episode 2: The Concentration Camps Are Here (With Andrea Pitzer)

The US government has set aside $75 billion for a detention system designed to eclipse the existing prison system, with almost none of its already-limited oversight. Warehouses are being converted into facilities to hold thousands of people. Disease is already breaking out. Reports describe people lying in feces, children held for weeks, medicine withheld, legal representation blocked. And yet something else is happening too. In Minneapolis, Chicago, LA, and beyond, people are building networks of shared resistance that are already having a measurable effect. Six planned detention facilities have been canceled. Entire offices are seeing staff quit. Senators in red states are calling to push back. The movement is working. In this episode, host Elad Nehorai sits down with Andrea Pitzer, author of three books including "One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps," who has spent more than a decade researching the history of mass detention systems across the world. Together they explore the 130-year history of these systems, how they rise out of cultural fissures rather than being imposed from the outside, and why the early stages of every camp system look so similar, whether in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Chile, or the United States today. They discuss what Andrea calls "the concentration camp tendency," the impulse to isolate and render people alien. They examine how that tendency has been legitimized across administrations. And they get into what may be the most urgent question right now: Andrea's research suggests there is typically a 3-to-5-year window to dismantle these systems before they become entrenched. We may be near the end of that window. Andrea also lays out concrete, practical ways to get involved, no matter where you are or how much experience you have with organizing. The Saltbox Project is tracking warehouse acquisitions. Dan Sinker's team has shipped 500,000 whistles. Illustrator Megan Kowski created downloadable ICE zines that communities are folding and distributing across the country. People are finding ways to use their actual skills, and it's adding up. About Andrea Pitzer: Andrea Pitzer is a journalist and author of three books: "One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps," "Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World," and "The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov." Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, Vox, Slate, and many other publications.  She visited Guantanamo Bay twice while researching "One Long Night" and has spent more than a decade investigating the global history of mass detention.  She hosts the podcast "Next Comes What" and publishes the newsletter "Degenerate Art." Find her at andreapitzer.com and on Bluesky at @andreapitzer.bsky.social.

Episode 1: The Revolution Is Already Here (With Farrah Fazal)

Welcome to the new old movement. One that has been building for generations and growing even as fascism has tried to bring it down. It is one deeply devoted to nonviolence and democracy. Not just in theory, not just in parts, but in total. One where we believe society cannot just moderately improve but must be turned over and rebuilt. This is the movement of MLK, Gandhi, and so many more. And while people have trouble seeing it in dark times, the messages and the principles are more alive today than ever. That's what this podcast will be about. And that's why it's called "Here We Come." Because it's happening whether people are aware of it or not. And this will be about helping people understand the movement, participate in it, and more. In this first episode, host Elad Nehorai looks at the recent wave of democratic movements led by Gen Z, from Nepal to Morocco to Madagascar, where young people are using platforms like Discord and TikTok to organize leaderless, non-hierarchical protests that have overthrown governments. He examines why the far right has been so effective at using similar decentralized strategies, and what progressives can learn from both. Elad is then joined by the podcast's producer, Farrah Fazal. They first connected in a Muslim-Jewish dialogue group and have since worked on many projects together. Their partnership is built on the unifying power of this movement across tribes. Together they discuss the urgency of this moment, why warning people about fascism wasn't enough, and what it actually looks like to build coalitions that can fight back. About Farrah Fazal: Farrah Fazal is a 9-time Emmy award-winning, multilingual, former war correspondent, investigative journalist, and current documentary filmmaker, producer and director. Her journalistic work includes covering extremism, terrorism authoritarianism, misinformation/disinformation, immigration, politics, race, diverse communities, social justice and international conflicts. She’s also reported on guns, drugs, money, cartels, undocumented people including the first television interviews with undocumented children, sex trafficking, and police violence against underrepresented communities. Her work has taken her across the US, and internationally to Pakistan, Africa, Syria, Lebanon, the Balkans, and Israel-Palestine.

Here We Come - Trailer

A new podcast hosted by Elad Nehorai, launching soon.