My First Protest
Iranian-Canadians' fight for freedom under the contour of the Peace Tower
This past Sunday, along with several hundred Iranian-Canadians, I attended my first ever protest on the front lawn of Parliament, beneath the backdrop of Center Block’s Peace Tower.
The Peace Tower houses Canada’s Memorial Chamber and Room of Remembrance,1 which is the focal point of the tower’s interior. This room commemorates Canada’s war dead — well over 110,000 Canadian soldiers who have died overseas in South Africa, Europe, Korea and the Middle East.
This room, and the Peace Tower, are symbols of freedom, liberty, justice, and sacrifice for King and Country. These are founding principles to Canada - nation-building and nation-preserving principles, acted on by good people who answered the call.
The protest that took place on Parliament Hill was a rally for Human Rights and Freedom in Iran - a protest in support of Prince Reza Pahlavi - the Shah of Iran.
Under the contour of Canada’s Peace Tower - resembling liberty and justice, Iranian-Canadians pursue their fight for freedom.
Protesters routinely chanted historic and cultural Farsi quotes of resilience and hope, with routine thank you chants to U.S. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu - the two foreign leaders who have taken military action against the IRGC after the Islamic regime butchered over 36,000 protesters earlier this year.
The Americans and Israelis began the U.S.-led Operation Epic Fury in the wee hours of February 28th - targeting IRGC political leaders, including the elimination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and military infrastructure, before moving to target Iranian oil reserves last last week.
Protesters on Parliament Hill were made up largely of Persian-Canadians holding signs depicting photos of Shah Pahlavi and President Trump standing side-by-side ''United for Freedom," "We Stand with the Shah," "Make Iran Great Again," and "Thank you, Bibi." Several protestors also held signs with the names and faces of the six2 American service members who have died in Iran in the last week and a half.
One protestor, a Caucasian woman from Ottawa held a much more simple sign that read: “Fuck the Islamic regime,” emboldened by Sharpie.
This woman sought me out and we chatted for the duration of the protest on the walk from Parliament Hill to the U.S. Embassy. She thanked me for coming out and noted that there weren't many people at the protest who “looked like us.”
She told me she was a liberal, a leftist and a feminist - which caught me off guard.
“Why are you here, then?” I asked her, slightly provocatively.
She answered that she was at the protest and had been at several protests in support of her Iranian friends - in many cases, Queer-Iranian-Canadians who had left Iran under the oppressive regime to live in peace in Canada. Canada had given her friends refuge, and she was there to support them.
I’ve often wondered about this - why more progressives and leftists aren’t in support of the Iranian people against the IRGC. I mean, doesn’t this have progressivism written all over it?
Brutally oppressed people, beaten, murdered and constantly supressed by a violent, religiously fanatic, autocratic regime that slaughters its own people?
This is a regime that hangs people on the charges of ‘homosexuality’ - where gay men are publicly flogged and gay women are stoned. Where young girls are married off in their pre-teens. Where abortion is outlawed and punishable by death.
We both shared our regrets over the lack of additional progressive-human rights protestors in attendance.
She suggested that many progressives and liberals would be turned off by the idea of a protest that in any way thanks Trump - regardless of the root of the protest.
“Trump can be a dick, don’t get me wrong,” she said. “But he’s the only foreign leader who bothered to do something about this. He did the right thing. Did he do it for himself? Likely. But it was still the right thing to do.” (going into Iran.)
There were no thank-you chants to Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose own foreign policy on Iran has been a roller coaster over the last 10 days.3 I wrote about this last week: Where the Prime Minister stands on Iran, nobody knows.
What really struck me about the nature of the protest, not that it surprised me, was the tone of respect.
Lion and Sun flags flew proudly alongside American, Israeli and Canadian flags. This protest was a message of unity - of support.
A protest to sweep up the pieces of a once great nation and rebuild it.
Not to tear down and destroy; To build.
The group handed out flowers to city police officers, picked up their garbage, and played the Star Spangled Banner at the U.S. Embassy before a lengthy applause.
This is a protest where people joined with their dogs. They stopped on the sidewalks and discussed with bystanders who they are, what they were protesting for. They educated - they didn’t tear down.
There was no finger pointing, no name-calling, no political libel. No one pitched a tent on Parliament Hill when it was over either, folks packed up their signs and went home.
It was a real protest- not a riot.
There was no profanity (minus my friend’s sign - which to her credit she put it down when children were around), no calls for terror, no violence, no Nazi messaging or swastikas. Just a diaspora community supporting their Persian brothers and sisters back in Iran.
Hope & resilience - the story of a people desperate to reclaim their homeland from a violent, autocratic death cult.
Desire and the dream for a better future, for this generation and the next.
زنده باد شاه.
The Peace Tower historically houses the Room of Remembrance - due to construction on the Peace Tower, the current rendition of the Memorial Chamber lies in West Block until renovations to Center Block are complete in the early 2030s.
As of March 9th, reports suggest a seventh service member has been killed.
Additionally, the House of Commons held an emergency debate on the situation in Iran on Tuesday night (March 9th). The Prime Minister did not attend.