What we are currently witnessing throughout the world is remarkable. Every day, tens of thousands of people are gathering in cities and towns across China, Iran, and Russia to protest their harsh regimes and call for their overthrow.
You may be unaware of the dangers they face. In the United States, politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez act as though they are being shackled while being escorted away from roadways they have blocked. The stakes are even higher in this oppression axis.
The violent killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police for wearing her hijab improperly ignited the raging demonstrations that have paralyzed portions of the nation. Last week, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had to deliver a pep talk to his paramilitary police to boost their morale.
On November 29, 2022, in Tehran, Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
AP
The Iranian national squad, which was defeated by the United States in the World Cup, returns home to uncertainty. The families of those who refused to sing the national anthem in solidarity with the demonstrators reportedly received death threats.
Similar conditions exist in China, where homicidal epidemic policies have prompted a revolution. There, authorities collect organs from political prisoners.
In Russia, not every opponent of President Vladimir Putin is murdered, but the state imposes fines of more than a month’s pension on elderly individuals whose neighbors claim they have expressed anti-war sentiments. If you cannot pay, you are incarcerated.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, possesses great authority, yet confronts criticism from his people.
AP
Yet, day after day, demonstrators, who are predominantly young, stay resolute. In Iran, people chant “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the regime as a whole.” In China, people hold up blank pieces of paper to symbolize what they are not permitted to say.
In addition to a lack of appreciation for the liberties we have, elitists have recently pronounced the American experiment dead and promoted the pessimistic notion that democracy is in decline.
Democracy in decline?
Recall that foreign-policy expert Ian Bremmer stated in 2019 that with China’s Xi Jinping consolidating power “on a scale not seen since Mao” and Putin reaching Stalin’s level of staying power, “it is no longer clear that liberal democracy in the American style has won the day.”
President Xi Jinping is under opposition from citizens who want him to resign.
A participant in an anti-Chinese government demonstration on November 29, 2022, during China’s “zero-COVID” policy.
According to “journalists” who reported on polls conducted in unfree nations, some of these leaders not only held power, but also enjoyed widespread support. Their might was invincible.
After the Iraq War blunder, the notion that some individuals do not want freedom in the Western style became more widespread. Bremmer questioned whether “democracy in the American style” is “the right path for everyone” and advised policymakers to abandon “the explicit American packaging.”
In reality, freedom is a universal human desire, and freedom fighters around the world look to the United States for inspiration. When I asked Iranian resistance leader Maryam Rajavi about her intellectual influences, she said, “I read many books about the changes and revolutions in many other countries,” including the United States, where “George Washington stood up to the British when he had nothing, when he had so few forces.”
Tyranny cannot endure indefinitely.
Kelly Jane Torrance is the opinion editor at The Post.
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