Iran Arrests Marathon Organizers, While US Allies Fund Repression
The BBC reports Iran arrested marathon organizers after images appeared of women running without hijabs. This crackdown on personal freedoms under religious law is presented as a clear evil. (And it is.) Yet, the same mainstream outlets often downplay or ignore similar, albeit different, forms of repression by US-allied regimes. Consider Saudi Arabia's history of public executions and jailing
human rights activists, a state that still receives billions in US arms sales. Or Israeli authorities targeting Palestinian journalists and protesters, often with US-supplied equipment. It seems some governments' policing of bodies and dissent is newsworthy outrage, while others are simply 'regional partners.' The hypocrisy, as always, is a feature, not a bug, of media narratives designed to
maintain convenient geopolitical divisions. One might wonder if the women's rights angle loses its potency when the oppressor buys US weapons or lobbies Congress for hundreds of millions? Unveiled women in Tehran are a tragedy; veiled women under bombardment in Gaza are, apparently, 'complex.'