Hands on the People of Iran

There is an organization in the United Kingdom that calls itself "Hands Off the People of Iran," an organization created in sectarian competition with the larger, more established Stop the War Coalition and the UK branch of the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran.

HOPOI declares in its founding statement: "We want regime change -- both in Iran and in the imperialist countries."¹ But the means it advocates in its bombastic slogans show that it promotes "regime change" only in Iran.

How do I know that? Because HOPOI, in the same statement, calls for "[s]upport to all working class and progressive struggles in Iran against poverty and repression" and "[s]upport for socialism, democracy and workers' control in Iran," but not in the imperialist countries.

Perhaps the organization ought to change its name to "Hands on the People of Iran." After all, its approach to the domestic politics of Iran is very hands-on.

1 BTW, I thought that communists, like most of HOPOI's main organizational backers, wanted social revolution, not mere "regime change." O Tempora! O Mores!