A fool’s guide to the Iran-Israel war

2026-03-04 - 09:49

Missiles in the sky They say that in moments of war, the first casualty is the truth. But with the exception of scripture, all speech acts, or what in more scholarly language we call discourse, is relative. It is a reflection of power and selfish interests of the one talking. In fact, one of my favourite authors, Anne Michaels, in her novel, Fugitive Pieces, has this line that “what is dear to us is often dearer than the truth.” This is not just editing ourselves, but rather that all information is a political act. It is all propaganda, and one has to trust their good education, their instincts, and biases. My position has always been, “may the most credible, the most persuasive, and most believable propaganda win.” (Is it not fascinating how a great deal of propaganda collapses at the earliest point of scrutiny?) Indeed, ever since the combined forces of Israel and America attacked Iran illegally (not sure what this means), and without provocation, I have listened to many Ugandans – and Africans in different places – discuss this conflict with terribly weak propaganda. For many, it is like a movie with typical Hollywood stereotypes: America/ Israel as the good guys. No history. No background. No ideological campus. Just Hollywood. I would like to offer some fairly informed propaganda. For reasons you will soon find out, I should say, dear reader, that while I am biased towards Iran, I am writing from an African vantage point. I am a grandson of anti-colonial heroes, and a victim of modern-day colonialism (the so-called free markets, and electoral democracy). Let’s start from the beginning: WHO ARE THE BAD GUYS? America and Israel are the bad guys – plus the entire western Europe, especially France, Germany and the UK. I know we have consumed incredible amounts of western spin through cinema and a colonial curriculum and cultural exchanges to the point that we see ourselves as friends of western Europe and America. We have been made to see them as “the gold standards of good living.” We have been made to believe that the bad guys are unable to speak English. If they do, their accents are heavy. They either speak Arabic, Russian or another, but not English or French. The bad guys have to have long beards, and are often dressed in tunics, and other capacious garments. The bad guys have to be Muslim. The good guys Christian or Jewish. In truth, however, the biggest terrorists of the world speak fluent English, and wear suits and neckties. Western Europeans and Americans have been at the cause and center of every criminal enterprise in the modern world: From slave trade, colonialism, apartheid, genocides/Holocausts (Germany, Namibia, India, Rwanda, Gaza), man-made famines to dropping nuclear bombs on innocent people. But they endlessly sing human rights, and democracy, through which they have bombed and pillaged the rest of the world. You realize now that this entire conflict has nothing to do with stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. The good guys have this belief that Iranians are retarded people who, once they get a nuclear bomb, are too reckless to drop it on innocent people. Only one country in history has used the nuclear bomb. That is the United States of America. NOT A RELIGIOUS WAR; CONFLICT OVER RESOURCES Dear Ugandans, the Iran-Israel/ America conflict is not a religious war. It is a war over resources. I know Israel has built itself a religious identity, as has Iran. But these identities are mobilizational tools for a different objective. While Iran (add Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, among others) want to protect its sovereignty, dignity and resources, Israel wants to grab more land and control them. This is the “Greater Israel Project,” where they have continued to take more land through violence, ethnic cleansings and genocide. (Remember East Africa and Argentina were considered sites for the establishment of the state of Israel; religion is just the cover). For Iran, Islam has equipped them with discipline, motivation and moral campus to protect their territory. Revolutions need inspiration. I know Israel loves to claim that the Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East hate them because they are Jewish. Or because of their beautiful ways. But this often ignores their heinous crimes right from their creation, which only happened through ethnic cleansing, mass slaughters, and genocide and only continues on those terms – with the absolute support of western Europe and America. GOOD OLD COLONIALISM Notice also that America and colonial western Europe still miss the direct colonial days where they had free access to the world’s resources. They still do, especially in large parts of Africa where they imposed colonial caretakers for presidents. But pockets of the world have resisted this modern-day imperialism – and Iran is the most outstanding example, resisting and helping resistors. Important to recall that before this ongoing conflict became openly violent, the United States, together with the UK, had already committed major crimes in Iran. In order to continue stealing Iranian oil, working inside the American embassy in Tehran, in 1953, these mafias staged a coup that overthrew a democratically-elected leader of Iran, Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. They imposed a man they wanted, who allowed them access to Iranian oil on the cheap for the next 26 years before his overthrow in 1979. The Islamic Republic emerges after this overthrow, mobilizes its pedigree – as the mighty 2,500 years old Persian empire – and through discipline and hard work, and guided by their old Islamic tradition, rebuilt Iran into a major super power. But this entire time, America, Israel and western Europe had continued looking at Iran enviously and maligning it in their press. Notice here that because of a strong Islamic ethic, Iran became anti-colonialism since the founding of the Islamic Republic. It not only helped Palestine when it faced a major violent land grab since 1948 (with Israel’s founding), but also continued to support anti-colonial forces in Africa. But for remaining the only major power in the region standing up against Israel occupation of Palestinian lands, Israel for the last 40 years has been itching for war with Iran. This is the America-Israel connection. IT IS NOT FAR AWAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST; IT IS HERE I can see the indifference among many Ugandans about this conflict. It not only looks like a distant religious war, but they see it as so far from them. This is our war to fight, and we should be thankful to Iran for staging a stand. Look, the people who imposed Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) on us, and had us impoverished to this day are the same people looking forward to stealing Iranian and Palestinian resources. There is no violent war in Uganda or in several other parts of Africa, simply because these people already have our economies in their hands. They have our mineral resources, they have our human resources, they even have our souls. But if you considered Sudan, Libya, South Sudan, Somalia, unending conflicts in DRC, and the only recently concluded war in Ethiopia, it is because Euro-America wants our resources the same way they want cheap or free Iranian oil. In truth, Iran is fighting our war. yusufkajura@gmail.com The author is a political theorist based at Makerere University.