Marching for Tyranny in Red Doc Martens

Red Is the New Black: Dutch Demonstrate for Oppression, Death to Israel, and a Bit of Genocide on the Side

Ah, the Netherlands. Land of tulips, windmills, and now 150,000 people marching proudly through the streets of  The Hague in June 2025, dressed in red, fists in the air, chanting “Death to Israel” and waving banners in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Because nothing says progressive values like rallying for a theocracy that hangs gay people and stones women. Very on-brand, 2025.

Among the masses: Dutch girls. Yes, girls. Teenage girls, college girls, feminist TikTok influencers in Doc Martens and keffiyehs, screaming for the downfall of Israel. Girls who, by the way, would be beaten with sticks by the Iranian morality police for showing their hair, or executed if they dared to post their pro-LGBTQ opinions under the hashtag #Freedom. I’m not sure whether to laugh, cry, or start digging a tunnel to Mars.

In case you missed the memo; red is in this season. But apparently, so is cognitive dissonance. These are the same people who, only a year ago, were marching for women’s rights, gay pride, trans rights, and freedom of speech. Now? They’re championing a regime where women are legally considered half a man, where dissent is punishable by death, and where rape victims can be stoned to death for “adultery.”

Let’s recap, shall we?

Israel:

• Women can vote, drive, dress how they want, and protest without being shot in the street.
• LGBTQ+ people serve openly in the military.
• Arab Israelis serve in the Knesset, on the Supreme Court, and as doctors, professors, and journalists.
• You can say “The government sucks” and not end up hanging from a crane in a public square.

Iran:

• Women must wear hijabs or risk beatings, arrest, or worse.
• LGBTQ+? Say hello to the rooftops because in Iran, “conversion therapy” involves gravity.
• Speak against the regime? You’re either disappeared, tortured, or added to a list of martyrs the regime pretends don’t exist.

Remember Mahsa Amini? She was murdered by Iranian “morality police” in 2022 for not wearing her hijab properly. Her death sparked massive protests, which were crushed violently. Dozens of girls were killed in the following months. Some were poisoned. Others were shot in the eyes. But sure, let’s chant “Death to Israel” because it makes you feel morally superior on Instagram.

Navid Afkari, an Iranian wrestler, tortured and executed in 2020 for daring to protest. Ruhollah Zam, a journalist, lured out of exile and hanged in 2020 for publishing anti-regime content. Mostafa Salehi, Sarina Esmailzadeh, Nika Shakarami, the list goes on. But don’t let facts ruin your aesthetic, dear demonstrators.

Here’s a wild idea: Maybe the West is suffering from moral anemia. We’ve grown so bored with actual freedom, so saturated in comfort and TikTok pseudo-politics, that we’ve confused resistance with cosplay. Want to rage against something but lack the historical knowledge, critical thinking, or spine? Just throw on red, scream “Free Palestine,” and ignore the fact you’re being used as pawns by genocidal regimes.

Israel isn’t perfect. No country is. But it sure as hell isn’t Iran.

So why the hatred? Because Israel is successful. Because it’s free. Because it refuses to commit suicide in the face of terrorism. And because antisemitism, the oldest hate in human history, isn’t just back, it’s being rebranded as virtue.

And you know what? I’m tired. Genuinely. Watching people in the most liberal, democratic societies on Earth champion fascist regimes in hijabs is enough to make a sane person question reality. Maybe I don’t belong in this world. Maybe we should launch a spaceship, not to escape, but to found a new colony on a planet where reason still lives and mobs don’t cheer for medieval brutality wrapped in the language of “liberation.”

If you’re coming, bring sunscreen and your critical thinking skills. Red robes and gallows chants can stay on Earth.

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Author’s Note: Don’t worry, I’m not giving up. Just ventilating with satire. Because truth, when wrapped in sarcasm, cuts sharper than any sword and sometimes, you need to laugh to keep from screaming.