{"id":259619,"date":"2022-06-01T15:39:23","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T13:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=259619"},"modified":"2023-02-09T14:51:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T13:51:12","slug":"iran-regimes-ridiculous-hail-to-the-commander-theatrics-backfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/society\/iran-regimes-ridiculous-hail-to-the-commander-theatrics-backfires\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Regime\u2019s Ridiculous \u201cHail to the Commander\u201d Theatrics Backfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In a last-ditch effort to imply that it enjoys widespread support, the Iranian regime forced children to attend gatherings to sing a pop-genre song, \u201cHail to the Commander<\/a>,\u201d swearing allegiance to the mullahs\u2019 supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n

The regime had made rehearsing this song mandatory for all elementary schools across Iran. The mullahs even went as far as to allow women<\/a> to Tehran\u2019s Azadi sports stadium to perform this song to project a hollow show of power.<\/p>\n

These ridiculous escapades happened as people in Abadan, southwest Iran, were mourning their loved ones who lost their lives when a ten-story tower collapsed<\/a> last week. While the children were forced to salute Khamenei, \u00a0in the last few days, tens of thousands of people in scores of Iranian cities \u00a0have been chanting \u201cDeath to Khamenei.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forcing children to perform such a song, vowing to defend Khamenei with their \u201clittle bodies,\u201d and pledging to follow in the footsteps of Khamenei\u2019s terror-master, Qassem Soleimani was an absolute abomination. But this was not the first time that a dictator has used innocent children as means of propaganda.<\/p>\n

Like the religious fascism ruling Iran, the Nazi regime used children to spread propaganda<\/a>. In his last years, and as his army lost battles, Adolf Hitler gathered children to sing anthems. Videos show thousands of children saluting the \u201cFuhrer\u201d and vowing to support him until the end.<\/p>\n

Later, when allied forces started their major offensives in Germany, the SS forces used children as cannon fodder and sent them to the front lines to defend the Nazi regime. Sending children and youth to the deadly warzones was the last stage of the Nazi\u2019s two-decades-long propaganda.<\/p>\n

Propaganda was one of the most essential tools the Nazis used to shape the beliefs and attitudes of Germans, mainly youths and children.<\/p>\n

The Nazi party began targeting German<\/a> youth from the 1920s onward, projecting the party as a movement for youth: dynamic, resilient, forward-looking, and hopeful. Books were illustrated in a way to promote hate and racism and encouraged children to spy on the Nazi\u2019s \u201cenemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since taking power in 1979, Iran\u2019s religious fascism used the Nazis\u2019 playbook, trying to present the regime as a sacred government and that the supreme leader was infallible and holy.<\/p>\n

Using propaganda, the regime\u2019s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, prolonged the catastrophic Iran-Iraq war, sending hundreds of thousands<\/a> of Iran\u2019s vibrant youths and bright children to war fronts.<\/p>\n

The regime\u2019s functionaries in schools implied that underage students were sinners and sent contrite children to the frontlines. They were given a \u201ckey to heaven\u201d and sent to sweep the minefields. Tens of thousands of children perished, many torn to pieces when the mines they were forced to run over blew up. As the regime started clamping down on opposition groups, children were forced to spy on their parents who opposed \u201cImam\u201d Khomeini.<\/p>\n

The Iranian regime later acknowledged that over 33,000 students were killed during the Iran-Iraq war on the frontlines. A 2001 report<\/a> by Child Soldiers International Organization emphasizes that Iranian boys \u201cas young as nine were reportedly used in human wave attacks and to serve as minesweepers in the war with Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Iranian regime using children in its war machine<\/div><\/div>
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