Protesters angry about rising taxes and the high cost of living clash with
French riot police, who close off some of the city's most popular tourist areas
and fire tear gas and water cannon as they try to quell the mayhem in the
streets.
Some might say France is marching toward a new revolution. Not so fast. That’s
hardly the case. This is just about so-called "violence” denounced by French
President Emmanuel Macron. So those who attack police and vandalize the Arc de
Triomphe will be "held responsible for their acts".
Now imagine for a moment that this was all happening in Tehran. All hell would
break loose in the West. Western governments would hold an emergency meeting in
Brussels on the violent protests, calling it a revolution, while bashing any
response from the Iranian government unacceptable, even taking the matter to the
UN Security Council for a resolution that would trigger sanctions on Tehran.
But Paris is not Tehran and what is happening there is "violence that has
nothing to do with the peaceful expression of a legitimate anger" and "no cause
justifies" attacks on police or pillaging stores and burning buildings. Further
still, the government of Macron sees no reason to answer any questions from
journalists about the situation in Paris - even though this is the third
straight weekend of clashes in Paris with activists dressed in the fluorescent
yellow vests of a new protest movement and the worst urban violence since at
least 2005.
Indeed, the scene and the international reaction sharply contradicts with last
year’s guild-related protests in Iran, where because of Western double
standards, demonstrations were naively or deliberately considered by Western
governments as "a new revolution” that would lead to "regime-change”.
Unlike in France, they condemned Iranian police deployed to try to contain the
violence, which were similar to those in Paris about price hikes and unpaid
wages. Western governments even voiced their concerns for arresting those
involved in violence and burning shops, with little or no care for injured
police officers. That’s unlike the way they have all reacted to the ongoing
violent clashes in Paris in recent week. They have backed the French government
and condemned the protesters.
However, Western governments cannot have a double standard here. They cannot see
the violent protests in France as different from the reality, or from those in
Iran. They cannot use two different sets of judgment when it comes to a similar
violence happening in Paris and Tehran.
It is time they stopped using a double standard for measuring their own and
other nations’ policies. Their demands for democratic practices in other lands
will be no more effective than the guarantees of those practiced in their own
country.
Source:Fars