When Identity Politics Eats Itself

The Paradox of Progressive Solidarity

In recent years, protest slogans such as “Queers for Palestine”, “Trans for Iran”, and “Feminists for Sharia” have become fixtures at rallies and in online activism. Designed to express intersectional solidarity, these phrases present a striking veneer of unity across oppressed identities. But beneath the surface lies a deep and often unexamined contradiction: the movements and regimes being supported frequently persecute the very identities invoked to support them.

This article examines a range of such paradoxes—cases where Western activist solidarity with non-Western causes has resulted in moral incoherence and even inadvertent complicity in oppression. In each instance, the driving force is not malice but a fusion of emotional identification, ideological simplification, and cultural vanity, resulting in solidarity that is more symbolic than substantive.

Queers for Palestine

The slogan “Queers for Palestine” is perhaps the most well-known example of this phenomenon. In Western activist circles, it is used to express support for Palestinian resistance while framing Israel’s pro-LGBTQ+ policies as a cynical distraction—a practice referred to as "pinkwashing." Yet the lived reality for LGBTQ+ individuals in Palestinian territories is starkly at odds with this messaging.

In Gaza, governed by Hamas, homosexuality is criminalised and punishable under Islamic law. In the West Bank, while less severe, queer Palestinians still face widespread social ostracism, blackmail, and honour-based violence. Human Rights Watch and other international organisations have documented systematic persecution, arbitrary detention, and torture of LGBTQ+ individuals in both regions¹.

Jad Salfiti, a British-Palestinian journalist, recently wrote:

“You can’t see rainbows from underneath the rubble… There can be no Pride under occupation. It is enraging to see my identity used as an instrument of war.”²

The irony is compounded by the fact that many queer Palestinians flee to Israel to escape persecution. Yet such nuance is often omitted in activist discourse, where anti-Israel sentiment overrides concern for actual queer lives in the region.

Trans for Iran

Iran is one of the few countries in the Islamic world that permits—and even subsidises—gender-confirming surgery. This policy, introduced following a 1987 fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeini, has led some to present Iran as progressive on trans rights. But this reading ignores the coercive environment in which such policies operate.

Homosexuality in Iran remains punishable by death. In practice, many gay and lesbian individuals are pressured into gender transition as a socially acceptable alternative. Shadi Amin, an Iranian activist, has observed:

“In a democratic society, a sex-change operation is an option for transsexuals, but in Iran it’s an obligation for their survival.”³

The documentary Be Like Others (2008) chronicles the stories of young Iranians who underwent surgery not because they were transgender, but because they were gay—and terrified.⁴ Rather than recognising gender identity, the state enforces it as a heteronormative correction.

Feminists for Sharia

Another deeply contradictory slogan is “Feminists for Sharia.” While usually invoked satirically, it points to a recurring trend among Western progressives: defending Islamic legal structures in the name of cultural relativism, even as women under those same structures fight to be free from them.

Across Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan, women are subjected to laws that mandate male guardianship, force veiling, restrict travel and education, and permit polygamy and child marriage. Far from embracing these conditions, women in these countries have protested at great personal risk. In Iran, the Women, Life, Freedom movement continues to challenge compulsory hijab laws and gender apartheid.

Iranian exile Masih Alinejad puts it plainly:

“You wear the hijab by choice. We remove it under threat of imprisonment. Don’t romanticise our chains.”⁵

When Western feminists defend such systems under the banner of anti-imperialism, they not only betray the cause of universal women’s rights—they also silence the women fighting against real oppression.

Antifa for Authoritarianism

In recent years, segments of the radical left have aligned themselves—tacitly or explicitly—with authoritarian regimes such as North Korea, Venezuela, or the Chinese Communist Party. The logic is often anti-Western: these regimes oppose American imperialism and capitalism, and so are praised despite their internal human rights abuses.

The contradiction becomes especially acute when “anti-fascist” groups support or refuse to condemn regimes that engage in censorship, mass surveillance, political imprisonment, and even ethnic cleansing.

Yeonmi Park, a North Korean defector, has recounted her dismay upon hearing Western students praise the regime she fled:

“They are applauding a cage they’ve never had to live inside.”⁶

Environmentalists for Polluters

Environmental activists often frame Western capitalism as the root of global ecological collapse, while sparing or even praising regimes such as China and Venezuela. Yet China is the world’s largest emitter of CO₂, its Belt and Road investments are driving massive coal expansion, and its renewable energy industry is implicated in Uyghur forced labour.⁷

To ignore or excuse these facts is to practice selective outrage. Real environmentalism requires moral consistency, not ideological expediency.

Anarchists for Lockdowns

Perhaps the most ironic development in recent memory was the transformation of self-identified anarchists into advocates for state-enforced pandemic mandates. In 2020–21, many who had once called for the abolition of government and police demanded lockdowns, mask enforcement, vaccine passports, and censorship of dissent.

Dr. James Lindsay noted:

“When anarchists become agents of government enforcement, ideology has eaten itself.”⁸

Here, fear displaced principle, and revolutionary posturing gave way to bureaucratic obedience—all in the name of collective responsibility.

Common Threads

Across these examples, certain themes emerge:

• Moral projection over moral clarity
  Activists align themselves emotionally with perceived victims but fail to investigate whether their chosen allies are also perpetrators.

• Identity over truth
  The invocation of identity—queer, feminist, trans, anti-colonial—becomes a substitute for critical thinking and empirical awareness.

• Silencing of authentic voices
  Those who speak from lived experience—queer Palestinians, Iranian dissidents, North Korean refugees—are frequently ignored if they complicate the narrative.

• Performance over principle
  Sloganeering supplants advocacy. Public displays of solidarity are valued more than private consistency or actual results.

Toward Real Solidarity

If solidarity is to be meaningful, it must be grounded in reality. That means:

• Listening to the voices of those actually suffering under the systems and regimes in question.

• Distinguishing between legitimate cultural variation and genuine oppression.

• Refusing to grant moral immunity to any ideology, government, or movement.

• Replacing identity-driven tribalism with universal principles of justice, freedom, and dignity.

Solidarity must be more than aesthetic alignment or ideological loyalty. It must be truthful—even when truth is uncomfortable.

Conclusion

The paradoxes explored here—“Queers for Palestine”, “Trans for Iran”, “Feminists for Sharia”, “Antifa for North Korea”—are not merely oddities. They are warning signs. They point to a progressive culture increasingly detached from reality, intoxicated by its own rhetoric, and prone to self-parody.

The path forward must include humility, discernment, and moral courage. Without these, identity politics will continue to eat itself—devouring the very credibility and compassion that once motivated it.

Footnotes

¹ Human Rights Watch, “Palestine: Allegations of Abuse of LGBT People by Security Forces”, 2019.
² Jad Salfiti, The Guardian, 25 June 2025: “I’m a Queer Palestinian. Stop Using My Identity as Cover for the Destruction of Gaza.”
³ Shadi Amin, quoted in The Guardian, 2014.
⁴ Be Like Others (2008), directed by Tanaz Eshaghian.
⁵ Masih Alinejad, Time Magazine, 2019: “What It’s Like to Protest the Hijab in Iran.”
⁶ Yeonmi Park, in multiple interviews, 2022–2024.
⁷ Global Carbon Project, 2024; ASPI Uyghur Forced Labour Database.
⁸ James Lindsay, New Discourses, April 2021.