The emergency rally was organized by several Bay Area grassroots organizations, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the \u201cAct Now to Stop War and End Racism\u201d coalition, better known as ANSWER.<\/p>\n
ANSWER organizer Noah Roberts spoke on the importance of Iranian self-determination while emphasizing the hypocrisy of President Donald Trump\u2019s domestic policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Trump has said [the attacks] were about human rights, but that was a total lie, and it\u2019s completely farcical,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe see what the Trump administration is doing here in the United States in terms of the murder of Alex Pretti, the murder of Renee Good, and the kidnapping of thousands of other immigrants. We think that Iran belongs to the Iranians, and they should be the ones determining the future of that country. It shouldn\u2019t be U.S. bombs doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Layla Degani, an Iranian-American PSL organizer, said that America\u2019s intervention in the Middle East is creating a downward trajectory for the future of the entire region.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that American meddling has a long history in my home country and in my heritage,\u201d Degani said. \u201cI personally, as do many people who are from the Middle East, understand very acutely how American meddling has impacted their countries. Forcing their histories onto a trajectory that they might not have been on otherwise has caused a lot of damage historically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isabel Parrado, president of the La Raza Student Organization at San Francisco State University, shared a sentiment similar to Degani\u2019s: America\u2019s track record of involvement in foreign affairs has been detrimental.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think history is our best teacher, and we can see that every time the United States comes in somewhere and says they\u2019re going to liberate people, it never happens,\u201d Parrado said. \u201cI can think about my Latin American history. The U.S. always has an interest in mind, always wants to spread its empire and reap the resources. The resources and the oil [in Iran] are still plentiful, even though we\u2019ve been draining them for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not everyone feels the same. Aida Mirzaei, the vice president of SFSU\u2019s Iranian Student Association, disagrees with the claim that American intervention would negatively affect the country.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing is that Iran is not Syria, it\u2019s not Iraq, it\u2019s not Yemen. The reason why these countries are in shambles today is that the Islamic Republic is funding these proxies like the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah,\u201d Mizraei said. \u201cJapan, France and Germany were all liberated by U.S. intervention. There was no way they could do that by themselves. When you have a dictator ruling over you, there isn\u2019t much you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n Iranian-Americans took to the streets in Los Angeles, the city with the largest Iranian population outside of Iran, celebrating the death of Khamenei with dance and cheers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Parrado relates to the Iranian diaspora, but says that celebrations should be paused when others are experiencing the violence of the war.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a member of the Latino diaspora, and I would go back and visit my family in Mexico and Bolivia when I could. It\u2019s very different going back to the home country, and you\u2019re there for a short time, you don\u2019t get the full experience,\u201d Parrado said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to tell someone in the Iranian diaspora that their feelings aren\u2019t valid, but I don\u2019t think I can see the bombing of a school and even think about celebrating.\u201d<\/p>\n Ramsey Robinson, California gubernatorial candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party, said that America\u2019s motivations in the region aren\u2019t of moral founding, but instead financial opportunities for the nation\u2019s wealthiest.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are 194 billionaires right here in California that are hoarding $1.2 trillion of our wealth while half of us live paycheck to paycheck,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cWe know it\u2019s the same billionaires who are making money off of this war in Iran and trying to get their resources. They lied to us about Vietnam, Iraq, Venezuela, and we know we have more in common with the people of Iran than the billionaires that are trying to make us think that this war is going to benefit us in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n While for the killing of Khamenei, Mizraei believes humanitarian freedom for Iranians isn\u2019t the sole interest of either the American or Israeli government. Regardless, she thinks intervention was necessary.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not telling anybody to like either the U.S. or Israeli governments. It is important to keep in mind who they are dealing with here. The Islamic Republic is a killing machine; they killed more than 30,000 protesters earlier this year,\u201d Mizraei said. \u201cThere is no doubt that any outside intervention is probably looking for something to gain. They aren\u2019t attacking the Islamic Republic for its kebab recipe. They want something out of it, but it just happens to align with what the Iranian people want.\u201d<\/p>\n Mizraei\u2019s claim of 30,000 deaths in January\u2019s protests is heavily disputed, with U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reporting 7,000 deaths<\/a>. Time magazine pushes that number closer to 30,000<\/a> while Iranian state media claims the figure is roughly 3,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n Roberts stressed that previous American involvement in the country didn\u2019t serve Iran well, saying the economic strain Iranians are struggling with is manufactured by America.<\/p>\n \u201cAn economy runs on oil, and when you grind it to a halt with sanctions, people starve and die. It\u2019s specifically designed for strangulation,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cPeople become so desperate that they conclude they should overthrow their government. A US-sponsored coup in 1953 overthrew the democratically elected leader who nationalized oil in favor of a monarch. The people calling for the reinstatement of this monarchy are the same people who are calling for the bombs and in favor of Zionism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bay Area residents congregated at Embarcadero Plaza yesterday evening as part of an emergency rally to protest the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-203931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260302_Abarca_IranSFSU-0039-600x400.jpg\")
A crowd gathers at Emarcadero Plaza for an emergency protest over attacks launched on Iran on Monday, March 2, 2026. (Haley Abarca<\/a> \/ Golden Gate Xpress)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1P5A4287-600x400.jpg\")
Ramsey Robinson, California gubernatorial candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party,
speaks during an emergency protest of the war in Iran on Monday, March 2, 2026. (Julian Olson<\/a> \/ Golden Gate Xpress)<\/p>\n