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As Iran applauds BLM, Afghan minority short on rights

While the Iranian government points to the "Black Lives Matter" movement as proof of American hypocrisy, Iran's Afghan minority has a different take.
Afghan boys play football at the Shahid Nasseri refugee camp in Taraz Nahid village near the city of Saveh, some 130 kms southwest of the capital Tehran, on February 8, 2015. Some 5000 Afghan refugees live at the camp which is run by the Iranian Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants' Affairs (BAFIA), the World Food Program (WFP) and UNHCR. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 950,000 registered Afghan residents in Iran -- some of whom have never even set foot

While politicians and intelligentsia in Iran often blame the US government for racism towards minorities, their track record at home is far from perfect. The Afghans’ experience is a case in point.

When American George Floyd was killed on the street in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in late May, his death sparked a global movement demanding justice for minorities. However, the movement has not fully reached the Middle East in general, and Iran in particular. When "Black Lives Matter" echoed across the Middle East, many members of media and intellectuals used it as another example of American hypocrisy. However, a discussion on racism and discrimination is long overdue. The difference is in the victims of oppression, not all of whom are black, in countries across the region.

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