When people in the west look for inspirational figures who fought imperialism, they often turn to Ho Chi Minh who fought the American military industrial complex in Vietnam.
They often turn to Allende another great resistance fighter, assassinated for his attempts to defy western hegemony in Chile.
Castro and Guevara are revered in Cuba for taking back the nation from those who had abused it for the benefit of profiteering American gangsters.
Hugo Chavez was another socialist determined to fight the Yankee corporate war machine, to bring literacy, homes, health care and employment to the masses .
This is another statesman, a leader and a revolutionary who demanded that the wealth of his nation belonged to people of that nation without exception and the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few.
He is another visionary leader, a man of immense intellect, military brilliance and diplomatic ingenuity.
A man who defended his country from internal as well external enemies, a true internationalist, whose exploits and endeavours should earn him a place alongside the greatest of all anti-imperialists of the 20th/21st centuries.
Can u guess who he is yet?
I give you Lt General Qaseem Soleimani.
Or as I prefer to address him Commandante Soleimani.
Even a brief cursory glance of his life gives us a glimpse into a world of courage, moral values integrity, compassion ,love and endurance.
A man like Guevara, he was murdered as he brought the war to the enemy.
A man like Allende , he is an iconic figure who continues to inspire a culture of fearless resistance.
A man like Ho Chi Min, he was a fearless fighter and a military giant.
A man like Hugo Chavez, he was an internationalist who saw common cause and a common enemy. While Chavez tried to unite Latin America and the Caribbean against American hegemonic interference in the region, Commandante Soleimani did the same in West Asia, uniting Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria,Yemen,
A man who moved freely within the region, was admired, respected and loved by those who knew him best, he overcame the sectarian divisions between Persian and Arab ,Sunni, Alawite and Shia to build a cross-cultural, transnational, bipartisan network of resistance groups, resistance fighters and resistance leaders.
He helped to train, arm and direct this fledgling coalition which he inspired to stand as one, to stand together, to stand unflinching in the face of superior fire power, superior technology , superior Intelligence and win.
A man of the people who from humble beginnings put duty, family and community first.
A simple search of the Internet reveals a man who ,as a young boy left home at the tender age of 13 to earn money as a labourer to help alleviate the hardships endured by his family, when the Shah placed exorbitant taxes on his father and all the families in the region.
Born into a tribal community, he lived near the Afghan Iraq border.
After the cultural revolution in 1979, western governments encouraged Saddam Hussein, then the leader of Iraq, to attack the new Islamic Republic. Solemain fought to defend his home, his family and his country.
He faced exposure to several chemical weapon attacks, chemical weapons supplied to the Iraqi forces by Western intelligence services and while over 800,000 died on both sides of the conflict, Iran remained intact and Soleimani became a natural leader through his exploits and conduct both on and off the field of battle.
It is reported that on one occasion while behind enemy lines he donned the uniform of a dead Iraqi soldier, attended the Iraqi army mess, had dinner and then liberated an Iraqi Toyota van which he drove back to the Iranian front lines, earning him the nick name of the ‘Toyota Thief’.
Such is the mark of the man with the character of a fearless warrior, who led by example.
Soleimani played a huge roll in creating the Axis of resistance. From Sanna to Beirut,Gaza to Damascus, Baghdad to Basra, he was a pivotal, influential charismatic figure who united many disparate groups who at times might have been enemies, to concentrate their forces on the real enemy of peace, justice and security in the region, the real enemy of all in west Asia, as he saw it, the western imperialist proxy state of Israel.
He was so influential within the resistance movements of west Asia that eventually after being lured to Baghdad he was assassinated alongside his Iraqi counterpart, when targeted by an American drone.
Trump gave the kill order, probably in the interests of Israeli as well as American security concerns.
Soleimani may have left us, but his enduring legacy will finally see that peace, prosperity and security will return to west Asia.
Palestinian self-determination will be achieved ,the apartheid regime in Tel Aviv will fall and equilibrium restored.
When we remember the great anti-imperialist heroes of modern history, let us cry out the name , Commandante Soleimani.
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