Beyond Borders: Azadeh Shahshahani on the Interconnected Struggle Against Imperialism and State Repression

In an era defined by global instability, the lines between international militarism and domestic state repression are increasingly blurring. For Azadeh Shahshahani, the legal and advocacy director for Project South and a veteran human rights attorney, these are not separate crises—they are two sides of the same coin. From the escalating conflicts in the Middle East to the harrowing conditions inside immigrant detention centers in the American South, the mechanisms of power, surveillance, and violence remain eerily consistent.

Shahshahani, who brings a deeply personal perspective as an Iranian American born in the wake of the 1979 revolution, argues that the "playbook" used to justify violence abroad is the same one used to marginalize vulnerable communities at home. As we mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, her analysis provides a critical framework for understanding how collective trauma is leveraged to build infrastructures of repression that threaten the very fabric of democracy.

The Interconnection of Global and Domestic Violence

Shahshahani’s work centers on the premise that US imperialism in the Global South and the systematic mistreatment of Black, brown, and Muslim communities in the US are inextricably linked. This "global-to-local" lens reveals that the state’s appetite for control is not limited by geography.

The Historical Context

Shahshahani’s personal history is woven into the broader narrative of US-Iran relations. Born just days after the Iranian revolution, she witnessed the transition from the hope of a new beginning to the trauma of the Iran-Iraq war. She recalls the visceral fear of being bombed as a child, a trauma she now sees being inflicted upon a new generation of Iranian and Palestinian children.

"The US provided support to Saddam Hussein for the invasion of Iran, which then got Iran entangled in an eight-year war," Shahshahani notes. "More than a million people lost their lives. To see another generation experiencing the same—having to live through that trauma while being killed by US and Israeli bombs—is deeply painful."

Normalizing the "Other"

The common denominator in these conflicts is the dehumanization of the target population. Whether it is the rhetoric used against Iranian civilians, Haitian migrants in the US, or asylum seekers from Central America, the goal is the same: to make violence seem like a natural, or even necessary, outcome.

"Once you normalize the deep-seated racism against one group, it becomes so much easier for the establishment to use that same rhetoric and action against people in this country," Shahshahani explains. This normalization is currently visible in the treatment of migrants within the US. In Georgia, the Stewart Detention Center has become a focal point of this struggle, with a history of suicides, prolonged solitary confinement, and a lack of accountability for deaths within its walls.

Chronology of Surveillance and Repression

To understand the current state of civil liberties, one must examine the evolution of state surveillance. The post-9/11 era served as a catalyst for a massive expansion of the state’s power to monitor and criminalize specific demographics.

Pre-2001: Systems like COINTELPRO established the foundation for tracking and disrupting domestic political movements, particularly those led by people of color.
Post-9/11: The "War on Terror" introduced a new infrastructure of mass surveillance, profiling, and legal frameworks specifically designed to target Muslim communities and immigrants.
The Modern Era: Today, these tools have been modified and expanded. The focus has shifted toward technological surveillance, the militarization of local police forces, and the erosion of voting rights, which many civil rights advocates define as a form of political violence.

Shahshahani emphasizes that these are not new inventions, but rather "advancements" of older systems of repression. By maintaining this infrastructure, the government ensures that any form of dissent can be swiftly identified and neutralized.

Supporting Data: The Cost of Impunity

The human cost of this unchecked power is staggering. The data points from both abroad and domestically illustrate a pattern of state-sponsored violence that thrives on isolation:

The Global Cost: Over a million deaths resulted from the Iran-Iraq war, a conflict fueled by external intervention. Current estimates regarding the casualties of ongoing regional conflicts involving US-supplied weaponry continue to climb.
The Domestic Cost: The Stewart Detention Center in Georgia alone has seen 14 confirmed deaths. The systemic failure to provide adequate mental health care, resulting in multiple suicides, reflects a broader negligence toward those held in ICE custody.
The Democratic Cost: The weakening of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court serves as a modern mechanism for disenfranchisement. In the eyes of many activists, this is not merely a legal setback but a deliberate act of political violence intended to strip marginalized communities of their voice.

Official Responses and the Need for Coalition

The prevailing narrative from the establishment often frames these actions as necessary for "national security" or "border integrity." However, human rights organizations like Project South argue that these justifications are merely cloaks for maintaining hegemony.

Strategies of Resistance

In the face of these challenges, Shahshahani advocates for the "People’s Tribunal" model. This approach empowers communities to document human rights abuses and create a record of evidence when formal judicial systems fail to provide justice.

"In the case of the Philippines, lawyers with the National Union of People’s Lawyers took the evidence from a People’s Tribunal to Geneva and The Hague," she explains. "We now see former President Duterte facing charges at the International Criminal Court. That is a direct result of that grassroots organizing."

The Importance of Solidarity

Shahshahani stresses that the state and white supremacist forces thrive on the isolation of social movements. To counter this, Project South facilitates exchanges between activists in the US South and the Global South. By sharing strategies for survival and resistance, these groups avoid "reinventing the wheel."

"We need to be very much in coalition," she says. "We need to understand that we are in a joint struggle. Whether it’s the fight for Palestinian liberation, the protection of migrants in Georgia, or the push against US military intervention in Iran, we have to have each other’s backs."

Implications: The Path Forward

The implications of the current trajectory are clear: if the infrastructure of repression is not challenged, it will continue to expand, eventually affecting all segments of society, regardless of their initial status.

Reclaiming Democracy

The task ahead, according to Shahshahani, involves three key pillars:

Refusal to Scapegoat: Rejecting the government’s attempt to use collective trauma as a pretext for new, more repressive laws.
Transnational Solidarity: Building networks that bridge the gap between domestic civil rights struggles and international human rights advocacy.
Accountability: Establishing mechanisms to hold government officials accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity, regardless of their global standing.

As the nation reflects on the quarter-century that has passed since 9/11, the lessons of history are urgent. The "old playbook" of imperialism, surveillance, and dehumanization is being dusted off and deployed against a new generation. The only way to disrupt this cycle, Shahshahani concludes, is through the persistent, collective refusal to let the state isolate its targets.

By connecting the struggles of the Global South with those of the US South, activists are not just resisting specific policies—they are working to dismantle the very architecture of oppression, building a future where the humanity of all people is recognized, regardless of their origin or status.