A group of left-wing, anti-war activists was seen guided in a chant in Farsi at the Teamsters Union’s Chicago headquarters Saturday, stating “death to” America and Israel, video footage shows.
In a video obtained by The Free Press, an estimated 300 activists gathered over the weekend to hear from organizers throughout the country who are planning to allegedly disrupt the Democratic National Convention in August. A clip posted to X (formerly known as Twitter) Sunday, showed an organizer with the Anti-War Committee Chicago identified by the outlet as Shabbir Rizvi.
Rizvi stood in the middle of a circle as listeners wearing black masks could be seen attentively paying attention to the organizer. (RELATED: Several Michigan Democrats Fail To Condemn ‘Death To America’ Chants)
“So I’m going to teach you a chant in Persian that you can use if you ever encounter those Zionist freaks – whether they be Iranian or whatever, all right? Now, I don’t drink margaritas, but we all know what a margarita is. We all know what a bar is. So you’re going to say ‘Marg bar,'” Rizvi stated as the crowd echoed his chant.
“Marg bar Israel!” Rizvi continued.
The crowd echoed Rizvi’s “Marg bar Israel” three times, before he could then be seen walking off-camera with the crowd clapping for him. However, Rizvi quickly ran back into the middle of the circle to clarify what the saying meant “depending” on who asked and leading a second chant.
Anti-war activists in Chicago learn to chant “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” in Farsi.
Read more from The FP’s @Olivia_Reingold: https://t.co/1jMM5ydhpp pic.twitter.com/z7T9AKNrF9
— The Free Press (@TheFP) April 14, 2024
“Oh, so it has two meanings, depending on who’s asking,” Rizvi stated, making the crowd laugh. “It could mean ‘death to’ or ‘down with.'”
“Can we get a marg bar America?” a crowd member asked.
“We can get a marg bar America! Yes we can,” Rizvi stated. “Marg bar America!”
The crowd repeated the chant twice before Rizvi then finally walked off with applause from the group. However, the chants were not the only ones recorded Saturday. While Rizvi’s talk came before the news that Iran launched an estimated 300 drones and missiles against Israel, another clip shows a large group cheering after hearing about the strike, according to The Free Press.
“It’s really inspiring to see that people are just as enthusiastic, and maybe even more enthusiastic, to march on the DNC as they are to march on the RNC,” stated Milwaukee-based activist Omar Florez. “We can thank Genocide Joe and our movement for that.”
A man, identified by The Free Press as Hatem Abudayyeh, then can be seen running up to the podium announcing that Iran launched their airstrike against the U.S. ally, triggering applause from the crowd.
“They believe that they will be in Palestinian—I don’t call it Israeli—airspace between two and four a.m., which means about two to four hours from now,” Abudayyeh stated. “In addition, there are reports of drones having been fired on Israel from Yemen and Iraq.”
Abudayyeh continued to tell the crowd that the United States would hold onto their support of Israel and stated that it should be assumed Americans would retaliate against Iran. The crowd could be heard booing at Abudayyeh’s assumption before he stated that it is “incumbent” for Americans to “stop the United States from expanding this war and hitting Iran,” according to The Free Press.
“We’ve got to be the strong, powerful anti-war movement that we are,” Abudayyeh stated with the crowd chanting “hands off Iran” directly after.
Israeli officials later confirmed that the airstrike from Iran was 99% blocked by their military defense and other allies including the U.S. While Biden officials have stated that the U.S. is not seeking an escalation in the issue, a response by Israel has yet to be decided on.