Ron DeSantis is about to launch his 2024 presidential election bid. Plus the FBI surveillance contractor who probed anti-vaccine mandate activists and our special guest is comedian and actor, Omid Djalili, who sheds a light on what's happening with the protests in Iran.Watch the FULL show, only on Rumble: https://bit.ly/3MVMZGr For a bit more from us join our Stay Free Community here: https://russellbrand.locals.com/Come to my festival COMMUNITY - https://www.russellbrand.com/community-2023/NEW MERCH! https://stuff.russellbrand.com/
50% of Americans may have lost their faith in God, but we will never lose our faith in you, and we are here to tell you that there are powerful and transcendent forces within you, beyond you, around you that we can access to change the world for the better for you.
You truly are an awakening wonder.
And this is where we come to awaken together, individually, collectively, in the company of my on-screen assistant, Gareth Roy.
We will be discussing global events, how they're conveyed to you by a media that I believe to be largely corrupt.
Although, you know, there's some great people out there doing their best.
We're going to be talking about the way that governments and big businesses collaborate.
We're going to be talking in particular about the attempt to label all anti-establishment rhetoric as right-wing or conspiracy theory.
This is going to be increasingly difficult as Ron DeSantis launches his presidential bid On Twitter.
We already know that Tucker's going to have some kind of affiliation with Twitter.
And I think that Elon Musk had a few quid in his pocket before this venture even began from the rockets and the tech and the driverless cars and the rhetoric.
And maybe there'll be some updates there.
I've got a German shepherd.
He's loose in the building ambling around.
Is he on Twitter?
He's not on Twitter, and he's the sort of person that would do well there.
He would.
I would think, because he's plucky, he's an individual, he's got a lot to say for himself, there he goes.
In our presentation, Here's the News, No, Here's the Effing News, we'll be talking about those FBI whistleblowers who'll be joining us live on the show soon.
They had some interesting revelations around January the 6th, as well as other conduct within the FBI that's worthy, I believe, of further scrutiny, and it's in fact the Mainstream media's inability to look in a relatively unbiased way at stories like that one that I think is leading us to this place of crisis but to a degree it's beneficial for us because alternative media like us, stay free media, where we're dedicated to you and you can let us know in the comments if you think we're doing a good job or where we could improve.
If you're watching this on YouTube right now, Join us on Rumble, because about 15 minutes in, we're going to be able to talk more openly, in particular, about those FBI whistleblowers and some of their revelations around January the 6th.
If you're already watching us on Rumble, join us on Locals.
There's a red button on your screen.
Press that, join our community, you get access to all sorts of other stuff.
We read the comments here, people talking about who's on there.
Catherine Anne, how's the pen?
How's the pen?
What does she mean by that?
That pen that I sniff sometimes?
It could be that.
I don't want to talk about that pen.
That's private.
It's been to some places.
That's for the locals community.
That's the private pen.
Oh, my dog's settled down.
That's a relief.
Also, I'll be talking to a comedian, actor and are we going to call him an activist?
Sometimes people don't like to be called an activist.
I don't like it.
Right.
Earlier today, someone bought me some letter outside that said, like, Philanthropist.
I was like, get Philanthropist off!
That basically, like, you know, Philanthropist is always a cover for something.
And I just go, Comedian!
Comedian!
That's my job.
And that's enough.
Everything is coming from that perspective.
We talked to Omid Jalili.
I've known him for ages, Omid.
He's a brilliant, brilliant, funny comedian.
He's going to talk to us about protests in Iran and how he's found himself.
Curiously at the centre of conveying many of those narratives because of censorship and oppression in Iran around this uprising that's been going on there for a little while and I'll be talking to him about the general global insurgency whether it's around agriculture or whether it's around mandates as in the Canadian trucker protests and how centralised authority is shutting down on radicalism in all its forms.
Remember when we spoke to you earlier in the week we just pointed out that the FBI have been surveilling not only January the 6th protesters but also George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protesters.
So wherever you might see yourself on the social scale, they see you in the same way.
A potential threat to their ongoing systemic hegemony.
Should we call it that?
Yep.
Let's call it that.
We've got some of your comments though now in an item we call Freach.
Where freedom and speech meet, you get free speech.
Where free speech meets, you get Freach here on Rumble.
Is there a graphic for that?
We're going to see that thing such as it is.
Have the word free and the word speech going together like this.
Free speech.
And then all the fireworks come off it.
Free, free, free.
Improvise!
And then that's it.
Terrible.
Next time, have a musical bed for it, Jack.
What I think happens is, when you do this criticism post the sting now, people think, oh, he's having fun with it.
But I actually do think he wants a new sting.
It should be improved, it's a disgrace.
Later on in the show I'll be doing my item Brandy on Gandhi where I talk about the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and how they can be used to revitalise a flagging and fractured anti-establishment movement across the world.
He talks a lot about decentralisation and we'll be talking about that.
I think it's the solution, you know, sometimes people go, people go, what's the solution?
You know, it's enough complaining, what's the solution?
Do you ever worry that with that title that people might think it's that 90s pop star on Gandy?
Brandy on Gandy.
Oh, I remember.
Careful.
I wish it was.
She was gorgeous.
She could nick that.
Brandy on Gandy.
Wouldn't she sing Boys, Boys, Boys?
I'm not sure what the song was.
Wasn't that a hit?
Boys, boys, boys.
Thank you for the good times.
Thank you.
Boys, boys.
She's a nice lady.
Thank you for the good times.
What about Wigfield?
You've sung that before.
Saturday night.
Yeah.
Then were the days.
Good days.
Some of you are saying things like this, saying, "Human Dog goes, 'Yesterday we asked if we can come
and visit the studio.'"
Lots of you are asking about Elon.
Suki Kuala says, "I'd like to have Russell as my dad."
Doomsayer, "What's going on with Jack's graphics?"
FBI whistleblowers, we'll be talking about this a little later.
Jim Earth C-137, "Locking up whistleblowers is the equivalent of locking up the gun
instead of the murderer."
Absurd, wait a minute, locking up the gun.
Wait a minute, carry the one, divide it by two, square that, put it out in that car.
Yeah! - Yeah, I guess it is.
That's not right.
That can't be the way to conduct things.
People like brandy on Gandhi.
Don't worry.
Got the old Gandhi book.
Don't you worry.
It's coming up.
Have you got a problem with Brandi?
No, it's coming up.
I'm just saying.
You don't like Brandi and Gandhi.
I just think you should copyright it.
Do you not like it when I talk about God?
In case she steals it.
You don't like it when I talk about God.
Well, I will not apologise for my Lord!
I won't.
I'm going to keep talking about God.
You can be a theist if you want.
And we've got Dickie Dawkins coming on the show.
Soon we'll be taking a seasonal break.
Who doesn't take a seasonal break?
Gary Neville, the footballer.
Apparently.
But a lot of people do take holidays and vacations and breaks.
And what we will be taking is a break.
And when we come back, guess who's coming on the show?
Elon Musk.
Tucker Carlson.
Billie Jean King.
Tulsi Gabbard.
Tulsi Gabbard.
The original Brandy?
Billie Jean King.
Okay.
Martina Navratilova.
They're all coming on.
Wow.
Yeah?
Oh yeah.
Did I say Billie Jean King?
You did say that.
She's coming on.
She's coming on strong!
Anyway, Ron DeSantis... When you say Billie Jean King, do you think mainly of the Michael Jacksons?
Oh, this is good.
I'm playing, like, Be Lucky squares.
It's a hot square.
I show my children Michael Jackson.
I mean, they've got to know sometime.
No idea what to respond to that.
OK, good.
I love him.
This is Michael Jackson.
He's brilliant.
Down the line, I'll tell you some other stuff.
Ron DeSantis to launch 2024 presidential bid on Twitter.
This is it.
Elon Musk is making moves, baby.
This is where politics happens now.
Politics happens on Twitter.
Free speech happens on Rumble.
But Elon Musk, who I'm in negotiations with right now, using the telephone.
Alexander Graham Bell from Scotland.
He invented that, if I'm not very much mistaken.
I'm using that to negotiate with Elon Musk about getting him on, but it's quite complicated because he's got to do it on Twitter first.
Oh, we've got to do it on Rumble.
The thing is, when you're negotiating with Elon Musk, what you realise is he's the world's richest man.
I'm the bloke for getting Sarah Marshall.
Listen, Musk, I'll tell you now and I'll tell you good.
If you want another sequel to Sarah Marshall, in spite of the diminishing returns of getting to the Greek, you will not get a third sequel.
Hello?
Elon?
Elon?
I will not give you a single bitcoin unless you bloody well... Listen, if you need a host for the MTV VMAs 2024, you can look elsewhere.
Because I won't do it, man.
I won't do it.
I've got no cards.
I have no cards with Elon either.
Elon says jump.
I say haha.
Elon says jump.
You say.
How high?
How high would you like me to jump?
It's a weird response, really.
It's going to be interesting.
It's a match-up.
Stay free with Russell Brand.
See it first on Rumble.
Have a look at Brandy on Gandhi.
Jack's graphic first, then I'll do the item.
It's disrespectful to me.
It's disrespectful to Gandhi.
I think it's mainly to Gandhi.
Yeah.
I'm not sure how disrespectful... It's like I'm bringing him along like a little tart.
Yeah.
I'm bringing Gandhi along like he's like my latest thing.
That's right.
And in fact, I bet that in that original photo, that was probably from the days when I was a single man.
Of course it was.
It's probably just a personal... Oh no, I've got a wedding ring on there.
Oh.
So... Have you replaced Katy Perry with Gandhi?
It's Katy Perry, isn't it?
It is.
Yeah.
You have, haven't they?
Because I can tell from the wedding ring I was wearing.
That is one of the most disrespectful things that you have done, Jack.
And you've done a lot of disrespectful things.
Not on top of all that, I think my dog's farted.
Unless it's you.
It isn't me, no, no.
The dog's farted, you've disrespected Gandhi, and possibly Katie.
It's appalling what's happened.
Go on, play the link again so I can find my place in my Gandhi book, will ya?
The music's sarcastic.
It is sarcastic.
So, my best friend, I'm actually advocating for decentralised democracies.
It doesn't set this up well enough.
Of course it doesn't.
It undermines it.
Because you want this to be, I'm guessing, kind of profound to an extent.
Yes, profound.
I said, I took the notes I gave Jack when I said design that graphic and that essay.
I said, Jack, I want this to be profound, respectful.
I want you to sort of, I want this to be like that, like a BBC sort of like Civilisation, like those documentaries.
I want there to be like the Attenborough of Anthropology, Jack.
Like Blue Planet.
I want it to be like Blue Planet.
Yeah, you don't see Attenborough, you're using Photoshop to change Katy Perry into Gandhi.
Oh, look at this dolphin here.
I've changed it into the one that does country music.
What's she called?
Dolly Parton?
No, the young one.
Oh, Taylor Swift.
I've changed this dolphin to Dylan Swift.
You know, that's the sort of thing, it's like... Oh yeah.
Dolphins!
Yeah, that's basically all he does.
That's his job.
That's it.
My dog's not been well.
Right, okay, so one of the reasons I like Gandhi is not because... Well, there's a number of reasons.
Some of the reasons are these.
That he was able to align and alloy spirituality with political activism.
In fact, political activism is underwritten by spirituality, as all activism ultimately must be.
I'll be talking to Omid Jalili about this in a minute, about the... What do I want to say?
How is spirituality commensurate with what's happening over in Iran?
That's one of the things I'm going to ask him about.
But what Gandhi did is he promoted ideas like selflessness, duty, unity, the ability to tolerate people.
Obviously, one of the biggest challenges Gandhi faced was that in getting British out of India,
he had to unite both Hindu and Muslim communities.
He had a complex political job.
One of his grave disappointments, if the film Gandhi is to be believed,
it was that he was unable to achieve that.
Which is all your research.
Right, I've taken this quite seriously, and what I've done is I've watched the film, Gandhi.
So let's get to the bottom of this.
Right, Nick, before I do an item on this, has anyone made a film about it?
Yeah, Richard Attenborough made one.
Oh, you've just been very disrespectful about his brother.
Nevertheless, good sports gardening, man.
Anyway, no, but what's less known about Gandhi is that he said there's no point booting the British out of India and then replicating the systems that we inherit from them.
We have to create an India that is comprised of the 70,000 villages that make her up, and each one should be fully autonomous and independent.
Some of you will be aware that there's a small village in southern Spain that seemed to be immune from the profound economic challenges that that part of the country was met with.
Like Spain, it was nosed right up by the events of the last few years.
Well, there's one communist village.
Some of you will be somewhat agitated at the sight of Che Guevara there, knowing that, like many icons, he's a complex figure that's far from perfect.
And of course, you'll be perhaps aware of some of the things that happened post the Cuban Revolution that are pretty unfavourable.
Nevertheless, this autonomous collective, this communist village, was run very successfully, and I believe that you should have as much democracy as possible.
Collectivize power wherever possible.
In your country, you talk about federalism.
The beauty of the American experiment could have been that each state was as independent as possible.
The centralised national power reduced wherever possible.
This little village here, the town operates a farming cooperative with 2,650 workers.
During the 2008 economic crisis, 30% of the active population in southern Spain was without work.
Maranalada had full employment.
That's an example from the left.
I know loads of you lot aren't hardly pro-communism.
How could you be after the way that you were Inducted, inculcated and educated during the Cold War period and you are aware of the atrocities, murders and horrors that took place under Soviet communism and Chinese communism and I'm not advocating for centralized state power.
I do not trust the state.
I do not trust power accruing anywhere anymore.
I think that all of us are too corrupt and corruptible.
But you're saying if you like painted over the mural and removed communists then it could work?
Get rid of that.
It's easier to, like, even Jack could change that shape of graphic into me with relatively little effort.
Easy.
You'd like that actually, wouldn't you?
Or just put their mare up there.
And then you change it to Bran's model village.
Well, I think, don't call it a model village, because that could create some confusion as well, because I carried on as a younger lad.
Or that it's really small.
Like, I've got it here and everyone seems perfect.
What is this village for ants?
Zoolander!
This village, everyone's perfectly happy, we've got full employment.
These subbuteo men, these savannian families, and this little lego figure have been at work, hardest work, this morning.
Well that's why I should be president.
Thank you very much.
In conclusion, Gandhi once said, I think in the film Gandhi, oh god, and sadly that was his last words because he was murdered ironically by, hinted on ironically, more than ironically, Village Republic.
So this is Gandhi on Village Republic.
I've not pictured a poverty-stricken India containing ignorant millions.
I've pictured to myself an India continually progressing along the lines best suited to her genius.
I do not, however, picture it as a third-class or even first-class copy of the dying civilization of the West.
Even then, he had identified that our atrophying late capitalist systems were going to lead to cataclysm and cultural decline.
If my dream is fulfilled and every one of the seven larks of villages becomes a well-living republic in which there are no illiterates, in which no one is idle for want of work, in which everyone is usefully occupied and has nourishing food, well-ventilated dwellings and sufficient cardi for covering the body, and in which all the villagers know and observe the laws of
hygiene and sanitation, such a state must have varied and increasing needs,
which it must supply, unless it would stagnate.
When people talk about changing the world, they mean change the world without inconveniencing the
interests of the powerful.
That's precisely what an organisation like the WF does.
It's a PR front for changing the world in ways that never disrupt
energy companies, big tech companies, the establishment.
What we need is real change.
Cast aside old models, except for where they are beneficial.
Be willing to look at the past favorably in a new light.
Be willing to look at what kind of changes might meaningfully improve your life as a human being.
The thing that inspires me perhaps most of all about Gandhi is this is a person that resourced his values and his views from his spiritual principles.
Duty, service, kindness.
These are not complicated, esoteric political ideas accessible only by ontologists and theologians.
These are ideas that your grandparents understood.
These are traditions that we can pass down easily from father to son.
We can pass down through generations.
I think that the heroes like Gandhi are the kind of heroes that we need to elevate Right, so we've got a fantastic guest joining us now.
He's a comedian, political activist and actor, Omid Jalili.
Gareth, you're just going to leave, just like that.
Follow him out.
You're not going to shoot him.
This is like this real motion in the studio, Dan.
Track it!
Look at Gareth.
Look at him escaping.
Get your hard-on gal.
And please welcome back on old Russ for the single, as I welcome to Stay Free With Russell Brand, Omid Jalili.
Then track me cuddling him, Dan.
I'm going to give him a real cuddle.
We are, of course, streaming live on Rumble right now.
It's a pleasure to have you here.
I've never been happier to be in a place called Midland.
[LAUGHS]
Don't-- don't dox us, Ahmed!
Don't dox us!
Don't dox us, we're not licensed!
Is this a secret location?
Of course it is, for heaven's sake.
It's a bunker.
We're a radical organisation.
We're a free speech organisation.
We're activists and agitators.
I'm with you, brother.
Thank you.
In fact, that reminds me, I've got to adjust this hand.
Firstly, I had the devil horns as you just demonstrated.
In honour of our conversation, I'm going to move it to this and then place it that way for peace, even though they're not as open as I would have them.
Omid, we've been speaking for ages, mate.
I've known you since I first started doing stand-up.
I've admired you for a long time.
I think you're a fantastic comedian and communicator.
Do you remember us meeting at the BBC party in 2000, Edinburgh Festival?
Do you remember that?
2000?
No, I was on drugs.
Yes, in fact, I came to see your show and he said, could you give me some tips?
I said, you're brilliant, but can I ask you one question?
Are you on drugs?
He went, yeah, heroin.
I said, that's remarkably honest.
I said, well, if you get off the heroin, because the problem with you, you're very funny, but you don't know when you're being funny.
So you're doing funny things, but you talk over your laugh.
So if you just focus your brain, you know, sort out your thoughts, you could be a great comedian.
Then I saw it at the comedy store four years later and you took the roof off.
See, you can improve if you're willing to listen and take advice from your elders.
And you did.
Thank you very much for doing that.
Now, Omid, we're here, of course, to reconnect as friends and meet you as an elder
and a comedian that I deeply respect, but also you're here to tell me
about what's going on in Iran, which I'm ashamed to admit that other than the barest
of bones, I don't understand at all.
Except there's been a kind of feminist uprising that's somehow centered around, like, dress codes, and the icons have emerged within this movement, and that it's not being reported on responsibly or nearly enough.
Of course, on a platform like this one, we're always interested in how the media report or don't report on a subject, how the establishment exploits it, how certain narratives are promoted and other narratives are are ignored and what the broader objectives would be of
Western institutions towards Iran, who we know appeared on the sort of hit list of countries
that should be destabilized post 9/11, and many of which have been destabilized since then.
Iraq, of course, and Libya.
So can you tell me what's been going on there and how it intersects with broader global
narratives?
I think what's very interesting is that as a stand-up comedian, what I did as soon as
I saw what happened, there was a 22-year-old girl who was – they have these hijab laws
where women have to wear hijab in a certain way.
And I think a bit of her hair was showing, so she was arrested.
She was supposed to be on some kind of hijab awareness course and they beat the crap out of her and she died and there are lots of flashpoints that happen in Iran but this was seismic.
We've had little kind of aftershocks where there's been uprisings.
They've usually been quashed and the way they do it is by cutting the internet, going and killing a lot of people and shutting everything down.
So this time we knew what was going to happen.
This was seismic and the first thing they did was shut the internet.
So through this thing called VPN, you can get a couple of videos out.
If you join Telegram channels, you can get a couple of videos.
So those of us who were affected by it and someone like me, I've been very involved in this whole thing for the last 44 years.
We've had this crazy... Tell us why, because I know you're English, but you have Iranian heritage.
I'm Iranian in heritage.
I'm also Baha'i.
The Baha'i faith is a faith that is very much oppressed in the Islamic Republic.
The first thing they did, actually, when the Islamic Republic came into being in 1979, they'd get rid of the Baha'is, shut women down.
There was a woman called Shirin Abadi, who was a judge, who went to work.
She goes, I was all for this revolution.
Then as soon as I showed up at work, They said, uh, you can go into janitorial or you're a receptionist.
She goes, excuse me, I'm a judge.
They go, not anymore.
All women can't do that kind of job.
And she realized she'd been played.
So, and also the Baha'i faith, which believes in the oneness of God, the oneness of religion, the unity and equality of men and women, they've got to go as well.
So, I've always been someone who's seen as a second-class citizen in Iran, and Baha'is are not allowed to have jobs.
A lot of them were killed in the revolution.
So, This affected me in a very visceral way.
So what I did was, okay, I thought, right, they've cut the internet.
First thing I've got to do is be a voice for the people.
And I did jokes about it because you've got the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
Khamenei, not Khamenei was the original one.
Khamenei's cut the internet, but he's tweeting all the time.
So he's got Wi-Fi and people go and they go and protest outside his house.
And the state media says, these are not protestations.
People just trying to get a Wi-Fi hotspot.
So I was doing things like, have you got, I've got two bars.
What are you good?
No, I've got one bar.
You know, I've got no bars.
You know, this reminds me when I used to live in Wigan, this is bullshit.
So we do jokes about it, but it's actually quite serious where they've cut the internet so they can just go and kill people.
And now there's an epidemic of executions where the men, the men have stood by the women.
So it's a woman led revolution.
This is why it's amazing that we can't believe this is not being It's not out there.
It's the first time since the suffragettes we've seen a woman-led revolution and their main aim is to bring down the Islamic regime.
So currently, thank you Ahmed, that's sketched out some of the territory for me as a person that is woefully unfamiliar with this issue.
So Iran is currently governed by an Islamic State type of Sharia law, what would ordinarily be termed an Islamic fundamentalist government.
Yes, and have been for 44 years.
44 years, right.
And although in the 70s, of course, famously, Iran was becoming sort of somewhat more progressive.
It was, yeah.
The CIA got involved, shut that stuff down pretty sharp.
There you go.
So on this occasion there have been challenges.
A female-led revolutionary movement.
I'm surprised that that isn't so.
With the well-reported disdain that the West has for Arab nations, Middle Eastern territories and Iran in particular, why are the Western media and or Western interests not exploiting the opportunity to declare this is a Progressive movement that's female-led, which, by the way, I'd of course be fully in support of.
Sure.
But you're not being told anything.
You're not being shown anything.
Why?
I don't understand why.
Well, this is the very big question.
It's a female-led uprising, and usually any kind of female-led initiative is usually successful.
So the first thing they do is obviously cut the internet, and we see very little in the Western press.
Now, why?
I think that's... whoops!
Sorry about that.
I wanted to get a pen, I wanted to take some notes.
We're taking some notes.
The question is why?
And I think it's because they're trying to shut women down globally.
So the first thing they're doing is anyone who speaks out against this revolution is deemed Islamophobic.
Because this is a group of, this is how the Islamic people want to live their life.
But actually most Iranians are saying we never, we're not an Islamic country.
Iran was ruled by, we had the Persian Empire with That's what's happening.
and everyone should live together in harmony and unity, then Islam came over and they did it with raping, killing,
and forcing people to become Islamic.
But this is a certain interpretation of Islam.
So now you have this-- you've got the government and you've got religion, and the way they stay in power
is by using religion to shut people down.
So that's what's happening.
And what's interesting is the Western media don't--
we've been trying to get the IRGC, the Islamic Republican Guard Corps,
which is the group of military people which protects this Islamic regime,
who are basically the mothership of all terrorism.
If you see, we're trying to get them on the terrorist list, but what you have is you've got Hezbollah, Hamas, these people that are on the terrorist list, but they're all being funded by the Islamic Republican Guard Corps.
It's like an alien, the film Aliens, when Sigourney Weaver, she goes and she sees the Big Mother laying all the eggs.
And then she says, don't get away from her, you bitch!
And she starts firing and things.
IRGC, Islamic Republican Guard Corps, is that great big mothership of terrorism.
Now, governments are not putting them on the terrorist list because they seem to have some kind of influence.
We seem to be doing a lot of work with them.
We're financially entangled with them.
The Iranian people are saying, we're dealing with this revolution ourselves, but if you put the IRGC on the terrorist list, it gives the people within the IRGC, within this military terrorist organization, it gives them an exit strategy.
They'll leave, then the people of Iran will deal with the Islamic regime the way they want to.
That girl on the chat loves your metaphors.
Some people are finding it very emotional listening to you, mate.
This is a bit of coverage from Western Media, albeit Forbes, primarily a financial publication.
On the 19th of May, 2023, Iran executed three protesters following their convictions for the vague offence of moharrabeh, meaning a enmity against God after trials that said to violate a due
process and the right to a fair trial. Among the raised issues were
concerns in relation to due process violations, significant procedural flaws, lack of
evidence and torture, allegations that were never investigated. The
intervention of Western nations in that territory is a sort of a long historic
stain whether it's the British Empire's involvement in those nations and
territories and even the establishment of those territories and nations.
From a long time ago.
That's why they don't like the Brits because there was a coup in 1953 which they blamed the Brits and Americans because they were there kind of saying oh you've got oil here we'll help you get the oil and we'll give you something and then when they realized no money was coming to the Iranian people they got rid of BP oil they got rid of all the Brits and then the Brits for $60,000 the Brits and the Americans They did this coup and they took over again, so that's why the people don't like the Brits.
I mean, I'm sure people will write in saying they know what I'm talking about, but historically there's always been this thing that there's oil there and the West wants the oil.
Also, people are saying that one of the organisations we can rely on for reporting on this are Greyzone.
We're friends with Aaron Maté and Max Blumenthal there.
They sort of are willing to report on issues that, generally speaking, get ignored by Western media.
But what surprises me currently is that any instability in a Middle Eastern nation, and even the term Middle Eastern is, of course, by its nature, occidental and prejudicial, can be exploited by the type of Western interest that - It was on the phone. - ...needlessly exploited
the post-9/11 period to invade Iraq when it was completely tangential and unrelated.
So I'm surprised that we're not hearing about, like, "Oh, we've got to support this revolution
and instill some West-friendly government."
Like, that's the kind of thing that's supposed to be.
There's a lot of it going on online, but as far as the Western--
well, the 1979 Islamic revolution, when they all came into power,
it was on TV all the time.
I was a young 13-year-old, very much affected by it, and felt that I was tarred with the same brush
that people at school were saying, "Oh, you're an Islamic fundamentalist, innit?"
And all that kind of stuff.
And it was on the news every single day for anyone who's in their 50s who remembers that.
It was on the news.
This is not in the news at all.
You see little bits online.
You'll see a few people like myself, all the comedians I know who are like Iranian.
We've all become activists now because we feel so much for what's going on, what's happening to the people of Iran, that they're basically being squashed.
And they're being killed, and there's like 30,000 people in prison, all just for protesting.
And no one is doing anything about it.
I'm so glad that you've got me on here to speak.
I'm very glad that also you tweeted about this.
And it's interesting, whenever someone with a big account tweets, I just check and he said, anyone listening to me and Amit's discussion on Rumble?
With your 11 million followers, I checked, I lost 12 followers.
That's what it's all about!
Yeah, exactly.
And you probably lost about a million just tweeting me.
But what we're trying to do is we've become activists and we're just trying to raise awareness because this has been going on for nearly nine months now, Russell.
It's nine months that women are being quashed.
People are being executed almost every other day.
If I can just come on and just raise a bit of awareness, you can go online and see what everyone's saying and what they're talking about.
I think that's the best thing I can do is raise awareness.
Of course it is.
For now, what do you want people to do?
What accounts can we follow and what media can people who are watching us now gain access to to understand this issue better?
Then I want to ask you more about the role of the comedians in this evolving media space and the changing way that activism is being
used.
But first of all, could you tell our viewers what we can do in order to support and learn more about this issue?
There's a lot we can do.
You can follow my account.
I'm @omidjalili on Instagram or @omidnalli on Twitter.
Surely your name's so bloody hard to spell.
Why don't you, we'll post that in the chat on both Rumble and on,
because that Jalili bit's going to get them, and then on YouTube as well.
Jalili is unfortunately, it's with a D, a bit like Novak Djokovic, but the D is silent.
He's another guest we could have on here.
This was, that was a joke.
He won't take his medicine.
I never got, I never got a laugh with it.
I'd say the D, Jalili, the D is silent.
It's a bit like Enos with a silent P, but it never got a laugh.
But I think there are lots of other accounts.
Like there's a woman called Massey Ali Najad, who's a journalist and she's a, She's very much beloved.
In fact, the IRGC, the Islamic Republic, tried to get her bumped off.
This is the thing that these people, the reason why we're talking about this is because it's actually, it affects our collective security in the West.
In America, people were trying to kill her.
We had a hunger striker outside the foreign office called Vahid Beheshti and they've now given him a fatwa.
It's like as if We're allowing these people to operate in the West.
We're allowing them to do whatever they want, and we're not showing strength, not standing up to these people.
And I think that's the thing that's upsetting everyone.
And what the women are trying to do is essentially, it's a non-violent... It's actually a very beautiful revolution.
It's non-violent, although I think what they'll do with the Mullahs, they talk about tearing them to pieces, but that's by the by.
But it is a spiritual revolution in the sense that All of us, even myself as a Baha'i, we believe the only way you can affect real change is if you actually talk about the things that matter, which is why are we here?
Is there a God?
What's the purpose of life?
Why am I here?
Is religion one?
Is God one?
Are people intrinsically one?
And if you teach people this at a young age, Then you'll realize the last thing you want to do is hurt someone.
So the fact that these people are using religion to execute people for protesting, to shoot people in the eyes, to maim, to kill, to put people in solitary confinement for about 10 years.
It's so inhumane.
It means they haven't had the spiritual education.
I think that really is what the women are saying in Iran, that we need to totally realign and reconfigure our relationships between the individual, the community and institutions.
Because at the moment institutions just do everything to stay in power and they do it at the expense of normal people and they should be serving the people Brain Wilson who's been on our show is, when I reflect on it, inexplicably Baha'i.
and execute them. So that's the thing, that's the kind of cycle they're trying to break.
Brain Wilson, who's been on our show, is, when I reflect on it, inexplicably Baha'i.
And just before you joined us, I was talking about Gandhi and the impact of Gandhi on activism
and the efficacy of non-violent protest and how any movement has to be underwritten ultimately
by some pretty hefty principles and values if it's gonna get anywhere.
Of course Gladwell famously wrote that new movements that coalesce online don't have the robustness that say for example the civil rights movements of the 1950s in America have because they are by their nature remote and tangential and if you're going to Perhaps sacrifice your life for something you believe in.
It usually requires a deep affinity not only with the cause but with other people because being human we naturally undulate in our willingness to sacrifice in our faith and belief that change can take place.
One of the things that I'm keen to inhere into our channel is a A sense that what we are striving for is something that's
transcendent of the cultural values that are ordinarily used to separate and divide us.
That we have access individually and via that, through that, collectively to a deep power.
That if you are willing to sacrifice yourself, if you are willing to live a simple life of service,
if you are willing to confront the systems within yourself, my own corruption, my own greed, my own biases,
my own requirement for power, my own willingness to be hypocritical and corrupt.
If I'm willing to make conquests on the level of the self, then I can be a useful servant in this world.
It seems to me, Omid, that these are the very issues that you're grappling with, and anyone that's interested in changing their own life and challenging the world is ultimately going to have to have a relationship with ideas of that nature.
How far, mate, are you willing to take something like this?
Have you considered going to Iran?
Have you considered, like, even in order to report on it more accurately?
Does that idea scare you?
Does it seem plausible at this point in your life that this is something that you could get more involved in?
It's not plausible because I'll probably be arrested as soon as I get to Iran.
Is that what happens?
People get arrested and put in prison and there are 40,000 people in jail right now?
There's over 30,000 people in jail, but I think because I'm a Baha'i, I would be arrested immediately.
So what I can do is remind people of things that have happened.
We're coming up to a 40th anniversary of something that happened that totally shocked me to my core and actually artists in North America.
Now the 18th of June is the 40th anniversary of the hanging of 10 women in a town called
Shiraz who were 10 Baha'i women.
One of them was a woman called Mona who was 17 years old and all the others were 20, 25,
I think one of them was 35.
And all because they were Baha'is and they were told to recant their faith and they refused because they said, look, you're asking us to lie about wanting a better world.
You're asking us to lie that we don't believe in the equality of men and women.
You're asking us to lie that we believe in the one God.
So they said no, and they were given many chances to recant and they didn't.
So one by one, they were all hanged in front of each other.
there's a photograph online of the ten women, they're all young, and it shocked everyone
to their core. And in fact, this story, when it broke 40 years ago, it moved some artists.
You can see there's a pop video was made called Mona with the Children by Jack Lenz and Doug
Cameron, which got to number one in North America. Some people might remember it, but
it gave you a very good idea of this kind of handmaid's tale type.
You know, Margaret Atwood, when she wrote Handmaid's Tale, she probably had the Islamic Republic in mind.
I don't know if people know that, but these 10 women have actually inspired the women in Iran now because they stood up for something.
They actually gave their lives for an idea.
That's what they did.
You're asking us to lie.
And that's the one thing people in Iran are saying, you can say whatever you like about the Baha'is, but they don't lie.
And when they're asked to recant their faith to lie, they won't do it and they will put their lives On the line.
So what I'm trying to do is raise awareness.
There's been a call for artists, for writers, to people to commemorate this appalling act of violence towards women.
And that's what I'm going to be doing.
I'm making a little film.
I'm writing a piece for the Eye newspaper.
I'm going to try and raise awareness to back the women of Iran because these are the stories that are pushing them now to move forward and say, we've had enough.
We've had enough of this oppression.
Where all the time I was told, keep quiet.
When I did my first Instagram post, On the 20th of September, everyone said, take it down.
You'll become a target.
I went, no, if I take it down, it looked like the regime was taking it down.
So I kept up and speaking to other comedian friends and other people in the diaspora who had a platform, we thought, we've got to do something.
We've got to stand up and we've got to start a wave because social media is like your weapon.
Because that's the one thing they don't like.
Whenever they're about to execute someone, we all go online to don't execute this person.
And what they do, they wait.
And what they've done now, they've started executing people because it's been out of the online news.
They start killing people now.
But if you put pressure, it's like, say their name, save a life.
And I think the women of Iran have said, we've had enough.
We've had enough of just trying to save people.
This lot have got to go now.
And what they've done is, it's become political.
And that's why people are hijacking it, saying it's Islamophobic.
But ultimately, the people of Iran want a shot of these people now because they've had enough.
That makes sense to me.
Okay, so there's a clear call to action for the for the get-go.
Firstly, follow Ahmed on Twitter.
We will post the link in the description.
Let's get back the 12 followers he lost by innocently RTing a piece of promo that I did in this bath.
So let's do that for a start.
Let's educate ourselves a little further on this issue and see how it evolves among us.
Am I right in thinking that you're doing a fundraising event next Yes, next month.
I live in Suffolk now.
I live in Ipswich.
I've got a comedy club called Tractor and Kebab, which I'll start on the 8th of June.
But the main thing is a Turkey-Syria benefit I'm doing.
You know, when the earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, you know, 60,000 people have died.
And again, that's out the news and we're trying to raise money for it.
So at the Regent Theatre in Ipswich, we've got some wonderful musical acts coming along.
We were hoping to get you to come down and do 20 minutes.
June 17th, Ipswich.
Ipswich, yeah, which I think you did recently, and you absolutely took the roof off.
Yeah, I like it in there.
Do you remember that place?
Yeah, yeah.
They absolutely love you there, so we'd love you to come down as well and do a little bit.
I'll have a look at it.
We'll post a link for that in the description as well.
That's an event to raise money, of course, for the victims and survivors of the Syria and Turkey earthquake.
You're doing a lot of good, kind things on it, and of course... We've become activists now, that's what we are.
What else is there to do if you're a comedian?
Also, if you want to see Ahmed touring, then go to AhmedJalili.com to get tickets.
And I can personally recommend Ahmed as a comedian.
Your name even evokes joy.
Ahmed Jalili seems like someone that can create joy almost automatically, you great, glorious, radiant man.
Not to mention that penalty you scored against a robot.
I saw that, oh my God.
Lionel Messi couldn't score against it.
Oh, you've got to show it.
Yeah, let's have a look at this.
Oh, look at this.
You know we love football, it's nice out there.
This is Lionel Messi.
Look, the robo-keeper... Is this Messi first?
Okay, Messi's trying... Now, if you look, robo-keeper is a robotic keeper that actually can see where your eye is when you kick.
So it actually anticipates where you're going to kick.
So if you run the film now, you'll see that Messi tries three times.
In fact, in total, he tried six team times.
He couldn't do it.
Look at this.
Save!
Saves from Messi!
Save!
From Messi!
This is Lionel Messi!
So there it is, the Robo Keeper.
It stopped Lionel Messi in his tracks.
But was he ready for Omid Jalili?
And I'll tell you, just before I did it, I said, is there any chance?
The bloke who set it up, he goes, just because it's you, what we've done, an inch to one side, if you go top left, we've given you an inch of mistake that you can do.
If you go top left and you could do it.
And amazingly this happened.
Give it the eyes.
Give it the eyes.
Okay.
I run it.
That's amazing!
See the slow motion now.
Slow motion.
Run it again.
What, you want us to run it in slow motion?
Are you aware?
Have you picked up what the... Is that all you got there?
Because it should run on... You've seen the slow motion.
Darling, you're lucky they played the clip at all.
These people are absolutely... It's a miracle that you... But if you look, it goes... Look.
Right.
Bang.
It's moved.
And it's that one inch to each side.
And I made it.
There you go.
That's unbelievable.
That's unbelievable.
It's the greatest moment of my life.
Thank you for playing it.
That really means a lot to me.
It's the greatest moment of our lives.
Just so we witness it.
Don't worry about what's going on in Iran.
It's complicated.
There's probably nothing we could do.
Robo Keeper was actually decommissioned after because if a fat bald 55 year old could do it, they decommissioned it straight away.
I believe, having seen that, that you can bring about a peaceful revolution in Iran and an all-woman government to replace the Sharia law that's currently incumbent.
Exactly, thank you.
There's just a one-inch margin where we will allow a democratic, feminist-led movement, and Ahmed is the man to lead it.
Anything can happen with Ahmed Jalili.
Anything can happen with Ahmed Jalili.
Go to ahmedjalili.com if you want to see Ahmed.
Support Ahmed's Turkey and Syria earthquake effort, as well as following Ahmed on Twitter.
Next time I speak to Ahmed Jalili, I want him to say, bloody hell, I've got a lot more followers on Twitter now, and I'm not being constantly spammed with information that you're a conspiracy theorist and a right-wing lunatic.
But I do believe that... But if we keep raising awareness, that's the thing, in the West, if we keep raising awareness, something will shift.
By the way, and can I just say this, this is very, very important.
This isn't just about a bunch of brown people on a far off land who cause chaos and it's got nothing to do with us.
I believe that all this is connected.
It's a bit like your body.
If you stub your toe, you stub your little toe, the toe is furthest away from your brain, but it bloody hurts.
So what's going on over there affects us and actually, If Iran, which is the cause of so much instability, if that place calms down and we get rid of this lot, you'll see a calmer Middle East and that should be good for all of us around the world.
The collective security of the world will be increased with what the women are trying to achieve there.
Well done.
I mean, thanks for educating us on that important issue.
You can join our locals community by clicking the red button on your screen right now, where you'll also be able to access our full RFK Junior interview, as well as doing guided meditations with me.
I do a weekly guided meditation.
Beautiful!
Yeah, it's pretty good.
We've got all sorts of podcasts you can listen to coming up on the show.
Of course, we've got Elon Musk coming up in about a week.
We're organising it now.
It's difficult to schedule with Elon Musk.
Are you being serious?
Yeah, we're organising it.
But it's really hard because you've got no leverage.
You can't go, I say we do it Friday, or these are the conditions.
Because you think, well, this guy is actually the richest man in the world.
I'm just going to probably have to do whatever he tells me.
A little bit around his schedule, I suppose.
That's what you have to do.
That's the thing with Elon.
I say, I'm quite busy, Elon.
I do this podcast.
I'm going to space in the morning.
Yeah, so join us on that and you can learn more about community.
You should come to community.
Come to community and perform there.
We do a festival in Hay-on-Wye every July, a three-day event.
Wim Hof, Vandana Shiva, Satish Kumar.
It's going to be a fantastic event.
Are you being serious?
I'd love to be there.
Yeah, come there.
Do a set.
Raise some awareness for your issue.
I'd love to have you there.
Elmi, thank you for joining me.
It's so beautiful to see you again.
Beautiful to see you, man.
Thanks for everything you've done for me and seeing some light in me when I was on the Brown.
I appreciate that.
When I saw you four years later, I thought, I tell you what, now that he's cleaned himself up, he could be one of the biggest voices in the world, and that's exactly what you've become.
Well, look at that.
That's the kind of kindness that you can end a show on.
Join us tomorrow, not for more of the same, but for more of the different.
But before you go, we have a fantastic presentation for you.
You've been following, I'm sure, this story about the FBI whistleblowers and their extraordinary revelations.
