Calla Walsh, the founder of Palestine Action US and a former volunteer on Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, praised Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei as the
Calla Walsh, the founder of Palestine Action US and a former volunteer on Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, praised Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei as the
“greatest anti-imperialist leader” within her lifetime after attending his funeral.
The 22-year-old appeared in an interview with Iran’s state-run PressTV to talk about her attendance at the funeral, where Walsh wore a hijab and traditional garb. She applauded the slain ayatollah as a hero who was standing up against America and Israel.
“He was a leader to all people of the world who struggle against imperialism, arrogance, against Zionism, against genocide,” she said. “To me, he was the greatest anti-imperialist leader to have lived during my lifetime.”
Walsh, who is the daughter of a Boston University English professor and a Harvard writing teacher, has been active in left-wing politics since the age of 14. In 2020, she volunteered on Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign. She has also worked for the campaign of Boston mayor Michelle Wu, and she was briefly a leader in the Democratic Socialists of America before quitting.
Walsh currently lives in Lebanon and claimed that there was widespread love in Iran for Khamenei before the leader was killed on February 28 during Israeli air strikes against Iran. Her claims come despite the government’s crackdown on protesters earlier this year, which resulted in the deaths of 7,000 to 30,000 protesters. She also referred to Khameini as a “humble” man whose teachings could be “especially” used in the US.
“It’s still fair to say that the US has been more humiliated than it has ever been before in its history,” Walsh claimed.
