An anti-Israel activist whom National Public Radio (NPR) once featured as a model of civic engagement now headlines pro‑Iran propaganda from an IRGC facility—a stunning turn that reveals the risks of mainstream platforms promoting radical voices.
Calla Walsh, once showcased by NPR as a civic-minded youth working for Sen. Ed Markey(D-MA), visited Tehran as part of a delegation hosted by Iran’s state broadcaster. Walsh declared it “the greatest honor of my life” to tour IRGC sites, calling Iran besieged by “genocidal siege” from the United States and the “Zionist entity.” She praised being “surrounded by the indigenously produced drones and missiles and military equipment that are actively resisting this genocide and this imperialism.”
Just as alarming, NPR had previously presented Walsh as a positive example in a segment titled “How to Be a Citizen” when she was 17. She explained, “the driving factor that pushed me to get involved in politics was the climate crisis,” citing existential threats to her generation.
Mainstream media boosted her as an “ardent” young organizer behind Boston’s Markeyverse, a group campaigning for progressive Democrats. The New York Times and Boston Globe called her a rising force in youth activism—even as she evolved into a radical figure.
Walsh later co-founded Unity of Fields, endorsed violence against Israel and U.S. law enforcement, and served jail time for vandalizing an Elbit Systems facility. Now, she films PR videos in Tehran.
