Haz Al-Din
Haz Al-Din is a pseudonymous American political commentator and activist who has served as the inaugural chairman of the American Communist Party since 2024. He is active as a livestreamer on YouTube, Twitch, and Kick under the Infrared brand, which he uses for political discussion and debates.
Al-Din espouses left-conservative, left-populist, and illiberal views, and is a supporter of Marxism–Leninism with particular admiration for the Soviet Union and China. He is critical of positions across the political spectrum, particularly liberalism. Al-Din is known for his harsh, confrontational, and often provocative public image, with Infrared growing in notoriety through debates, aggressive rants about his political views, and clashes with both audience members and fellow political influencers. Some of the views espoused by Al-Din on Infrared have been labeled as reactionary, anti-LGBTQ, anti-feminist, and anti-environmentalist, labels which Al-Din denies.
Al-Din and fellow political commentator Jackson Hinkle are closely associated with MAGA Communism, which Al-Din describes as a strategy which attempts to consolidate the MAGA base away from "false consciousness" and towards communism. The strategy has attracted controversy, with critics labeling it an opportunistic rebranding of communism to appeal to disaffected conservatives. Alexander Reid Ross has described MAGA Communism as a fringe movement that attempts to blend populist rhetoric with socialist terminology. In 2024, Al-Din and Hinkle founded the ACP.
Early and personal life
Haz Al-Din was born in 1996 in Dearborn, Michigan, to Lebanese Shia immigrants who had fled the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s and settled in an Arab-majority part of the state. He became interested in socialism at the age of 12 or 13, initially drawn to the Soviet Union's achievements, which he found to be far more sophisticated than what was commonly taught in Western education. Al-Din pursued a juris doctor degree but took a permanent leave of absence from law school after completing his first year to begin livestreaming full-time.Al-Din is a Muslim; he currently resides in the Detroit metropolitan area in Michigan.
Career
Infrared and online presence
Al-Din attended Michigan State University, where he engaged with left-wing politics, at one point, joining the Democratic Socialists of America, before becoming involved in Marxist theory. Initially influenced by Western Marxism and Bordigism, he later embraced Marxism–Leninism and developed an interest in Chinese political philosophy, particularly Xi Jinping Thought.In 2020, Al-Din launched Infrared, a YouTube channel and Twitch stream focusing on political analysis, geopolitical debates, and criticism of existing leftist and communist movements from a claimed populist Marxist–Leninist perspective. Infrared gained wider attention with the emergence of MAGA Communism, a term first used in 2022 by himself and fellow influencer and political commentator Jackson Hinkle.
American Communist Party
In July 2024, Al-Din, Jackson Hinkle, Christopher Helali, and others founded the American Communist Party following an alleged split in the Communist Party USA, in which they accused CPUSA of revisionism for its endorsement of the Democratic Party.On February 23, 2025, Al-Din, Hinkle, and Helali attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the third Secretary-General of Hezbollah, as representatives of the ACP.
Political positions and ideology
Al-Din is a self-described supporter of left-wing politics, critic of right-wing politics, and staunch advocate of Marxism–Leninism. Al-Din has said that despite significant disagreements, he has incorporated the "rational kernel" from the philosophies of Russian political theorist Aleksandr Dugin and German existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger, arguing that their critiques of liberal modernity provide essential insights for constructing a post-liberal socialist order. He holds left-populist, left-conservative, and illiberal positions. While Al-Din has expressed sympathy toward the presidential campaigns of Bernie Sanders, he asserts that the modern Western left has failed to garner the support of the working-class in the United States by focusing on identity politics and abandoning class struggle.He advocates for a socialism in one country, adopting the view originally espoused by Joseph Stalin that class-struggle and Marxism–Leninism must be understood as national in form and internationalist in content. Mirroring Stalin's own views in Foundations of Leninism, he claims that true international solidarity is "based on a solidarity between nations", and that national sovereignty is fundamental to developing socialist movements in individual countries.
Al-Din frequently praises the Soviet Union, describing it as an ideal civilization that sought technological and economic modernization while maintaining a deep respect for its historical memory and culture.
Al-Din supports Russia, China, and North Korea, which he describes as resistant to Western imperialism. In an interview with The Guardian, he expressed "profound admiration" for Kim Jong-un, citing North Korea's "resilience" against Western hegemony. He has called for the complete dissolution of NATO, arguing that the alliance serves as an instrument of Western imperialism. He has supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine, framing it as a necessary challenge to Western hegemony, and has advocated for closer China–United States relations.
Al-Din is an anti-Zionist and anti-Israel activist. According to Kathleen Hayes of the Jewish Journal, Al-Din's political movement is sympathetic to "Middle Eastern jihadism" and has attempted to forge a red–green alliance with Islamists. He has expressed support for the Axis of Resistance, including Iran, Hezbollah, and other groups opposed to Israeli influence in the Middle East, stating that they serve as an inspiration to anti-imperialist movements worldwide.
Al-Din is closely associated with MAGA Communism, which is often viewed as a syncretic political movement and ideology seeking to combine Marxism with right-wing populism. Al-Din rejects attempts to label MAGA Communism as a political movement or ideology, but rather describes it as a provocative political slogan and as a populist strategy which attempts to consolidate working-class members of Donald Trump's MAGA movement away from false consciousness and towards communism. Critics of MAGA Communism have labeled it an opportunistic rebranding of socialist ideas to appeal to disaffected conservatives and right-wing extremists, with it being described by The Guardian as a "deranged fringe movement" and by Jungle World as "Not left, not right, but fascist".
Controversies
Al-Din has been criticized for allegedly co-opting socialist rhetoric to advance a reactionary agenda. His MAGA Communism strategy has been described by critics as an extremist movement, with pro-Israel think tank MEMRI describing the strategy as a form of red–green Islamism and part of the broader global anti-Zionist movement.Observers from Vice News and Compact Magazine have argued that MAGA Communism lacks ideological consistency, and is more of a cultural provocation than a coherent political movement. Yale professor Daniel HoSang has described it as an opportunistic ideology that shifts working-class discontent into a reactionary framework. The PERIL Lab at American University has suggested that it appeals to politically disillusioned groups and is exploited by online extremist networks.
In 2022, Al-Din was banned from Twitch after researchers flagged his channel, InfraredShow, for spreading pro-Russia and anti-Ukraine narratives about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with his livestreaming activities migrating to Kick. A Tech Transparency Project investigation identified his Twitch channel as one of multiple platforms amplifying Russian state-aligned misinformation, including claims about the de-Nazification of Ukraine and false allegations of Western-backed biolabs in Ukraine. The Financial Times also reported on his content moderation disputes, highlighting his involvement in spreading narratives aligned with Russian foreign policy and his subsequent removal from multiple platforms. Al-Din was unbanned from Twitch in April 2025.
In April 2024, Al-Din co-hosted the Free America to Free Palestine event in Dearborn, Michigan, alongside Jackson Hinkle, discussing strategies for influencing U.S. foreign policy and achieving Palestinian liberation. The event, which attracted controversy due to its anti-Zionist rhetoric and alignment with MAGA Communism, was covered by Newsweek for its unorthodox political messaging. CNN also reported on the event, highlighting its pro-Russia and anti-Israel rhetoric, which were key themes of the event.