Shahrokh Ahkami
— Persian Heritage, #109, Fall 2023 —
To write about the heartaches of these difficult days, as the editor of Persian Heritage, I have been delaying connecting with the loyal readers of Mirass-e- Iran. I overlooked the patience of my devoted colleagues and impatiently awaited the anniversary of the painful and heart-wrenching passing of Mahsa Amini and hundreds of young boys and girls with hopeful anticipation, thinking that perhaps a miracle or event might occur in these difficult times. I was hoping that the youth would attain their forty-two year-old wish. I prayed that the youth of this land and the oppressed people of Iran would emerge from the pressures of life and turmoil. I prayed that they would be able to choose their personal lifestyles, including what to wear, expressing their freedom of speech and belief, enjoying equality and classless society, and separating religion from government by having a secular government. I pray that they could stand tall and victorious in the global community, benefiting from all their human rights and advantages.
As the year of Mahsa’s martyrdom and that of other daughters, sons and elites of Iranian society drew nearer, my concern about the setbacks and retreats of this movement increased. In the early days of the movement, leaders suddenly emerged from all corners – women and men, journalists, dentists, actors, and athletes, among others. They took up megaphones in every corner, spoke their minds, and voiced their concerns about the brilliant future of Iran. Some of them went to such extremes that, President Zelenskyy and an Iranian woman stood on a platform looking like worthy champions, one defending their country, and the other claiming to be the voice of innocent Iranian women and winning a medal of honor. Gradually, these self-proclaimed leaders’ plans, with meetings with Western leaders such as Macron of France and appearances on various television and media outlets, created such an illusion in the public mind that they would be the leaders of Iran’s freedom tomorrow when they arrive in Tehran.
These individuals may perhaps recall the final days of Khomeini’s stay in France and his subsequent boarding of the plane with various journalists and personalities in their own imaginary world. They predicted such an event for themselves. Some among them, mostly women, and negative American views towards the Iranian government and sympathetic views for Iranian women used the notoriety of the Iranian government apparatus, claimed damages against the Iran’s government in the local courts of America, and acquired millions of dollars from the real capital of the Iranian people, which was frozen in foreign banks. In reality, in these exceptional days, this movement, both in terms of status and wealth, did not find joy within themselves.
Only a few months had passed since the hustle and bustle of these self-proclaimed leaders when each of them became prominent. One became so famous that she demands $20,000 to $30,000 for each of her speeches to talk about her victimization and the righteousness of his followers’ actions in the media for the past few months. Another one, who initiated rallies of several thousand people in the early days, something I had never seen such a gathering and enthusiasm from expatriate Iranians to express sympathy for their suffering compatriots in Iran, began to fade away. My family and I also participated in two of these rallies in Washington and New York. Hence, for this anniversary, I imagined similar rallies. However, from the cities I am aware of, there was not as much public presence as in the previous year but still people had demonstrations around the globe in smaller dimension. .
In any case, the question that exists for me and many others who aspire to the victory of justice over injustice in Iran is whether this unity and recent alignment of self-proclaimed leaders genuinely aimed to achieve victory for the oppressed people’s movement in Iran or if it was to hinder it by shedding the blood of those who held hope and the assets of those who perished and by neglecting the lives of those who were imprisoned. Does this mean that a movement whose self claimed leaders pursue their personal interests and do not have genuine and sincere guidance will result in anything other than a year full of pain and suffering? What remains is nothing but regret for the youth and teenagers who were deceived. This is where I recall the statement of the leader of the Islamic Republic government some time ago: “A camel dreams of a cottonseed”, “The cat dreams of mice”, and “When pigs fly.”
Here, I am the camel, that the leader of the Islamic Republic was talking about. I am the person who dreamed of a cottonseed for a year and must now, with the utmost regret, lament the shedding of the blood of many young individuals (both men and women). I lament that we have not yet reached that level of social consciousness where we can set aside personal interests, ambitions, and pride, and, under the leadership of a responsible, wise, experienced leader, work towards our longstanding goal of freedom and equality
In the context of this movement, perhaps major powers have secretly preferred to deal with the current regime and tolerate any significant, uncontrolled change that might arise. They aim to obtain what they want from the corrupt and diverting leaders of Iran through various sanctions and economic pressures, even as poverty and unemployment in Iran have become so overwhelming that it’s unimaginable for those of us who are comfortably situated here. “Inflation, inflation, and people’s lives in danger” were the main slogans of the people, which were absent in these protests.
According to “Deutsche Welle,” “A retired worker with 30 years of service receives about 9 million tomans (approximately $200) in retirement benefits, while the cost of living for this retiree in Tehran is 30 million tomans (approximately $670), and the only way to make ends meet is by not being a tenant.”
A country that was supposed to be the protector of the oppressed and whose leader considered himself a servant of the oppressed people now sees them look for work day by day, sees a growing number of homeless population and unemployed. At the same time, the privileged class has secured their wealth to such an extent that it will last for several generations through embezzlement.
An interesting and puzzling point for me is that Iran’s money in South Korea was originally $7 billion, but suddenly, at the time of delivery, it decreased to $6 billion, and who knows how much of this amount will actually be spent on the people’s needs after going through the commissions and various rent-seeking channels. Just 10 to 18 years ago, during the presidency of Ahmadinejad, it was unclear where Iran’s income of $800 billion from selling oil went and who received it, except for Ahmadinejad’s son in oil affairs and the disappearance of an oil well rig, followed by three of his deputies (Mashaei, Baghaei, and Rahimi), Ayatollah Larijani’s deputy, and Mr. Rouhani’s brother, who were all imprisoned for theft in their luxury suites with their possible servants and chefs.
Financial corruption has reached a point where the head of a department lends himself several hundred million or billion tomans without interest or collateral! Moral corruption has escalated to the point where two corrupt individuals, the head of Guidance in a province or a mayor of a city, or to the Mullah’s engage in sexual acts with married women or with each other, recording it, and all of this happens in a country where several young people are executed for minor drug offenses, homosexual acts or not covering their heads, often resulting in their death. All this debauchery, immorality, shamelessness, and disgrace, all these massive thefts, all this pressure on women to maintain the hijab, beating women in the streets, sometimes leading to their death, should have an end one day, not that day by day the government, in its incompetence, threatens to close universities and sends deserving and distinguished professors to prison or house arrest and replaces them with Quran reciters and eulogists like Haddadian.
Someone wrote on social media, “What should Professor Shafiei Kadkani (the prominent poet, writer and professor) do if he happens to meet Haddadian as his new colleague in the Literature Department corridor? And if he doesn’t have the patience to see him in this position, he should collect his belongings and go home before they throw him out of the university.”
The universities and institutions that have produced numerous elites like Maryam Mirzakhani and others are now so deprived of qualified, elite, and outstanding teachers and professors that they may need to bring in Haddadians and, perhaps soon, Tousi ,a famous reciter and pedophile to the universities to run classes as they should and as befits the Islamic Republic. Many of our historical, scientific, and literary achievements have been eradicated, replaced by Islamic and Arabic teachings.
Yesterday on Facebook, there were two interesting posts, one about Mohammad Khwarizmi and the other about Abu Rayhan Bayrouni (Biruni), both eminent Iranian scientists. I was so delighted to see them that before reading, I proudly posted them on my Facebook page. The biography of Khwarizmi was written by a Tunisian scientist who, at the beginning of his text, reminded the reader that this great scientist was Iranian. And the second post, after I shared it on Facebook, detailed the life and accomplishments of the esteemed Iranian scientist Biruni without mentioning his country or original homeland, concluding by reminding the reader that Islam has produced such geniuses and great men.
The customs and traditions of our ancestors are no better than those of the two-faced Muslims who attribute every Iranian achievement during the Islamic era to Islam and the Arabs. They claim that because these Iranian scientists wrote their books in Arabic at that time, just as English is the international language today, Ibn Sina, Biruni, Khwarizmi, and others are all Arabs and all Islamic scientists or artists. However, it should be noted that these very Muslims brought disaster upon Ibn al-Muqaffa and Zakariya Razi who discovered sulfuric acid and ethanol. They so thoroughly criticized Zakariya Razi’s work that he went blind by hitting his head with his own book, because he had gradually deviated from the path of Islam. Ibn Muqaffa translater and historian met a gruesome fate in the year 142 AD when he was brutally killed on the orders of the caliph and by Sufyan ibn Muawiya in a very terrible and savage manner in Basra. Ibn Muqaffa’s real name was Ruzbeh Pordavoodiye, and he was born in Firuzabad (Fars).
I hope the day comes when an Iranian is recognized around the world as befitting, rather than being introduced under the names and labels chosen by its rulers, who do not represent the 85 million Iranians.
A few days ago, a famous American news anchor interviewed Ayatollah Dr. Raisi, who didn’t attend school (only six classes) and didn’t study theology (only three years). Raisi talked about the $6 billion that the US is supposed to give to Iran. Interestingly, in the middle of the interview with Raisi, on September 11th, when the anchorman was saying that the $6 billion would be delivered to Iran on September 11th, NBC suddenly displayed a clip of the American hostages in Tehran on the television screen. These two points felt like a slap in the face to me, and I had no patience for a few days. The hostage-taking, which was more of a coup than an attempt to secure their own power by domestic forces, has turned into such a stain of shame for the Iranian people that the enemies of the Iranian people are trying not to let Americans forget it and don’t want to tell Americans that the accounts of nations should be separated from governments, and these two should not be equated. However, whenever something positive happens regarding Iran and Iranians, they immediately pull out the hostage footage from their archives and remind people that “Iranians are evil and hostage-takers.”
A more interesting point about choosing September 11th to return the $6 billion is that the tragic and painful events of September 11th actually disrupted the global order and presented the world with a new situation. In this horrendous event, nearly 15 Saudis, led by an Egyptian, and a few others, including Yemenis, Lebanese, and Jordanians, according to official claims by the United States government, were the perpetrators. Let’s leave aside that there are many theories about the perpetrators and the behind-the-scenes actors involved in this event. Nevertheless, ask anyone from any generation where the terrorists behind September 11th were from, and they all agree that they were Muslims. In other words, with this statement, they are trying to portray approximately 1.8 billion Muslims in the world as terrorists, destroyers, and savages. I ask you what does the tragedy of September 11th have to do with Iran and Iranians? Ask those enemies of Iran and Iranians who, in any way they can, always want to manipulate the minds and thoughts of Westerners against Iran and Iranians.
Let’s move on. For years, in these pages, I have written about nothing but painful news and incidents resulting from the pressure of rulers, acts of violence, ruthlessness, theft, corruption, and moral corruption of the rulers. But I hope that someday, after nearly 28 years of publishing “Mirass-e- Iran” (Persian Heritage) and with a heartfelt wish for its continued existence, I will be able to say goodbye to the readers and enthusiasts of this journal and to the dedicated staff and colleagues.
In the words of Khayyam: “The capital has slipped from my hand, and many lives have been spilled by fate.”