Newark, Del. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Since brutal repression of the January 8-9 protests in Iran, those of us abroad have been numb. Witnessing an atrocity as such that took place is not even comprehensible.
What we witnessed on videos that came out of Iran was horrific. People were gunned down in a systematic way during these protests on a scale unseen since the 1980s.
Scores of innocent people, most of them young people took to the streets and were gunned down mercilessly. To this day, the numbers fluctuate. Most observers have put the number of killed close to 6000,
It is not just the numbers that are disturbing but the way in which the demonstrators were ambushed. No one knows who set fire in the bazaar in Rasht, destroying the livelihood of so many people.
One eye witness said,
- “A friend and I were on the street on Dey 18/ January 8th. Words can’t describe the horrors of that night in Khorramabad. The city was literally on fire. I know there are videos out there, but I don’t think videos can convey things the way they were.
“As for the numbers, I can’t take a guess but among the ones killed there’s one in our neighborhood. The family couldn’t collect the money they had been asked in exchange for the body so many people including me donated a a small sum to help the family.”
Within the diaspora, on social media, we are also witnessing a sharp and at times ugly disputes taking place. Supporters of the monarchy blame the left and liberals for the Revolution that took place nearly forty-seven years ago without any historical memory.
I remember waiting to go back to Iran in 1979, our suitcases ready for Mehrabad airport to open. The atmosphere was jubilant. Iran was transforming. There were daily events at the university, speeches by Nationalists, leftists, Mojahedin and many others. People were cleaning their alleys and streets voluntarily.
In March of that year, I recall attending Dr. Mossadegh’s memorial in Ahmadabad alongside hundreds of thousands of people who had come by buses and by foot to honor him. Such a gathering had been banned since he was exiled by the Shah. An unforgettable day it was.
In every corner of Tehran, people held lively discussions. They called it Bahar e Azadi (The spring of freedom) soon to be dashed into a summer of terror. Most of the organizations which had supported the revolution, even the National Front, a moderate entity, was banned and called illegal. Many of their members were arrested and jailed.
It was now the rule of the clergy. Khomeini was surrounded by sycophants and at times by insane people like the hanging judge Khalkhali. Instead of going to Qom and becoming a religious mentor as he had promised, he watched the millions who came to greet him and decided to be the sole leader of a popular revolution. Those who were his supporters and believed in his anti-imperialist rhetoric soon became his enemies. Thus, they had to be eliminated.
When my father who had become governor of Fars Province shortly after the Revolution, took his resignation to Khomeini, he told him, Mr. Khomeini you are taking this revolution towards a Na Koja Abad (the nowhere land). In reply he said, Mr. Amini, are you snubbing me? If I had snubbed the people, this revolution would not have happened.
So yes, it had gone to his head as they say.
That was the last meeting between the two men who had known each other from Khomein, a city where Khomeini had been born and where my grandfather was a doctor who treated Khomeini some seventy years ago.
The rest is history as we watched, bewildered, as Iran became an Islamic Republic, soon enforcing the hejab and soon instituting Islamic laws.
Over the years, many were arrested, tortured and executed.
The people who took to the streets last month, all over Iran, were not asking for much. They were unhappy with the status quo, with the inflation, with the food prices at high levels, a single egg or milk at exuberant prices.
The US sanctions had crippled the economy, but it was not just the sanctions.
Why did Khamenei and his henchmen order such brutality vis a vis unarmed people are beyond me. I just ask myself every day, how can Iranians kill other Iranians so viciously.
Many monarchists and their leader, Reza Pahlavi have been supportive of an Israeli or American attack. Those who oppose such a move are now depicted by the Iranian Right as traitors to the cause.
The cursing and name calling goes on in social media.
There is now a clear and abhorrent division within the Iranian diaspora.
But inside Iran, the ones who have any wisdom and know the situation from within have vehemently objected to any outside interference, among them the Nobel Laureate, Narges Mohammadi.
If we look around, just in that corner of the world, that is the Middle East, democracy and the rule of law have not been achieved Chaos, anarchy, more killings, refugees, lawlessness have replaced autocratic regimes that fell.
Even if Iran is a nation state with an enormous wealth of educated people, a solid civil society, democracy will not rise from the ashes of war.
Poet Sohrab Sepehri’s statue in Kashan. © Fariba Amini.
We are just hopeful that sane people will take over without any bloodshed, without anger even if this anger is legitimate.
In the words of a colleague, even if there is evil taking place, we cannot answer evil with more evil-doing.
In the words of Sohrab Sepehri, the famous poet from Kashan, “Life is not empty, there is kindness, there are apples and there is faith.”
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