Iran and Bishop Tutu
Al-Arab, London, December 23
No individual succeeded in breaking the laws of nature, and no country succeeded in reversing them, or reversing history and the freedoms of its people! History has always revolved around progress and openness to each other. South African Bishop Desmond Tutu addressed the white minority, which was ruling his country, when he said that it must acknowledge that the day of liberation will inevitably come when the black majority will rule, so why not stop the bloodshed, save thousands of lives and stop the destruction, instead of a conflict whose outcome is known? In the same way, the Iranian leadership must realize that it is impossible to rule a nation against its will. There is no method or religious text that explains how to guarantee paradise, and therefore why not let the people live freely like other peoples, within the limits of morality, law and order? Shutting people’s mouths isn’t a viable long-term sustainable strategy. Expressing opinion freely is an inherent human right. Living freely was and always will remain one of the attributes of a normal person. The threats made by political leaders and the oppression of secret service agencies won’t succeed in changing it. Note that the current regime arose after a revolution that was the most beautiful, pure and least bloody in modern history, and on the ruins of a corrupt, worn out and unjust regime, and those who carried it out deserve to see the principles for which they staged a revolt come to life. An anonymous writer, who claims not to be Iranian, says that when you meet an Iranian, you meet a businessman, engineer, doctor, lawyer, CEO, teacher, student, scientist, astrologer, musician, artist, writer, producer or director. He may be moderate in his ideas, monarchist, conservative, progressive, anarchist, Marxist or capitalist. He may be an atheist, Zoroastrian, Jew, Baha’i, Buddhist, Assyrian, Shiite or Sunni Muslim, Kurdish, Armenian, Turkish, Baloch, or a member of one of the dozens of other tribes and ethnicities that call Iran their home. When you meet an Iranian, you meet a lover, a fighter and a proud descendant of the amazing history of the Persian Empire. When you meet an Iranian, you meet a daughter of Cyrus the Great, or Darius, or Ibn Al-Rumi, or Omar Khayyam, or Mossadegh, or one of the heroes of Persia. Yet almost all of them have one thing in common: the metaphorical hole in their hearts which existed and has remained since someone took over their homeland 40 or so years ago. Today, they need their democratic and free state to return to them, and for them to rule themselves. This is a dream that has become possible with the fall of a number of martyrs in the battle for freedom. The people of Iran need the world’s sympathy, even if it is through articles and letters, or in newspapers or on social media platforms. This is the least that can be done for the brave women and men, who are fighting in Iran for a homeland and a better life. – Ahmed Al-Sarraf (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)
