Iran or the Islamic Republic by Anonymous (for protection)
Iran, as a country, and as an old culture, has many good things to offer the world including poetry, music, and visual arts. Unfortunately, I strongly believe this rich culture has been held hostage, along with its people, by the country’s repressive government, the Islamic Republic. We, the people of Iran, are forbidden to publicly honor our culture and our indigenous religion. The Islamic Regime has even attempted for many years to remove our popular and ancient celebrations for Persian New Year: “Norooz” and Chaharshanbe Soori, but they fail to see that the culture is rooted in people’s veins and hearts.
In the late 1970s, the Islamic Republic came to power by hijacking the Iranian revolution against the Shah. The new leadership wasted no time staging mass executions of the Shah’s loyalists, and starting a war with Iraq in 1980–a war that had a massive role in establishing the Islamic Republic.
I was born after this Iran-Iraq war.
For as long as I remember, I’ve felt a huge sense of disappointment and fear among my people. The Islamic Republic utilized abuse, torture, and rape very early in their barbaric system. Any sign of not obeying their strict rules could cost people their freedom or result in execution.
Our neighbor was an amazing, smart, chemistry student but unfortunately, she was removed from University because she failed the regime’s expansive purity questioning (used to determine loyalty).
My father worked for Iran’s state TV during this time, but left his job before this questioning which could have cost him his life or delivered negative consequences for our family.
My grandfather was popular for his homemade wines. After the revolution, all bars and discos were closed permanently. Anyone could be lashed or put in jail for things like drinking alcohol, which was previously legal.
All this constant pressure resulted in my family living a paralyzed life, one relegated to staying inside the home, away from the prying eyes of the republic’s paranoid regime.
Videotapes and music cassettes were also suddenly made illegal after the revolution. Having a cassette in your car was a felony, yet we still listened to them all the time and watched videos of all the artists that had fled Iran. This was how we were able to escape our reality where normal life had suddenly become illegal.
No matter your religion, you had to pretend to be a Shia Muslim so you could live in your own country and not lose your life. The situation was so severe that we, as young kids, knew we shouldn’t talk about our parent's true beliefs or what we watch and talk about at home.
Once we turned nine, all girls were forced to wear hijab, the traditional head covering, regardless of personal preference. My immediate family was secular and even though my mom’s side was semi-religious, they too did not fit the government’s strict paradigm. Most relatives on my father’s side were also secular. Due to this variance in religiosity, we constantly had to adjust like chameleons at family gatherings to avoid conflict.
My father regularly snuck us into game rooms and soccer matches, pastimes that were only allowed for boys. He even supported my sister and me in not wearing hijab until we were 14 or 15. He received a ton of pushback and lecturing about this from plain clothes police (Basijis) as we got older. Everything became more complicated and more serious in school. Options for what we could do in society became more limited as my father continued to push back against these oppressive expectations and draconian rules. Many people were lucky to live in progressive families like mine, but sadly, some weren’t.
Unfortunately, it isn’t only people whose lives are impacted by the Islamic Republic’s policies. Iran’s natural resources are declining under the regime and endangered species are on the verge of extinction. Our historical sites, some 2,000 years old or older, are either destroyed or in a state of disrepair. Our environmental activists, progressive politicians, political activists, lawyers, and top university students are jailed and punished regularly. We have grown up constantly fighting and pushing the boundaries of what we could do within the confines of the Islamic Republic.
When I entered college in 2009 the Green Revolution started. I witnessed brutal behavior by the regime at my University. I saw my classmates being beaten to death in front of my eyes.
Fighting with the regime is very frightening to many adults. The older generation saw mass executions in 1988, some say more than 5,000 innocent lives were taken. Our parents tried warning us about the horrific consequences of student protests, like Kuye Daneshgah of 1999, but we were too young to understand the cost of fighting injustice.
Our youth, especially our women, have always been our front line fighters for the past 44 years. Despite the history we have with the Islamic Republic Regime, Iranian boys and girls are still unstoppable in their fight for a free Iran.
Recently, all this pressure has started a new revolution led by women, the women who are 60% of university graduates and more than 60% of them have primary education, even with all the oppression and discrimination they face on daily bases. These women are worthy of a much better life.
As I’m writing this, many of them are facing executions in the regime's coorts, without access to a fair trial, or a lawyer.
More than 40,000 of them are in jail just for raising their voice.
I firmly believe, the Islamic Republic is an oppressive regime that has inflicted untold suffering on the people of Iran. It has undermined the country's democracy and imposed strict, archaic laws that violate the basic rights of its citizens. The government has used torture, abuse, and rape to maintain its power, and has imprisoned, executed, and silenced political dissidents and activists. It has also damaged Iran's natural resources and cultural heritage, and has oppressed religious and ethnic minorities. The Islamic Republic government is a disgrace to the people of Iran and a stain on the world community. It must be condemned and opposed by all who value freedom and human rights
These days my homeland needs more of the world's attention. My people, who are fighting for a normal life, for freedom of choice, need the world to keep their eyes on Iran so the Islamic Republic doesn’t mass execute them in silence.