The story of a young woman from the world of culture, who remains anonymous for fear of retaliation
He had agreed to tell us about the hell he is experiencing with the cry of “women, freedom and life”. Then a half-turn: «Yesterday something happened, we have to postpone» she had explained with the fear of using too many words in the wrong places. Days go by and the desire not to succumb to intimidation and threats becomes stronger than fear. These lines are born from the rediscovered courage. The author is a young Iranian, a character from the world of culture. We call her by an emblematic name, different from hers: Mahsa, like the girl who ignited the revolution with her death. She finds the strength to speak because she doesn’t want her to shut down.
For three months we have been experiencing mixed emotions. We are filled with anger and fear, hope and despair. None of us ever wanted to experience this mix of feelings. How many times have we hoped there wasn’t a new victim. Instead shootings, arrests and killings are increasing day by day. I have witnessed policemen shooting bullets and beating people on the street with my own eyes.
This mobilization is marking our youth, it is costing us many lives. If it is repressed, the price will be very high. Here because we must consider it a revolution. We have no choice but to fight to drive them out of our country. We are all scared but we continue to fight. Especially women struggle with every step they take. From early in the morning, when they leave the house without a veil and pass in front of the police station to show their courage. In these cold days in Tehran women who don’t wear hats do so because hair is their means of struggle. But everyone is fighting. Each according to their own possibilities. Bookstores have placed volumes on Hitler, Stalin and the USSR more prominently. On the street, unveiled women and men smile at each other to encourage each other. It is as if they were saying «you are not alone». Activists, politicians and journalists are gripped by fear and anxiety. Every noise that comes into the house, whether it’s that of the lift, a passerby, the doorbell or an unknown number on the mobile phone, makes you jump: the first thought is that they have come to get you. Many were arrested at their homes, their homes broken into in the middle of the night while they were sleeping. They took their phones, computers and all their notebooks, sometimes without arresting them. Some like me, on the other hand, were taken away and interrogated.
Two of them harassed me with questions for 4 hours. No physical violence but the psychological pressure was very high. Now I suffer from insomnia, I asked a doctor for help.
This stress has increased terribly in recent days. Every morning we wake up afraid to learn that someone else has been hanged. This is why many of us do not want to sleep. We are afraid to sleep and wake up feeling guilty. The Iranian government has the power to hang most protesters and the reason for this second execution in a week is to see how the world reacts. The West must listen to our voice. Young people are waiting for us in prison. Many of them don’t even have access to a lawyer. Be their voice.
(Collected text
by Alessandra Muglia)
December 14, 2022 (change December 14, 2022 | 22:33)
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