This marks my last entry, while out “in-the-field.”

Entries of this nature are often subject to much emotion and reflection. I can’t say this will be any different. The last few weeks have schooled me in ways of the Azerbaijanis of Iran. Previous entries have discussed the fight for equal rights and a better Iran, and I have encountered several Azerbaijanis with varying perspectives on their plight. Some are of the belief that a separate nation is the solution, some believe the situation is not so bad, believing Azerbaijanis can easily assimilate into the dominant Persian culture.

But the real core of the issue is a universal stance that all peoples have the right to keep their identity and let it flourish. Having education in your native tongue is part of this; cultural and linguistic rights. This is why Fakhteh Zamani and ADAPP do the work they do. I hope my blog has been communicating this, if not, forgive me.

Today, I had an interview with Abbas Djavadi—had mentioned him in the preceding entry, he graciously allowed me an audience. You will hear about it soon enough. I also had a “going-away” fete! Put on by my Azerbaijani fam here! Yes, the people I have met are like family, unfortunately, I cannot mention them as they seek privacy and security. They are the true heros. They are the ones, who have shared stories, pain, and struggles. I shall leave, and they will keep fighting—if only I could have such singularity of focus.

Thank YOU

Allow me to express my sincerest gratitude and appreciation for joining me on this journey. Some months back, I asked you— E-mentors, E-readers, family, friends and random visitors—to follow me on my sojourn into Iranian human rights, the real issues and not the politics. You accepted and here we are.

To ADAPP, its affiliates, supporters, and adversaries, I also send my thanks. There would have been no summer fellowship without you all.

To those who made this possible, especially my funders: Upper Midwest Fellowship (of the Human Rights Center, UMN), Human Rights Program (UMN), Claude, Joe, and MT. Thank you and I hope your support has been a good use of your support.

The End?

Well, I have enjoyed having this bully pulpit and I hope, still, to use it as a platform to raise awareness of this issue of Universal Human Rights. Although frequency of entries may reduce, my commitment to this issue will remain. As I mentioned, I still have an entry on Djavadi, and several others that are waiting for their turn. I look forward to the day Azerbaijanis—and all minorities—in Iran freely enjoy their cultural and linguistic heritage.

Peace.

My first introduction to Akbar Ganji was his radio interview with The Story’s Dick Gordon on American Public Media. The narrative of a former-insider-turned-dissident impressed me, although his is not so unique in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Do a simple search of former revolutionary supporters and you’ll find that their ideologies have changed, and by much.

Ganji is quite famous in the American political circles, not that he is political—I can’t say for sure, but that several leading American thinkers have adopted him as theirs. He just received the Cato Institute’s Milton Friedman award for Advancing Liberty. So one could say I was quite pleased that I got to meet him this past Monday and even get my picture taken!

With Akbar Ganji, August 16, 2010

With Akbar Ganji, August 16, 2010

He was in Vancouver to speak about Iran’s road to democracy at the Simon Fraser University, downtown campus. Personally, I like Ganji—something should be said for an individual who sees the error of his ways and doesn’t shrink back at making a 180. Moreover, before my fellowship with ADAPP, I might have been shouting his praises from the treetops, since I did quote him in my graduate thesis as one of the leading Iranians seeking non-violence means to repair relations between Iran and the West (especially the U.S). See Ganji’s 2007 open letter to the U.N. However, this was before I came to know about the issue of minority oppression in Iran. I know I harp on this matter much—that’s why I have this space, forgive me!—but many leaders of the Green Movement don’t want to talk about the minority issue and this is unfortunate. How can one talk about democratic ideals if one suppresses the voices of others also seeking a better Iran?

ADAPP affiliates say many leaders and supporters of the Green Movement, who advocate human rights, treat them with contempt and prejudice. ADAPP as an organization is not well liked in Iran or the other opposition democratic movements, as they are often called separatists or Pan-Turks. See Farzin’s entry for more context. In addition, some of my entries, posted on other sites, have also been met with some accusations of treachery.

In some ways, I get what these other voices are saying. Let’s wait until we get a democratic Iran to talk about this, or some say: we are all Iranians, there are no Persians, Turks, or Kurds, etc. The appeal of banding together is strong, but tis only strong for those who know nothing of inequality and oppression. An earlier entry mentioned someone I met on the Grind-Hike. I sensed the person didn’t quite get my point when he shared: so they make fun of their accent, so what?! It is more than prejudice. These people are jailed, tortured, and killed for demanding rights most enjoy. I don’t blame him much, it is somewhat difficult to understand, and he had also been a victim of discrimination in the Azerbaijani region for being Persian. Similar to how blacks treated whites, when whites came to their neighborhood.

The video below shows a participant asking Akbar Ganji about the minority issue, and why this seems to be unimportant to the Green Movement.

[**major apologies on the shoddy subtitling**]

After the Q&A I asked the questioner if he was hopeful about what Ganji said and he said no. He’s seen this too many times, but he hopes his wrong. I hope he is too. I hope Ganji will start talking about the minority issue and at least give it some space in Iran debate—it doesn’t have to be that big of a space but just something to signal acknowledgement of the wrong happening.

I post this video to ask you, my readers, to hold Ganji accountable. The next time you hear him or  Green Movement leader speaking, please don’t give them a pass and think, oh they have suffered so much—yes that is very true but there are those who are suffering in silence—ask them about the minority issue. Ask them about the Azerbaijanis, the Kurds, Baluchs, Baha’is, all those religious and ethnic minorities. Ask them what they will do when they do get a democratic Iran. Because all who enjoy some amount of public/social, power and status do need public accountability.

The language issue is a contentious one in Iran. Some Persians don’t get it and some Azerbaijanis can’t understand why or how they don’t get it. Abbas Djavadi of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who is Azerbaijani, in recent article made a case for the insignificance of language rights by some Azerbaijanis in Iran. The argument made many upset, in and out of Iran. I have observed much online arguments on this issue and I know there is much turmoil brewing. Reza Baraheni believes that if these rights are not honored and respected war is inevitable. I really hope this is not our strategy—where we allow Iran to eat itself alive and then carve it out piece by piece as if we were doing them a favor.

We need, somehow, respectfully, to get Iran to budge. We may not like who’s in power at the movement, but they are what we have and we need to figure out how to reason with them. After all America has been guilty of some atrocities in the past with respect to its minorities, no one came in and booted out our government. The pressure from within became an embarrassment and we changed. Let us help that pressure in Iran. Let us talk about all human rights violations, not just the popular, “cool” ones like torture, women’s rights, stoning, etc. Let’s question the Green Movement on their reluctance to acknowledge the minority issue. Because when we do this, we would be securing justice for all and not just a select few.

“That’s human rights!” Margaret Morgan had been visiting with a friend and was being introduced to family pictures when her friend, Esperenza (not real name), pointed to a few individuals and said they were “disappeared.” Disappeared is a term Amnesty International (AI) helped make popular in the human rights field. It refers to loved ones who were/are kidnapped, stolen, or imprisoned by the government or rebel groups (largely in South American countries). Margaret shares this story with me to help me understand the value of having others speak-up about the injustices experienced by political prisoners all over the world.

She spoke to me on her birthday—she is 85 years young!—about her life, her work with Amnesty International and her work with ADAPP.

One of it’s early members, Morgan joined Amnesty International before it came to Canada—while it was just beginning in London. “My husband was a very principled man and I always felt that if we were living in Russia or elsewhere, he would have been jailed” such an honest answer for a lifelong commitment to an organization that demands justice for those whose rights have been violated. She recalls Peter Benenson and other AI members providing heart medicine for a polish prisoner and smiles “funny I just sent some money for heart medicine to a Singapore political prisoner.”

In addition to her many activities she still finds time to sit on ADAPP’s board as the President of the Board to directors. She spoke to me about the Cause—you get to watch the video below!—and highlighted the value of generating support. “We need money,” she told me candidly. The board is working on a charitable status application, but that will take years and she is uncertain how ADAPP will keep going without substantial funding. It is sobering thinking that an organization like ADAPP could be kept from operating , what will happen to all those political prisoners jailed because they are demanding their cultural and linguistic rights. True there are several Iranian human rights groups, and some are effective, but they do not speak to the core of the issue: an inherent racism that keeps minorities marginalized and oppressed. Iranian Government jails, tortures, and sometimes kills its citizens for things we non-Iranians take for granted.

Many of us know about the Green Movement, Iranians filling up streets demanding fair elections. The Green Movement gained international prominence thanks to Western coverage. However, three years before little was reported on hundreds, thousands of Iranians who also flooded city streets demanding justice from their government. These Iranians were from the Azerbaijani region…and their ethnic group is not in power. Is that why they matter little to the Western media? (One does acknowledge the time period of the elections fueled the intense media coverage, compared to a cartoon crisis.) Human rights are about making others see the error of their ways and working to help stop injustices. It is also about making us care about others far, far away. Supporting groups like ADAPP is a way to do this.  And Margaret is working to get this message out.

As she walked away from our coffee shop, she prods me to follow-up on some ADAPP ideas I mentioned, saying nothing ventured anything gained— sage advice from one who always ventures out on behalf of those who cannot.

Margaret Recommends:

The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

(Perennial/Harper Collins, 1989)

(Profile 1 of ADAPP supporters)

“Salaam, haleh shoma?” I received this warm greeting from Reza Baraheni, the revered and celebrated Iranian Poet and Writer. Of course, I met this with nervous laughter as my mind blanked on the little Persian/Farsi I knew and then he reverted to English, graciously allowing me to save face.

An incredibly gracious soul, Dr. Baraheni talked to me—for quite a while, over 2hours—about his remarkable past and hopeful future. Born in 1935 in the Iranian Azerbaijani city of Tabriz, he knew at a young age that he would fall in love with languages. Unfortunately, no one could foretell that the world in which he lived would orphan his native Azeri-Turkish language and put him at odds with subsequent Iranian governments. Thus, a human rights activist was born.

A passionate advocate for the oppressed minorities of Iran, Baraheni feels strongly that for Iran to succeed as a country its leaders must embrace democratic and federalist ideals, “a sort of United States of Iran or a Federated States of Iran…that’s the only way” he says. And one has to oblige him on this point, after all he is still standing after living through 3 hostile governments.

“Freedom without any limitation and any exception”(a quote from the Writer’s Association of Iran, which Baraheni co-founded)

In light of the CRNI award in June I asked him what he felt about an artist’s right to freedom of expression.  A passionate response followed highlighted by an explanation that a creative person is not a racist person, with a demand for the CRNI awardees (see past entry on the CRNI award) to apologize to Azerbaijani Iranians. He likens the oppression Azerbaijanis in Iran face to the prejudice and racism American blacks faced in centuries past. “It is a kind of mental constipation,” he says.

However, listening to Baraheni—which is also your good fortune, as the (severely chopped) recorded conversation is below—I come away with a new-found sense of how veteran human rights activists weather the stormy decades of injustice. They just wait, because they know that in the end they’ll win. Hopeful words from a man who has suffered and seen much injustice.

A longer version of this interview will air on Vancouver’s Radio Co-op, Odlar Yurdu at http://www.coopradio.org/content/odlar-yurdu

Books of Interest (by Baraheni)

Le Mystères de mon Pays (Razha-ye Sarzamin-e Man [1987])

A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the intertwined relationship of the U.S. and Iran, pre-1979 and pre-1953 in an unpoliticized manner.

NOTE: His daughter has just finished translating it to English and they are on the search of an English publisher.

God’s Shadow: Prison Poems

(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976)

Written after Baraheni’s imprisonment and torture under the Shah.

The Crowned Cannibals: Writings on Repression in Iran

(New York: Vintage Books, 1977)

A riveting and descriptive narrative of Baraheni’s 102 days in the prison.

Other books:

Iran and the Challenge of Diversity: Islamic Fundamentalism, Aryanist Racism, and Democratic Struggles by Alireza Asgharzadeh

(Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

A Baraheni pick on what non-Iranians should read to understand the atrocities facing oppressed nationalities in Iran.

Iran: Between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian

( Princeton University Press, 1982)

Abrahamian is a widely-respected historian on Iran.

Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity by Brenda Schaffer

(MIT Press, 2002)

On August 14, several Canadians (and non-Canadians) hiked to the top of Grouse Mountain, a popular Vancouver attraction. If you are from Vancouver, you may dismiss this and say it happens all the time. If you’re not from the city you wonder, what the commotion is about. Bear with me as I offer more context.

This was not just any regular hike, it was one with a cause with its roots in Iran. For years, Azerbaijanis in Iran hike up to Babek Castle to celebrate national hero, Babek Khorramdin who defended Iran against Arab invaders. Hiking up the mountain is of high symbolic importance for Azerbaijanis, as Babek was also Azerbaijani. For participants of this hike, it is about “survival and resistance of an entire people in defiance of an internal colonial force determined to annihilate its very existence.” It is also about courage under fire as this celebration is meticulously met with Government oppression (see Amnesty International statement and ADAPP Monthly Report). It is no wonder Azerbaijanis feel second-class in their own home.

I was fortunate enough to be at the inception of the Vancouver commemoration. Azerbaijanis in Vancouver, in show of solidarity decided to organize its first ever GROUSE GRIND HIKE FOR AZERBAIJANI EQUAL RIGHTS IN IRAN. We created a facebook event, a YouTube announcement, drafted a statement (see video below), made t-shirts, and hiked-up to the top of Grouse Mountain to demand basic rights for all, especially the Azerbaijanis—who are the largest minority in Iran, over 20million, by some conservative estimates.

Yes, it was fun, exciting, although there was a time I was certain I would not make it up the mountain—this beast is a very, very, very, steep 2.9km trail (almost 2 miles). But my companions didn’t let me bail, besides how would I report on this historic event if I did!

On a somber note, as we passed the ¾ mark, we met an Iranian of Persian heritage with whom I had a long conversation. The gist of it was he didn’t understand why Azerbaijanis were unwilling to support Iran’s Green Movement—a seemingly national opposition group. I tried to communicate that it was not because Azerbaijanis don’t want change, but the change the seek is innate—freedom to celebrate their heritage. Azerbaijanis have been dealing with Government oppression for almost a century and are well-versed on empty promises. For all its gravitas, the Green Movement is yet to discuss the issues faces ethnic minorities, and that reads loud and clear for most Azerbaijanis (look out for my next entry, where I get to meet Akbar Ganji). However, I don’t speak for all Azerbaijanis, I know several are still holding out hope that this issue will still get address by the darling movement of the West. (I should mention that we met some other Persians on our way who were quite supportive of our cause as well.)

Here is the statement read by one of the organizers:

“…If you’re a Baha’i I’m sorry, get out of Iran…” –Rick Steves

Steves’ statement resurfaced when I saw the 20-year sentence verdict for seven Iranian Baha’i individuals. The Baha’i religion is forbidden in Iran—an Islamic theocracy. (For more on the state of this religion see this site.)

For some years now, these Seven were imprisoned, first for about a year with no charges and then later with: with spying for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic. Tough to swallow when there is credible evidence that this is mostly due to their religious affiliation. These individuals are older, so there is reason to believe they may not live through a twenty-year sentence.

The Seven

The Seven

The whole situation is very difficult. Iran has its own rules and there is the ethical question of how to thread without imposing on its sovereignty. Steves suggests Baha’is should just evacuate the country, but I suspect this may be perceived as callous and insensitive, especially with those who have deep roots in Iran. The concern is that there is nothing in the Iranian Constitution providing their safety, so they are definitely at-risk no matter how you look at it. The Azerbaijanis have the Iranian Constitution on their side and they are still being persecuted and marginalized, how much more when your religious freedom is unrecognized?

ADAPP is committed to equal rights in Iran for all. Their team understands that as they advocate freedom for their community they must also support and advocate any other community that experiences hardship.  In preparing this post, I went digging for some Azerbaijani Baha’is—a definite double whammy, non?—to profile, but realized that it would jeopardize their security as well. As horrible as this may read, a reality is these leaders have media on their side, Shirin Ebadi is their lawyer and many sites and countries, including the one below—have been covering their story. One hopes that some good will be realized soon—after all hope is all we have.

So, I implore you to take action with me and do the following:

*****Sign the petition to Release Baha’i Prisoners in Iran*******

****Support Facebook Page Free Azerbaijanis Prisoners in Iran******

****Support Facebook Page Free Said Matinpour****

##

———————————————————————————————————

Courtesy Persian2English

Prison Time Totals 140 Years for Seven Leaders of the Baha’i Community

August 08, 2010

Follow-ups | German | Human Rights | Prisoners & Their Families | Religious Persecution

Deutsche Übersetzung auf Julias Blog lesen

Original Report in Persian by CHRR | August 8, 2010
Translation ABU XALES for Persian2English.com

Last modified: August 10, 2010

The Committee of Human Rights Reporters announced that seven former leaders of the Baha’i community were each sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court.

On August 10th, the RAHANA website reported that although it appears that all seven of the Baha’i leaders were transferred to prison, there is no information available on the location of Fariba Kamalabadi and Mehrnoosh Sabetfrom.

Jamaleddin Khanjani, Anif Naeimi, Saeed Rezaei, Behrouz Tavakoli, and Vahid Tizfahm were transferred to Rajai Shahr prison (I.e. Gohardasht prison).

According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, six of the Baha’i leaders were arrested when security forces raided their homes on May 15, 2008. Mehrnoosh Sabet, was arrested on March 6, 2007.

The Bahai’i leaders were detained for the past two years on illegal temporary detention orders. Their trials were postponed several times, and after several court sessions throughout the months, they received heavy prison sentences.

##

Planning your next trip?    Put Tabriz and Ardabil, cities in Iran, on your list!

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee selected the Tabriz Historical Bazaar Complex and Ardabil’s’ Shiekh Safi al-Din Khanegah and Shrine Ensemble as World Heritage Sites at its 34^th (July 25-August 4) meeting in Brazil. Both sites are in the northwest region of Iran’s Azerbaijan.  ADAPP news made the announcement earlier today.

The selection process started in 2008 and with UNESCO’s welcome decision, Iranians everywhere can celebrate what they have always known: world significance in all things cultural, scientific, and educational.

Of more significance is an apparent avowal by current Iranian leadership of Azerbaijani influence on Iran’s cultural, economical, and socio-political heritage. Ask most Azerbaijanis (in Iran or the Diaspora) and they’ll tell of the significant contributions their ethnic group has made to Iran long before the country embraced the name. One would assume that such an important ethnic group would enjoy its flourishing history in the land that has been their home for centuries. A logical assumption, but reality often seems to contradict assumptions, no matter how basic.

Azerbaijanis can’t even speak their native language in schools, as all education and Iranian quotidian are in Persian/Farsi. Azerbaijanis suffer racism and prejudice just because of their heritage. Consider “Iran’s finest living poet” Dr. Reza Baraheni—who was forced to link the ink of the paper on which he had written his native Azeri-Turkic—shared about the plight of Azerbaijanis in Iran:

“Little is more traumatic than the suppression of one’s mother tongue. … Racial or ethnic suppression of the mother tongue can never be total, because you use it with your family, and friends. But the dominant language and its culture (in my case Persian) are imposed on you, supplanting your mother tongue and culture (mine is Azeri, a Turkic language), labeling it the language and culture of traitors.”[i]

If the language and culture of Azerbaijanis are treacherous, then the same should be for the contributions, i.e. the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Of course, that won’t happen. Nevertheless, one hopes that as these sites have been accorded world respect, the Azerbaijani people of Iran will soon get world attention and equal rights in their home country. The international community should feel compelled to speak out against this suppression and help the Iran’s leadership understand the futility of suppressing minority rights.

Congratulations to the Iranian Azerbaijanis and Congrats to the nation of Iran!

Baraheni, Reza. 1998. “The Poet as Prisoner: Language and Creative Imagination in Exile.” In Reflections Summer:21-24, p. 22

So, now most Americans are up on their Football (aka Soccer) basics—i.e., the World LOVES Football and for some tis the almost the air they breathe, just ask the South Americans or even the Africans! In Iranian Azerbaijan, they love their football, but more importantly love and want equal rights with the dominant Persian group. Enter the Tiraxtur FC.

Tiraxtur Sazi matches are a fascinatingly sad scene—Azerbaijani fans demanding equal rights.

A top team that gathers a crowd—this video claims more than 120, 000 in and out of the stadium—founded in 1970 with the official name Teraktor Sazi Tabriz Football Club. Yes, there are several variances to the name, but my Azerbaijani sources tell me they prefer to use (and spell) as Tiraxtur.

ADAPP News disseminated the news of yesterday’s protest in Tabriz. (Click here to subscribe!) The first media article (there are several citizen-sources) is available at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty site and I’ve also included it below.

The gist of this story: Azerbaijanis are tired, frustrated, and simply just want the same rights we all enjoy. The Government and the dominant Persian group owe them at least that much. However, hope on this might be dim as the Tiraxtur team is prohibited from having fans in attendance for its next two matches. Something tells me fans will find another way to support and demand equal rights. And here’s hoping the international community hears their voices.

—————————————————————————————————————————

Demonstrators Demand Right To Education In Azeri Turkish
August 02, 2010

On August 1, some 2,000 to 3,000 people demonstrated in the northern Iranian city of Tabriz to demand the right to be educated in Azeri Turkish and to condemn what they called “discrimination against Azeri Turks in Iran.”

The demonstrators shouted, “Everybody has the right of education in their
mother language,” and, “Long live Azerbaijan, to hell with whomever dislikes
us.”

One of the participants in the protest, Akbar, told RFE/RL that shortly
after the demonstration started, members of the Basij militia — many of
them dressed in civilian clothes — attacked protesters, beating dozens and
arresting at least 12.

The demonstration was reportedly organized by fans of the Tabriz-based
soccer team Tractor, which played a game on July 27 in Tehran against
Persepolis. Akbar said that during the game, fans of Persepolis shouted
abusive slogans against the team from Tabriz, as well as “abusive and
insulting slogans against Azeri Turks in general,” which resulted in clashes
between the two sides.

The Iranian news agency IRNA reported that some 35,000 people attended the match, which ended with a 1-0 victory for Persepolis. The agency reported that damage to the stadium totaled some $200,000 but did not mention the unrest.

The disciplinary committee of Iran’s soccer federation sentenced the Tractor
team to play two games without fans in attendance and Persepolis to play one
game.

##

———————————————————————————————————

Elnaz Babazadeh was kidnapped, beaten, raped, and murdered earlier this month in Tabriz, an Iranian city that’s an Azerbaijani stronghold. The earliest online news reports show information for July 12. However, it is believed she had been missing about a week before as her parents found her body at a local morgue.

The ugly truth is Elnaz was treated with evil disregard and the Western media has been largely silent. Elnaz was murdered for wearing her hijab (Islamic headscarf) inappropriately. My guess is she was wearing it but it didn’t cover her whole head—something quite common, see “Tehran” image and Saghar Daeeri link below.

Her murderers—young men belonging to the notorious Basij (a shady class of law enforcement)—were released shortly after being arrested. It was supposedly a “misunderstanding.” A misunderstanding is when negotiations fail because both sides see things differently. A misunderstanding is NOT beating, raping, and shooting a young woman, point blank, because she failed to wear her headscarf the proper way.

What makes this all the more painful is the lack of media dissemination in non-Iranian news outlets. Google searches (and other sites) produce little to nothing about this news report. The non-reporting gives credence to the Iranian government and its conspiracy-theory supporters about how the West turns a blind eye to human rights violations, except when it suits them of course.

It makes little sense. Last year the all media outlets, from CNN to Fox news were saturated with Neda Agha-Soltan’s story—the young woman who was gunned down at a rally. Pain is pain, thus there will be no comparisons, however, the question is: WHY? Why, after two weeks is there still no significant news story, except the LA Times Babylon and Beyond entry, which addressed the issue as a sub-point under the Sakineh stoning. True there are so many human rights violations occurring daily, and it is sometimes impossible to report all of it. Nevertheless, this one could have been reported too!

Some, like the Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement (SANAM), believe the lack of interest is due to its location, Tabriz, a predominantly non-Persian region and with an offender whose father is a high-ranking Revolutionary Guard member. Little of this sort of crime seem to happen in Tehran for all its “bad hijab” styles (see above image by Saghar Daeeri). Why?

Tehran: Your Stereotypical "Bad Hijab"--courtesy Saghar Daeeri

Tehran: Your Stereotypical "Bad Hijab"--courtesy Saghar Daeeri

SANAM’s argument is plausible considering that ADAPP exists to voice human rights violations happening to Azerbaijanis in Iran. Granted Elnaz was no political activist—and neither was Neda—and there is no viral video of the atrocious crime, this is still a human rights violation of enormous proportions.  Why wasn’t this story explored, investigated, and disseminated? True, Iran is a sovereign country, (I feel the need to always mention this, as the subject of human rights is prickly for Iran and world leaders) but that does not tie the hands of other nations in discussing such tragic events. It is no wonder there is such back and forth when it comes to discussing human rights on the international stage. Each side calls a bluff, because leaders lack integrity.

And the kicker:  well, a few days later, news-blog sites Persian2English and the Human Rights Activists News Agency, report that Iran’s Interior Minister, Mustafa Mohammed Najjar, orders a crackdown on “bad hijab.”

"Bad-Hijab" Police: Where was this woman when Elnaz was being violated???

"Bad-Hijab" Police: Where was this woman when Elnaz was being violated???

This may sound naïve, even foolish, but one must entertain the thought that Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Khamenei do not about Elnaz’s tragic end. They could not, because they too are fathers, and fathers, no matter how strict, would never condone such evil–and neither does the Quran.

Please, if you can, share this news, send it to whoever is in a position to publicize it. Elnaz should not be swept under the rug.

Thank you.

Eighty-five percent of the rugs we term “Persian” are actually Azerbaijani, made in the cities of Tabriz, Ardabil and Heriz in Iran. They are the rugs most people use on their floors. Why is it so important to share this? Persian, Azerbaijani, same difference. Non. Very different.

Right now, I’ve observed that most people use Persia and Iran interchangeably. According to several non-Persian Iranians this is incorrect.

Consider these ill-fitting parallels:

• One wouldn’t say only Whites and Blacks live in America, right? We are, now, aware of the Native American Indian narrative, which is pre-White, Black, etc, history in America.

• Yorubas might possibly be the most popular tribe from Nigeria, but one wouldn’t interchange Yoruba-Land with Nigeria. The other Nigerian peoples would have a cow!

• Punjabi culture is big in Bollywood movies—a major Indian export—but you hardly hear Punjab substituted for India.

Somewhere in the past, starting with Reza Shah in the 1920s, Persia and Persian got equated with Iran, and the narrative of several peoples was rewritten. Today in Iran, the Persianization of minds, cultures, and peoples is encroaching on others, the designated minorities and it is robbing them of their histories.

Thought my new revelation with the rugs might be a nice foray into racial politics that exists in Iran. Past Fellow, Farzin Farzad has fair bit of moss on this issue. The thrust of this entry is the dispossession of the narrative of another. Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, talks about the destructive power of a single story. The video below is an honest narrative on the landscape of international attitudes.

Sometimes we’re perpetrators in the single story, sometimes we are bystanders, and sometimes we are the victims. Nevertheless, we can stop it. We can stop it with information and re-telling a more complete story (notice I didn’t say incorrect, most stories do have an element of truth—just not the whole truth). The Persian narrative is part of the Iranian story, but so also is the Azerbaijani narrative, and the Kurds (you hear about them in the American media because of their influence, even though they are less than Azerbaijanis), Baluchs, Arabs, Turkmens, and more. Iranians need a complete story. Moreover, we, the non-Iranians, can help by stopping the perpetuation of the single story.

Therefore, the next time you hear someone say “Persian rug” ask them where exactly in Iran it comes from, you might just be getting an “Azerbaijani rug.”

F.O.D (Face of the Disempowered)

Aydin Khajeyi

Aydin Khajeyi

Aydin Khajeyi, Tabriz University Law student, was arrested (again) on May 19. He is charged with  threatening national security by being a GAMOH member (Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement, [SANAM]). A recent jail returnee, Khajeyi just completed a 1-year sentence in November 10, 2009 at the Tabriz prison—for moderating the Azerbaijan Student Movement (AZOH) website. He also has a suspended 2-year sentence within an unknown probationary prison period, something authorities have neglected provide. This has grown incredibly problematic with his May 19 arrest, as authorities could increase the suspended 2-year sentence and even mandate a much longer probationary period. (In Iran, government penalties are very severe and complicated. For example, Khajeyi’s initial suspended 2-year sentence could have a 5-year probationary period in which he is not to engage in any activity the government deems criminal or he would serve the 2 years in prison.) In sum, he must lead a repressed and government-controlled life for at least 5 years, even after his 1-year imprisonment.