Maurice writes: ‘Delete me from your contact list… I really don’t care about the Middle East and its people!!!’
Maryam Namazie responds: Maurice, you should care about the people in the Middle East because they are doing your dirty work.
You are most likely on my mailing list because of an interest in Sharia law. Well, the people there are on the frontlines of the battle against the political Islamic movement. They are the ones that are stuck in ditches and stoned; hung in city centres from cranes for being gay or for ‘acts incompatible with chastity;’ flogged for organising May Day rallies; tortured and murdered for being political opponents or apostates; and daily losing their children and loved ones to this machinery of terror.
All because of a movement that was incidentally brought to centre stage by Western government policy of establishing an Islamic belt vis-à-vis the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Despite the decades of repression, though, they continue to refuse and resist.
Today, Students’ Day in Iran is a good case in point. Tens of thousands came out onto the streets across Iran to demand an end to dictatorship and for freedom. Hundreds were arrested and many more wounded.
There are many video clips that you should see of today’s protests and many others that the western media fails to cover but I want you to see just one of them. In this one, a woman is hit in the face by a policeman; she falls to the ground. A man rushes to her aid and is beaten (remember he does this even though it is illegal for men and women who are not immediate family to touch each other because of compulsory sex apartheid). Another woman rushes to protect the young man who once again goes to the aid of the woman who had fallen to the ground.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd3CEUJxxR0&hl=en&fs=1&]
This brief video clip captures a passing glimpse of the brutality of the Islamic regime of Iran but also more importantly the courageous resistance and humanity of the unfolding revolution that will bring the regime to its knees and herald a new dawn not just for people in the Middle East but for you as well.
A humanity that you would do well to learn from.
Excellent response.
While Maurice is perfectly within his right to proclaim his apathy for others less fortunate, sadly his attitude mirrors that of many people here in the Western world. It seems that as long as its " not in my backyard " – it may as well not even be happening. This is precisely the type of thinking & attitude of indifference that makes the struggle for human rights so much harder than it could be.
Much thanks, appreciation & respect to you Maryam – and the untold millions who stand up for human rights & others who endure a daily life under totalitarian regimes.