When will Iran finally be free? |
An Iranian friend of mine once told me that ever since fleeing his homeland in the early days of Iran’s Islamic Republic, his grandfather had kept a packed suitcase by his front door, awaiting the day he may return. Alas, in his case, that day never came: the old man was buried before he could ever revisit the places and people he most cherished.
As a new wave of protests sweeps through Iran, nearly 47 years since the establishment of the current regime, once more I, and many other lovers of Iran but despisers of the Islamic Republic, find ourselves daring to hope again. Or, at least, hoping to dare to hope again. For, having seen previous uprisings so brutally crushed by the Iranian authorities, it has always seemed to me a frustratingly forlorn hope.
It’s the hope that kills you. As someone who loves Iran deeply, but has no Iranian blood, I can only imagine what it must be like for actual........