Quelle: A Letter to Khamenei; An Ode to Majid Tavakoli
An image released by Iranian protesters for protests during Moharram that reads, "Ya Hossein" - symbolically remembering Hossein's stand against tyranny
Every now and then, you get an individual elevated to the rank of fuhrer, president-for-life or supreme leader that baffles you with his ignorance of history and logic. These men – let’s hope no woman ever sinks this low; more power to you, ladies – are so caught up in their own grandeur that they deny what’s right in front of them. They act as if they are somehow exempt from the laws that govern the universe and that they can bend them at will. You are one such example, Sayyed Ali Khamenei.
I am sure our great ancestor Imam Hossein would be ashamed to see you use our ancestry as a tool to brutalize the people of Iran. He died for the rights of the oppressed at the hands of Yazid. I’m glad he’s not alive to see you following on Yazid’s footsteps. People like you are the reason I don’t use the word ‘Sayyed’ which marks our ancestry before my name. For even though I share the same blood, I am shamed by cousins like you who have used that blood to enrich themselves instead of addressing the plight of the poor and the miserable.
I have been upset for days now since your goons picked up Majid Tavakoli on December 7 after he denounced your tyranny. They forced him to wear women’s clothing so that he would be shamed in front of the public. You portrayed him as a coward to beat up the drum of your own arrogance and vanity. But did you read what he wrote before he went to give that speech?
“Only two more days (to 16 Azar). I have spent ten exhausting days on the road with more than 100 hours of driving and now I have to leave for Tehran. Looking at my mother’s tearful eyes and father’s anxious glances and despite all the difficulties only the true wish for freedom can maintain my drive and steadfastness. And so once again I welcome and accept all the dangers, standing next to my friends with whom I am honored and proud to be on 16 Azar shoulder to shoulder we will shout against tyranny. For Freedom.”
You see, Khamenei, this is not a man who is afraid of you. Au contraire, you are afraid of HIM. But you are not afraid of him because of who he is. He is but a human being. He does not have laser vision to fry you with. He does not have super strength to crush your skull. He does not have an army to raze your palaces to the ground. You are afraid of him because he speaks the truth. And you are not the first to be afraid of the truth.
I’m not sure you took any history in school. You would have seen that all attempts to silence Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and our very own ancestor, Imam Hossein’s voice of truth was a monumental failure. Some truth-sayers died defending the innocent and the oppressed. Others spent decades in dark prison holes. But even after centuries, truth remains.
In a few days, the people of Iran would come out to the streets and mourn Imam Hossein’s death and celebrate his courage on the blistering sands of Karbala on the 10th of Moharram. Not because he was the grandson of the prophet, but because he stood for truth. And guess who they’ll denounce; those who tried to silence him. Don’t you see, he may have died, but truth did not. Surely ignorant minds like yours would assume that by killing him, his oppressors were victorious. After all, they massacred his entire family and friends.
Ah, but wait. Truth is not a person. It is a concept. It is immortal. You cannot imprison it. You cannot torture it. You cannot put it on trial. And you certainly cannot kill it. You’re not the first to try this. Others have already failed – all of them.
This is what surprises me about all supreme leaders, fuhrers and presidents-for-life. How could someone as ignorant as yourself who does not understand this simple fact ever gets to be the Supreme Leader of a nation that has so irrevocably embraced this golden rule? Etch it on your frontal lobe, Khamenei; the universal rule that truth shall always triumph will not break simply because you want it to.
Majid Tavakoli and the people of Iran understand this. That is why they are out on the streets demanding justice, knowing full well that you will have no mercy upon them while they’re at it. You know who they remind me of? Take a wild guess. The man happened to be our ancestor after all. These brave men and women are the true descendants of Imam Hossein. They may not have his blood, but they have embraced his life and his love for truth. Now Majid Tavakoli is someone Imam Hossein would be proud of if he were alive.
You, Khamenei, have drained your body of the sacred blood of that great man. Instead, you have received a transfusion of Yazid’s ideals. And when the time comes when you are not Supreme Leader anymore – the day for which I have been longing -, history will not mention your name as a descendant of Imam Hossein – but as a bastard child of Yazid. It’s already happening.
Humbled by the courage of Iranians,
Josh Shahryar
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