Burning Iran

By Alex

A distant relative of mine who goes by the name The Omid (yeah, it's weird, whatever) just sent me these photos from Iran. He’s a photographer and described the current situation as chang, which means "war" in Farsi. When some of my family members hit the election booths on June 12th, the ballot-boxes were already overflowing with fake ballot papers. The Omid's been going to the protests every day since.

Vice: What’s going on there?

The Omid: We’re demonstrating every day and a lot of people lost their lives, but...

…but?

That’s what we have to pay for our freedom. For some people that actually means giving their life to the cause.

Can you describe the feeling of being out with these masses of people in the streets of Teheran every day?

You feel strong and weak at the same time. You know, snipers could kill you any minute, but we have kept quiet for such a long time and never bothered the Mullahs… Now our time has come.

What can other countries do for you?

The people have to start the revolution. We’re not weak. It’s definitely possible, but many of us have been paralysed with fear. All of my friends set out every day to free their country. It’s beautiful and terrible at the same time. You chancellor, your Mrs. Merkel… please tell the Germans that her speech was amazing.

One last word, what’s the thing you want the most?

Freedom.

Most people only go out during the night because that’s when snipers have problems with their sight.

You can hear “Allaho Akbar“ (God is great) from all rooftops. Every single night. It’s meant against the regime, but you can punish people for using the name of God.

If you grew up in Iran, chances are you had a childhood full of violence and oppression. It seems like things are finally starting to lighten up and there might finally be an end to this era.