I see the lines of my compatriots marching towards a square in Tehran that was once called Shahyad (which means “In Remembrance of the Shah” in Persian) and then renamed Azadi (Freedom). In his last moments on the Iranian soil, the Shah saw the crowds from above in bewilderment. They were shouting: We do not want you. He could not take it and left the country. Today, the new shah has chosen to commit suicide, rather than see, listen and leave. He committed suicide a few days ago.
A friend reached me on a slow Internet connection to tell me something: It was very strange! It was amazing. There were lines all the way across the city from the northern suburbs of Shemiran to Freedom square near the airport. Waves and waves of people. They held hands as a chain. They chanted: Do not be afraid, we are standing together.
He narrated what every body else around the world was also watching. He also said: It looked like the days in 1979, did it not?
I will share my response to him. In 1979 what moved us most was the zeal. Today however, while people are full of zeal, they are richer in wisdom. They have come out to say what they did not finish saying in 1979, which is: We are standing together and this is based on a principle. We have come here through our experience that the homework of democracy has to be done. It must be written a thousand times, with respect for the votes of others, and with the acceptance of the principle that the truth does not reside in us, but exists in all of us.
It is because of this experience that we know that there is no need for violence. Burning down the town is the work of government agents. It is for those who instead of distributing freedom, distribute potatoes and instead of kindness, project hatred in the small rooms where our students live. We know that buses belong to the whole nation; it is these gentlemen who do not understand that public property is not a personal belonging.
One must kneel in respect for our people. One must join the ocean. They must be heard, they must be talked with, one must kneel for their suffering and their courage. Anyone who respects others knows of such kneeling. He who does not, will be forced to kneel in respect. And we know there is a different in kneeling voluntarily out of respect, and kneeling because of force and pressure of reality.
The new Shah cannot see the millions on the march. He does not know that by taking revenge on Saeed Hajjarian [a political activist during Khatami’s administration who was shot at and permanently disabled through an assassination attack] he is only discrediting himself.
Didn’t this shah commit suicide yesterday? He did, and it is unfortunate that when a people tried to stop him from doing this through kindness, he did not hear them and instead joined the enemies of the people. And thus committed suicide.
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