Siyavash Shahabi
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2024: The Year of Gradual Collapse of Labor Rights
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In a year when nearly half of the world’s population is expected to vote, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has released a report that goes beyond just another annual overview of labor conditions. The 2024 Global Rights Index doesn’t just map how labor rights are respected or violated in…
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Guernica in Tehran: From Anti-War Icon to Tool of Hypocrisy
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In a time when the world is blurred by the smoke and fire of wars, the exhibition of one of the most famous anti-war paintings of the 20th century—Guernica by Pablo Picasso—in Tehran is not just ironic; it’s a symbolic disaster. Guernica was created in memory of the brutal bombing…
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Iran’s Truck Drivers Strike Over Fuel, Pay, and Corruption
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Since 18 May 2025, truck drivers across Iran have turned off their engines — not out of road fatigue, but out of deep frustration with broken promises, rising costs, and an economy shaped by corruption and neglect. What started in the southern port of Bandar Abbas quickly spread to more…
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Two Planes, Two Billion Lies: Iran’s Surrender to Beijing
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China frequently asserts its dedication to respecting national sovereignty and fostering equitable development. In official statements, Chinese leaders emphasize principles like mutual respect, non-interference, and peaceful coexistence. For instance, the Chinese government has declared: “China’s resolve to develop friendship and cooperation with all countries will not change. We will actively…
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Narratives and Realities: Why Kashmir Doesn’t Fit the Script
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I’ve followed Sahasranshu Dash for some time—initially through his public posts and online commentary. What drew me in was his clarity: sharp, unapologetic, and willing to cut through ideological noise. But it was after the April 22, 2025, suicide attack in Kashmir that his reflections began to carry a heavier…
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A Theology of Rebellion: A Muslim Woman’s Revolt from Within
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What happens when a Muslim woman says no to the forced hijab? What if that woman is not a secular activist or a Western journalist, but a religious scholar, a poet, and a former member of the Iranian Islamic parliament? This article introduces a Persian-language book by Sedigheh Vasmaghi, a…
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The Racism of Anti-Racists: Bourdieu, Said, and Inverted Orientalism
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There’s a kind of violence that doesn’t wear a uniform, doesn’t raise its voice, and doesn’t need to spill blood to be effective. It speaks in well-published books, sits on academic panels, tweets in solidarity, and signs petitions. It insists on cultural understanding. It warns against Western arrogance. It tells…
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What Happened to Protection?
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I have lived in Athens for eight years. Long enough to know its rhythms, and long enough to watch the word “protection” disappear. Every headline speaks of “illegal immigration,” every policy turns arrival into suspicion. The system doesn’t ask why you came—it asks how. And in that shift, survival becomes…
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They Made Her a Metaphor, Then Made Her Illegal
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I still remember the first time I watched Baran. It was 2001. That film did something rare—it showed us what we already knew but refused to admit: that Afghan migrants were building our cities, stone by stone, and sleeping in their shadows. In those years, I saw the world behind…
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Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi and the EU’s Assault on Asylum Rights
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A Saudi Arabian dissident has been languishing in a Bulgarian detention center for over three years despite court orders for his release. Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi, an exiled pro-democracy activist, remains under threat of forced deportation to Saudi Arabia. His case has raised alarms among human rights organizations, which point to legal…
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The Explosion in Iran: A Mirror of a Rotten System
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According to the statics, following the explosion at Shahid Rajaei Port, 46 people have so far lost their lives, and according to the emergency services, 1,242 people have been injured. Of these, 240 have been hospitalized in Hormozgan Province hospitals, and 7 have been admitted to hospitals in Shiraz. Despite…
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From Kolbar to ‘Terrorist’: How the Islamic Regime Manufactures Enemies
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Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heydaranlou was a 39-year-old Kurdish man from a small village called Segrik, near Chaldoran in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. He was a husband, a father of three children, and someone who worked hard just to survive. Like many other Kurdish men in his region, he was a kolbar…
