Siyavash Shahabi
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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…
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Mobile Surveillance and the War on Women’s Bodies in Iran
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In recent years, Iran has intensified its enforcement of compulsory hijab laws through the deployment of advanced surveillance technologies. While the national implementation of these laws has faced challenges and public resistance, certain regions, notably Isfahan, have become focal points for stringent enforcement measures. Isfahan, a major city in central…
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Structural Violence in the Islamic Regime’s Labor System
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Between 2021-22, 3,826 workers in Iran were killed in so-called “workplace accidents.” These deaths are not isolated tragedies or unfortunate errors of management—they are the logical outcome of a social order in which the working class is systematically denied the right to organize, to supervise, and to intervene in the…
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Banners in the Wind, Walls at the Border
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In late 2006, I took part in a small gathering in Sanandaj for World Children’s Day. We held signs that said children deserve education, not war—hardly a radical demand. Most of us were under 25. Some were students, some workers, some artists. We were thinking about Afghan children without access…
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How Germany Justifies Refugee Exploitation in Greece
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I followed the recent decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court closely—because it’s not just about one case. It’s about a system that people like me live under every day. The case was about an Afghan refugee who had already received protection status in Greece. He went to Germany, applied…
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Geopolitics and Social Movements in Post-2023 Iran
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The Islamic Republic built a tool and named it the “Axis of Resistance.” For three decades, it used this label to present itself as a force against Israel and in support of Palestinian liberation. This construction was not accidental. It served a strategic purpose: to expand the regime’s regional influence…
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Greece: Refugees Still Face Major Barriers to a Normal Life
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Even after receiving refugee status in Greece, daily life remains full of obstacles. The latest report by Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) and PRO ASYL confirms what many of us have already experienced: recognition on paper does not mean real protection or stability. As someone who has lived in Greece for…
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Iran–US: Against the War Camps
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Over the past 24 hours, diplomatic and military developments between the United States, Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran have intensified. While the headlines are shaped by threats of war, military buildups, and indirect diplomatic signaling, the underlying dynamics point to deeper strategic tensions that require clear and grounded…
