Category: Journal
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What Happened to Protection?
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 a crime. When I crossed…
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They Made Her a Metaphor, Then Made Her Illegal
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 the fences. I walked through…
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Banners in the Wind, Walls at the Border
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 to school, about poverty, about…
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Geopolitics and Social Movements in Post-2023 Iran
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 under the cover of anti-imperialism.…
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Your Values Burned the World
There is something about this crazy simplification. There’s no such thing as “Western values.” That clean, polished idea never really existed. The West wasn’t handed down from the sky. It was built through war, slavery, blood, and fire. Without that brutal history, it wouldn’t be what it is today. Even the Enlightenment (often praised as…
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National Conflict, Netanyahu, and Iran’s Revolutionary Future
The slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” represents a political movement that emerged in Iran with significant implications for the entire Middle East. It was a progressive and radical moment in recent regional history. However, it cannot be understood in isolation. It must be seen as part of a broader process of civil resistance and political mobilization…
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We Were Never Meant to Belong
Photo: Refugee temporary accommodation by IOM, Athens, November 17, 2020. In Iran, when the last days of a administrative come around, they do not go out with humility. No. They celebrate. They build stages and stand behind microphones, handing each other awards and shaking hands like they just saved the country. Ministers smile into cameras,…
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The Monarchist-IRGC Bloc and the Suppression of Iran’s Opposition
The polarization of Iranian society is intensifying. What is unfolding is not a chaotic battle of competing factions but a deliberate convergence of reactionary forces. The IRGC and monarchist groups, though seemingly at odds in ideological rhetoric, are engaged in a joint effort to eliminate political dissidents. The IRGC carries out repression through direct security…
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The MEK: Ghosts of the Past, Agents of the Present
During the tumultuous days of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, one absence was glaring—the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an organization that otherwise seizes every opportunity to wave its banners and flood European streets with hollow slogans. In Vienna and other European cities, where protests erupted daily, the MEK was nowhere to be found. This was no…
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The Sacred Fig and the Death of Patriarchy
I watched The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof at an alternative cinema in old town of Bern. They’re saying it’s up for the Best International Feature at the Oscars, and honestly, I see why. The story follows Iman, a man who’s spent 21 years serving the regime. He’s just been promoted to…
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The Machinery of Death and the Myth of Resistance
The ceasefire is not a gift from Donald Trump. It’s the result of a temporary exhaustion of the machinery of death. Killing costs money, after all, and even the West can only dress up its carnage as a fight against terror for so long before the façade starts to crack. There’s also the matter of…
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Strategic Depth or Internal Collapse? Iran’s Military Obsession
The Shah’s relentless militarization, symbolized by his obsession with F-14 fighter jets, showcased a regime entrenched in contradictions. It prioritized external threats over internal stability, pouring resources into military Keynesianism while neglecting fundamental needs like healthcare, education, and infrastructure. This militarized economy deepened social inequalities and fueled repression, leaving Iran’s workers, peasants, and students marginalized…
