irredenta

I’m in Toronto, spending some much-needed time with my family (well, with my parents really), and in full Iranian mode! The rise in activism of the Iranian community here is truly remarkable. This morning I went on a walk with my father and his makeshift ‘anjoman’ (assembly) of mostly distinguished, middle-aged Iranian men and women who meet on the weekends to discuss the news of the day coming out of Iran and then plan and coordinate efforts to do what they can from here. The anjoman has a secretary, an established fund (called the Sarmaye-e Mashruteh or the Constitutional Fund), a loose network of friends and family members acting as ‘eyes and ears’ as well as helping hands in Iran (in three provinces), and as of this morning a voting procedure (courtesy of yours truly!). 

I’ve been hearing about this group form my parents for some time now (ever since the stolen presidential elections in Iran, when an organizing meeting was spontaneously arranged), but I must admit that I was somewhat skeptical of its impact until this morning. I thought this was largely a feel-good group of educated emigres who were desperately looking for some sort of connection with their native country. But this morning, after hearing story after story about what the anjoman has actually accomplished in terms of helping dissidents leave the country, providing a safety net for the families of political prisoners (by sending money to family members or friends of the families in question), indirectly posting bail for the wrongfully accused, helping with asylum applications in countries as far away from Canada as Sweden, Norway, Holland, the UK, Turkey, Denmark, France and Germany, and even - this really touched my heart - employing people in Tehran to place flowers on the tombstones of those who were murdered in the aftermath of the elections in Tehran and other cities. After hearing about all this, I was really ashamed of having had doubts about the anjoman and their activities before. 

What is truly amazing about this group of compassionate souls, I must say, is their decidedly reserved and spontaneous attitude to things. To this day, they have refused to make a formal organization out of their gatherings. They want their gatherings to remain, as one of them told me, ‘a matter of impulse’ and not something ‘out of a bullshit sense of duty to country or some such nativist platitude’. They made a decision early on not to broadcast any of their deeds; if someone wanted to join and help, great - but no one would try and organize weekly meetings in town halls or anything like that. It would all have to remain a spontaneous ‘impulse’ with actual consequences on the ground. To be sure, the group does discuss politics and a variety of ideological views are represented - but they are united in their belief that when it comes to taking care of dissidents and their families and to honoring the memory of victims of this horrendous regime their political perspectives are of little relevance. They can help, and that’s all that matters.