Video above: Watch a reading in English of selected excerpts from Bamdad Bidar #1, by The RNL --Revolution, Nothing Less!-- Show.
IEC is honored to share a new cultural magazine, Bamdad Bidar, launched by Evin prisoners in a journey of resistance and hope.
The title in Farsi has multiple meetings. “Bamdad” often signifies a new day. It is also the time that executions are carried out in Iran, the punctuation point to their cellmates’ all-night vigil. The word “Bidar” means “Awake,” but when used as two words, “Bi Dar,” it means "No Noose." Our translation as “Awaken at Dawn / No to Nooses” aims to convey the richness heard by readers of the Farsi.
The magazine is a work of art and heart from prisoners in Evin Prison. It is full of visceral and poetic words, with hand-drawn illustrations full of the pain and rage of injustice but also full of humanity and the joy of righteous resistance.
Bamdad Bidar is a remarkable achievement for such a collective intellectual and cultural work to be produced anywhere, but especially from behind the walls of a hellhole dungeon called Evin. The original Farsi versions are available here as they are completed.
IEC volunteers have translated Issues 1 and 2 to English, available with the links below.
Bamdad Bidar #2
Bamdad Bidar #1
(Use the "Download for-print files" to make a booklet. Print 2-sided on 8.5" x11" paper. Large inner margin for binding.)
Bamdad Bidar #2
Bamdad Bidar #1
(Use the "Download for-print files" to make a booklet. Print 2-sided on 8.5" x11" paper. Large inner margin for binding.)
Bamdad Bidar #3
Translation to English is delayed due to current demands on IEC organizers.
The back cover of Bamdad Bidar #3 lays out:
In all the stories in this issue ... there is one common point: none of them were born murderers or criminals.
A society that did not heal its wounds, poverty, violence, and injustice that left no way out, and a judicial system that saw death as the easiest and quickest solution, all joined hands to end human life. The death penalty does not deter crime, heal families, reduce violence, or end suffering. It is only a wound of revenge that adds one pain to another.
We narrated it so that we would remember it. Behind every death sentence, there is a human being, with a story of a family with regrets that will always remain with the survivors. We told the story to believe that it is possible to break the cycle of violence and find a way to live instead of death.