IEC received a short but heartwarming greeting to the October 17 poetry reading in Berkeley from Nasser Mohajer, author of Voices of a Massacre:Untold Stories of Life and Death in Iran, 1988.

Activist Mansoureh Behkish sent a substantial statement and shared two poems by the late Mitra Ebrahimi, below in an edited mechanical translation.

From Mansoureh Behkish, with warm greetings to the organizers of this program:

I am Mansoureh Behkish, a left-wing and feminist political activist who, nine years ago, was forced to take refuge in the Republic of Ireland, and three years ago became an Irish citizen, and live in Dublin.

Seven members of my family — a sister, four brothers, my sister's husband, and my brother's wife's brother — who were socialists and members of the Fedayi movement in Iran, were killed by the Islamic Republic of Iran in the 1980s, and the bodies of six of them have not been handed over to us; they are likely in individual or mass graves in Khavaran [Cemetery].

Until nine years ago, I was continuously subjected to arrest, interrogation, and threats by the government in Iran due to my activities, and when I came to Dublin to visit my daughter, they tried me in absentia in Iran and sentenced me to eleven and a half years in prison, and against my inner will I was compelled to remain in Ireland.

I am a member of the Mothers and Families of Khavaran and a member of the Mothers of Laleh Park of Iran, who for years have been striving to build a humane and just world, to uncover the truth and seek justice, to prevent the repetition of crimes, to abolish the death penalty, and to eliminate all forms of discrimination and to achieve freedom, equality, democracy, and social justice. Outside the country, I am also active with left-wing and feminist political activists to build alliances and become a more powerful voice, so that we can amplify the voice of independent and progressive movements in Iran and make it heard by the world — especially in these horrifying conditions in which right-wing currents have taken control of all the media and press and do not allow the voice of independent, progressive, and left-wing movements in Iran to be heard.

The fate of the people of Iran must be determined by themselves and by independent, progressive, and democratic movements in Iran — not through war and bombardment and from above by fascists and governments that think only of their own power and wealth and are driving the world to the edge of destruction.

Another point that I consider very important is that, unfortunately, many traditional left-wing currents outside the country believe that the Islamic Republic of Iran is an anti-imperialist government and, because [the IRI] fights against the U.S. and Israel, they defend this government. This kind of view is extremely catastrophic, because the Iranian regime is also reactionary, fascist, and semi-imperialist capitalist,  that fights only for its own interests and for reactionaries like itself. For it, the war has always been a blessing.

The fascist Iranian regime, over the past forty-seven years, in times of war, has suppressed, tortured, and killed our best fighting youth and their families, and has deprived the people of the minimum necessities of life. It has severely assaulted and discriminated against women, and through entrenched patriarchy has sought to drive society backward.

But in all these years, the movements of women, workers, teachers, nurses, retirees, students, schoolchildren, and justice-seeking families have never fallen silent. The lives of the majority of the people have been darkened by runaway inflation, and poverty and class inequality run rampant in Iran. But the pride-inspiring 'Woman, Life, Freedom' uprising, and the courageous and persistent struggles of women have thus far managed to strike fundamental cracks in the foundations of the government's structural discriminations and have brought about an immense transformation in Iran.

With all my being I am proud of these fighting women and youth who, under the savage repressions of the ruling power, stand so resistant and steadfast and determined across all of Iran.

Tuesday together in prisons across Iran to abolish the death penalty in Iran and stop all these crimes of repression and discrimination. The brave political prisoners in the prisons have also never fallen silent, and for more than two and a half years. Through a campaign called 'No to Execution Tuesdays,' prisoners have been going on hunger strike every

Our women artists have broken the patriarchal structures and compulsory hijab and the taboos of this reactionary regime, and sing in the streets, dance, and carry their demand for freedom and equality to the entire world — despite the fact that they are sentenced to heavy imprisonment, flogging, and deprivation of life. The fighting and courageous women of Iran have resolved that they will no longer retreat, and these struggles are growing more widespread day by day, and I hope they will soon bear fruit and we will be able to overthrow this fascist regime.

We are very much in need of the help and solidarity of independent, progressive, and left movements across the world, so that the voice of the fighters in Iran grows louder and louder, and we can become powerful and build a humane, free, just, and democratic world in Iran.

I have recently compiled a collection of poems by one of the fighting women of Iran — a dear friend of mine and my comrade in the Mothers of Laleh Park of Iran — who, sadly, passed away two years ago in Iran at the age of 68 from a stroke. Together with memories from our mutual friends; and it is being published in London, in the Persian language, in a book called Daftar-e Eshq [Book of Love], by Mitra Ebrahimi 'Shafaq' e.  

I hope this book will also be translated into English so that these fighting human beings and their efforts in Iran will also become known to the world. This fighting woman, from the age of sixteen, worked and was active in the field of workers rights in Iran, and until the end of her life supported political prisoners and the justice-seeking movement and the struggles of the people.

May we be triumphant and with heads held high.
~ Mansoureh Behkish

I dedicate two poems by Mitra Ebrahimi in memoryof her, in memory of Jina, and in memory of all the fighting women of Iran.

Do Not Execute!

Do not execute them,
for history does not sit idle.
When they beheaded the red rose,
when they broke the standing cypresses,
the poppy tore her garment and fell petal by petal.
The geranium wept in the window frame,
the night-blooming jasmine fled from the night.
Enough now:
let the jasmines remain on the wall.
Lift your foot from our throat,
do not cut off our breath,
let us breathe!

The Spring of 'Woman, Life, Freedom'

We passed through harsh winters,
we rejoiced at the coming of every spring.
We feared the nightmares,
we wove dreams for liberation.

We were poppies and fell petal by petal,
we wept over unmarked graves.
We were Siavash and became blood,
And from our blood red tulips grew.

From the red blood of stars we made a song.
Again we were wounded,
but we became a sprout.
From this winter too we shall pass,
and one day again
we shall embrace the spring —
the spring of 'Woman, Life, Freedom.'