SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — As protesters in Iran clash with police, there are many Iranians here in San Diego who have been staying up day and night wondering how their loved ones are doing. But there is a sense of pride for the bravery they are watching unfold.
Masoud Rahmani knows firsthand how dangerous it can be to go against the current regime in Iran, “there are threats against every single person who is trying to talk against them and tell the truth.”
Masoud grew up in Iran, “what we call basic human rights, I had none of these in Iran.” He left to escape persecution, “I tried my best to be voice of people but then I felt danger.”
Masoud was an actor there, performing on government-run TV and on the stage, but when he wrote a script that painted the government in a dark light, he says, “in the best case you were going to get fired or kicked out and in the worst case you would get killed.”
Having zero freedom of expression, Masoud fled as a refugee in March 2013, first to Turkey and then to the U.S. in 2016.
He is now writing and rapping as you can see on his Instagram, free of fear, “I had to escape from there in order to be the voice of my people.”
The Iranian singer Shervin Hajipour tried to be the voice of his people as well, singing a song called “Baraye” with tweets from Iranians but he was arrested for his powerful song considered the anthem of the Iranian revolution.
Masoud, who recently became a U.S. citizen and is going to San Diego State University has accepted that he may not see his family for a long time. But he cherishes his memories with them.
I asked Masoud to describe what it’s like inside a home of an Iranian family.
"This is a great question, the Islamic Republic caused us to have two different lives. We dance, we listen to music, we’re happy but outside we’re supposed to [not] show that at all, because we would get arrested,” Masoud said.
The Iranian protests are inspired by 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who died in police custody for not wearing a hijab properly. But there’s so much more to them. The protests are led by mostly women and students, they’re fed up over a more than 40-year-long dictatorship.
In some videos from Iran girls at school are seen taking off their headscarves which are required in public, but they can be seen waving them towards a school leader telling him to get out.
“They are chanting against Islamic Republic because they don’t want their future to be wasted like that,” Masoud recalls being in elementary and middle schools feeling like he was getting brainwashed. “We were being forced by the Islamic Republic regime to chant slogans against America and against Israel,” he says, “Islamic Republic was trying to systematically raise the hate inside.”
But he explains, Iranians simply want peace. A life similar to what he sees here in San Diego.
“Walking without fear, kissing each other without fear, dancing, walking their dogs. Doing so much without fear. We want the same things,” Masoud declares.
Masoud is consumed by the news from Iran and is hopeful this is the movement he’s been waiting his whole life for. “I don’t know what the world is waiting for--take action. Just putting sanctions and showing solidarity won’t cut it. We need action.”
There will be another global rally for freedom in Iran in major cities on Saturday, including in San Diego at the Hall of Justice Downtown at 5 p.m.
And, the Persian Cultural Center is putting on a show called “Voices of Motherland” filled with women artists who will be performing at the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) in Balboa Park. The SDMA also has restored and new Iranian art pieces on display.
You can still get tickets to the show, click here. “Voices of Motherland” will be on Saturday, October 8 from 4-8 p.m. at SDMA.
Also, the SDMA will be lit up in the colors of green, white, and red which are the same colors of Iran’s flag as a sign of solidarity, on Saturday at sunset.
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