#OpIran...

 

© September 27, 2022, the Griot Poet

 

Masha Amini!

Say her name!

Or, call her by her Kurdish surname Jini,

A 22-year-old woman whose life was ended by frightened men,

 

Murdered by the “morality police.”

Because she refused to cover her head in public,

Or, [did] not cover it enough!

Because somehow, that was too much temptation for weak-kneed men in the Iranian-Gilead government.

 

Did you know:

Iran used to be a modern municipality,

It was a vacation spot like the French Riviera,

Women wore the latest fashions,

Miniskirts, bikinis,

Hijabs or Burkas weren’t in their ensemble,

Until frightened men from the Iranian revolution MADE them.

 

Did you know:

Eighty percent of the Iranian population is under 21,

 

Did you know:

Sixty percent of that same population are women?

Sixty-five percent of university graduates are women,

Seventy percent of STEM graduates are women!

 

Say her name!

Masha Amini!

Her death is Iran’s George Floyd revolution.

 

Did you know:

The men who made this rule in 1983,

When they led the Islamic revolution in 1979,

Were in their late thirties and early forties,

 

Do the math:

These fossils are now in their eighties,

The Ayatollah is on his deathbed,

They have more in common with Fox Propaganda viewers,

The actual leaders in Iran should be women!

(Maybe the United States could take a hint)

 

The Shah of Iran led a brutal regime,

Propped up by the CIA and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company,

Later known as British Petroleum,

MI-6 pimped the fledgling US intelligence agency,

Without a James Bond or shaken-not-stirred martini mix,

To overthrow Dr. [Mohammad] Mosaddegh in 1953,

To gain access to its oil resources,

Because Mosaddegh wanted to nationalize them,

It’s always about wanton avarice,

A lot of multinational companies are fabulously wealthy

Not because of “stable geniuses,”

But because of what wealth they have,

They stole it,

 

I’ve studied Nanoengineering with Iranian women and men,

I’m always impressed by the intelligence of foreign nationals from other countries,

Mastering STEM in another language,

I was struck by how liberal they behaved around me,

Freely showing public displays of affection for their significant other,

Not a hijab or burka in sight unless they WANTED to wear them,

Careful of what they put on social media,

Authoritarians monitoring the freedom of young people in America,

“Big Brother” is not an Orwellian nightmare, but their reality,

 

Quote:

 

“Hi, Reggie,

These days are full of tears for all Iranians,

We have our brave brothers and sisters fighting against that brutal regime,

The Internet is blacked out: we don’t know what is happening at home,

The last time this happened, they killed more than 1,500 innocent young people in JUST ONE DAY,

 

Please, please, please,

 

Share the news,

And help innocent Iranian voices be heard,

My people are fighting for justice and freedom,

And please pray for my people.”

 

For those who want the US government to follow religion and not The Constitution,

Here’s your example overseas,

 

(Listen closely, Herschel Walker)

To flip the script on a protest chant:

“This is what theocracy looks like!”

 

Margaret Atwood is STILL trying to tell us,

[In] the Handmaid’s fifth season on Hulu and her latest novel, “The Testaments!”

 

It’s not functional.

It’s not logical.

It’s not right.

It’s not free.

 

The number one way of increasing the livelihood of countries,

The number one way of lowering unwanted pregnancies (and thereby, abortions),

The number one way to manage dwindling resources stretched by climate change,

Is to EDUCATE women,

My friend from Iran is one of them,

 

For Dr. M: this is my prayer for you, my dear friend, and your people in poetry.

 

Masha Amini!

Say her name!

Women! Life! Freedom!