Don’t Say “B” for Bahais, Use their full Name
These days, the defense of our Bahai brethren has turned into a justification to attack Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi. But this is a worn-out excuse which in fact carries other goals. Still, this is not the subject of this writing. The issue is that today, if defending the rights of Iranians is based on their ethnic origin or religious belief, and is thus conditioned with “but”s - which is pleasing to the extremists in the Iranian body polity who are ruling the country today - then an earlier chapter of Iranian history will be repeated once again. Inappropriate solutions. Solutions that will make us say things like: I am not a leftist but I defend leftists; I am against the Iran Liberation Movement, but I don’t think we should stop its activities; I am straight, but I think a solution must be found for gays and lesbians, etc.
Adding these “but”s has produced one clear result: A retreat from our principals. And this is at a time when with every step that the enemy wins, he takes large strides forward. This is precisely the kind of buts that have for years led to the deprivation of the most basic rights of the Bahais.
The purpose of this piece is not to condemn anybody. Regardless of where we are from or where we are at this moment, we all have the same roots. My key question is whether or not our society has in its general thought come to the conclusion that human rights do not recognize color, religion, language, gender etc? If the answer to this question is a yes, then why do we still present “but”s and “if”s when dealing with dissidents and suppressed ideas? Why do we feel that we must present a condition or a qualifier whenever we want to take a lawful step? Is this because of conviction or fear? What are the roots of our thoughts, and where do our fears come from? Doesn’t the institutionalization of the belief in freedom not require that we confront these qualifying thoughts and fears? Has this inescapable process not arrived at a point where it should confront our internal “but”s and “if”s in the same manner that we confront the external buts and ifs? These are the questions that I ask of myself, but I do it aloud. And I do not have the answers. If I had the answers, I would have taken advantage of being out of the reach of the claws of people like judge Mortezavi (a reference to Tehran’s ultra-harsh prosecutor) and would be more outspoken. I would do it so that we can comfortably say Bahai, rather than hiding my words behind the first letter of the Bahais, i.e. a B.
And here is a word to those Iranians who have loose mouths and uncontrollable hands.
During the last thirty years during which you detained our Bahai Iranians on fictitious charges as being spies, agents or plotters, in which case did you produce any hard evidence to support these claims? This, while we as the citizens of Iran come across thousands of documents against you on a daily basis, documents that show your transgressions against our national interests. Under what legal conditions have we been allowed to say that your interpretations of Islam, which are now carried out by almost every Tom, Dick and Harry, are threatening the very existence of our country, and whose least punishment by you is the demand of public repentance? During these thirty years, at what point where we permitted to take just one of you to a court trial and try him on charges of deviation - in action or in words - from our motherlands national interest, and through this see your courthouse and your laws? Overthrowing the state is a suitable charge that applies to Mr. Ahmadinejad – as the person and spokesperson for military-security wing of the regime. This charge is more suitable to him than to Yaghoob Mehrnia. If we have been forced to use the letter B instead of the full word Bahai, why is it that you do not see yourself obliged to say Iran instead of Islam? We are prisoners of “but”s and “if”s for over thousands of historic and un-historic reasons. But why is it that you do not see yourself bound by Iran’s interests? Is it because you are in power and exercise it over us?
Eventually, we shall move on beyond our historic shortcomings. But you shall not reap the fruits of power, except through the curse of time. One day, we shall feel free and comfortable to use complete words in our communication, and not just their first letters; out of fear. But you on the other hand, must await the time when you will be mumbling words in your mouth, instead of fully expressing them.