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What I've Learnt - "Sarah" · WHAT I'VE LEARNT

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, as demonstrations broke out across Iran on December 28th over the dire economic circumstances, these protests quickly turned towards the country's clerical rulers and grew in number and size.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Iran is a large populous nation, and the US-based rights group, Harana, is now reporting there are at least 618 protest gatherings recorded nationwide, taking place in 187 cities, covering all 31 provinces.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: More than 20,000 are estimated to be murdered, with bodies flooding the bloodstained streets and protesters of all ages and from diverse backgrounds trying to stand firm against a tyrannical regime.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: The Iranian people are not just fighting for their freedom, they're fighting for ours and the rest of the free world as well.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: The fall of the Islamic regime provides security and safety to Israel, America, and the Western countries.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: It is a crucial step towards the fall of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and many others.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Communications in Iran are down, so we must add our voices and speak for them.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's the very least we can do.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: So many young lives were lost, not for us to be afraid.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: We are not afraid anymore.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: We want the West to hear us.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: We want regime change.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: We all want it.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care about what happens to me personally, but I hope the next generation in Iran will have a better life.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: This is from an inside protester who's trying to survive inside Iran, a young woman, and they're just desperate, waiting for America to intervene.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I am fortunate to have met the most extraordinarily brave and insightful Australian-Iranian med student whose name will remain anonymous to protect her and her family.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And they are desperate to help her friends and family who are stuck in Iran.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: So she joins me now at What I've Learned to discuss what next and how we as Australians can help.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Sarah, thank you for joining us at the What I've Learned podcast.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pretty insane time for you and your community.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so I value that you have taken the time to share your story and to shine the light on the darkness that is happening in Iran right now.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit about you in terms of your family and how long you've been in Australia, because you're an Australian citizen.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello, Deborah.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's very, very lovely and it's such a pleasure to be here, to be invited on your podcast.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is, as you said, it is a very difficult time for all the Iranian people inside and outside of Iran.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Me and my family, a little bit about myself.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: We left Iran um about six years ago.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: It was October 2019 when we um decided to leave the country.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, to be honest, the decision was a lot longer before that.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: However, we were able to um prepare and um come to Australia, which um we are very happy.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful country, beautiful people, very kind.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And um since then I have not been back.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: However, I do have all of my family, not the immediate family, except my mother, father, and my sibling.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: All of my other family are um now back in Iran.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that is so other than your immediate parents and your siblings, everybody else is back in Iran.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So all your aunties.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody else, my auntie, cousins, two grandmas that I've got, everybody.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: They're already honestly they're stuck there.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's no form of communication happening.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I did hear about my one of my grandmas.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, she was able to call us.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, however, we didn't have contact with her for 10 days.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my other grandma and the other side of the family, we still have not been able to contact um with them.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh the grandma that you have been able to contact, was that using Starlink?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: How did they manage to connect with you because that the internet's out?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So the internet is fully shut.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Some people are able to use um and connect to the Starlink, um, mostly young people, and then they use VPN in order to connect.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: However, at the same time, the uh Islamic Republic, the regime, is flying drones in order to find those houses that do use Starlink and have that, and it invades their houses and takes them and even satellites that they have.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: My grandma and few other people, um, not everybody, they were able to call.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: They call several times, and then if you are lucky, it just connects.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um, after maybe two minutes, it just stops.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, how so some people have been able to hear from their family members, um, which is very good.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And um, when my grandma called, we just had a two-minute conversation, and it was very obvious that she was distressed and um she didn't really want to talk about anything.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Was she afraid?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she was afraid that she would be, yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, in terms of what we're seeing coming out of there, some of the videos and some of the horrific stories, um, just going back to when you came to Australia, which actually wasn't that long ago.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, six years is not that long ago, and yet you're very integrated.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know that you're a medical student and that you're dedicating your life to helping others, which is quite, you know, quite an honorable uh choice.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: But was the incentive to pick up and leave Iran was that you saw in verticomas, your family saw the writing on the wall, inverted, commas that this was looming.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was something that was no longer tenable for especially for young women like yourself.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very difficult situation to live in that country, and everybody, most of the people know that, especially if you're an educated person, you would pick up very quickly that this is not the life that Western people are living.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is not what you want to live, especially with the social media, the awareness raised very quickly, and people understood they are living under a tyranny, and um the government is taking advantage of everybody that is living in that country, to be honest.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Especially for women, the women do not have rights um from even their bodies, the government decides what women need to wear.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you are, for example, one of the one of the things that I just found out recently, it was the fact that if you are a pregnant woman, your husband needs to decide and gives permission which hospital you need to give birth to, which is very insane if you have lived here.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Even now, when I look back on, it's absolutely horrible what is happening to the people, especially to the woman, because they see women of less of a person compared to men.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you cannot deny that.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: I've actually seen some of the videos that indicate that a lot of the regime basically treat women as if they literally are animals.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's how they see them in the same at the same level.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's very true.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's very true.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I want sometimes wonder how even you know they can treat women as horrible as you know um they are, but here it is.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is the mindset that we they have, and this is the mindset that they um rise, they raise their you know, sons or other people, and sometimes even women um have parties, they do participate in that mindset.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: It happens that they um even criticize other women um that they want their own freedom and they fight every single day with either their co-workers, their partner, their father, their brother.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: There are some women that they say you need to keep quiet and listen to your husband or your father, they know better.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: However, who defines who knows better?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big question.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that is the reality as well.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting because it's a very female-led revolution.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it began with the removal of the yeah, the hijab and the the the incredible power of those.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: We've all seen those images of the women removing their hijabs and trying to actually seek freedom because the the sort of the if you like, the universal trauma is so great, which probably impacts how and the fear.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about what you know about that uh revolution and how it started and and why now, because it's been like this for 47 years, and they've tried before.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: I do know this, there's been many attempts.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about this particular revolution and the female driven inspiration.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: To be honest, um we always had uh females that are fighters, like Persian women, honestly, I would say they're very famous that they're very brave and are fighters.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Even when the revolution happened, um when they wanted to make the country an Islamic state, and they forced women to wear hijab, there was some protest going on, and the women they didn't like it that you know, uh like the government tell them what to wear.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, fast forward to this revolution that is taking in place, um, firstly started a few years ago by the death of Masa Amini, a beautiful beautiful young girl which was murdered by the morality police because she was showing her hair.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely heartbreaking when I say that because no one, no one in any part of the world deserves that.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: No, no one.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's incomprehensible.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: It really, it really is.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: When this happened, it just people, mostly women, they spoke up on social media, they took their hijab off, even some Muslim women, they took their hijab off in order to protest to what happened.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, many women um cut their hair in order to protest, and everybody was very angry to what happened.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: When the protest um went uh got bigger, when the videos came out and we would see them, at the front of the you know, the group of people that they were in the street, there were women chanting woman life freedom.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm very happy that I saw so many men back the women up as well, and that unity was very, very heartwarming for me and for everybody that would see those videos.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And right now, again, women participate more or even as much as men in these protests that are going.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: They do not want to live under the tyranny of the Islamic Republic, they don't want the um regime decide what they should do, what they should wear, how they should speak, and criticizing them for half a century, really, half a century, they criticize, undermine their dignity, they cannot take it anymore.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I am very proud, very proud of them to risk their lives, go into the street and fight those evil people.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And the courage must be enormous, as we know, because the consequence is so severe.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: And the the stories we're hearing coming out of you know, the hospitals, the streets, the the sort of pretty horrific uh uh tales of abuse and disregard for human life is is quite overwhelming for anyone.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: How much do you think social media has played a role?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Keeping in mind right now the internet is is cut off in Iran, but the social media drive in the last few months has been incredibly powerful.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: What's your take on how much that's impacted telling, getting the story out?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's very important.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's very, very important because people know how powerful the social media is.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: In the woman life freedom uh movement that happened.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, people started to started on Twitter to speak about it, to say the world, what is going on, and the world um they heard them and they uh showed respect for the woman going out in the streets.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: So many of Hollywood actors and actresses they spoke on Iran, they showed um that how much they care about this movement that is happening, especially because it was led by the women, uh, that they were under oppression for a very long time.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, uh the social media still plays a very big role um on raising awareness because what the um Islamic uh regime has tried to do, they cut off the internet, they wanted no one in the world knows uh what they're doing.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, they committed a genocide.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, they 16,000 people have been killed by them.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have contacted one of my friends, she connected through Starlink.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: She said, I don't think so.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely more than that.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we've been hearing that from many people.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: The internet's still cut off, they don't want the world to hear them.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: However, those Iranian people that they kicked out of the country, they didn't want it some Iranian people to be there in the country, are now chanting in the street.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday I was in a parliament, thousands of people came, thousands of people and um are supporting.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we need to be the voice of those who are stuck in Iran and basically they're being um taken hostages by the Islamic Republic um in Iran.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it does play a very big role, and we keep continuing talking about them.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: We should not stop talking about them.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we need more people to know what is happening.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some people really don't know how the depth of the crimes of the Islamic Republic that are doing to its own people, and also to the outside world, threatening all the countries around surrounding it.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um we need to raise our voice and be the voice of the people in Iran and anybody that has been affected by the Islamic Republic.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's so accurate and and a really good overview of the trauma that has been ongoing, but also there does seem a lot of support, um, and there are basically you're seeing a lot of demonstrations in the streets here, all over the world, everywhere, that people are supportive.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think of the interesting notion?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: And as we discuss, the Iranians and the Jewish people have a long history of connection.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, a lot of that is based on the fact that we've both, you know, the the communities have both been traumatized by by a similar regime.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we know the power of uh these people to impact the Middle East, and therefore it resonates across the world.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: However, one thing that I suppose some people are saying is where are the feminists, where are the people speaking out?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: The all the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes and all of the Hollywood people that have not actually spoken up yet were sort of very uh virulent and vicious when it came to certain uh issues around Israel and and the Jewish community.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: And yet, where are they, why aren't they sort of stomping on the issue of making this a very important discussion?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Have you heard much about that and what's your thoughts on that?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's very true.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's a basically that's the discussion that we are having with all of our friends and family, that um how Jewish people have been so supportive towards this movement.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's really the only the Israel um and the United States are the only countries that have been backing um the this movement.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: So many people that I know personally have the Jewish people have stepped uh take taken step forward and they they really cried with us.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: They sat down and they cried with us.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's just something, you know, that um you really even expect um this connection that these two um you know ethnicities they have together, these two countries they do have together.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: It goes back thousand years ago, and you still see that is present.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And yesterday as well, um there have been many um Jewish people in the protest, and I saw them with their necklaces, and then um some few people that I knew them, they were present there, and it's it's it's just the kind of thing that we can see in the time that, as you said, the media is not covering this movement, this revolution that is going on, like to in today's in the age, in the Herald Sun, in Australia, and even there was something about the protest yesterday that happened, which thousands of people have been present.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just heartbreaking that the media is not covering it, and so many other people that they said they do care about the human life, they said they do care about the human right, are silent now.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And we should ask them who are they?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: What is happening?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you really do care, you need to speak up in every situation.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: You should not be political, you should not take sides because you don't like the certain group of people.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely agree with you.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now I can see I'm I'm really very, very upset for the Jewish people, you know, that are friends with us and the community, because it shows that some people do really have um strong, you know, um beliefs, or you know, honestly, I I would just say the hate um towards uh towards the community, which is just hard rate.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're absolutely right, and in fact, it's selective, uh the sort of selective silent majority that basically makes a choice to be so vocal in its sort of uh objections towards a particular government, which they're entitled to do, but then to be silent when the Iranian regime is torturing, murdering thousands upon thousands in the streets, in the hospitals, and not a word.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's incomprehensible.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it shows we have a serious problem in our social fabric.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: There is something fundamentally at its core that is very distressing and disturbing for both your community and for my community.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, but one thing that we have is a unity and a collective determination to challenge and to tackle and to put it.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: This is why we're doing this interview, because we want to make sure that there are other means by which these stories can get out to the world.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And your talking to us is a, and to me, is a wonderful example of that.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I suppose the thing is, the good thing is that the mainstream media is not the only voice.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's got it's got a part to play, but its part is becoming less and less potent and effective and listened to for the very reason that we're talking about, because it's not actually shining the light in the darkest of places unless it's selectively decides to, it is just a real travesty.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, your community in Australia, are you finding that the um what sort of uh resources actions are you hoping to take, and how best can the general community support your community?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think um most of the people, if they are hearing this or um they're hearing what horrific things are happening, um, they need to speak.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, speak about it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: There's not much that we can do from here, you know.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: However, if we speak about it, um if we talk about the crimes that the Islamic Republic is doing, more people will.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Be aware, and I hope that those people that I just talked about that they do care about human rights, they will be ashamed and will not support um this regime because there are so many people out there that I know that they are supporting this, which is just crazy to me.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we can only raise our voice and let people let more people know about what is happening.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if you if there is someone that is Iranian, you know, around you, always check on them and make sure they are doing fine because I'm pretty sure they are not.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: What is happening is just not normal and it should stop very soon.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm I'm glad that the Islamic Republic has finally showed its face, its true face, and I hope that more people would start to acknowledge that and understand that Islamic Republic is funding most of the terrorist groups in the Middle East, like Hezbollah, Hamas, it's it's just horrible, and the things that are happening, um, this this regime always has a take part, it is taken part in it, and this hate that they have towards everybody.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe if we stop speaking about it, that might come to us as well, even in the Western world.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because not already, yeah.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's one of the things in the intro that I mentioned is that really this is just, you know what they say.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's that great saying, first they came for the Jews, then they came for the Christians, but that was not me.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Then they came for the Iranians, but that was not me.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then they came for me, and there was no one there to stand by me or to protect me.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: And really, I think there, you know, particularly with the travesty and the horrific Bondi massacre and the things that have happened, I think a lot of Australians are starting to see it's here, it's real, it's invasive, it's it's potentially impacting and infiltrating so many of our institutions, so many of the ways that we live.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: And democracy, while while sturdy, is actually a little rocky and under some sort of threat right now in certain, and particularly in other regions that you would otherwise not expect.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that by not speaking up with Iranians, you're actually allowing the festering of a monster, a death cult that is, you know, permeating all of these aspects.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: As an Australian, Iranian, do you feel protected?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel safier?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Do your family feel safely?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, um, not fully, not fully.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because um, as you said, he gave a very good example.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Bandai attack, it was a wake-up call, I think, for many people.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because Iranian people, we are a type of people, all of my friends, we always tell our friends, you should be careful, you should be careful of you know the um the radical Islamists that you are letting into your society, yeah.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: They are taking over, they are putting their ideas into you know, into other people, and if you criticize them, they will label you as Islamic.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that is true, because and they can access, I mean, I suppose that's the other thing is in terms of safety, and in terms of I mean, it's so interesting, you know, as a Jewish community, we have security guards on every possible institution, our schools, our synagogues.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's just something we've all grown up with.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's what the Jewish community have been used to.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: In a sense, the Iranians, while the Iranians here in the West don't quite have that, but you have that same heightened hypervigilance that you need to be careful, who you speak to, who you see, how you behave.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: That is true because I'm not sure if you're aware, so many of the activists in Iran that they have fled Iran and they live in other countries as well.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: They have been attacked multiple times.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in one of the Humber that just happened a few days ago, some one person attacked them by knife.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, even it can happen in the Western world as well.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: In Los Angeles, um, a truck drive into the protesters of Iran.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: How many people know about this?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, none of my friends that are not Iranian did actually know about this.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it can happen here as well, and we need to be very and talk about it because if we don't talk about it and stay silent and being scared of what label they will put on us, um, it's gonna happen very soon to you know, most of the people here.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: The the thing that happened at Bandar, it was horrible.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And when I heard the news, I was speaking to my mom.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: I said, We fled Iran to escape from those people, from those dangerous ideas.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: But then here you see people are celebrating, they're celebrating their children there, and uh a person comes just out of nowhere with a big gun that have been practicing months and takes it's his hate on people, innocent, absolutely innocent people.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's very scary, it's it is scary.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's shaken, I think, our whole community.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the Australian community had never seen anything like this.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the other thing is that was interesting was about that was a lot of those people came from also from Europe and from Holocaust families, or you know, they'd had their trauma and they felt safe here.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that is some, I think that's a big wake-up call for a lot of Australians who had prior to that been a little numb.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a really good they were there's just a numbness, there's a lasciviousness, like you know, whatever, not our problem.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's literally shot an arrow into the heart of the center of our country.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that is shuddering and shivering right through all the communities, and this what's happening in Iran is all connected because that's the other thing, is I think the globalization, the universality of the traumatic experience is also um, in a way, it's creating a universal humanity.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: And if we don't operate like that, which is what you're saying, who are we?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: What what's what are the what are the terms?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: What are the parameters?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, certainly our government is uh clearly completely out of its depth, doesn't know what's what, trying to find, you know, muddle its way through.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Penny Wong's sort of gone A-WOL, I don't even know where she is.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um we we have a really scary situation, but as you say, there's a core of unity and strength, and we must speak up and we must listen to each other and show humanity.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Your family in Iran, are you concerned that they are safe, or do you feel you've got enough connection with them to know that they're okay at this point?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one side of the family that um my grandma we were speaking together.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: I know that um they're all safe.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: However, the other side of the family, we really don't know because we have not heard from them and you cannot get connected to them, you don't have any access to them, they might not really be alive, and that's that is that is very scary.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: And every day I wake up, I'm stressed, I can't eat that much over this past two weeks, and it it is happening to most of our friends, Iranian friends.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um so, and by the time that I did not hear at all with any of from any of the family members, we really didn't know if any of them would be alive or not.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because my cousins and my one of my grandmas, um, they are very local and they want to fight for their rights, and I knew they went into the street.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: The other grandma that I had, she has a bad knee and she stayed at home.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm pretty sure she's okay.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: The one that I still don't know if she's okay or not, but since I know um she had a bad knee, she can't walk properly, she's at home.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: However, so many of uh, you know, so many of Iranian people living outside of Iran, they got a call in the midnight and they said, You have lost a family, you have lost a father, you have lost a cousin, and that's a reality that is happening, and we should not look past on it.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And um, to the uh previous point that you were making, um, I think so many people um think that this is not their problem, and they think that it's it won't happen to them, it won't happen to their family, but if you let it slide one day, it might happen to you, it might happen to your family.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's true, and all you have to do is look at the videos of 1979 Iran, and they're so powerful because they show prior to the regime the normality, the complete Western freedom, women dress, dancing.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's also similar.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's different, but in like if you look at Germany prior to the war, it was the same.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: This sort of Western comfort zone, this integration, this sense that we'll be protected at all costs.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: I pray that the regime topples and that there is some transition and that your family and your friends are safe, and that many, many of these lives that have been lost have been for something, because I think that's what we all hope and pray.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: And if anybody wants to help or to offer support, what would you suggest to those that are listening, to our listeners?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I would definitely suggest to participate in the process that are happening, they're almost happening every single day.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you know um a family member who, you know, is in a council or um someone that is in a parliament or something somewhere like that, um they speak to them, they tell what's happening.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um if they can email um, you know, uh the people that are in the parliament, we are doing that.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're emailing, we're telling them what's happening, even going on a Twitter and tweet something and saying, I heard this uh from my friend, uh, this is happening, this is real, um, it helps a lot, it raises awareness.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: And when everybody knows about this, um people and the world will take action.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, it's a very it's it's it's crazy, crazy time for Iranian people because we are praying every single day for Trump to invade our country and get rid of get rid of these evil people because we are praying now for a you know, like another country to just come and bomb our country.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is what how desperate we are.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Our family, our friends, everybody's held at a gunpoint, and we're just seeking any help that we can.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I really hope that a change would happen, and I'm pretty sure it will happen sooner or later, because this is not just you know a protest here and there.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: All single city sing single um cities in Iran, people came into the street from young, from 15-year-olds, um, from um different religious backgrounds.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody has come out in the street, and if this regime will change, the world will be a better place to live in.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: It will definitely be a better place.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: And to that I say amen.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: Praying with you, hoping with you, always by your side as we have have for thousands of years.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I thank you so much for taking the time.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're a busy student, med student, and and I know that you're committed to this.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I know you have a beautiful family here and and in Iran, and we will stay in touch and we will continue this story, and hopefully, it will be a new dawn.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Deb.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Sarah.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: The barbarism is really quite hard to even digest and process.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like a horror movie.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: You're hearing some pretty devastating stories out of Iran.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: Can you share with our listeners?
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, of course.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um so um one of the horror horrible, horrific things that are happening now is the fact that when they take a woman protester, um the um the punishment is execution.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: However, based on their laws, they say a woman, especially if she is a virgin, um, she cannot be executed.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: So what they will do, they rape that person, they rape our women, the Iranian women, and then they will kill them and they will execute them.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one of the things that they they will do to people.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, some people when they go in the street, they will um wish that they get killed, um, and not be in the hands of the guards of the Islamic Republic because they are barbaric and they are cruel and they do not care who you are, and they will do anything to humiliate that person and to yeah, it's very horrible to say.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they have no, they have no humanity, and I think that's one of the the problems.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, obviously, we know with October 7, the horrific things that they did to those women in particular, and the men, um, and it's just it really is like a death cult, and it has no moral uh barometer.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we can only hope, we can only pray, and hopefully the next time I speak to you, Iran will be free.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: We hope that.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us at the What I've Learned Podcast.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Deb.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was a pleasure to speak on your podcast.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for um making a contribution.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm very happy that uh you invited me.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for joining us on the What I've Learned Podcast.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoyed that interview because we are so privileged to have a wonderful platform where guests come on and share lessons learned, rivers crossed, mountains climbed.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: We love our shared humanity, and we are so grateful to have such a beautiful community.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: So remember to stay curious, kind, and connected, and we'll see you next time at the What Up Plant Podcast.