Having read my short report about bumbling through the recent protests in Berlin in support of the Iranian uprising, a dear friend of mine from Tehran took the time to respond and thereby add some much needed insight to my outsider description. With his permission, I've included the response in full below:
“First of all, thank you so much man for so many reasons, many of which I am not consciously aware of. Firstly, it is very noble and kind of you to care about the parts of your world where people are deprived or in bad situation, despite the fact that being in a good situation, like that of yours, makes people a little bit forgetful about the pain of others (that definitely does not seem to be the case with you my tall white non-Farsi-speaking friend). Next, I appreciate sharing the experience of the rally on the webpage; after reading it, it was as if there were so many things I didn’t know about it. There are some points I’d like to mention though.
Honestly, I think the protesters inside Iran are so much more educated than the ones outside. While the majority of the people you encountered seemed to be looking forward to the return of kingship in Iran, we here mostly don’t give a fuck about it! I might even say most of us dislike such a thing here. Like we have chants like “Marg bar setamgar, che shah bashe che rahbar”: “Death to the tyrant, whether it be the Shah or “Rahbar”(“leader” a term used for the mullah Khamenei). Minutes ago I saw a post which was offering a new chant and I loved it: “We want neither “Shah” nor “mullah”, power in the hands of “Shora” (Council)”. We here are fed up with dictatorship of the previous Shah or the present fucking supreme leader. Seems like people have subconsciously realized that the dictatorship of the philosopher in Plato’s “Republic” is just too dreamy and utopic, and democracy is the acceptance of the defeat. So those flags related to the monarchy crap, we don’t approve of them that much here.
Next, I want to mention another thing, related to some other flags! The Azerbaijani and the Kurdish ones. A concern, that the present regime wants to exploit, is the possibility of division of Iran into parts after the fall of Islamic regime. Although many of these allegedly autonomous-claiming group deny such intentions (and I hope they are honest), but some worry that after the fall of the regime some of them might vehemently want to be officially separated from Iran and become autonomous (groups like Kurds, Turks, Balochis). I am not sure how much these worries are worrisome, but I think that these aforementioned groups in Iran are more devoted to Iran and less concerned with separation in comparison with the members of these groups out of Iran.
The only thing that unites all the protesters in and out of Iran is their enemy. I, like many others here, think that the best solution is democracy, like a council, and a situation where the most politically powerful position gets renewed every four years.
Regarding your kind question about if I have any suggestions...
I honestly can only think of spreading the news about here if you find the time and energy. So far more than three hundred people have been killed in the recent protests. Three years ago 1500 people were killed in one month, but this time we seem to be more heard thanks to considerate people like you. Thank you man, I am honoured to have a great friend like you.
There's one more thing I'd like to add. Though the regime says the Kurds, Turks, or Baluchis want to get separated from Iran after the fall of the regime (some extremists in those groups might want it), people in Tehran or central parts of Iran really like them and I think it's reciprocal.
As examples, "from Zahedan (Baluchis main city) to Tehran, my life be sacrificed for Iran".
Or "Sanandaj (Kurds main city), Zahedan, the eye and light of Iran" are some of the common chants that people shout everywhere.
There is hope here that Iran might get freed soon. I don't know if it happens but I hope to see you soon in a free Iran.”
What strikes me so deeply at reading his words is the tone of kindness and simple human to human appreciation. I last saw him in person in Berlin in 2017, and in these words he's just as much of a friend, a person trying to live his life like the rest of us; he's not a political analyst or a professor of political movements. He writes these things to me because they are happening, and as he said, sometimes the only action available in certain moments is to share the experiences and knowledge each person has so we can keep cooperating, cross-pollinating in the sense that only strong communities and communication between actors of all kinds are likely to form something that has the force to affect real change with staying power.
Find the fires that keep you and your kin warm in cold times, be they fluffy blankets or burning barricades. We're in this together.