We need to awaken to the reality that we are not a majority. We are not a vocal minority with the same rights as the majority. We are now dissidents. We do not have the same voice as our ever-strengthening oppressors, and we do not have the same rights that they enjoy. (NB don't just read this quote; go click the link and see all of it)
I have increasingly few illusions about my long-term prospects. At some point, there will be a version of a loyalty test instituted for academics (it's already being contested at some schools), and failure to swear allegiance will mean non-renewal. And the very historians who tut-tut the whole McCarthy era will be the ones who flock most readily to it and be willing to denounce their neighbors as subversives.
No, they're not the ones who distress me. I had their number years ago. It's the ones of you who privately tell me that you have reservations but do not speak and do not act, relying upon me to use my abilities to fight the fight.
It is no longer enough. Either I will go to my tent like Achilles, or into exile like Yoda. I am fortunate in that I do have the ability to walk away and reinvent myself. I've done it before, I can do it again. But most of you don't have that luxury.
And do not assume the revolution will not come for you. The Montagnards always come for the Girondists.
3 comments:
Oh so true!!! I know how you feel, as I have been predicting today's events over and over again. As an American, born and raised in Iran, I witnessed the rise of the revolution and have witnessed the same steps toward the loss of freedom here over the last decades. It has been gradual and that is why many may have missed it, but not me! I have warned friends so often that I think they were tired of my rants and stopped listening, but at their peril as well as ours. As you stated, we can reinvent ourselves; I have done that before and will be able to do it again. The problem is this: when I left Iran, I had the free United States as my "shining city upon a hill". Where will I turn now? One day when you have some time, maybe we can have a virtual conversation. We are connected on Facebook.
Nazanin Hebel
Salaam, chehturi? (You didn't know I spoke a tiny bit of Farsi, did you?) You, I can rely upon to sound the warning. We should have that visit at some point; my friend Bijan often says the same things.
I too see an ill wind blowing. I have several friends at work who sacrificed a lot to come to this country because of the freedoms and opportunities, The USA offered. Now they too are noticing the same signs that caused the loss of their freedoms; that they escaped from.
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