Welcome, my name is Nico Bejarano, and this is the Arts Salon. You were just listening to the latest musical project from today’s guests, my friends and mentors, Persian musicians Pirayeh Pourafar and Houman Pourmhedi. This composition was made in support of the protesters in Iran whose chants Women, life, liberty with alternations of death to the dictator have been heard across Iran for many months now.

As is now routine in these cases, there has been a sleuth of unpalatable commentary from so-called foreign-affairs analysts—who have travelled little and know less—attempting to dissect the reasons for the latest protests in Iran. As common sense is so lacking amongst this ilk, let us not lose track of what our eyes see clearly and our ears are hearing thanks to the wonders of mobile phones and the internet. Be cautious now, and remember that in 2021 as the Cuban streets erupted in protests, the Biden administration assured us that despite the chanting Cuba Libre and Patria y Vida we should believe that the people of Cuba were actually protesting the lack of effective vaccination on the Island. I once again share the words of Orwell, “One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.” Trust your eyes and ears: just as the people of Cuba were not chanting more vaccines, or covid relief, but instead Free Cuba and Nation and Life; Iranians now are being clear in their frustrations by chanting Women, life, Liberty! And Death to the dictator!