Life in the Middle East has historically been a struggle between powers for a chance at survival. A chance that led to many totalitarian regimes spring up in the region, and give the visage of Middle East as the land of "endless conflicts". When one is born here, one is told that conflict and restriction are normal; but they're anything but. With the murder of Mahsa Amini by the Morality Police in Tehran in September of 2022, that notion has come under scrutiny in Iran. Life is not normal here. One isn't living a normal life under oppression.

P.S. Uploading this episode was a long and exhausting ordeal because of the many internet restrictions. It's impossible to know what will happen, but if these restrictions continue and get worse it might be impossible to access the internet while inside Iran. If that happens please be our voice. Don't forget about us here.

Identity (especially cultural identity) for a system like Islamic Republic that is built on isolating its members and embedding them with hopelessness to keep them meek and servile, is like the plague. They try to cover up the roots and replace them with their ideology, because for divide and conquer you need to divide first. But all their works proved weaker, when after the murder of Mahsa Amini by the morality police in September, people realized they are more than ones. 

When trying to uphold a revolution as massive as the current one in Iran following the murder of Mahsa Amini by the Iranian morality police, it's easy to forget that sometimes it is literally a war of attrition. The Islamic Republic will use any means necessary to break the populace and breed hopelessness, and the best way to combat that is by learning to keep going. By caring about oneself as much as the whole movement. 

Remember the name Mohsen Shekari. He was executed by the Iranian regime, and they need to pay for what they did. Also remember and shout the name of Hossein Mohammadi, he is given an execution conviction and if the regime doesn't see the fallout of what they did to Mohsen, his life will end. Please be their memory and their voice.

Mental Health is a complex and nuanced subject, and it needs a complex and nuanced discussion; but that is harder and harder to happen in a patriarchal traditionalist society that has a patriarchal and traditionalist government at the top of it. Not only is the importance of mental health is undermined, the government and regime itself adds to the scope of mental problems. When a system is so pre-occupied with body that it sees it right to murder a 22 year old girl (Mahsa Amini), then you can imagine the barrage of mental anguish it can cause on its own people.

Throughout the revolution following the murder of Mahsa Amini by the morality police in Iran, it's important to look at multiple facets of society that would be enraged and try to change the system. Though cultural and societal reasons are the primary reasons, one cannot underestimate the economic sector either. With rampant mismanagement and corruption, the economic state of the people of Iran is so abysmal that any other form of management is preferred over the current one.

Keeping alive the hope that one day a new and brighter day will come is of outmost importance in times of revolution and civil movements. That hope can be sustained much easier when you know you are not alone, and moments of unification between people against a greater evil can be inspiring and hopeful, even if dampened by losses too big to comprehend. That is what has happened in Iran, following the murder of Mahsa Amini by the morality police. It's an old adage that: "People united are never defeated".

El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido - English Subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTZ1JaILitM

One of the things that the people asking for a change in regime in Iran, since the murder of Mahsa Amini by the morality police, have been asking for is a regime that doesn't hold their religious and ideological view so high that it gives them autonomy to execute and murder anyone who isn't part of their "group". Under the rule of an oppressive regime, one needs to stick to the "official" narrative; because thinking might land you on death row.

Since September 17th, 2022, there has been calls for a massive regime change and uprooting of the Islamic Republic in Iran. The events started since the murder of Mahsa Amini by the morality police for bad hijab. When the world is full of turmoil and the winds of change are blowing, it's hard for one to just return to life the way it used to be, and not look at it as a way to what life may need to be.

Special Chapter #5 - Let the Sunshine, Let the Sunshine In: https://anchor.fm/akhamseh88/episodes/Special-Chapter-5-Let-the-Sunshine--Let-the-Sunshine-In-e1p87um

For the past month, the Iranian public have been protesting in many shapes and forms against the tyrannical Islamic Republic regime, after the death of #MahsaAmini by the hand of the morality police. These protests have included people of all ages, all genders and all ethnicities as they once more show their contempt for the Islamic Republic and the draconian laws of the regime; but some have chosen to not participate in the current movement for a "variety" of "excuses". In this unusual episode, I sit down again with Kamiab (from the last Special Chapter), as we discuss 8 of the most prominent arguments against the current anti-regime movement in Iran and try to see if there's any merit to any of them.

Check out Kamiab's article on "Woman, Life, Freedom" for LGBTQNation: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/3-words-sparked-revolution-iran/

Despite believing in a world of human nature first and human nationality second, sometimes one cannot escape the realities of belonging to a specific region of the earth and living under a specific government. That government can shape many things in the individual; from fears and beliefs to anxieties and in many cases, the cause of death. This is the tale of one's life under one regime, and the oppression it brings forth.

#MahsaAmini