A SHOW OF SUPPORT
Golsa Golestaneh, an SFU student who immigrated from Iran, is organizing a rally in support of protesters in that country at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Saturday.
From the safety of her Burnaby home, Golsa Golestaneh had watched helplessly as protests and violent clashes roiled across Iran, leaving at least 21 people dead and hundreds jailed.
Now she is taking a stand, organizing a rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Saturday to support the tens of thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets in the largest demonstration in Iran since the 2009 election.
“I haven’t been sleeping for nights,” said the 20-year-old SFU political science student. “I can’t get it out of my head that someone died who is just 13 years old. It’s very painful.”
Golestaneh was referring to reports a 13-year-old boy, Armin Sadeghi, was killed during demonstrations in the city of Khomeini Shahr. Golestaneh was 12 when she marched with her parents in 2009 in what became known as the Green Movement. Her family fled Iran in 2012 as refugees before settling in Canada in 2014.
“When I heard the news, I thought it could have been me,” said Golestaneh. “How are people ignoring the fact that children are being killed?”
The protests started Dec. 28 in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, over economic woes and surging food prices, but developed into broader anti-government unrest.
On Wednesday, Iranian state TV aired footage of pro-government demonstrators who said they were there to “protest the violence that has taken place over the last few nights in cities.”
B.C. has a large number of people with Iranian roots, with more than 44,300 living in Metro Vancouver, according to the 2016 census. Many are keeping a worried eye on the developments in Iran, uncertain whether the protests will lead to enduring change or remain a short-lived outbreak.
“Every single Iranian that I have spoken to or are friends of mine are watching this,” said Farid Rohani, former chair of the Laurier Institution and an advisory board member of the non-profit Global Reporting Centre.
“They’re fully aware of what’s going on. They don’t know how to react because they’re unsure of the leadership or the people behind it (the protests).”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei blamed the nationwide protests on “enemies of Iran.” But Rohani said those who believe foreign powers are instigating the protests “are not giving any credit to themselves.”
Rohani, whose family left Iran for Canada nearly 50 years ago, said he is disappointed by the silence from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and called on him to step up and “take a principled stand and support the right of the people of Iran to freely express themselves.”
On Saturday, Global Affairs Canada released a statement saying “Canada is encouraged by the Iranian people who are exercising their basic right to protest peacefully,” and called on Iranian authorities to respect democratic and human rights.
In a statement, the Torontobased Iranian Canadian Congress said it was saddened by the loss of life in Iran and supported the right of Iranians to freedom of expression and assembly and to demonstrate peacefully.
It, however, warned that the protests should not be used by political groups to justify anti-Iranian policies such as sanctions or aggression, which it says have only hurt ordinary Iranians.
I can’t get it out of my head that someone died who is just 13 years old. It’s very painful.