The more you attack me the more I pride myself, for the further I am from you the closer I am to the people. Go and order your corporals and squadron leaders.” Golsorkhi also scored points by dunking on the military brass sitting in judgment - shooting back at the chief judge when admonished to stay on topic, “Don’t you give me any orders. This is the juncture of history in which we can claim Ali to be the world’s first socialist … and we too approve of such Islam, the Islam of Hussein. The real Islam in Iran has always played its part in liberation movements … When Marx says, in a class society, wealth is accumulated on one side and poverty, hunger, and misery on the other, whilst the producer of wealth is the poor, and Ali says, a castle will not be built unless thousands become poor, we cannot deny that there are great similarities. I am but a drop in the great struggle of the Iranian people … I am not bargaining for my life, because I am the child of a fighting people. In this court, I am not bargaining for my life or even my life span. I, a Marxist-Leninist, have found, for the first time, social justice in the school of Islam and then reached socialism. I will begin my talk with a quotation from Hussein, the great martyr of the people of the Middle East. “Life is nothing but a struggle for your belief.” How would it be possible for the rich to get richer?Ībdy Javadzadeh notes in Iranian Irony: Marxists Becoming Muslim that Golsorkhi’s lyrical self-vindication - one could hardly call it a “defense” addressed to the parameters of a court that he openly scorned - “spoke volumes on how Marxism developed within the Iranian opposition,” marrying the language of revolution with that of Islam. The one who was white would be greater than the one who was black. The one who had power and money would be greater than the poor one It was a difficult question and the students were silent. The teacher wrote on the blackboard, which reminded us of darkness and cruelty, None of the students were paying attentionīecause the teacher was shouting and pointing to the algebraic equations. On the other side of the class a student was flipping through a magazine. The students in the last row of seats were eating fruits and making noises while this version has English subtitles:Īnd his hands were covered with chalk dust. Farsi speakers can enjoy Golsorkhi on video. Their defiance - Golsorkhi’s especially - of a military court trying them on a trumped-up charge of attempting to kidnap Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi‘s son made them Che Guevara-like figures for young Iranian leftists of the time.**īadly misreading the direction of the wind, the Shah televised their prosecution as a show trial - and the poets used the platform to completely upstage not only their judges but the rotting monarchy they were there to uphold. Stock of a provincial family with ties to the Communist Tudeh party, Golsorkhi - much the more famous of the two - became a noted writer of radical prose and poetry in the 1960s and 1970s. Khosrow Gol(e)sorkhi* and Keramat Daneshian, poets and revolutionaries, were shot on this date in 1974 by the Shah of Iran. Let us sacrifice our life for this light - this light. Thus, a window will open that lets in the light of life. And each death is a panel of mystery closing on lies, corruption, poverty, and hunger. Each death is a small window closing on nihilism. 1974: Khosrow Golsorkhi and Keramat Daneshian, Iranian revolutionariesĭeath is our most modest gift to the people.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |