More than a week after Israel and Iran reached a fragile ceasefire, a local Iranian writer is offering her insight. Ava Homa lives in Pacific Grove, has written extensively about human rights in Iran and teaches at Cal State Monterey Bay. KAZU’s Ngozi Cole spoke to Homa.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Ngozi Cole: Are there complicated feelings in Iran about whether the regime will be toppled?
Ava Homa: [Ceasefire] with Israel does not mean peace for people of Iran.The Iranian government has been in constant war with its people for over four decades. In fact, human rights groups report that since the beginning of the missile strikes, there has been a spike in arbitrary arrests and executions. So it's important for us to remember that while headlines move away, repression does not take a break, and we need to stand in solidarity with people who have been fighting this battle for over four decades.
NC: If there is success in toppling the current regime, what do you think that means for Iran?
AH: We have to define what “toppling the regime” means. If it means just the supreme leader escaping the country, we have to realize that the regime is not just him. There is a very well-organized IRGC–the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–who are the military elite in Iran. So what does toppling mean? Does that mean that they are the group that are next in line? Would the next leader then be someone that's not a clergy but has a military uniform? We have to be very careful about what we are looking for.
I think what you and I and a lot of our audience at NPR care for is a stable planet where there is less injustice and oppression. And that comes from maintaining our solidarity with people [in Iran] that are doing the actual work, activists that are working behind the scenes constantly and nonstop. And when I say solidarity, I have to clarify that solidarity is not saviorism. It means constant moral support of people who are carrying these heavy burdens across all borders. We can't just talk about justice and equality within one border and not the other. And it means we also hold Western governments responsible and accountable for their hypocritical ways of dealing with the Iranian government.
NC: How can the world help bear witness to what's going on in Iran?
AH: If there is one thing I want your audience to take away from this conversation it is to remember that humans are not just nuclear enrichment, they're not just weapons, they're just not regional instability. We're talking about 91 million people [in Iran], especially women and minorities, waking up each day trying to protect their loved ones and hold on to their dignity under nearly impossible conditions. So when the headlines fade, please do not look away. Remember that peace hasn't happened in Iran yet. The government is still waging a war on its people day in and day out. Please do not reduce Iran to its regime or its weapons. Stay with the people. Stay with a demand for human rights.
NC: What would peace in Iran look like?
AH: It would look like a place where minorities and women don't have to fight for dignity and justice day in and day out. It would look like a place where their existence and their lives are not reduced to headlines and oppression and they're able to enjoy their short time on this earth with all its complexity, beauty and horror without suppression.
Ava Homa is the author of Daughters of Smoke and Fire and recently wrote an op-ed about human rights in Iran for the Globe and Mail in Canada.
