“بهار، فصل زیبایی و شادی”

“Spring, the season of beauty and joy”
Amir Moeinifar

All the people who make up the new wave of refugees to Europe are fleeing from war. Brutal and relentless wars that take away the ability to stay at home and force them to embark on unknown and inevitable but hopeful journeys with the least possible luggage. Travelers who are accompanied by death and non-existence, and danger and death are their constant companions until they reach peaceful and safe destinations.

Many forget, or no longer feel the need, or don’t have the opportunity to close the doors of their homes. They can’t take one last look at the streets and alleys that were once – although perhaps not always pleasant and patient – their homes, where they raised their children. Streets that, although mostly under the boots of tyrants and oppressors, took away the desired and beautiful way of life from the people of that land, but still, it was home.

No human being leaves behind their entire life history, home, loved ones, language, and existence with a smile to embark on an unknown journey, unless there is war in their home. The fire, blood, and cries of power-hungry rulers who accumulate wealth and power, which are a symbol of the body, soul, and existence of humans in lands deprived of democracy, freedom, and justice, show with their bloody fingers the path of leaving home to the deprived, marginalized, and silenced creations, before devouring the body or soul of a human being.

If the number of Iranians who risk their lives and endure the dangerous and deadly journeys by sea and land to reach Europe is a small percentage of refugees, it is still an important and valid indicator. This is also a significant document that shows that in Iran, there are not only military wars, but also political, economic, and class conflicts. These are wars with invisible bombs and casualties, and of course, visible migrants.

Iranians can sometimes enter Western Europe through safe and secure air routes by paying a higher amount compared to other nations. However, the exact percentage of Iranians who have this ability is a question that requires thorough research and examination of statistics. But it is certain that on the other hand, there is no shortage of Iranians who have traveled to Europe and are now trapped in prisons in Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria.

Iranians who have entered Europe (especially Germany) with the recent wave of refugees, due to linguistic and racial reasons, are close and companions with Afghan refugees. They sit together at a table when eating and if they can, they help each other translate questions and answers, as they have been companions on the dangerous journey they have taken. It seems that shared pain and being in special situations leads to an improvement in the quality of human identity and understanding.

In the midst of all this, the situation of Iranian refugees seems different at first glance. The people who are not involved in any war in their country and in many cases, the reasons for their presence in the West as refugees are unclear and inaccurate. The various and complex layers of political, social, and cultural injustices and discriminations have turned Iranian refugees (who in most cases do not have a direct political reason for seeking asylum) into humans in search of their homeland. But in Iran, there is also a war going on; an invisible and chronic war – and of course, in comparison to Syria, it is very, very low-cost – that is creating thousands of homeless people every year, in the form of refugees, and sending them out of the borders of the land called Iran, due to the contradictions of a dictatorial religious government.

The constant blinking of worried eyes and their restlessness, undermines the feeling of security for Iranians reaching a safe land. Often, they begin with the question: “We have heard that priority is given to Syrians and Iraqis, are they deporting Iranians?” Then, if the difficult and winding path from Turkey to Germany has left them with a glimmer of hope, they speak of the hardships of the journey and recount what they have escaped from, and ask about what awaits them.

They ask with concern: Should we stay in Germany or not? Then they look around and say: Should we go to Sweden? It’s as if when someone picks up their luggage and hits the roads with a heart full of ruthlessness, staying and continuing becomes their entire faith and security, the dream of their restless nights.

With Reza, a young man from Tabriz who had just arrived on foot from the train carrying refugees, I went to the doctor for translation. He had caught a cold. The doctor, a middle-aged woman, asked while listening to the young man’s breathing and standing behind Reza, “How long have you slept?” I asked and the young man answered, an answer that brought tears to the doctor’s eyes; seven hours in seven days! And this same young man said, if they want to deport us to Iran, I will go to Sweden or Denmark tonight, anywhere, just don’t deport us…

The war is devastating and of course the Syrian civil war has set fire to the lives of Syrians and the hearts of every conscious conscience; but when it comes to Iranian refugees, the concern is that despite a government that can announce the constant presence of war between its self-serving government and the people of that land, European countries ignore this war for the sake of economic profits, accepting their status as an oil-rich and regional power and the tempting market for European goods in Iran, and sacrifice the human rights of Iranians for the sake of profits for oil and European companies. If we do not believe that the Islamic Republic government is at war with Iranian women, homosexuals, freedom-seekers, and workers and low-income groups in that part of the land, capitalist governments in Europe will not believe it either. The Iranian people, in explaining their thousand-layered pains, have become like all opposition political organizations, mute and voiceless.