Stories of Civil Resistance in the Middle East. A Book

What happens when the light goes out on a regime, and what happens when, after shining a spotlight, darkness descends again? What is the Iranian population experiencing in these hours, after the so-called “twelve-day war”, with the new wave of repression, arrests and death sentences, which the dictatorship sells as a hunt for Mossad spies? “The West is worried, but it is not enough. We hope it will finally wake up, freedom can never be taken for granted”, says the senator of Noi Moderati and former minister Mariastella Gelmini , during the presentation of the book “Vita e libertà contro il fundamentalismo” (Ed. Mimesis for Gariwo), written by journalists Cristina Giudici and Fabio Poletti after a long work of research and collection of stories of women and men in the Middle East who “try to make a difference by defending human rights in the name of the democracy to which they aspire”. Incredible stories of girls, boys and people of all ages who at a certain point “find another way”, like the Iranian climber Nasim Eshqi who in the mountains, faced with the impassable, understood how to open another path under the regime. What will happen now in Iran and in the countries crushed by theocracies and dictatorships, in the cities and villages where “freedom” is a precious word, one wonders listening to the testimony of Rayhane Tabrizi, Iranian activist and president of the Manaà association, during the debate, moderated by Rai journalist Enrica Toninelli, and the exchange of ideas between the authors, Senator Gelmini and Democratic MP Lia Quartapelle, an often dissonant voice, in the Democratic Party, on foreign policy issues, compared to the line of secretary Elly Schlein.

The West has been deaf and blind, says Rayhane, but to prevent it from falling asleep again, after being forced to watch, in these days, an effort is needed in the direction of memory and knowledge . Even starting from schools, he proposes to the parliamentarians present, from Generation Z who fight in Iran risking prison and who here, despite seeming only taken by notifications on Instagram and Tiktok, when they are informed they do not turn away, says Tabrizi - who has been going to high schools for years, and every time finds unexpected questions and an unexpected desire to do something to help those who cannot have a voice under the regime. And, says Rayhane, "the Iranian people have stood up without help from the West, but without an external lever they cannot do it". There are those who had hoped that the Israeli and American attacks would give the regime a push, but the collateral effect is also the recrudescence of repressive action: "Nobody talks to anyone, nobody trusts anyone". If war is not a solution, the important thing is that the West does not close its eyes and find other ways to suffocate and surround the regime (economic leverage, leverage of non-conniving diplomacy). "We have the duty to keep the lights on, in Iran as in Ukraine", says Gelmini, "the West realizes that it has failed in the places where it has tried to export democracy with weapons, but it cannot leave heroic peoples alone who fight for a freedom that we take for granted. The Middle East and Ukraine concern us, everyone can and must do something. Whoever saves a life, saves the entire world, says the Talmud, a very true phrase". Salvation can therefore also come from knowing the small stories of those who have turned on the light on a small universe, like the Afghan footballer-coach who fights in exile to have her team recognized by FIFA - a team that, paradoxically, bears the name of the country now oppressed by the Taliban, or the young tortured Iranian rapper Toomai Salehi - even pop stories, says Giudici, that knock on the conscience of those who, from here, even from a school desk, can spread the stifled voice of those who risk their lives for a word.

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