If you’re only hearing about Iran in relation to US-Israeli strikes, that’s by design. January in Iran saw “one of the most extreme Internet shutdowns in history” as the country cut off Internet access for its citizens. It appears the reason for this shutdown was to cover up the mass murder of civilians following the collapse of the rial. Despite the blackout, word soon spread about over 27,000 Iranian civilians killed by the country’s security forces. That isn’t even going into sexual assaults against detainees and the region’s “severe water stress.”
Now that I’ve given a quick recap, you’re probably sympathetic to the Iranian plight, but might not be sure what you can do about these horrors, not to mention all the other massacres happening in the world right now. If you’re an artist, you might think your time spent writing, or drawing, or designing video games, or jotting down poems is wasteful, even immoral, when there’s evil out there you should fight instead.
I don’t have any new solutions to offer for the world’s ills— call your reps, donate to NGOs, you know the drill. But, as this blog’s focused on writing, I did want to point out one relevant detail about Iran’s government.
More than most dictatorships, Iran is scared to death of poets. They imprison more writers and artists than any other regime, save China. Even Iran’s president had to be stopped by officials for reading a Turkish poem at Tabriz’s culture week. Despite the many ways Iran’s falling apart, they consider the oppression of poets more important than their fuel crisis or ongoing desertification.
Having been created of one essence.
When the calamity of time affects one limb
The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
If you have no sympathy for the troubles of others,
You are unworthy to be called by the name of a Human.”
– Sa’adi, 13th century Persian poet: Bani Adam
To the novelists reading this: the writing you do may feel insignificant next to all that’s going on in the world. You know who disagrees? The most powerful and oppressive governments of world history. People may talk about how tech innovations of the 21st century (online social media, GenAI), combined with dropping literacy rates, make the craft of poetry and fiction obsolete. Governments may say that too. But they act like poems— not solely political poems, but any writing that speaks to the truth of the past and present— are a threat on par with an armed uprising.
There’s more you can do to help the world, beyond putting your truth in words. But don’t listen to people who say that a life dedicated to the arts makes you useless against tyranny. Instead of listening to such people, watch what they do. How much of their downtime do they spend engaging with fiction? Whose words do they quote in times of strife? Who among them supports a cause without first hearing a story about it?