Shahin Pooya
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Program Introduction
“This anger, who can say that they are killing generation after generation,” is the title of two programs being held today in Stockholm and next Saturday in London to commemorate the victims of the 1960s and the young people who died in the streets and in the regime’s torture chambers during recent events in Iran.
Hello, welcome to this year’s gathering, which is being held on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners. This gathering is the sixteenth program that we have organized with you, dear audience, in the past sixteen years. All these years, with your warm and sincere presence, you have turned the Stockholm gatherings into unforgettable programs in honoring the victims of the regime’s prisons. All these years, together with you, we have tried to document and make available to the public the torture and killing of opponents and their resistance in the prisons of the Islamic Republic through various narratives from the victims of the massacres of the 1960s, political, legal and social experts, and the families of the victims. In continuation of these efforts and to prevent forgetting, in this program, we will sit down with three of the children of the victims and, through their narratives, take a journey into the depths of the crimes of the 1960s.
For all these years, the Islamic Republic regime has refrained from providing any information about these massacres. Therefore, in the current situation, only by recounting the memories and what happened to the families and the victims, can we understand the depth of the crimes that the regime committed in prisons in the sixties. In this gathering, we will hear from the perspective of the younger generation and their experiences. New organizations in the struggles of the Iranian people are another topic that we will address in the program.
We begin the program with a minute of applause to remember and honor two generations of those who lost their lives. We stand together in honor of them and, with a minute of applause, honor their struggles and sacrifices.
We continue the program with the song “The Prisoner” sung by Roya.
The link will present to you a short article about the massacre of two generations.
A short video clip titled “They Kill from Generation to Generation” will be shown in memory of the victims of the 1960s and the youth who were killed in the recent uprising in the streets and in the barbaric torture chambers of the Islamic Republic.
Afterwards, Abbas Samakar, a poet and writer in exile, will speak about the new organization in the struggles of the Iranian people.
The next speaker on the program is Shokofeh Montazeri, a left-wing political activist and the daughter of the deceased Hamid Montazeri, who will share her memories under the title “I Am Waiting for That Day.”
After Shokoofeh, Hejir Plaschi, writer, journalist, and student activist, talks about her memories of Khavaran and the relationship between the younger generation and Khavaran in the title “Khavaran and the Younger Generation.”
Continuing the program, we will read the announcement from the families of those who died in the 1960s, which was published on the occasion of Khavaran.
After that, Nahzat Ashtarani, the son of the deceased Sultan Ali Ashtarani, will speak on the topic “Season of Choice.”
Iman Shirali is the next speaker on the program. She is a social and political activist and the son of the deceased Iraj Shirali. With her memories, she takes us deep into the crimes of the regime and what happened to her and her family.
In the continuation of the program, playwright, theater director, and songwriter in exile, Iraj Jannati Ata’ee, will recite poetry.
In the artistic program section, Nader and Nahid will perform several songs and hymns.
Shahnar Kaidpour, the sister of the deceased Dariush Kaidpour, was unable to travel to Sweden due to illness and hospitalization.
We received Iman’s interview three weeks before the program. His words are moving and powerful. We contacted him and invited him to the program. He accepted our invitation and today we have him in our group. His name was not in our pre-arranged radio commercials. We were unable to change them. In a promotional clip we released two weeks before the program, we added his name to the list of speakers and removed Shahnar Kaidpour, who had simultaneously announced that she would not be able to travel to Sweden due to illness and surgery.
When the crime becomes widespread, it remains hidden from view. When the suffering becomes unbearable, no one can hear the screams anymore. People are torn apart, and whoever sees this scene loses consciousness, and this is completely natural. But when oppression and injustice become a social phenomenon, a catastrophe such as the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1367 occurs, and thousands of political prisoners in the early years of the 1360s. After enduring the most severe tortures, they are handed over to the death squads in the courts of the criminal regime of the Islamic Republic. May their memory be honored!