Today is the Holocaust Memorial Day, remember the millions that were murdered, Jews, gays, people with special needs, Roma people, communists, and many others… Remember them well, so we can hope that history will not repeat itself.
The river snakingly flowed
Fields of flowers caress its banks
Countless fragile Red petals
Men, women and children
Stood here a moment ago
Muslims, Jews, Christians
Searched with hope the sky
But God’s mercy clouded over
Machines mercilessly returned a gaze,
Before any of them could see,
Or even meaninglessly identify
Skud, Kassam, Israeli Air to ground rocket, a bullet
They laid here silently
Embraced forever
Blood mingled together
Into this red red river
If god had mercy
Salam who caressed with his hands
Olive branches for ninety years
Would not loose them as to have
His soul flowed into the river
And Tikvah,
A little three year old girl who chased
A white dove that also dropped like her
At this spot where I stand.
If god had mercy
I would be making love with you
In a field of white flowers
Not standing here
In a field of red
We exchanged leaf wraps of tenderness
Firmness and intensity
Casual fire moments
Of canon blasts
that sank deep inside
To leave a mark
Secretly shared
Implanted seed
Of bright death rose
Mine to keep eternally
At the crossroads of life
I stand alone
Dark rain pearls
Wash over my forzen body
Not of cold
Of the unknown
How to carry a gift
And road to take
Standing by an Oak
Shedding leaf Wraps of tenderness
Autumn wind howls
Sailing me to winter
I hope you didn’t suffer dear dad and that you are at peace right now, with mum.
You gave me so much, I don’t know where to begin, but I want to tell you, thank you.
I love you.
I will never forget you.
I remember how you let me “drive” the old Triumph car we had when I was five. You used to sit me on your knees and put my hands on the wheel pretending I was driving the car. I loved driving the car with you…
Or, you used to take me to your lab and I even dissected a huge frog…
When my ex and I split up, you told me ‘If you want me, I am on the next plane to be with you.’
I hope you forgive me for not being able to come and see you before your death or be at your funeral. You know it was not my doing.
Please forgive my sisters for what they did and love them.
May you rest in peace.
Iran was nervous about Azerbaijan right from its independence, the idea of homeland for the Azerbaijani people is seen as dangerous. It may give “funny ideas” to its local Azerbajani population to join it.
There are also historical reasons for this fear; In 1945, Soviet troops moved into Iranian Azerbaijan and created a short lived Soviet-backed puppet regime by the name of “Azerbaijan People’s Government”, which was abandoned under international and local pressure.
More recently the regime in Azerbaijan has been making noise about being the home and leaders of “all the Azeri people,” something that deeply alarms Iran.
Most of all, the Iranian regime is worried about that the ethnic Azerbaijanis (at least 25% of the population of Iran) within its territory might demand the implementation of secular values and modernisation, or worse seek to join Azerbaijan. The Azeris are a Turkic people both ethnically and linguistically distinct from the Persians, the only thing that is common to both is that most come from a background or are Shi’a Muslim.
That is why Iran is taking great strides in launching a religious campaign out of Tabriz, the historical centre of Azerbaijani culture, against the “corrupt” and “morally defunct” Republic of Azerbaijan. It attempts to delegitimise and make the neighbour to the north less appealing to the population of Azerbaijanis at home, which are an oppressed minority.
The ruling regime in Azerbaijan, on the other hand has an element of calculation in how it uses this conflict. The government had been stung by western criticism of its human rights record, and was deliberately trying to show itself in a positive light, especially with the Eurovision contest, compared with Iran.
The Azerbajani regime is using Iran to stress its own importance to the West. It knows that the West is not friendly with Iran and will support Azerbaijan. Tensions have been raised deliberately so as to divert the West’s attention towards a contentious issue and away from its own appalling human rights records. It also keeps the Azerabajani population under the spell of anti Iranian nationalism that divert its attention from political-economic problems at home.
The whole issue with “gay pride” or “Israel” is part of a “side show”, journalists need to understand that and do their homework of research, rather than fixate on the superficial propaganda aspect between the two countries.
