Zahras Paradise by Amir and Khalil - Essay Example

Zahras Paradise by Amir and Khalil Blessed are the truth tellers and truth seekers, particularly those who risk not just their own voices and lives, but also friends and families, in the hunt of a genuine story (Bush 133). Truth tellers and seekers seek genuine stories in the face of cruel and oppressive domination whether faithfully zealous or just power hungry. The citizens of the prominent nation of Iran have suffered a lot under the law of the mullahs, as well as their Basij Stormtroopers (Amir and Khalil 34). Recently, the world was astonished by the killing of Neda on a Tehran avenue on 20th June 2009. However, a lot of individuals disappeared on that particular day, and were, after that, locked away in torture houses of Evin along with other terrible holdings where assaults consisted of murder and rape. A majority of individuals never returned from this torture chambers (Amir and Khalil 34). On to the thesis, the people of Iran are being oppressed by their regime. In support to this, this paper will discuss how the individuals are being oppressed and how they are trying to fight this oppression. In Amir and Khalil’s webcomic, Zahra's Paradise, a graphic story of emotion and power is exposed through the ruthless assault against self-governing sentiments. Thousands of citizens, as well as students, were murdered or locked away. Also, any clues of free thinking or enjoying a person’s own human rights were squashed. Even though Mehdi, the main character, is most probably a composite person, he stands for everyone who suffered, and tells a tale of intrepid citizens, journalists, as well as family members. Mehdi reveals the truth and struggle for justice powerfully through his actions as he represents other Iranians (Amir and Khalil 36). Along with the influential and better-known vivid work of Satrapi, two unidentified individuals have created a biting, ironic and clear-cut critique of the present rule in Iran. No doubt a hunt for their heads would be granted should the Iranian government discern their correct identities. I doubt if any replicas will find its way into Iran, but it is a tale which the citizens there are all too conscious of any way. No, this matter is for the rest of the globe, so unaware is it of the true living of regular Iranians (Amir and Khalil 36). The reaction in the U.S. is frequently to demonize Iranians, but I identify that, in reality, a vast segment of the populace dislikes what the mullahs have done to the nation. While a majority ignorantly follows the mullah’s guide, thousand repulse against oppression in a number of means and ways, from minute signs to life-risking demonstrations. There will forever be courageous protestors, who will forever fight for their freedom and others (Bush 133). Since Iran is mainly a Muslim nation, Allah, their God, will bless these people in their struggle. The end of the book portrays how, one day, freedom will shine on all Iranians. I highly recommend the book to readers all over the world (Amir and Khalil 37). Iran engages in a huge deal of oppression and tyranny. Iranians suffer owing to their faith, their views and, at times, their ethnicity. These people are also besieged by the government if they try to organize themselves autonomously (Slayton 1). This applies particularly to labor unions, a spike in the face of the government and among its most-at-risk victims. The nation’s labor market is inactive, and it remains somewhat competitive by taking advantage of its workers, who are used, in reality, as slave laborers. Workers of this nation frequently do not get paid or compensated. When they are paid, high inflation radically erases the buying power of their salaries. Social laws permit organizations to hire workers on temporary, three-month agreements. Under these circumstances, wages are frequently below the poverty line. Hence, workers are not obliged to add to any communal benefits (Amir and Khalil 40). To evade funding social expenses, Iranian organizations frequently sack workers within the three-month episode and then re-employee them. This is not the only form of oppression discussed in this paper. This woeful state of affairs is formed by the fact that employees, without self-governing unions, have no option. Their only means of demonstration are the supposed Islamic labor unions (Slayton 1). These labor unions, in reality, represent the welfare of the government and its nationalized organizations, not the functioning citizens. Iran's liberals are paying, with their health, freedom, and life, to order rights that the international organizations have considered sacred for over a century. This matter, therefore, should be tackled with the attention it deserves. Authors of the Zahra's Paradise, Amir and Khalil, suggest that the forceful government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might be engaging in a more restrained crackdown on ordinary Iranians, as well as the opposition leaders. Iran’s severe Islamist government has steadily oppressed the citizens of Iran since taking control of the nation in the 1979 (Amir and Khalil 56). However, the rise to authority of uncompromising leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad along with the vital coup staged by his allies in the Iran Army has made the human rights and freedom scene in the nation even worse. The nation’s repressive government has arrested or detained political dissidents, journalists, human rights activists, students, bloggers, women’s rights advocates and adherents of marginal religions such as the Baha’i faith and minority cultural groups. Iranians have witnessed the cruelty of mankind and the gruesome success of premeditated wickedness on a nation’s populace (Amir and Khalil 57). Furthermore, while people center on the zealous element of this culture, there are those individuals - the oppressed - who understand what the situation is like in that nation. They understand how it is like to live in a nation whose regime treats people like animals. They situation in Iran is not different as the case in a majority of prisons whereby inmates do not have any rights. Iranians have decided to utilize human rights commissions, as well as other international organizations, bodies and other countries to advocate for their rights. The main point is that they are employing these factors in order to resist the oppression conveyed to them by their regime. Human Rights activists depend on nations such as the U.S to fight for the rights of at-risk Iranians. Almost every Iranian does not believe in what their regime does (Amir and Khalil 58). The oppressed individuals of Iran feel that they ought to have rights and freedom, as well as a say in what takes place in their nation’s economy, government, army, rights and religion. The citizens in Iran are extremely kind individuals who have integrity in their hearts. They can conflict and yet not come to violent behavior. This is what they use as to resist the hardships conveyed to them by the regime (Amir and Khalil 59). The lives of these Iranians have been wrecked, their past raped and pushed to the point of erasure and their future, as well as choices, force-fed to them. Iranians also use strikes, demonstrations and assistance from international organizations to resists the oppression conveyed to them by their regime. Strikes, demonstrations and assistance from international organizations are significant because they have assisted a majority of Iranians in advocating for their democratic and federal rights (McCarthy 23). The resistance was also essential in advertizing the situation of Iranians in their nation. It was essential for other nations to know the matters at hand in this country. Through this, other nations could collaborate with other countries or international organization to assist the oppressed Iranians (Amir and Khalil 59). This Islamic nation attacked women immediately after taking control. The first stage of women’s resistance was short. However, the resistance was essential as it created awareness of the oppression subjected not only to women, but also other Iranians. Now foreign nations are trying to come in and assist these oppressed individuals to be able to live in their nation (Amir and Khalil 59).Women’s resistance went in a distinctive manner, against the shroud, gender apartheid, as well as mandatory dress code. Also, many Iranians have been tortured, imprisoned or killed. This brutal oppression created resistance, which influenced the struggle for freedom and rights in the country. The resistance reignited civil rights movement and mass scale strikes and fighting towards the end of oppression (Slayton 1). These people have cried too much regarding the state of affairs in their country. Iranians together with the human rights activists want an end to the practices and patterns of public discrimination (Amir and Khalil 60). They want subjective torturing and arrests, killing and kidnapping to be bunged, and their human rights acknowledged. Iranians want their cultural, national and political freedoms and rights to be respected and recognized. They want to benefit from their right to run their own affairs as well as have the opportunity to advance and develop their culture and society. Iranians want to have a just share in the government structure in their nation. A majority of the Iranians advocate for a democratic and federal political organization in Iran. They also want there to be elements of the local authority in the region. Iran is a large nation with immense ethnic, cultural, linguistic, as well as ecological variety, left from its colonial past (Amir and Khalil 1). With its six diverse considerable nationalities - Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens and Baluchis along with the Fars - this nation is maybe the best nominee among the Islam nations for a federative structure. No other regime in the Muslim world oppresses its subjects like Iran. What takes place in Iran, according to the book, also, in reality, takes place in the nation. The government of Iran oppresses its citizens just as it is explained in Zahra's Paradise. For instance, Iranians are paid low wages (Jadaliyya 1). They are also laid off without notice and also discriminated against at the work place. With accepted protest groups overwhelming the Middle East and Asia, Iran’s opposition group hopes to revive the momentum, which brought its countless citizens to the streets in 2009. That is the topic of this paragraph. Their strategy of peaceful protest, nevertheless, has so far been throttled by the Islamic Republic’s substantial security existence in the streets, eagerness to use aggression against demonstrators, communication embargoes and mass imprisonments. The real-life existence in the nation is for instance carrying out demonstrations, advocating through human rights movements, as well as economic suctions from international organizations (Amir and Khalil 1). With numerous opposition leaders exiled or in jail and street protestors put down by an overpowering security existence, the projection for Iran’s pro-democratic group might appear dim at the moment. However, there is considerable reason for optimism as stated by numerous human rights activists because, at the moment, Iranian leaders are scared (Jadaliyya 1). This is because the country’s government would not have to attack the opposition if it did not feel highly threatened by their dealings. The regime was afraid that the movement could have immobilized other citizens, which might have overthrown the regime (McCarthy 23). Currently, Iran’s regime has also lost authority. The government’s crackdown on peaceful protestors has already destabilized its authority among the Iranian citizens. The communal basis for a democratic state has hardened. The reform group was not inaugurated in 2009. The student, intellectual and women’s rights groups that have been rising since the end of the Iraq v. Iran war, as well as through the Khatami administration, have set up a tough civil society in the nation (McCarthy 23). When change takes place in the nation, it might be because the ruling culture has distorted so much that the government can no longer cling to authority. That fresh political environment will be more sustainable than in the past. Human rights have become instrumental in Iran. The citizens have become consistent in aiding human rights and equality abroad (Jadaliyya 1). Formerly, the Iranian government constantly pointed out the insincerity of the United States together with Europe in reproving abuses in Iran, while the former were themselves aiding dictatorial governments in other places. This weakens the West’s trustworthiness in condemning Iran’s record. However, Iranians along with human rights activists offer assistance to other oppressed Iranians. This has assisted substantially in easing oppression in the land. Direct international financial assistance may, at times, demolish the reliability of civic movements for instance they way Iranians depend too much on the U.S. this diminishes they civil movements. However, Iranians have incorporated learning programs and experience allocation by demonstrators from other nations can be supportive (Certo 1). Together with other human rights movement, Iranians have also chosen to aim at human rights and freedom violators. Countries such as the U.K. and U.S. have already begun to charge Iranian politicians accused of human rights breaching. This was after the 2009 elections when they decided to form the regime undemocratically. This is an optimistic step since it proves that other nations for instance the U.S and the U.K care about the welfare of the Iranians and not just about the country’s nuclear issues. Human rights activists have also urged international organizations interested in making Iran a democratic state not to invade it. This is because Military interference in Iran might destroy the peaceful opposition (Certo 1). A military conquest would only unite the nations around Iran, but not the country itself. It is, thus, vital to ensure that the Iranians continue with their peaceful demonstrations till the government steps down. In case of any under-progress, the military should be employed in the country to deal with this matter. The regime of Iran is oppression its subjects severely. This has led to the resistance being witnessed in the nation currently opposing this rule. Iranians have suffered a lot in a nation which considers itself a consolidated republic that protects human right. However, this is not the scenario on the ground. Iranians live in misery, which has persuaded them to form resistant groups to fight for their human rights. In order to understand this topic, further reading of Zahra’s Paradise is advised. Work Cited Amir and Khalil. Zahra's Paradise. New York: First Second, 2011. Print. Bush, Caroline. Oppression of women in the Arab countries. New Jersey: Pearson Press, 2012. Print. Certo, Adams. How the United States is responding to the state of affairs in Iran. New York: Oxford University Press. Jadaliyya. Zahra's Paradise Part Two. N.p, 2012. Web. http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/2679/zahras-paradise_part-two- McCarthy, Caroline. Zahra’s Paradise’ by Amir and Khalil. New York: New York Times, 2012. Print. Slayton, Nicholas. Zahra’s Paradise: A Look at the Green Revolution. New York: Zouch Magazine & Miscellany, 2011. Web. http://zouchmagazine.com/zahra%E2%80%99s-paradise-a-look-at-the-green-revolution/ Read More