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In Tehran Happiness is a Crime

5/20/2014

In Tehran Happiness is a Crime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYnLRf-SNxY

This link will take you to a clip so full of joy that you want to dance. That is until you realise that every single person involved in making the film and sharing it with the world has been arrested for ‘offending public decency’.

"After a vulgar clip which hurt public chastity was released in cyberspace, police decided to identify those involved in making that clip… Following a series of intelligence and police operations and after coordinating with the judiciary, all the suspects were identified and arrested.” Tehran police chief Hossein Sajedinia

And clearly decency is lacking. Not in these beautiful and spirited and joyous young people, but in an authoritarian regime which sees fit to persecute women and any man who wishes to treat a woman as equal. Which pools its resources to hunt down citizens such as these instead of taking care of the poor and needy so desperate for government support. It uses a twisted form of Islam to benefit self-serving religious leaders and politicians. None of whom have any respect for the people in their care.

Once you know each one of these beautiful young people are now in prison for simply showing happiness, this film clip becomes heartbreaking to witness.

What has happened to them since?

What can happen to a people when joy is forbidden?

And yet this film clip shows there is hope. Because no matter how punitive and evil a regime becomes there will always be those who defy it.

And they are the world’s salvation.

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A Child Born Today Will Never Afford a Doctor

5/13/2014

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A child born today will never afford a doctor

No University for them

Their schooling will be basic

Poorer schools, fewer teachers, bigger classes

More slipping between the ever widening gaps

They will see their parents destitute

They will look for work but find none

Belittled and blamed

A future begging for charity

No handouts. No jobs. No super. No retirement.

They will see the coral die for coal

Their cities and rivers choke

Their wilderness carved up like a freshly slaughtered pig

Sold to greedy developers

And miners sharing sly pillows with politicians.

And around them will stand the ghosts of Christmases Past

Decency, Kindness, Generosity, Empathy.

While the spectres of the Future

Greed, Hatred, Selfishness, Prejudice

Howl loathing around their heads.

What Happens to ordinary people when Government loses its Integrity?

It is May 2014 Australia and the current government has just brought down a budget so severe on the poor, the unemployed, the elderly, the sick, the young and the helpless- there is no precedent.

It has broken faith in the people who voted for it.

It has destroyed hope for the future in those who did not.

There is clear evidence that its motivation is not born out of our current deficit, but out of an intention to restructure Australian society so that all safety nets for the disadvantaged are deleted with the intent to remove them entirely.

Health, education, the unemployed and the elderly are the sacrificial lambs for corporate and political greed.

Few believe there is anything but self interest in these decisions.

We were once a nation of egalitarian principals. We led the world in championing human rights and providing assistance for those who were not as lucky as the majority. We had universal health care, outstanding educational facilities and opportunities which were accessible to all. We protected and preserved environments for future generations.

Is this the government we get when women are ostracised from power? When their voices are so few in Parliament that the bully boys refuse to hear their objections. Or are they so intimidated that they don’t object? Instead, they let bad social policy become the edict of the future.

Women are the carers who will carry the greatest burdens of this budget.

They look after the elderly until they are old themselves. They will provide shelter for their children who are jobless and destitute. They will have less to live on because of their time out of the workforce. They will visit the doctor more. Have greater health costs. Greater responsibilities for the sick and those with disabilities.

The current prime minister claims himself the Minister of Women. Did he consult any of the women in the community to see the effects this budget will have on their daily lives?

A man who has made no statement of concern or support for women when over 200 school girls are kidnapped cannot think much of the importance of women in the world.

A man who cannot find more than a handful of capable women to participate in his cabinet clearly isn’t looking.

How can a government which has sidelined from political decision-making those with a true understanding of society make any responsible decision?

This government DOES NOT represent the people of this nation. It can’t if it fails to represent more than half the population.

Rich white men will only ever represent other rich white men.

All others, particularly women, are fuel for exploitation.

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In Tehran Happiness is a Crime

A Child Born Today Will Never Afford a Doctor

siobhan colman

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