Nika

30/10/2022

‘I could hear an inner voice saying to me, 'Stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth.’ (Martin Luther King: shot dead for preaching love, equality and peace).

I feel sick. A 16 year old girl. Deemed: enemy of the state. Beaten to bloody death by insecure security forces, the brutal fisted hands and booted feet of a repressed, repressive regime. Her crime – now read this carefully because this is serious: she…burned…a…headscarf. Death penalty. No mercy from merciless leaders who claim so cynically to represent the merciful.

Nika Shakarami. Remember the name. She shines as a bright emblem of resistance and hope, alongside Malala Yousafzai – the 15 year old girl shot in the head for daring, so shockingly, to say: it’s OK for girls to go to school. Remember too: Sophie Scholl, the 21 year old young woman, murdered violently by violent psychopaths for advocating non-violence in another era.

God help us. Please pray.

12 Comments

Arman

30/10/2022 10:29:06 pm

Hi Nick.
Thank you for writing this. Always Martin Luther King inspire me.
Nika was just one of thousand examples of people that die in today's revolution of Iran.
They want basic rights and nothing except freedom!
It's heartbroken that majority of dead people is teenagers!!!
They are so brave and I belive future belong this young generation and destroy this evil regime!!

Nick Wright

31/10/2022 10:16:14 am

Hi Arman. Thank you for inviting me to share this response to what is happening in Iran. When I saw the news about Nika this weekend, it reminded me of a news report during the peaceful demonstrations for freedom in Tiananmen Square some years ago. The journalist I was read witnessed a soldier bayonet a 15 year old girl in the stomach while she was trying to flee from the tanks. It absolutely sickened and horrified me. These events bring out the best in humanity and, unfortunately, the worst. I pray that good will prevail.

Leila Hedayati

31/10/2022 10:08:26 am

Thank you very much Nick for writing this, to stand up for righteousness.

31/10/2022 10:18:32 am

Hi Leila. My voice feels like such a small voice. May God use it, alongside those of so many others who are far more influential and courageous than me, to bring about lasting change in a country whose people have suffered and are suffering so much.

Samantha Eriksson

31/10/2022 10:20:50 am

Hi Nick. Your words are painful to read. What hope is there?

31/10/2022 10:24:18 am

Hi Samantha. I try to remember these words from Mahatma Gandhi, spoken at a time when the Nazis and other vicious regimes were ravaging the world:

'When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it – always.'

Peter Stanfield

31/10/2022 11:15:52 am

Hi Nick. Thanks for this - it takes so few words to capture the horror and apparent hopelessness. But the reaction in Iran of young people and schoolchildren is compelling- and if the regime loses control of the young they eventually lose control of everyone. My concern is the cost to so many young lives before that point is reached.

31/10/2022 02:42:47 pm

Hi Peter. Yes, it is tragic. It sometimes takes great suffering before radical change is achieved. I hope, in this case, positive change will come before such a high cost is paid by the young people of Iran.

Stephanie Chambers

31/10/2022 02:48:36 pm

Thank you as always Nick for drawing our attention to these things. To look outside of our narrow and blinkered lives and see something more important. It puts all else into perspective.

31/10/2022 02:53:27 pm

Hi Stephanie. Thanks for your kind words of encouragement. My voice feels so small. I look on with admiration and astonishment on the incredible courage of these young people, standing so fearlessly against such a violent and heartless regime.

Ariana Salemi

31/10/2022 02:57:20 pm

Your words made me cry Nick. Thank you for sharing our feeling and our revolution!

31/10/2022 03:02:07 pm

Hi Ariana. I'm only a witness, standing at a safe distance. My heart goes out to you and the people of Iran who face the violent oppressors with such dignity and courage.

Nika

Leave a Reply.

Nick Wright

Archives

Categories

Nika

Leave a Reply.

​Nick Wright

​Archives

Categories

Nick Wright

Archives