I learned of the tragic death of Ali Samii whose mother Shahla was one of the rare fellow likeminds to support my pro monarchy posts and views on the IRI Infested Iranian Dot Com.
We had many online exhanges and her death came to me as a shock at the time when I was still contributing to the Iranian Dot Com. She was amongst the rare early feature writers with whom I shared a common struggle and belief in countering all the Pro IRI propaganda on that website against monarchists.
Years later I learned that Shahla's children were classmates to Princess Leila ( particularly Ali's sister Goli).
Yesterday However I learned that Shahla's Son Ali Samii took his own life yesterday in Geneva. Joining a long list of people of my generation who alas I have to admit truly belong to the burnt and sacrificed generation of Iranians who survived the 1979 revolution only to end up struggling against their own inner traumas and utlimately surrendering to their nightmares. We were either too young to take part for or against an event ( The revolution) the tragic ramifications of which can be felt to this day. Our voice has never been recognized be it by historians or journalist alike nor has our pain ever been acknowledged by all these so called "Iran Experts" speaking from their Moral highground and lecturing down to my generation on what is ( in their view) "democracy" and "human Rights" while justifying a revolution they either took part in ( as most of the old staff working on BBC Persian today) or didn't even take part in ( also like most of the young staff working on BBC Persian today) let alone felt the consequences in their personal lives. Yet you hear them taking part to so caleld "debates" and one sided "discourses" on so called diaspora medias or write books or make films without the slightest knowledge of what they are talking about let alone sensitivity towards those who have experienced the blows of that revolution first hand.
Ali Samii must have had his own personal issues like Prince Ali and Princess Leila but I know that their inner foes were somehow linked to the traumas of childhood related to the islamic revolution which truly put our lives upside down.
This sad news is so tragic that I can't help but think of how Crown Prince Reza's Reckless behavior and intellectual laziness and arrogance has killed the hopes of many people of my generation who counted on him to be our voice and speak up for the pain we have endured all these years eversince we left Iran. Instead he chose to side with our enemies and question the legitimacy of a Constitution, turn his back on his father's last will and on the institution of the monarchy which none of us genuine monarchists have ever abandoned let alone betrayed in the first place.
I know many like Ali Samii who are struggling against depression and one wonders how they are surviving when seeing the ridicule with which our cause has been subject to eversince the man we considered our king has opportunistically jumped on the Bandwagon of ex revolutionaries turned overnight "seculars" and has undertook with his reckless interviews and actions the dismantling brick by brick of not only his father's legacy but that of the monarchy itself by even branding some of us or our likeminds as "Fascists" for merely questioning him on his loyalty to the 1906 Constitution and his Oath as King "Roi de Jure" ...
I have no idea why Ali took his own life ... but when I see our "Citizen Prince" showing off his "happiness" and is content with showcasing his daughter as a Top Model Fashion Icon instead of bringing them up with a sense of history and duty while he himself vacations the world taking photos as a way to escape the realities of the world and his own duties, I can't help but think of how so many of my generation have seen their life and youth burnt in the name of a lost cause in which our own Royals never believed in nor cared for the sacrifices of those who fought and died in trying to safeguard their throne and the memory of the Last Persian Monarch. Were it otherwise RP would NEVER have presented himself as a "shahrvand" causing so much damage to the symbolic significance of the Oath he made to our generation more than 37 years ago and instead would have taken the mantle of the struggle for the restoration of the monarchy with the dignity and integrity our cause deserves.
If Anything be it from the vantage point of someone who was old enough and naive enough to believe in Crown Prince Reza's oath 37 years ago ( not as mere citizen but on the contrary as Reza Shah DOVOM), I would like to see "Shahrvand Reza" who claims he would have loved to be a "filmmaker" if he were not prince, to ponder on Tom Hanks Words in Saving Private Ryan: "You better earn it"
HD - Saving Private Ryan - Death of Captain John H. Miller and Final Speech
These are truly tragic times.
My sincere condolences to the Samii Family and surviving members ... and I hope that my personal assessments in this blog are not deemed offensive to their feelings in this time of grief. I will gladly delete this blog if it is deemed as such upon their request.
If not All I can say is that Ali's death triggers in me both anger and pain in seeing so many young, brilliant and above all likable people of my own generation see their lives so unfairly and tragically ended when they had so much to give and share in a world which has truly lost it's moral compass.
RIP Ali !
Darius KADIVAR
17th of may 2017
Paris, FRANCE
Related Article by Shahla Samii:
What could lie Ahead Go for it and bring about change by Shahla Samii (Jan 2002)
Related Ali Samii's published this article written by his deceased father in his memory Iranian.com Feb 4th 2002
Our voice has never been recognized be it by historians or journalist alike nor has our pain ever been acknowledged by all these so called "Iran Experts"
I agree and I think the final dagger on the soul of these people if not that generation inside or out side of Iran is beteryal by the person who was supposed to carry the torch of hope and aspiration and yet ended up being a lazy ineffective yellow belly!
RIP!