By Hanieh Jodat Barnes

LA Progressive

Saturday morning a little past midnight Iranians abroad celebrated the exact moment of the spring equinox, a cultural celebration with roots that date back over 3,000 years.

Growing up in Iran as a little girl, I recall this time around spring when the streets of Tehran filled with the smell of Matthiola flowers combined with Persian Night Blooming Jasmines, ushering the arrival of the new year. I vividly remember the excitement leading to a short vacation time equivalent to spring break, and the anxiety of having to complete a 40-page activity book even when school was no longer in session. Salesmen selling flowers, fruit, and bright-colored tapestries decorated with delicate needlework.

I remember the smell of our new tiny outfits, little girls dressed in new shiny shoes, wearing colorful scarves, and little boys wearing tiny bow-ties, waiting to visit the elder family members, hoping to receive money which was often kept inside the pages of a Koran and handed to the younger ones by the older members of the family as a sign of opulence and blessing.

I recall baking with the women in my family, coloring eggs and often staring blankly at the tiny goldfish swimming in a bowl that was added as part of our new year decoration next to fresh apples, a plate of green grass meant to be tied as we made our wishes, mostly a tool used by single girls hoping to find love on the 13th and last day of Eid, and traditionally placed over moving water to be received by nature. Dried Oleaster balls, a bowl of wheat sprout pudding, garlic, a plate of sumac, coins to display prosperity, a bowl of vinegar all resting by a holy book, or a book of poetry by Hafiz, Rumi, or Omar Khayam, reflected from a mirror and candlelights representing light.

    Can we, as the United States, support sanctions on Iran to cripple the economy so children die from lack of access to healthcare and food insecurity and leave yet another dark stain on our democracy?

And I remember praying that the goldfish survive the chaos. I remember my grandmother and her teapot boiling in the corner of our living room next to a small bowl of sugar cubes, a heavily guarded area we were banned from crossing, preparing fruit baskets and bowls filled with assorted nuts waiting to greet guests. And I remember her warning my cousin and me to behave when guests arrive, and us breaking every rule. And perhaps we became resistant from a young age as little girls. Perhaps we wanted to be just like our grandmother, bold, courageous, and free.

As I carry these images with me every day that I breathe, recollections that shaped me as a feminist, woman, and an Iranian woman deeply rooted in centuries of tradition, culture, art, science, and power, I send my love to my countrywomen and men who have for long decades suffered poverty, human rights violations, aching for freedom, equity, and equality. A young population that has for decades suffered unconstitutional unilateral sanctions imposed by an imperialist empire, violating international law under the UN Charter and the Fourth Geneva Convention, pushing the middle-class into poverty and paralyzing the poor, women, children, and chronically ill.

Human Rights Watch reports, “At the core of the harmful knock-on effects of renewed US sanctions on Iran is that in practice, these sanctions have largely deterred international banks and firms from participating in commercial or financial transactions with Iran, including for exempted humanitarian transactions, due to the fear of triggering US secondary sanctions on themselves. As a result, Iranians’ access to essential medicine and their right to health is being negatively impacted, and may well worsen if the situation remains unchanged, thereby threatening the health of millions of Iranians.”

As a result of a global pandemic, economic and health conditions have deteriorated further in Iran. And I often ask myself, can we, as the United States, support sanctions on Iran to cripple the economy so children die from lack of access to healthcare and food insecurity and leave yet another dark stain on our democracy? Can we afford to repeat what we did to Iraq in the ’90s where many thousands of children died preventable deaths?

So I say to you, to my countrywomen and men today, I am holding you close, and until we meet again one day, and until you’re free.

Eid Mubarak, Iran.

In Solidarity,

Hanieh Jodat Barnes is the National Director of PDA Middle East Alliances, and the President and co-founder of Muslim Delegates and Allies. She was a 2020 Bernie Sanders Delegate (CA CD-45) to the Democratic National Convention and a co-founder of DNC Muslim Delegates and Allies.