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As people in Iran protest their country’s current regime, Iranians in New Brunswick are demonstrating in support of friends and family they’re unable to contact amid widespread communications blackout.
Tabassom Tallaie is one of those New Brunswickers who came to Canada with her parents 10 years ago. She said living in Canada is a luxury and wished she could be in Iran to support her loved ones — not in Fredericton.
“It comes with a sort of guilt that you feel like, ‘Oh, I’m taking advantage of all the opportunities I have here.’ Mainly freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of action, but then our family, they are just fighting for basic rights,” said Tallaie.
She last spoke with her family about a week ago and has been trying to call five or six times a day.
“They were safe at the time. They were hopeful,” she said.
“They said we will if we need to sacrifice our lives, we are not afraid of doing so and I really feel proud of them for saying these words that they are not afraid of sacrificing their lives for gaining freedom.”
A rally was held at Fredericton City Hall in support of people in Iran. There will also be a rally in Moncton on Jan. 16 at the city hall. (Submitted by Tabassom Tallaie)
Tallaie and around 200 others gathered outside city hall in Fredericton on Jan. 10 to support the Iranian people.
Those people are opposing Iran’s clerical establishment after a deteriorating economy, including high inflation, has angered many.
‘A revolutionary act’
Shahrzad Mojab, professor emerita in women and gender studies at the University of Toronto, said there is a “long simmering anger over political repression and civil rights.”
Mojab said there have been water shortages, air pollution and widespread unemployment.
The protests were met with a violent crackdown as the government pushes back. CBC News has reported at least 2,000 people have been killed by authorities in Iran and more than 10,000 have been detained.
Tallaie described the recent events more than a protest or a demonstration.
“Everyone calls it a revolutionary act,” she said. “They are all in the streets, our family members, they’re all protesting for that very single basic right they have, which is … a regime change.”
She is grateful to have lived in Canada and go to university here which has given her the perspective of the rights her friends and family aren’t guaranteed.
“This radical extremist Islamic regime in Iran, they just shot off the voice of whoever thinks differently from them and they persecute them easily,” said Tallaie.
She said the government has blocked people from working or receiving identification cards.
No contact with family and friends
The government in Iran has recently blocked most communications and internet connection in the country which has left people, like Meysam Bakhti, out of touch with their friends and family.
Bakhti lives in Moncton after moving from Iran in 2021 to attend law school. He said he has heard of friends that have contacted their family in Iran.
He said some people have been fleeing the country or going to the airports to get enough signal to send messages.
Bakhti said they’re sharing information about the rising death toll.
“I am really concerned over the fate of my brave fellow Iranian people who are living under extremely hard conditions. They are facing massacre,” said Bakhti.
Meysam Bakhti, left, moved from Iran in 2021 to Moncton where he is now a lawyer. He said all of his family in this photo are currently in Iran and he hasn’t been able to contact them. (Submitted by Meysam Bakhti)
Some people have been relying on Elon Musk’s Starlink internet technology, but Bakhti has heard the Iranian government has been trying to block that signal as well.
He said he foresaw a conflict like this happening when President Donald Trump came back into power.
Bakhti said sanctions from the U.S. and United Nations would push Iran’s economy towards collapse.
He said he prefers Iran to defend itself against the current government, but since the death toll is so high he would welcome assistance from the U.S., which Trump has alluded to.
He said there is a gathering planned in front of Moncton City Hall for Jan. 16 to support those in Iran.
Hopeful about protests
Both Bakhti and Tallaie see some differences in this government opposition compared to previous protests.
“I can see that there are some discrepancies with regard to the previous uprising,” Bakhti said. “First of all, there is just one leader at the head of the opposition. He is the Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi.”
LISTEN | One Iranian living in N.B. has not heard from her family in Iran:
Information Morning – Fredericton12:07Iranian in Fredericton
Hundreds of people are reported dead as nationwide protests grow in Iran, despite a violent government crackdown. Colleen Kitts-Goguen spoke to Tabassom Tallaie, who lives in Fredericton and is struggling to reach her family in Iran.
Pahlavi was exiled and lives in the U.S. Tallaie said he is a qualified opposition leader.
“People really feel hopeful that, OK, we have a good alternative,” she said. “And when this regime falls and collapses, there will be a smooth transition to a secular, democratic, free Iran.”