Ms. Que BanhMar 13

#Iranians are PERSIAN not ARABS.
This toot was sponsored by my Iranian Canadian photographer friend - who is tired of people not knowing who #Persians are & ignorant of their ancient, ancestral & cultural histories.

Sorry - I forgot to add -> My friend says he has never spoken Arabic but understands some of it from learning from Arabs who were displaced from nearby countries. He told me that Persians speak Farsi. Many are also educated on speaking & reading English.

#MiddleEast #GlobalSouth #Cultures #Iran

Show threadsortius 

@PhoenixSerenity careful, that sounds rather Palavist. It's a way of saying someone isn't Iranian "they're Arab, not Persian" or "they're Indian not Persian", when most of Persia's leaders did not come from inside modern day Iran.

The argument is that Persians are Aryans and the Mullahs are Arabs. It's literally Iranian fascism, and what the Palavists are heavily into.

Novara Media did a great interview with an Iranian poet over this stuff yesterday

Mar 13 at 8:33pmWeb
Show threadMs. Que BanhMar 15
@sortius From how my Iranian Canadian friend explained things, it had zero fascism feels involved, for him, personally. Him & his family(some who are still in Iran) call themselves Persians/Iranians - they self identify as both & they still speak Farsi daily here. His family has ancient Persian roots & how he explained it was that Iranians have reclaimed the Persian word to empower themselves. He says the human beauty of Iran is because they're diverse, with citizens from many different cultures/religions/languages. His ancestral family's roots have feet that go back to times before the Muslim faith was spread to their lands. He was telling me that after Babylonian empire, a Persian king freed all people who were imprisoned & had a public decree for all of them to return to their homelands & to practice their chosen religions, freely.
I don't know enough about Iran/Persia. I'm trying to learn more, from Iranians in my life. I do know my friend hates what's happened to his homelands/peoples. His elders had suffered under both the Shah & Ayatolla corrupted rulers.
Show threadsortius Mar 15

@PhoenixSerenity just remember, the diaspora is made up of many groups. It's why I don't just listen to one set of people, least of all the ones trying to divide Arab, Persian, Afghan, Indian, etc. Depending on how far you go back, Judaism arose within the borders of Persia, so this isn't a religious thing, it's a nationalist purity thing.

One of the criticisms of Khamenei from the Pahlavists is that "he was born in Iraq, so he's not Persian", playing that purity card.

It's cultural supremacy, and whether they can get lyrical about roots or their desires, there's no place for that anywhere

Show threadMs. Que BanhMar 15
@sortius I know. We have a lot of diaspora Iranians here & not all of them agree. Same with other POC diaspora. I listen to a lot of different voices of displaced POC folks here. I don't necessarily agree with all of them. I'm trying to learn from others with similar war displacement life experiences.
Show threadsortius Mar 15

@PhoenixSerenity yeh, I'd compare it to the Vietnamese diasporas.

Not only are there different political leanings, but different ethnic groups and religions. It's why I never assume someone's a flag waving communist, or disgruntled capitalist, or anywhere between. Especially first/second gen, purely because their views on Vietnam are experienced via a familial lens

Show threadMs. Que BanhMar 15
@sortius Somewhat but not always true. It's the same with many other POC displaced by generations of war experiences. I'm very connected to POC diaspora folks here. For our family, it was viewed from both a familial lens & wider geopolitical lens - because we had several highly educated family members before US terrorists murdered a lot of them. They saw bigger, global picture perspectives, beyond familial ties.
Show threadMs. Que BanhMar 15
@sortius There's a pretty large group of mixed Iranians on Vancouver Island.
My friend isn't religious. Some of his family are religious but even within their large family - there's different religions practiced.
Show threadMs. Que BanhMar 15
@sortius For myself, I tend to be very quiet when other diaspora POC are sharing their own lived experiences because part of being committed to learning from others is knowing when to be quiet & when to speak. I don't need to agree with what I'm hearing, to sit & be quietly respectful, when others are sharing some very traumatic lived experiences.
This is how my parents taught me to learn from others.