Where Is This Place

Friday night. In the dark, in the city, the lights glow, and voices drift in the air. "Allahoakbar," people are shouting and pleading from their windows and rooftops under the stars.

An amateur camera captures the scene, looking out into the darkness, revealing only a few lights of the neighborhood. In the background, you can hear the night voices, some nearby, some far away.

A woman speaks, her pleading voice wondering about her country.

The video is remarkable and is here. It includes quickly translated subtitles in English.

Her voice is haunting, but the subtitles capture only a fraction of its power. Below, I have written down my version of her words, a rewriting only of the English subtitles, because the number of Farsi words I know could easily be counted on my two hands.

Tomorrow, Saturday is a very important day -- the day of our destiny. And tonite, the Allahoakbars shouted from the rooftops are louder than they have been before.

Where is this place? Where is this place where every path is closed? Where is this place where everything has been blocked?

Where is this place where people just call out the name of God? Where is this place where every night the calls get louder?

Every day I wait to see if that night the Allahoakbars will be louder. I shiver, and I wonder whether God shivers too. Or not.

Where is this place where the innocent are imprisoned? Where is this place where no one comes to help? And where is this place where our voices are best heard thru the silence?

Where is this place where young people are killed, and people stand in the streets to pray? They pray on the blood of the fallen. Where is this place where innocent people are called trouble makers and thugs?

Where is this place? Do you want me to say? This is Iran. This is my land and yours.

--- rewriting of the subtitles on a youtube video of a narration of calls in the night in Tehran.

h/t: The Belgravia Dispatch

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