By Mohammad Ali Sepanlou

Source:

April 9, 2010

Silence has prevailed over the public in Iran. Norooz (Iranian New Year) has only added to the painful silence. For Marzieh Mortazi Langroudi, who is on the board of directors of the Association to Defend the Rights of Prisoners, that silence has a different meaning. She considers it full of unspoken expectations by people who are now socially active and filled with historical self-consciousness.

Langroudi’s days are focused on “how to increase the public’s confidence and obtain the capital needed to build a social network” and how “the youth and their commendable sacrifices can be used as the most important capital for establishing real social networks.”

On the other hand, the topic of new global sanctions against Iran has worried her so much that she has joined other women’s rights activists and the Mothers for Peace to prepare a statement that condemns war mongering policies and political approaches that are based on increasing pressure on Iran by resorting to more sanctions.

Langroudi adds, “If the real intentions of politicians in Iran and the rest of the world is to establish peace, security, and democracy on a domestic and international level, and the politicians are committed to these objectives, then they should not allow talks of peace, security, and democracy [to occur by methods of] patronizing and intimidating one another.”

To back her claim, Langroudi adds, “One cannot claim commitment to peace and democracy, and then, in order to achieve these goals, resort to instruments such as militarization and medical, economic, and industrial sanctions.”

Langroudi considers sanctions a silent war and an erosive torture that degrades people and empties them of their emotions. Such consequences are at times more severe than war and [results in] direct conflict. She believes that [Iranian citizens] will carry the heavy burden of sanctions. [She states,] “Vulnerable and poor people, especially women and children, will be forced into the black market of goods and services to work around the sanctions.”

Women’s rights activist Langroudi uses every opportunity given to her to study and work on a research project she believes will be worthwhile. The title of her research is Comparative Study and Examination of Perspectives of Modern and Traditional Women on the Concept of Modernity. Marzieh “Minoo” Mortazi Langroudi spends the remainder of her free time reading Slavoj Žižek’s Welcome to the Desert of the Real.

Translation by: Siavosh J.