Because of…

a song to the memory of a young woman whose death sparked a movement

Hi all,

Thank you for joining me for this Sunday Special commentary.

Comments and questions are welcome. Please be respectful of others’ opinions if they should differ from yours.

For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below the video.

---

---

(681 words)

The Background

Today we remember another date and another member of the human community who was working for freedom in her country. On 16 September 2022, Mahsa Amini died. She was 22 years old, from a small city in Iran. She was in the custody of the morality police. They had arrested and beaten her because she didn’t follow the country’s rules about wearing a hijab. The government says she died because of a medical condition, but her family and others think the police were responsible for her death.

Briefly, Sharia law is a form of guidance for Muslims to follow in their private lives. Some countries have made their country’s legal laws to reflect Sharia teachings. For example, dancing is not allowed. Also, kissing in public is thought to be indecent. The morality police in Iran accused Amini of not following a law that says women and girls must cover their hair and bodies.

Mahsa Amini’s death caused large protests all over Iran, especially by women and girls who threw off their head scarves and chanted in the streets. They demanded that Iran’s leaders change the rules. This protest became known as the “Mahsa movement” and has been a challenge to the leaders who have been in charge of Iran since 1979. The police have been violent, arresting many people and even injuring and killing some protesters, including children and teenagers.

Comlux Aruba Boeing 787-8 P4-787 Mahsa Amini Livery.jpg Taken by SuFlyer, 20 Aug 2023, at Tokyo Haneda Airport. Source: WikimediaCommons (CC). The writing says, “No woman should be forced to cover her head. No woman should be killed for not covering her head. No woman should be hanged for saying this.” An image of Mahsa Amini is shown on the tail of the plane.

The Song

Baraye is a Persian word that, in English, means “because of” or “for”. The song Baraye was written by Shervin Hajipour shortly after Amini’s death. He got the idea for the lyrics from Twitter posts that people had sent. At LyricsTranslate.com, he provides comments on the meanings of the lyrics. I will summarize and further explain some of them here.

For dancing in the streets

For the fear when kissing

For my sister, your sister, our sisters

For changing the rotten brains Here, he is referring to the leaders of the government who continue to maintain the patriarchal system in society.

For the shame of inability to provide, for being penniless

For yearning of just a normal life After many years of U.S. sanctions, inflation, and unemployment, it is estimated that 26 million people in Iran live in poverty. Hajipour points out that Iran has vast amounts of oil.

For the dumpster diving boy and his dreams

For this planned economy

For this polluted air Hajipour writes, “Air pollution in Tehran and other Iranian large cities are among the highest in the world.”

For Valiasr street and it’s tired dying trees Valiasr is where many of the protests have taken place. It is the longest street in Tehran and is lined with trees that were planted 100 years ago.

For Pirouz and his possible extinction

Translated from Farsi on the photo below at Wikimedia Commons:

On the 11th of May this year [2022], Iran [the name of a female cheetah] gave birth to three cubs in Turan National Park. The first two cubs died in the first days, but the third cub survived with the efforts of experts and was named Pirouz, or “Victor” in English. Pirouz has now survived four months with the help and nursing of the wildlife therapist and rescuer "Alireza Shahrdari" and Ali Amarloui, the former head of the Pardisan Wildlife Clinic and a wildlife specialist, and has become the symbol of the Iranian cheetah.

Pirouz - Photo by Erfan Kouchari 1 Sept 2022 tasnimnews.com via WikimediaCommons

Sadly, Pirouz died in February of this year.

.

For the massacre of the innocent dogs Hajipour writes that it is illegal to own a dog or walk it. Raids to capture and kill dogs are not uncommon.

For these never ending tears

For the dream of a moment that will never happen again

For the smiling faces

For the students, for future

For this heaven being forced on you

For the imprisoned intellectual elite

For the discriminated Afghan children Hajipour tells us that Afghan refugees in Iran have very limited rights. Until recently their children did not have the right to attend school.

For each and every one of all of these “for”s

For all these empty propaganda chants Hajipour explains that every day, children in schools have to chant slogans like “death to America” or certain prayers to the leader of Iran.

For the houses in rubble, collapsing like a house of cards Many buildings have been poorly built and often collapse.

For the feel of peace

For the sun after long nights

For all the pills for nerves and insomnia

For men, homeland and prosperity

For the girls wishing they were boys because there is inequality between the genders but also, perhaps because transgender people face high levels of discrimination in society.

For women, life, freedom

For freedom

For freedom

For freedom

---

Note: “Baraye” made history in February of this year. It was the first song to receive a Grammy Award in the category of “Best Song for Social Change.”

---

Questions for my readers:

1) What other information would you like to know about Mahsa Amini?

2) What other songs do you think should be nominated for “Best Song for Social Change”?

Leave a comment below or in the chat.

---

VOCABULARY

in the custody of 拘留中

morality police 道徳警察

indecent 猥褻な

accuse 責める

summarize 要約する

patriarchal system 家父長制

penniless 文無し

sanctions 制裁

inflation インフレ

dumpster diving ゴミ漁り

massacre 虐殺

raid 襲撃

refugee 難民

house of cards: a sort of game in which the player tries to build the tallest structure with playing cards. It is weak and can collapse easily. (砂上の楼閣)

Janet McKnight Creative Commons

rubble 瓦礫

collapse 崩壊

insomnia 不眠症

prosperity 繁栄

---

---

SOURCES

Original lyrics with comments by Shervin Hajipour:

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/baraye.html-3

.

Fassihi, F. (2023, September 16). “an innocent and ordinary young woman.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/16/world/middleeast/mahsa-amini-iran-protests-hijab-profile.html

Malekian, S. (Sept. 17, 2023). Iranian authorities detain Mahsa Amini's father on 1-year anniversary of her death: The 22-year-old's death in police custody sparked months of protests. ABC News Network. https://abcnews.go.com/International/iranian-authorities-detain-mahsa-aminis-father-1-year/story?id=103249020

Motamedi, M. (2023, February 28). Iran’s Asiatic Cheetah Cub, Pirouz, dies of kidney failure. News | Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/28/irans-only-endangered-cheetah-cub-pirouz-dies-of-kidney-failure

Ng, A. (2021, March 23). These 6 charts show how sanctions are crushing Iran’s economy. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/23/these-6-charts-show-how-sanctions-are-crushing-irans-economy.html