[…] National Telegraph […]
Written By Salman Sima, Posted on February 8, 2022
I have been put into solitary confinement at Evin Prison (a notorious prison in Iran), I have been tortured by IRGC thugs, I have felt the hand of a tyrant before. So, when I make some analogies between the Islamic Republic and what is currently going on within the Canadian government I don’t do it lightly.
The Freedom Convoy is the biggest civil movement in Canadian history, and The Bloody November has been the biggest uprising against the totalitarian regime in Iran that came to power in 1979.
In November of 2019, the regime murdered over 3000 protesters who were out on the streets asking for their basic rights and freedoms. So far, the Trudeau government has killed zero protestors. It would be dishonest to say that we are on the same part of the road as the Islamic Republic in Iran, but it looks to me like Justin Trudeau is warming up the car.
When the Prime Minister called the peaceful truckers “a small fringe minority” with “unacceptable views”, it reminded me of 2009, during the Green Movement, when former regime president Mahmoud Ahmadinajad called peaceful protesters “a bunch of dust and trash”.
I was put in prison, solitary confinement no less, for my unacceptable views. What was my unacceptable view? Calling for freedom. Does this sound familiar?
It is not just the government that reminds me of the Islamic Republic, the current state of the legacy media, paid for by Justin Trudeau, is just as bad as anything I saw in Iran, arguably worse. If I hadn’t seen the truth with my own eyes while on the ground here in Ottawa I would not be able to believe the level of lies and fake news being spread.
For example, when we were out on the streets protesting peacefully in Iran, the State Media would create multiple hoaxes designed to discredit the protestors. Even some of the Regime’s apologists knew this was propaganda.
I am in Ottawa now and was there last weekend when the fake news story about the truckers trying to take food from the homeless came out. Not only was it a lie, but an anti-truth. The exact opposite was true, it is the convoy that is feeding everyone regardless of race, class, religion, or political beliefs.
When I see countless Canadians out there in the freezing cold bringing stockpiles of food, water, and coffee to whoever is in need, day after day, it warms my heart. Watching these truckers and ordinary Canadians sacrifice and care for their fellow man, THIS is the Canada that I love.
In 2011 I came here as a Muslim refugee to have something that was illegal in my beautiful homeland, freedom.
When I heard that in Ontario dancing and singing was banned and that you could not have more than 5 people for a party inside your house, it reminded me of the situation in Iran. This is not about health, these are the impulses of an authoritarian regime. The Mullahs do it on a daily basis.
I don’t equate the Police in Canada with the oppressors of the regime, but I can see some similarities in rhetoric and tactics. I could smell a smear campaign when they said downtown Ottawa was not safe, trying to drive people away so they couldn’t see the truth for themselves. Also, when there are fewer eyes they can put more pressure on the truckers.
The mayor of Ottawa, Jim Waston, has called a state of emergency and abused these new powers to get the police to intimidate ordinary Canadians carrying food and fuel to the truckers. Using the freezing cold as a deterrent against the people is the most un-Canadian thing that I have ever seen. Some of the truckers are here with their families and children.
Now the police are setting up blockades, so they can literally and figuratively divide the people.
(Photo from The Guardian)
I expected the police to be on the side of the people, and for the most part when I talk to an officer on the ground they are very friendly and acknowledge that there is no violence. But, it is the heads of these organizations that truly make me concerned.
If people fear their government, that is called tyranny. If the government fears its people that is called liberty.
Why did I come to Ottawa to support the truckers? Because I know the value of freedom, and I know what tyranny looks like. Martin Luther King jr. once said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, I believe this. I am going to expand on this idea when it comes to freedom, because freedom anywhere is a step for freedom everywhere.
The Islamic Republic stole our rights and freedoms in 1979, and I don’t want to see it happen in my beloved Canada.
I wrote this article in the heart of downtown Ottawa while being serenaded by the sound of horns. This honking is a beautiful thing. It is the voice of freedom.
As a former political prisoner in Iran who took refuge in Canada I know what tyranny looks like. I am proud to stand with #TruckersForFreedom.
"I lost my freedom once in my beloved Iran by the Mullahs, I don't want to lose my freedom again here!" pic.twitter.com/JFwc3QOUMx— Salman Sima (@SalmanSima) February 7, 2022
"I don't equate @JustinTrudeau's government with the Islamic regime in Iran,but if in Iran we are at the end of the road of oppression & dictatorship,than here in Canada Trudeau is warming up the car! We need to stand up for freedom now.
Tomorrow is too late!"#FreedomConvoy2022 pic.twitter.com/8cZoxnMbVg— Salman Sima (@SalmanSima) February 7, 2022
[…] National Telegraph […]
A well written report. Thanks for your effort. It raises awareness.
[…] National Telegraph […]
November 24, 2024
November 11, 2024
This Treadeau. Is this why he gives Iran Iraq billions of our tax dollars every time we question him? Better yet will Canadians wake up and realize it’s not fake news.
Thank you for sharing your story, Salman. People (such as myself) who have never experienced living where freedom has been crushed can not know how it feels, and it is obvious that someone who HAS experienced it would be very attuned to the early warning signs. Apparently there is a significant number of Canadians who have become complacent in taking their freedom for granted and they have not yet realized that standing on guard for that freedom is crucial to maintain it. Douglas MacArthur once said, “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation”. That word “entitled”, and the associated assumptions that those feeling it is something we who are blessed to live in “free” countries should also be vigilant about. I thank you again for noticing that although we may not yet be hurtling with no brakes down a one way highway to complete governmental control, “the car is warming up” and we need to pay attention.
Thank you sir! For helping to wake "us" up. You are a true freedom loving Canadian, eh? 🙂
Good analogy.
This protest brought to mind a strike/protest by coal miners in Valea Jiului, a mining area in Romania, decades ago.
The miners refused to go down in the mines until Ceausescu came to talk to them. They would not negotiate with anybody else.
The dictator was forced to cancel whatever he was up to at the time and came to negotiate. At stake was the stop of electrical power production and steel making in the country – with all the downfall from such a state of affairs.
When Ceausescu showed up, the leaders asked him to remove his ties and present himself like they were – working people. (Ceausescu’s rhetoric was like that of all those dictators behind the Iron Curtain, about representing the "working class" ).
Ceausescu was forced to fulfill on the spot all the demands of the miners in relation to fair pay, working conditions, living conditions, etc.
The miners won! The sad part is that in the years following that uprising, the leaders of those miners were disappeared one after the other. They were assassinated by the infamous state secrete service Securitate.
It would be good if this protest brings a clean end to the madness that was inflicted on this country, and most ‘advanced’ countries of the world. It would be good if the new government would spend money in educating people on how to improve their natural immunity, how to live healthy, and not buy 10x the population of Canada in injection of debatable repute while printing money like there’s no tomorrow.
We want to have a tomorrow. And that tomorrow we want it free of manipulations and fear mongering, free of divisions. We want to be united in freedom!
God bless Salman, he’s a brother and a hero.