Let’s take a moment to dream. Close your eyes and imagine that it’s the future. You are walking down the street in Shiraz. The street is called Golestan. It’s a beautiful sunny, spring day, and as you’re enjoying a delicious traditional ice cream, you bask in pleasure in knowing the following:
-The mullahs are long gone;
-Iran has a secular republic that is headed by a popularly elected president who was elected in what is universally accepted as being a fair election;
-Iranian women have equal rights before the law and are free to wear what they want;
-Iran has a truly independent judiciary;
-All minorities in Iran have proportional representation in the government;
-The country’s wealth is spent on infrastructure and quality of life improvements in Iran, and no money is sent to Hezbollah, Hamas and other Islamist organizations around the world to support a dubious cause that has nothing to do with Iran;
-Iran is an independent nation that focuses on improving the lives of its people instead of being obsessed with becoming a regional “power” (whatever that means!!!) and influence peddling around the region and the world;
-Everyone’s right to practicing his / her religion (or not having a religion) is respected;
-There is freedom of expression, where people can express themselves without being punished for exercising that right;
-There is no government controlled media;
-There is no “intelligence ministry” or similar organization;
-There are no political prisoners;
-Iran is no longer associated with, or linked to, terrorist groups;
-We have regained respect in the international community on account of our respect for human rights and human dignity
and not on account of being some sort of a “military power”;
-Our government respects our unique identity and Iranian heritage as opposed to being ashamed of it and trying to replace it with some hegemonic, ubiquitous, unrecognizable Seventh Century Arab culture;
And last, but not the least:
-All political prisons have been shut down, and have either become museums of remembrance, or have been razed to the ground, with a memorial erected in their place as a sign of respect to those who perished in those most awful of places.
