I admit it, I have world cup fever…. I am already itching to watch the games(no sleep for 18 hours!)
For Iranians it is a bitter pill to swallow as we were so close to being participants in this global spectacle. Alas, our team is not represeneted but i know that we will be back again. I am proud and will cheer our team on no matter
what.
I have been humming the song Just like the Wavin’Flag by K’Naan in my head since it came out earlier this year as the official song for the FIFA world cup 2010. The more I listen to the lyrics, the more I ponder the importance of a national identity and I am at a loss.
Our people know who they are. Our national identity, however, has been hijacked. What we can do, though, is to wave our OWN flag and contemplate the importance of the colors in it, we don’t need a symbol of a specific era or a belief system to tell us who we are. We know where we are and what we want. We are Iranians, we want freedom and equality.
The lyrics in K’Naan’s song speak to the importance of this:
Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
But Violent prone, poor people zone
But it’s my home, all I have known
Where I got grown, streets we would roam
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest
Among the hardest survival
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak
Except no defeat, surrender retreat
So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we’ll be free
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day
It’s not far away, so for now we say
When I get older, I will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag
And then it goes back, and then it goes back
And then it goes back
So many wars, settling scores
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor
I heard them say, love is the way
Love is the answer, that’s what they say,
But look how they treat us, make us believers
We fight their battles, then they deceive us
Try to control us, they couldn’t hold us
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers
ut we struggling, fighting to eat
And we wondering, when we’ll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day
It’s not far away, but for now we say
When I get older, I will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag
And then it goes back, and then it goes back
And then it goes back
here is to the hope of a better day when we will all be strong.
Kaveh Ahangar Adel
Just believe….
