L'Iran sous tension : ni guerre, ni paix | Tracks East | ARTE

Helen Tara Bavan is a journalist, woman, and Kurd who grew up in Germany but maintains ties to Iran through family members living in cities like Kermanshah, Isfahan, and Tehran.

• Israeli attacks targeted Iranian nuclear installations and civilian populations over a 12-day period in June • The Evin Prison, a notorious detention center, was bombed in the final days of the conflict • The attack endangered political prisoners and killed several civilians

The war has ended but international attention on Iran and its people has disappeared, raising concerns about how Iranians are coping.

The journalist travels to Tehran with a stop in Cologne to understand how Iranians are managing after the conflict.

• The Islamic Republic wages war against its own population through mismanagement and corruption • Citizens face daily shortages, electricity cuts, and severe economic problems • The repressive apparatus tightens internal control when foreign policy fails

Iranians protesting in the streets are shot at by authorities. Over 600 executions were recorded in the first half of the year, with projections reaching 1,000 state murders by end of 2025.

Mariam Claren, a German-Iranian human rights activist, documents the increasing violence and executions across the country.

Authoritarian regimes exploit conflicts as tools to consolidate power, as they lack legitimate support from their populations and fear collapse during times of peace.

Six to seven days after the war ended, Mohammadi received grave threats informing her that if she fell into authorities' hands, they despised her and intended to eliminate her.

Narges spent years in Evin Prison's women's section, where beatings, solitary confinement, and psychological violence are commonplace. She documented these experiences in her book 'White Torture'.

The prison is nicknamed 'Iran's university' because it holds numerous intellectuals, dissidents, artists, writers, and members of persecuted minorities.

For Narges, writing serves as a form of resistance against the regime's oppression and violence.

Sepidé Golian, another prominent political prisoner since 2018, documented her prison cooking experience in a clandestinely published book titled 'The Pastry Club of Evin Prison'.

• The cookbook contains painful stories of fellow prisoners alongside recipes • Golian dedicates recipes to imprisoned journalists and activists • She honors journalist Marziah Amiri, sentenced to 10 years for participating in the 2022 Women Life Freedom protests

Adding sweetness and beauty in a place of terror through cooking represents a form of resistance against a system designed to strip away all joy.

The recipes, paired with contemporary music references, encourage readers to perform small feminist acts in public spaces to honor imprisoned women.

Many Iranians use dark humor daily as a coping mechanism and survival strategy in the face of constant state oppression and danger.

Iranian humor is direct and black as their tea, but it serves essential psychological functions in managing difficult circumstances.

Sepidé performs stand-up comedy with titles like 'Personality Disorder' to address serious topics through humor that Germans might initially perceive as aggressive but which actually opens dialogue.

Humor allows discussion of taboo subjects that cannot be addressed directly, creating common ground and understanding between people from different backgrounds.

Ancient Persian satirists like Obey Zakani used dark humor to criticize ruling classes. Modern comedians like Sepidé continue this literary tradition through stand-up comedy.

While stand-up is a Western concept from the United States, satire and critique through humor have always been central to Iranian literature and poetry.

• Sepidé jokes about Iran, America, Russia, and Israel with equal irreverence • Her humor demonstrates the absurdity of geopolitical tensions affecting ordinary people • Audiences may initially misunderstand her directness as anger rather than satire

Sepidé discusses postponing fertility treatment in Iran due to war fears, using humor to address how global conflicts affect personal life decisions.

Iran is a multiethnic state where Turks, Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, Christians, and Jews coexist, though not always peacefully.

• Iran hosts the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel • However, these communities are brutally persecuted and discriminated against • Many Iranian Jews have fled to Israel over recent decades

It is crucial that voices can represent these persecuted communities and their experiences within Iran today.

Sepidé emphasizes that while the Western perspective views Iran as a dictatorship, Iran is technically an Islamic Republic where voting exists but choices are severely limited.

Liraz is an Israeli musician of Iranian origin living in Tel Aviv who sings in Farsi to maintain connection with her heritage and roots.

• She cannot visit Iran because the countries are official enemies • She cannot explore her roots due to geopolitical restrictions • She never imagined Iran and Israel would directly bomb each other

When the war began, Iranian female friends contacted Liraz first to check on her safety, demonstrating human connection transcending state enmity.

She received hateful messages questioning her loyalty and received concert cancellations due to her Israeli identity.

Liraz's parents fled Iran as teenagers before the revolution, wanting freedom and safety to openly practice Judaism without hiding their religious identity.

• Being Jewish in Iran required constant relocation between neighborhoods and schools • Jewish students had to hide their identity and pretend to be Muslim • Teachers would force Jewish students to publicly recite Quranic passages, resulting in humiliation

After an incident where Liraz's mother was forced to recite Quran in class and her parents were called to school, they decided they could no longer hide their faith and chose to migrate to Israel.

Approximately 15,000 Jews still live in Iran, and Liraz believes they currently live in constant fear.

An Iranian woman living between Tehran and Berlin shared Liraz's music, resulting in numerous messages from Iranian women, particularly those focused on women's freedom and rights.

• Liraz began making music online with Iranian women in secret • The collaboration was especially risky given her Israeli identity • Eventually she proposed an in-person meeting despite dangers

The group met in Istanbul, the only visa-free destination for Iranians, and spent ten days recording an album with Iranian musicians and Liraz's Israeli band in a clandestine studio.

Liraz describes the collaboration as bringing immense joy but also significant anxiety about the risks involved.

The album Roya was released during the pivotal moment when hijab protests were beginning in Iran and the Women Life Freedom movement was gaining momentum.

Mahsa Amini was killed for not wearing her hijab correctly, becoming the catalyst that sparked massive nationwide protests against mandatory hijab requirements.

• The album's songs were featured in numerous protest videos that went viral on Instagram and Telegram • Iranian women burned their hijabs, cut their hair, and protested in the streets while the music played • The music became the soundtrack to one of Iran's most significant recent uprisings

Creating an album with women forbidden to sing publicly in their own country represents a powerful sign of peace and solidarity.

Through the collaboration, Liraz and Iranian women shared countless stories, videos, and images about the war and its attacks, creating deep bonds despite geographic and political separation.

While acknowledging the sadness of the situation, Liraz maintains optimism that conditions will improve for herself and her sisters in Iran.

Liraz hopes to sing freely in Iran, Israel, and everywhere without worrying about borders, believing all women deserve this fundamental right.

The collaboration emphasizes that women deserve dignity, freedom, and the ability to express themselves artistically regardless of national boundaries or geopolitical conflicts.