The fish answered: "My grandfather always told me: 'I hate victims who vote for their executioners, in our society we never vote for the criminals who kill our brothers and sisters.'"
On a cold winter night in late February,
in a large lake near the city of Ahwaz, the capital of the oil-rich Khuzistan
Province in southwest Iran, an old and wise fish gathered around the 7,500
small and baby fishes of his school. He was preparing to tell them something
important.
The frightened fish quickly gathered
around him to listen carefully. The old fish, with his deep voice, told them he
had heard some news he wished to share with them.
You have to make an important decision, he
said. There is a war coming. You have to prepare yourselves.
The scared little fish got closer and
closer to one other, making up a large mass. The old fish explained how he had
been thinking that maybe tomorrow would have been too late, so he would
tell them today, because the fish must begin to prepare. The news, in brief,
was that the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) planned to dry up all the lakes
around the area, and then drain the entire Karoon river, in line with a variety
of plots to scarf up huge revenues from water sales.
Therefore, the old fish
said, we have to decide to stay here and divide into groups in small ponds, and
fight for the last bits of water, or hit Karoon river and see it where it takes
us.
The fish were very
concerned at first, with some saying "we have to stay," and others
seeing no choice but to seek a new home. The old fish told them to take their
time and think until morning, and then inform him of their decision.
In the morning, with
the sun rising on the lake, the old fish once again gathered them all around.
They first expressed their hatred of the IRGC and in one voice decided to seek a
new home. They said that despite their love for the home they had lived in for
years, "we will not succumb or surrender."
The old fish was
reassured, telling them they had resolved all his concerns. "I had heard
from my ancestors that those who seek a new home because of cruelty will be
provided a new and better home by God. And despite my old age, I have decided
to come with you."
He then assembled a
team of young fish, led by a small and brave white fish who had trekked all the
waters, to head out earlier and lead the school.
One day into their
journey, they reached the city of Ahwaz, where floods and strong winds were
engulfing the city. The harsh conditions had destroyed much of the city
infrastructure due to the regime’s negligence.
They fought hard to
reach the river entrance where they saw Ahwaz's locals launching a new demonstration where people were protesting the
regime for plundering their God-given wealth, wasting it on bombs, arms,
killings, meddling in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
The small white
fish went forward to see and talk to one of the Ahwaz locals who was fishing
near the shore. The fish told him their story of relocation and the Ahwazi was
very happy to see the fish, saying, "We have the same situation, our
revenues, billions of dollars from our rich fields are pouring into Assad’s
pockets for Idlib's chemical bombing and the ruthless killing of civilians, and
innocent children. Here, the people face a deteriorated economy and corruption
and these days, and the supreme leaders Ayatollah Khamenei and President Hassan
Rouhani, want to launch propaganda for another sham election. We know that
Khamenei wants to engineer the election to pull out his candidate from the
ballot box, and for that we decided to boycott the election."
The fish answered:
"My grandfather always told me: 'I hate victims who vote for their
executioners, in our society we never vote for the criminals who kill our
brothers and sisters.'"
The Ahwazi replied:
"The election in Iran is just replacing dictators. Those who will be
selected as candidates are the genuine imposters who crippled and poisoned the
human nature of our communities with physical and moral torture. Their methods
of rules are economic slavery of women and men, executions and imprisonments,
cruelty and injustice."
The small white fish
was trying hard to hear because the strong waves kept on pushing them to the
south of the river. Two days after enduring hunger and becoming very tired, the
fish finally reached the city of Abadan and the juncture where Karoon joined
two rivers from Iraq and poured into the Gulf.
Iraqis were seen
fishing with their poles. This was when the small white fish began warning his
school in tow not to go any further. He himself went forward until one of the
Iraqis saw the little white fish, asking him, "what are you doing here,
you’re not from around here…"
The small white fish
told him how the IRGC was drying up all the lakes. The Arab man from Iraq told
him about how the IRGC had literally destroyed his country, with bombs,
destruction, and carnage every day.
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