Khordaad88 began with this quote
“Hope is not going to create itself if we simply talk of it, but will grow stronger only if we work towards achieving our dreams. We must raise our hands in unity and turn our homes into centers of ingenuity and innovation. Turn to yourselves, your friends and your brothers. Each citizen must now be a center for wise political, economic, social and cultural action.”
(Mir Hossein Mousavi, 9th Statement, July 2009)
Khordaad88 was founded by a group of friends and graduate students. We are also joined by a number of regular and guest contributors.
Our goal is to provide translations of important statements, reports, essays, speeches and opinions that will create a better context for understanding Iran’s green movement and its key leading figure, Mir Hossein Mousavi. Khordaad88 will attempt to present an understanding of the current political struggle in Iran that depicts a more sincere portrait of the goals and aspirations of the people who build and maintain the movement inside Iran.
What is important to know about this current struggle is that it is not one that began yesterday, or even on June 12th, but has been decades and decades in the making. This is a continuum of our ever growing struggle for independence, human dignity and freedom from inside repression and outside interference. This is not a fight to overthrow governments, but one to reform them to live up to their own promises. You cannot fully comprehend the images coming out of Tehran today if you do not look back at the album of imagery of years before. On Khordaad88, we will attempt to offer hints and glimpses of this album, in order to help our readers make better sense of recent events.
The path we face today is uncertain, and the road ahead is quite bleak. But our generation, born on the sidelines only to watch and obey, has now been given the opportunity to write its own history and to tell its own story to the best of its ability.
This is our attempt to join the ranks of millions of young Iranians struggling for a better life, struggling to find a common solution to their quandaries amidst the chaos and upheaval that they must endure, struggling to make sense of a world which is constantly shrouded in ever more vicious intentions. We are not there with them, but if there is one thing that recent events have proved to all of us Iranians hoping and striving for a better Iran, it is that our life, no matter where on earth we may be, is forever entwined in our common struggles and our enduring bonds. Physical barriers no longer immune or prevent us from the pain, anguish, sorrow and joy that sweeps the streets of Tehran.
Finally it is important to note that the creation, arrangement and maintenance of Khordaad88 is performed voluntarily by all contributors and is not funded by any agency or organization.