There was a full house at Revolution Books when Nasser Mohajer came to speak about his book Voices of a Massacre: Untold Stories of Life and Death in Iran, 1988. The audience included a few young people from Mexico, Turkey, China, some Unitarians active in support of Iran’s political prisoners, revolutionaries from the U.S. and many Iranians. The event was co-sponsored by the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Prisoners Now.
Nasser Mohajer speaking at Revolution Books Berkeley, July 7, 2023. Photo: Revolution Books Berkeley
The staff person from Revolution Books welcomed the audience, situating the event in Bob Avakian’s analysis that this is a rare time, when the U.S., citadel of global imperialism, is tearing apart from top to bottom, and contention between nuclear-armed imperialist powers is sharpening internationally, and that something terrible, or something truly emancipating can come out of this, that it is possible that the chance to make an actual revolution could emerge in the United States. He said of a major feature in the world—the contention and clash of two outmoded forces, U.S. imperialism vs. Islamic fundamentalism—“Both are cruel, exploitative, destructive of the environment; there has to be another way, and there IS another way. Support for the prisoners and for the uprising of the people in Iran (since the murder of Mahsa Amini) is one important part of forging this other way.”
He said: “Supporting the struggle to free Iran’s political prisoners goes to the bedrock of what our store is all about. We are not talking about a revolution for the people inside what is now the U.S.—we are talking about a revolution that has as its goal the emancipation of humanity; we cannot stand aside when great crimes are committed, and powerful resistance to those crimes emerges, anywhere in the world.”
As Nasser Mohajer began his talk about what happened in July of 1988, people listened in rapt attention. Voices of a Massacre is the only book on this Great Massacre published in English. In it Mohajer documents the unfolding of this massacre, the courage of the prisoners, as well as the ongoing and necessary struggle to demand justice. Voices reveals many layers of the events of 1988, how the theocratic regime carried out a nationwide coordinated pogrom of secret retrials, torture and murder throughout Iran’s prisons, though much, including those individuals responsible and even the number of people murdered is still hidden by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Voices contains many moving testimonies of political prisoners who survived this horror, stories of great courage and resistance in the face of the IRI’s terror and cruelty.
Among the audience were ex-political prisoners and relatives of people executed in 1988. Many listened with tears in their eyes, and Nasser Mohajer himself had to stop a few times to collect himself.
Nasser Mohajer discusses his book Voices of a Massacre Untold Stories of Life and Death in Iran, 1988. Photo: Revolution Books Berkeley
When asked what it was like to research and write about such a heavy, chilling historical event, he said: “I have been working on prison literature for 35 years, it was the most difficult thing in my life to write this book...the only way for me—sometimes you know after writing a paragraph you will cry, there is no way out, sometimes you cry when you are asleep, there are certain things that we cannot forget: when we think about those things, we tremble. But I think that for me, what was most helpful was that I forget myself....I do not have the right, I do not have the luxury to think about myself. I have to be an honest person. In this book there is no exaggeration, prisoners in Iran...if you were a political prisoner…regardless of the organization, the group you belonged to. You went through hell. And it is my responsibility...to portray, write and make it clear what this person meant...and when I reread the writing you say that ‘OK, I have done justice. I have been her voice, I have been his voice.’”
Learning that so many were able to resist and refuse to submit to this raises the question of how people were able to look beyond profound human suffering to see a different future and resist. This is critical to understand in today's world where the future of humanity is at stake. Iran's political prisoners then and now truly are heroes and a much needed inspiration for our time! This book provides an objective and crucial understanding of the many complex political forces involved in the struggle in Iran. This includes the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) that emerged from that horrific 1988 massacre and is fighting to lead a revolution in Iran today (cpimlm.org).
Note: Revolution Books plans to make video of the event available soon. We encourage everyone to get a copy of this important book and read it, to support the work of this important author, and the revolutionary work of our important bookstore.
From Voices of a Massacre by Nasser Mohajer, p. 3:
Although thirty years have elapsed since Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the purge of political prisoners throughout Iran, the Great Massacre of 1988 is still an open file. All past and present leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) have maintained a policy of silence about this crime, and any reference to this atrocity is considered a political taboo by the Islamists in power. Yet, because of the surviving political prisoners, who fled Iran and landed in Western Europe and North America in the 1990s, as well as their families who stayed in Iran and fought to unearth the facts of this heinous crime, we now know that following Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwas of 1988, all political prisoners were re-interrogated and retried in inquisition-like tribunals. Thereafter, thousands were taken blindfolded to the gallows and thousands flogged, day after day, to submit and succumb.
“Cleansing” of the incarcerated was carried out in total secrecy. Not only were the detainees kept in the dark about the task of the commission that re-interrogated them, and the process of re-interrogation, but the authorities also refrained from revealing the burial sites of the executed, and forbade their families from holding public memorial services. Hence, many aspects of this massacre are still obscure. We still do not know the exact number of men and women killed during that bloody summer. We still do not know where they were buried. We still do not know why the IRI decided to undertake such a “cleansing” measure. And we still do not know the names of all the officials involved in the preparation and implementation of the deadly fatwa.
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From Voices of a Massacre, p. 17:
THE END OF WAITING
For days, weeks, and months, the distraught families of political prisoners waited at the prison gates, asking for news about their loved ones. Some were hopeful and thought they would be able to see them. Some feared a humanitarian catastrophe had occurred and that the birds would never sing again. Many had brought money and the deed to their houses with them, to obtain a signed receipt (which was an indication that their loved ones were alive). What did they then receive? A resident of Saltanatabad received a note, in the shape of a ten-dollar bill, which said “Brother…Please attend on… at… o’clock in Saltanatabad Kommitteh. Signed, Saltanatabad Kommitteh.”
The family members residing in Tehranpars, Naziabad, and other zones of Tehran received similar letters. This was during the second half of November, 1988. Then, “On the designated day, from 6 a.m. on, there was a hubbub in front of the Kommittehs of ‘Golshra’ (on Saveh Road), Zanjan (Zanjan Avenue), Khavaran (near the Golestan Khavaran), Naviabad, Tehranpars and… At 9 a.m. they called the first names in ‘Golsahra Kommitteh.’ After a long and excruciating wait, finally one person came back with a bag. A second bag was given to a father… a third bag… a fourth bag.” The bags containing the belongings of their loved ones was conclusive proof that they were dead.