I am so amazed by many Iranian people on X and Instagram and even people I meet teaching at Seneca and at Western who articulate the repression and restrictions of the theocracy in Iran. A lot of my students last year who were Iranian wrote about the murder of Mahsa Amini, who it appears was beaten to death because her hair was not properly covered. Arrested by the “morality police”. A young Iranian man in my current class explained how wide spread resistance has become. He said after the revolution in the 70s they fired every academic and replaced them with religious authorities and neglected Persian values. He said this has had the effect of building resistance because people were being forced. I’ve met a lot of musicians who were forced all their lives. Who had very strict backgrounds and tons of pressure and cruel messages from parents and teachers who cry when they enter other types of playing where the absence of threatening a student builds new musicality. More meaningful and emotional.