Thank you for the important question.
As I mentioned before, the Islamic Republic is systematically trying to get rid of the artists, cultural influencers and intellectuals. What they're trying to do is eliminate part of our memory of what Iran was and of our culture. They're trying to fabricate a history and push the middle class out. What they have done.... Eight million people had to leave. Those who stay in Iran, if they want to have any artistic expression, are under a tremendous amount of pressure.
There's nothing that's going to be documented in, say, 50 or 60 years regarding what's going on right now in Iran, because no artist is allowed to record what's happening or what they're seeing, yet that is the work of the artist. The artist's job is to see what's going on with society, record it and express what society feels about the current situation. That will be non-existent in 50 years, because nobody is allowed to express themselves freely. This is a huge thing. Iran is going through a transformation that will eliminate its middle class, artists and free-thinking intellectuals.
One hugely important thing that Canadians and the free world should do is support these voices at different levels as much as they can. The media should give them more coverage and the politicians should start talking about them more, using key words and their names. Western artists have done it. Sting, Coldplay and Peter Gabriel have all signed a statement about Toomaj Salehi. The west did this before, for the Soviet bloc writers and intellectuals, and it was the same in South Africa, so there are examples. I think that's what needs to be done.