Protest rally of Iranian theaters about the complicated situation of Iranian art in front of the parliament/ What have you done for art?

TEHRAN –(Iranart)-Theater artists gathered in front of the parliament and while enumerating the difficult living conditions of Iranians, The complicated situation of other arts, Demanding unemployment benefits, Allocation of grants to the theater family, Increased support budget for theater production in the country, and so on.

A group of theater artists gathered in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, They informed the members of parliament of their demands and those of the Iranian art community in the form of a statement. The rally was held on the morning of Sunday, January 3, in front of the north door of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The gathering was held in silence, and at the end, the statement of the theater house was read by Hamid Reza Naeemi, artist and member of the theater house board of directors.

Excerpts from the statement read:

'Deadly moments are passing on the homeless nation of Iran. The cry of mourning does not subside for a moment. Vulgar and cheap death is inevitably in the process of killing people, and nothing has been done by the government. This letter of grief is the public voice of protest and litigation of thousands of families of the noble art of Iranian theater. You do not know the artists of your theater, but they are from this land too, not enemies and foreigners. We are the guardians of the languages and culture of Iran, and now we are not asking you to beggars, but to questioning you. Tell us, what have you done to flourish the language, poetry, stories, and novels of this land? What a big and valuable step you have taken for theater and cinema? How did you find the present of music, painting, and sculpture of our time? Do you know what the per capita reading rate of the Iranian people is? Do you know how many copies of a book cover have been printed? If you are also a representative of the theater family, tell us what efficient and effective planning or management have you figured out for the fate and life of this art in this half-century? Each time, you passed indifferently by the statements and grievances of this part of the living heritage of Iran. As you passed indifferently and silently by the thieves and night owls who looted our heritage and registered it in their name. We do not know what answer we will have for the future of history when our children ask: Where is our string instrument? Where is the pride of our Chowgaan (polo)? What happened to Nizami and Rumi and Rudaki? Where are our spiritual Masnavi? And we now, with anger and fury, ask you for a part of our small and not big demands and infrastructure, because fulfilling it is your duty to the citizenship rights of this forgotten part of society; which all the great and cultured countries of the world have done.'

Great Theatre Society of Iran

TB: Abtin Jaivd