Makvan Mouloodzadeh: Remember His Name

Earlier this week it was announced that under the cover of darkness in the middle of the night Makvan Mouloodzadeh was executed. It was carried out despite a ruling by an Iranian judge staying the execution was a violation of Islamic faith, the religious views of high Shiite clerics and "the law of the land."

It's all-too-easy to become numbed each day by what we learn of man's inhumanity to man. Yet there was something about this particular cruelty that struck me to the core and made me say involuntarily say "Oh, no!" aloud when I read it in the paper the next morning. I couldn't help imagining what profound loneliness and the terror must have been like for this Makvan as he faced his end, his hopes for mercy dashed and without even the comfort of being allowed to speak with any friendly soul or his family before being executed.

We cannot bring him back. But I believe his murder in the night should not be allowed to pass quietly. We must raise our voices in protest. I suggest it should begin with our being at the Iranian consulate to proclaim our rage at this barbaric cruelty and injustice.

In my adult life I don't think I've ever been more repelled and disgusted by the excesses of consumerism and militant partying during this holiday season. The seemingly endless quagmire of the war in Iraq, the hollow posturing and cynical, greedy political maneuvering of the presidential candidates, the corruption in the highest offices in the land even as our economy is reeling and is propped up by the make believe wealth and chicanery of Wall Street, the contrast of multi-million dollar apartments with a crisis in affordable housing and the rising number of homeless here in New York City, our "friends" in Congress who slickly sell out the transgendered for expediency -- the list goes on and on.

Surely you have noticed.

Don't give up! Don't accept this as just another act over which to just shrug and continue on busiess as usual in your life. How about "celebrating the holidays" differently this year? How about we do it in a manner which at least for an hour or so reflects some valueing our fellow beings and demonstrates our willingness to give some real force to what we say we believe in.

I'm talking about our taking action and gathering at the Iranian consulate here in New York to loudly denounce this barbaric execution. And how about doing it on Christmas Eve? I'm thinking say at 3pm when most people will already be off of work and able to participate. Let's put some credible love back into the holiday by expressing our anger.

If we permit this murderous cruelty to just fade away then our passivity condemns as accomplices to the evil we say we abhor.

In sorrow and anger I invite you to remember Makvan!

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Andrew Velez