Well, it's very early days yet but I thought I'd share a couple of encouters I've already had... It's been an interesting 3 days.

Firstly, Siros: an Iranian photographer who hopes to make 2 films based on people he knows from Iran. When I told him what I was doing in Paris, he said he was also trying to "help" and handed me a script for his first film, mostly about women's rights (or lack of).

Mostly, he told me about the second film he hopes to make, revolving around the prison system in Iran.
He described how each prisoner is allocated approx. 1.30 sq meters to stand in and if they move or if their heads surpass the allocated space, they get beaten with sticks.
He spoke of a woman who was eventually broken by the prison system. She refused to cooperate (by naming her friends) until the chief of the prison took it upon himself to break her spirit. Eventually, after daily rape and torture in front of all prison staff and inmates, she cracked. They then used her to turn on her own, to help with the beatings and torture of other inmates. Siros' main goal with this film is to inform Iranians that they cannot judge people, like this woman, for being a "turn coat" nor a "traitor". He says that once they are caught by the system, they no longer own their personality. The "broken woman" has now lost all her hair and although she was freed, spends her days in the same 1.3 sq meter position, staring at a wall day in and day out.

He said that no matter what was done to him, being labelled a traitor by his friends would be the most painful, his values and his morals are the precious things he has. He seemed to have a particular interest in gender inequality and noted how vulnerable women were to sexual violence. I suggested that men were also vulnerable to this (gwaaan Mike, Connell et al) but he glossed over that with a nod and continued his story. I didn't want to interrupt too much, but it left me wondering if rape isn't used as a weapon against men in Iran or if Siros just didn't want to acknowledge it, or had never considered it.


Although I declined his offer to be in the film, I suggested we stay in touch and that I could translate and subtitle the movie, and perhaps help spread it via facebook etc - watch this space. If Kony 2012 took off, why not Siros' stories?

I also met a man called Cristef. He follows Egyptology and his soul is 5000 years old. His main problem in life is that he is human, but he also not human. Therefore, he doesn't recognise himself. Because of this, other people who don't reconigse themselves nor him, can break through his barriers and hurt him. To me, it sounds like he's having an identity crisis and that he may want to consult a doctor about potential schizophrenia.

Then there's Marie-Jeanne from Cote D'Ivoire. She was just really lovely and interesting because she was the first born again Chrsitian I've met who didn't try and shove her views down my throat. She reckons that we can only really fulfil our potential if we have faith. I asked if faith in Humanity was enough and she laughed in my face. That was the extent of our religious chat.

Now, we've got the ball rolling on the blog! A bit of a random one maybe, but I was really touched by Siros and Cristef was fun to listen to. Plus, he helped me with my bags. My other encounters are really quite irrelevant to this blog...!

Ciao for now dudes

xx

S