Some History
to open a new lunation
We will be discussing The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali at the Friends of Mia book club today. The Mia team made this selection way back in August, before anyone could have known that while we read a story nestled in the political history of Iran, Trump’s administration would be waging war there. Reading fiction is a profoundly humanizing experience and I am finding a lot of solace in submerging myself in tales of Iranian American women.
The book is historical fiction and follows the life of Elaheh, who was named “goddess” by her mother for her family’s royal ancestry. The family live in luxury until her father’s death shortly after Ellie turns 7. They must move out of their extravagant life uptown to a modest apartment downtown. It is downtown at the public school where Ellie fulfills her greatest wish to have a best friend. She meets Homa and is warmly included in her home-life. With Homa, Ellie learns to cook, she takes care of an infant sister and plays in the street with a teenage brother. Though their status is very different, they forge an unshakable bond. Through the ups and downs of Ellie’s economic transitions, they remain friends. But their friendship is severely taxed by Iran’s political upheavals and the toll it takes of these women’s lives.
The book covers a sweeping 30 years in the history of Iran. The coup d’eta of 1953 happens just after Ellie and her mother’s means are restored and they move back uptown to wealth and prosperity.
Many Iranians had been working hard to fight for democracy and when their democratically elected prime minister was deposed, by the powerful agents of the UK and the US, who strengthened the Shaw’s rule to protect their foreign oil interests. The people were deflated that they would be undermined by these powerful forces outside of their country.
During the time following the Coup, the wealth gap grew exponentially, even as the Shaw did much to westernize and change the situation for women, including granting them the right to vote, the disparity allowed resentments to grow and the wealthy became wealthier and the poor poorer. The Shaw’s government was secular and cruel. He had secret police forces to tamp down decent. During that time, the country modernized rapidly.
Meanwhile Ellie and Homa were separated into their different neighborhoods, their lives also diverged. Homa and her family were struggling to stay afloat, while Ellie and her family had the privilege of remaining neutral while reaping the benefits of widening gap.
The 1979 Revolution was said to be a backlash against the westernization. It overthrew the Shaw and ushered in the Islamic Republic. It would be later that year, that students take 52 hostages at the US Embassy. For the next few years, the Islamic Republic will violently weeds out the people they say oppose Islamic values. Saddam Hussein attacks and so begins the 8 year war between Iran and Iraq.
We follow these girls into womanhood, caring about what they care about and watching how their realities diverge.
Reading the book led me to make a timeline of more recent events:
-January 3, 2020 during Trump’s first administration, he ordered Soleimani killed in a US drone strike.
-2022 Women Life Freedom Movement after the arrest of Mahsa Amini for “improper hijab” and death while in September of that year
-US bombing of 3 nuclear facilities June 22, 2025
-Protests demanding the end of the Islamic republic began end of December 2025
-January 8 and 9th, 2026 the number of people killed in the protests as estimated by activists and international observers could be as much as 40 thousand people
-Trump’s current war with Iran began on Feb 28, 2026 with the killing of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
During a Singing Resistance march downtown way back on February 1st, we passed a group of Iranian American demonstrators out on Nicollet Mall. The intention of our march that day was to encourage defections from ICE. We planned to sing below their hotel windows and plant the seed - you don’t have to follow illegal or immoral orders, you can change your mind, and in the moment when it matters the most, decide not to kill your fellow citizens.
We saw the people, men and women, with flags, raising a fist to us as we did to them. I remembered the story behind the strategy of prioritizing defections that the singing resistance team had just told us. This worked in Serbia during the youth-led uprising against Milosevic. When he ordered his police force to attack demonstrators, they defected. They refused to use violence against their own people and put down their guns.
I was reminded of the Iranian diaspora in my community, people I have worked beside, raised kids together, championed the same causes in this city. I will hold the people of Iran in my heart as they continue to resist manipulations from foreign governments and heal from tragedies at the hands of their own.
Even as I write this I find new reports online of on how the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps continue to execute protesters.
The book made for a poignant read during current times. I am grateful to be grounded in the story of these Lion Women, of the people of Iran, who have endured so much with beauty and resilience and still thrive.
I’ve included three links below if you’re interested in going deeper:
First is a YouTube short video where Marjan Kamali describes her inspiration for the book.
A recorded interview “WTMJ Conversations: Author Marjan Kamali Recalls Growing Up in War Torn Iran” from January 18, 2026
Finally, an April 7th MPR news article about Iranian Minnesotans response to the recent US activity in Iran
Below this line is the Updates Section.
Updates are minimal this week because of my jam packed schedule.
Eviction Crisis in Minneapolis - I know from my personal experience with a mutual aid group that rent distributions in some form are getting to some of the people impacted by the ICE Occupation in the metro area. Here in Minneapolis our city council and Mayor declined to extend the eviction timeline to 60 days. As it is, it’s already 30 days, which I hear is longer than most eviction notices. The reason not to extend that I heard and that social service housing advocates attested to was that more time creates more crisis, a bigger debt, when the eviction deadline is reached. Which was what people experienced after covid. Instead the city of Minneapolis approved a total of $3.8 million in rental assistance. In St. Paul, the city council did pass a temporary eviction extension against Mayor Her’s recommendation. It will be interesting to see how the ramifications each response play out.
Save HCMC - HCMC is in critical danger of closing. Read the following: MPR: what’s behind the financial crisis at HCMC? and Minnesota Reformer: Hennepin County Medical Center is an important statewide asset.
On TAX DAY, April 15, I spent the afternoon at the capital with ISAIAH discussing with my representatives how we are going to save HCMC. There are both democrats and republicans that care about saving it. We will have to increase revenue to do so. And most likely our best hope of doing that will be through sales tax. It’s not perfect, but we can’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.
ISAIAH is organizing a 24 hour prayer vigil from April 31st to May Day, the economic black out day on May Day.
Save the BWCA- Yesterday the US Senate passed HJ Res 140, undoing the 20 year mining ban near the BWCA. This will have repercussions on public lands everywhere. It used the Congressional Review Act in a novel way to overturn a Public Land Order established by the Department of the Interior. There will be other ways to stop this particular sulfide ore copper mine and protect this particular watershed in this particular state. A new battle commences as the push for resource extraction accelerates. So yeah, it’s a bummer.
Election November 2026: My delegate update. *Minneapolis Convention is on Saturday where the only office up for endorsement is School Board.*
The Full Moon rolls around on May 1st.
Songs for the New Moon
Calamity Song by The Decemberists
At the Bottom of Everything by Bright Eyes