Dawn Taylor|1/2/2023

Transcript

Dawn Taylor: [00:00:09] Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to Taylor Way Talks. I am your host Dawn Taylor and I am so, I think the word is honored, to be here today with my guest. He is an amazing human being. His name is Navid. He is the owner of Alt Trust. It's a financial and real estate investment and development company based out of Vancouver. It's hard for people in developing community and developing relationships is mind blowing. Like, I'm super in awe of this guy. But we're here to have a really interesting conversation today, so I'm going to let Navid kind of start it. But welcome, Navid. What is it you would like to talk about today?

Navid: [00:00:45] Firstly, thank you for the invite, Dawn. And I'm going to take you around from now on for doing the introduction. That was pretty humbling.

Dawn Taylor: [00:00:55] Deal. Deal. I will totally do it.

Navid: [00:00:58] Yeah. We had this conversation a couple of times in person and over the phone or Zoom witness in regular chats that what's actually going on in Iran and what's the reflection of what's happening in Iran in the war. Sometimes all these news coming out, how do people grasp it? What can they do? What does it mean? Like, and it's hard to understand. It's a complex situation somewhere far from us, but something that I believe is truly affecting the word democracy and is something that we should all consider as human being and understand it and actually basically use this situation of what's happening in Iran as an education piece for all of us to be better people, to understand better and to see things better. That's basically, I think, that's what I'm going to try to cover today.

Dawn Taylor: [00:01:54] So Navid and I know each other outside of this podcast, and I was hanging out with him a little while ago and his wife, his amazing, beautiful wife, and we were having an interesting conversation on how growing up in North America, I mean, hello, white privilege, but growing up here, our ideas of what it was like to be raised in somewhere like Iran, our ideas on what your childhood would have looked like or what we were taught in school, what media, movies, all these things have done and how wrong it is. I mean, even just how we pronounce the word like you taught me how to say it proper this morning, right? Is Iran like e and then run? And even just something as simple as that. And we're asking you questions like what was your childhood like there? Like, what was it like growing up? What changed? What shifted? When did you come to Canada? All of these things. And that's really what I wanted to dive into is, like, let's get to know a little bit of the behind the scenes of what it was really like and then when the change there all happened. So we all hear like the regime and we all hear all these words, well, unless someone's actually sitting down and Googling, like people don't know it is.

Navid: [00:03:06] I said, I started with saying it's a little bit complex, like people to understand what's going on on other side of reward and what has happened and the way the media manipulate the situations across the world. So just a little short story on Iran. Iran goes back to like 1500 years ago. I don't know, this is one of the oldest Asian countries in the world. Then the expansion of Iran was all the way from China to Egypt. It was a very large country with very many different cultures and religions and so on. And it goes back to the time of like 130 B.C. or something that Cyrus the Great was the first person who actually came up with human rights. So I might not have the dates right. I'm not, but the conceptually is the first basis of human rights. Like King came from Iran and Cyrus the Great was a person who basically had that written down. And the whole concept of it was like everybody getting along with each other. That went on. And that was a revolution that happened about 43 years ago, that the king of Iran, the Shah, left the country as people were protesting. They were asking him to end his term and leave the country. I was born four years ago, I never do learn that exact details of what happened, it was basically people were asking for reform. The reform wasn't happening. It was it was a manipulation on governments. And Iran is a rich country, as when it comes to the oil and natural gas it is one of the richest countries in the world. And there was that fight of who's going to win that battle to access Iran's wealth. So when the king left, pretty much Iran got taken hostage by the Islamic regime, Islamic Republic of Iran. So when we're talking about the regime, it's Islamic groups like extremists, like, you know, we talk about Christian extremists or whatever. So this is like Islamic extremists where they use Islam, the religion, to manipulate and control people. So right off the bat of the revolution, it's happened about 43 years ago, so we see, like we call them mullahs, basically the guys, they came in the regime, Ayatollah Khomeini, Khomeini and all these guys that control Khomeini, they took control of the country and that Khomeini - this is crazy, they're like - he came after him, after the death of Khomeini, Khomeini and these guys basically running a very religious dictatorship on the country. And the people we passed 43 years ago, they were living a free life that it's happened here, just like a life that exists in Canada. People along every other cultures were living together. You would go to the beach, somebody would be wearing a full hijab, a scarf cover, and the daughter person is a bikini swimming. So it was with respect within everybody's religion and culture, everybody was living with each other. But once the revolution happened in 79, that government changed and the regime came in place and it took control with basically and we're having a war started between Iraq and Iran that lasted about eight years.

Navid: [00:06:31] So I'm 40 year old. Pretty much the first six, seven years of my life was in the war. When you say talk about the childhood, it was the families trying to pretty much play it normal. Hey, we're traveling to the suburbs. We used to live in the capital. So often you would hear sirens going on, the bombs coming out, the families would make it like a it's in the middle of night, the siren goes off like a game that you're playing, hide and seek in the middle of night, run down to the basement for shelter. So it was a lot of that in different cases, and it was a lot of bouncing around in different countries with different family members. But within the shelter of your house, it was free. You could talk about everything. We could do everything, people wouldn't wear scarves. I don't remember any occasion or a party and events we went to or we had that alcohol wasn't served. We, our parents, my parents, weren't really drinkers or anything. But we always, like as a respect for somebody who comes, they want to grab a beer, they had it. Even though it was illegal, but everybody had access to it. Everybody would brew their own wine at home, something.

Dawn Taylor: [00:07:38] That's awesome.

Navid: [00:07:41] But so culturally we were different, but we were taken hostage with this regime. And every time you would talk about against them, it's against the religious aspect or against their morality of what's right or what's wrong, you have consequences.

Dawn Taylor: [00:07:57] Okay, So let's backtrack a second. Let's backtrack a second. So we're talking about a country that right now is in the news for the morality police. People are being murdered. People are being killed for like having a piece of hair out. Yet this is the country that actually started the rights, like movements of like, no, no, no, we need equality, we need rights and we need all of this stuff. And was very, very similar and I know talking, I've met your mom. She's amazing, right? I remember talking to her. I've talked to her about like what it was like. And she showed me pictures of the younger years and everyone hanging out and getting along and laughing and cultures and very similar to Canada.

Navid: [00:08:38] It's totally right. Like I have a picture of my dad with his buddies. They dress up like Beatles, they holding brooms and pots and pans, pretending the drummers and the singers and the guitar players. So it was like here, it wasn't lost on everybody. They had the common culture back then. But what has happened like over the past 40 years, these are some cool, crazy stats at the same time. So when the revolution happened 43 years ago, the population of Iran was 36 million. Right now it's at 82 million.

Dawn Taylor: [00:09:12] Wow.

Navid: [00:09:12] So more than that and crazier than that, 55% of the country is women.

Dawn Taylor: [00:09:20] 55% of this country are women.

Navid: [00:09:23] Yeah. So it is like, to just grasp that, it's, it is... So you have a country that the majority of the people were born under this regime. The families they went through a revolution, they went through a war. They went through the war divide sanctions back to back because of this regime was holding country hostage. And so there's a lot of suffering on the people who, over 40 pretty much. Right? And even late thirties and early forties like me, there is, we come from a background of every time we talk in opposition of saying something is wrong in Iran.

Dawn Taylor: [00:10:08] You get in trouble.

Navid: [00:10:08] We get in trouble. We have to be silent. Our parents would get in trouble and they had to come and vouch for us to get us out and either would cost them money or financial situations down the line or not being able to exit the country. So it was always problems that comes with it. So we learned to be shut up and work and just obey whatever it is and not understand or not have the guts to create change. But that's going on for way too long, it's been 40 years now. And then we have more than half of the population of the country under 40. That means like median age is 32. We have a lot of Gen Zs. We have a lot of...

Dawn Taylor: [00:10:49] Wow. Median age is 32?

Navid: [00:10:53] Yeah.

Dawn Taylor: [00:10:54] That is a young country.

Navid: [00:10:56] Exactly. And then you try to ask them, imagine like even in the US, right, the gap of having President Biden and before that Trump and wanting to run again and so on. The age of this president, it still works because the country of US is not that young. Right? Imagine if US was younger. You cannot relate to somebody in seventies dictating how your words should lay out. Right? You can't you can't just keep saying that Gen Zs are stupid, they don't understand capitalism. They know. They they want the better world. Right? And they want a more meaningful life for everybody. That's what it is. So these guys in Iran, they have access, they had access to Internet and they could see the world and they could not reason for themselves that why is it our country like this? How is it our country is the hijab is mandatory? Why do I have to cover my head? Why don't I have basic rights? Why don't I have a voice? Why can't I, in the country that's one of the wealthiest countries in the world, can't afford anything? One in 5% in Iran with this regime over the past 40 years, it ends up being into severe, severe poverty. That means the other four are barely entering the life and that there's good one, there's that one percentile that every country has, and you see them like living a good life, showing off or whatever. But majority of the country, they're not financially well anymore. They've been pressurized. They've been limited to what the government is doing to them. So they, basically all the resources of Iran, all the oil and gas and natural resources of Iran are getting used and sold to China, Syria, any countries, Iraq, like any countries that is surrounding. Any other, I would say, or Russia, any other dictatorships and the dictators are benefiting from it. And also Democrats across the world are benefiting from the situation that has happened in Iran. But the people in Iran, they've been suffering. The event that happened with Mahsa Amini, that she got brutally murdered because her hair was showing, it was the trigger. It was like hitting the bottom of the pan for people. It was just like, that's it. Like they just burns. And so they start, everybody start screaming and yelling. The difference of this time is that we have the women front of the whole revolution. Men are walking side by side with them. They scream side by side with them, but it's the women in front of it. And just the guts of this woman, it's really hard to explain unless you been in that country, like we just talking about it, showing a little bit of hair, got the girl killed.

Navid: [00:13:48] You can't talk against the regime. They get you jail. Like there is this one famous prison in Iran. It's called the Evin Prison in Iran’s Capital, Tehran. They're, basically the people that they imprisoned there, majority of them are the most intelligent people of Iran. They're basically people that ever said anything right about humanity, they get to be jailed. Anybody who's intelligent in any level who ever wanted the freedom for people, whoever was any level of activists that raise a voice and was a voice for people, they jailed them. And the, not shame of it, the shame of it, they brutally tortured them, they kill them and they get away with it for the longest time and they've been doing it. And that's just their trend of staying in power. They easily, if the students talk about it, they raid the universities and kill them in front of other kids. They set an example. So when this whole trend started with the women uprising, the women life freedom, basically women asking for basic rights. That's where it started. Right now it's not just about that, it's about eliminating this regime. Getting rid of this hostage situation that exists.

Dawn Taylor: [00:15:10] And let's talk about that for a second, is it's basic human rights.

Navid: [00:15:15] Yeah.

Dawn Taylor: [00:15:15] It's not like people are asking for a lot.

Navid: [00:15:20] Not at all. Like it was, it started, I think it was the second week of this whole uprising, people started with a hashtag on Twitter and they were saying that just right, why do you want this revolution to happen? Like, for what reason? And then it became a famous song, “For” in Farsi translates to “Baraye”, and then people go on like, you know, battle you this or that. So a lot of it is like just being able to dance on the street or being able to kiss your lover, just any place that you wanted to. And that was the basic, and it was like for ending the poverty, to not see a four year old diving into the garbage, trying to find food. And then it's like and it goes on. And that song like you got to, I'll send you the translation of it that Rana sang in the closing of The Voice in Germany. And it is just so beautiful and deep, even though it's so basic and we don't realize how fortunate we are that we have so many things that identifies us as free that we don't even recognize or realize. And then these guys are literally going taking bullets on it, like there is videos like somebody getting shot. And then instead of people running away, there's these young girls and guys they run in front of the cops say, like, shoot me if that's what it takes for free. Like somebody got shot beside them. Like to to have, to have it to that level and to...

Dawn Taylor: [00:16:53] A whole different level of desperation, right?

Navid: [00:16:56] Yeah. Like desperation and fighting, like giving up your life so one other person does not have to go through what you're going through, or have a life that you're having. so often you see like, you hear like right now, left and right, like a 17 year old died, 16 year old got murdered, like 15 year old got shot, and 9 year old got shot. So there's all these things that you constantly hear and then you find out the last tweet or the last Instagram post is like, if this is going to be my last post, I just wanted you to know that I gave my life for the country, for the freedom of every one of you guys. And then there is, every time there's a burial or something, everyone's like saying, like every one of us that dies, there's another thousand of us that wakes up. So it is a situation in Iran that people are dealing empty handed with the most brutal regime that doesn't hesitate to kill kids, kill women, kill men of any level, any age to just say that they didn't kill that first kill. So up to date, within their own stat, I think they killed close to 500 people, that's their own stat. That is definitely way more than that. They have jailed, they have jailed over 18,000 people. That's crazy. Just think about it. The 18,000 people that they talk to against the regime, they've been jailed. They're getting tortured, and about 500 people are dead so this regime can prove to the world and their people that they didn't kill that first kill. That's basically what it is. Right?

Dawn Taylor: [00:18:41] So let's jail 18,000 people, kill 500 more, just to prove that we didn't kill one.

Navid: [00:18:45] We didn't kill one. That wasn't, no, that didn't happen. And you guys are wrong. So it is... and often, you know, and so I'm going to try to get to the point that, like, what have we heard or what have we known in the West here about Iran? How does the government keeps us so limited educated on that segment, and why? And how is it affecting horribly and what's happening? So for the longest time, no blames on anybody that lives across the West or Canada and US, because our access is media and the things that we get educated with. And it's been, basically we've been told that Iran is that country that terrorism comes from. People cover their heads, they're super religious, and everything that they do is their culture. Covering their head is a culture, you know, being in this situations or whatever is their culture. And every time even we talk about it, it was they said, oh, it's Islamophobia. No. It's like anything extreme is wrong, right? Like the religious is a point of fate not to be pushed on somebody. So if we see it anywhere, if you see a religion is pushing something on people, like, we... I'm going to diverge to like Qatar for a second, the World Cup, the One Love movement that you cannot have a wristband that says one love that shows support to LGBTQ community. Or any, like you can't hold a rainbow flag or you can't say anything of those aspects in the country. And we say that, oh, and then you go on TV and they hear it's no, no, it's their culture and we have to respect it. Right? And I, and this is, and if you see anything it's Islamophobia, I think that's wrong.

Navid: [00:20:39] I think we all obligated to say something because it is wrong. It's humans, it's humans, it's a human being. We cannot encourage, we cannot advertise that for them. We cannot normalize that thing. We cannot say that's normal in another country. Some people get tortured and killed for being gay or lesbian or transgender, that's okay because it's their country. We cannot go on and doing that. And basically that's the presentation. So if people didn't understand exactly what's going on in Iran, they had a hard time understanding what's going on there, because nobody could talk about it. Everyone is shut down about it. It's like, oh, no, it's their country, it's their culture, they have to cover their face, they have to go to the sanctions because the whole country believes in this wrong things. Right? So, but this movement and with many of Iranians fleeing the country over the past like 40 years, it's basically the country Iran's system was, and the regime was like, if we don't like our country and you can get out, get the hell out, we don't want you here. Because if you stay here and you talk against us, you're going to end up in jail. So get out. You know, we got out, a lot of people got out. They're like, Oh my God, we need some freedom. You need, we need to start again. So a lot of people - and it's not easy, just imagine like people leaving a country at age 40, 50, like my mom was 40 when she moved to Canada. Somewhere a different language, just start from zero. You leave everything behind, you come over to another country, you start from zero at age 40.

Dawn Taylor: [00:22:14] I can imagine, having talked to your mom about that...

Navid: [00:22:18] Yeah.

Dawn Taylor: [00:22:19] It's just crazy. Like giving up everything. Business, life, friends, family, everything, and having to just escape to this new country, having to learn a whole new culture, life, work, everything.

Navid: [00:22:35] So there's so many of us that traveled the world for that. And then this is finally everybody outside the country is Iranians. They had awakening that we can be the voice internationally. We can educate the world about what's happening. So that's why you see the post after post and you guys trying to like, it's just basically trying to catch up the world with what's going on. But there's difficulties with it because the regime of Iran over the past 40 years, they have implemented systems within all the countries. For example, in the US they have a group called NAIC, which is stands for North American Iranian Committee. So what it is they present on the quotations, the Iranians in North America, which it is actually these guys are funded possibly and they are pro Iran regime. So they're very influential within the news and media. They're very influential within that.

Dawn Taylor: [00:23:41] In order to protect themselves.

Navid: [00:23:43] To protect the Iranian regime. Right. So as of two days ago, even. So, right now that we're talking is starting yesterday, today and tomorrow is major national, basically the what do you call it, like a closedown down in a country. So the market is closed. Everything is, in Iran, is going to be closed as of yesterday, today and tomorrow. It's like a major protest, national protest against the regime. The people taking it, they're closing the bazaar. So the government didn't want this news to come up. They wanted to derail the news. So they got the people from NAIC to publish an article within The New York Times, a bunch of this major publishings, that basically the revolutionary, the morality police in Iran has been demolished and they're going away. And they no longer going to be there.

Dawn Taylor: [00:24:37] Yeah, I saw that lie posted.

Navid: [00:24:40] Yeah. So it blew up all over the place. But is it true? Hell no. That's just the biggest lie ever. And it started from this group of NAIC coming up. Why? To take the attention of the world from what's happening. Shut down the internet. So try to say, oh, we fix the problems, it's not a big deal. And where they are mass killing right now as we're talking. Like so, and they increase their amount of executions of the protesters over the past, like three or four days. Extremely. So every day I wake up, I go on Twitter and I read like another 17 year old got hung and executed. Another 22 year old got hung and executed, and another 16 year old got evicted for execution. And just because of the protest that was there, just because it was, you know, uprising against the government and they tried to create that fear from people on them, but they tried to derail the media of international is like, oh no, we solve a problem. People just wanted a reform and we did it. People don't want to reform anymore. They want this government to go. And so the media here, it is very limited, educated themselves, and their fact checking is very, very weak, I would say.

Dawn Taylor: [00:25:54] Good way to word it.

Navid: [00:25:56] Yeah. Because it doesn't, you don't have to, like it is complex what's happening in Iran, but you don't have to, it doesn't take you much to understand what's a fake news, what's the right news. Like the second, if you're writing an article, but you know what people are uprising, then you know what article is right or what's wrong. A country that is Islamic Republic to take the morality police out, that even if they do which that didn't happen, that means they're changing the name of it. And what next? Tomorrow is going to be Islamic Police like there is no way, like this is how the country is controlled, like they would fall apart.

Dawn Taylor: [00:26:37] I was going to say it's how they've controlled this country for 40 years. It's not just going to go away overnight. So with that, I know one of the things that you and I talked about forever ago is, as North Americans, there's this idea that like everybody there is an extremist and everybody is Islamic and everybody is of that religious belief or have that idea. And I know you were like, no, there's like every religion, every culture, every, like, it's the most...

Navid: [00:27:08] Yeah, no, we we have Baha'is. We have Jewish people. Like they all scattered around the world mostly because if you stay in Iran one way or another, they find you and they try to get you in some sort of trouble. So I think in California, we have a major Jewish community, like we have a lot of Baha'is across the world. It's just so many different religions that goes on. But honestly, I think what our Gen Zs and the new generation, religion just doesn't even make sense. It's not what people are after, rather than just human being, especially being in a country, like being born in a country that the religion dictates who you are, it pushes you.

Dawn Taylor: [00:27:51] It gives you a really bad feel of what a religion is.

Navid: [00:27:54] Yeah. And like, you know, people have their beliefs. They still may believe in their gods and their things, but they more than anything, they believe in being a human. Like you're born in human and whatever religion comes your way, it's secondary for making you a better person also, but not to dictate who you are going to be, how you're going to be. And you know, the fact that, like, using religion to kill people and do things like, you know, this is...

Dawn Taylor: [00:28:26] So horrible.

Navid: [00:28:28] Yeah. So a lot of younger people, they don't stand for any, like I said, like more than 50% of the country has been born after revolution and they've been born with access to internet and knowledge and information. And they're saying that we don't want this dictatorship, this umbrella over our head that's suffocating us. And basically that's, and sadly down there the regime is in control. So people don't have a voice here. We can all raise our voice and our politicians, they have to satisfy to get elected for the next round. So you say, hey, the daycare is expensive, and then next day, $10 day care, like at least they say stuff, they do this stuff. Maybe 80% of them fails, but at least they try. But the things that goes on in our country say we're fortunate because we do have a voice. Not saying that things shouldn't be fixed here and improve your, you know, things like our health care system.

Dawn Taylor: [00:29:32] Or it's a bit of a dumpster fire here right now.

Navid: [00:29:36] So it's, and it is a lot of things, but it's basically taking a pause and realization of what we have and appreciation of it. So it gives us the energy to go on and fix the issues that we have to always improve the country that we're in. On the other side, it's understanding what we have in this world and just wanting the rest of the world to have a bit of what we have. Because often I think, like, you know, if you understand what's going on between Russia and Ukraine, or what's going on on Afghanistan, like what's happening in Afghanistan or what's happening to Iran, how they murdering kids, how they raping youths, girls to set an example for girls to not come to streets, murdering them, like things like that. How those things are happening and there's these things happening all across the world. I'm not limiting it to anything. If we understand it and we close our eyes and we're selfish to just ride our own boat. We have to question our ethics. We have to question our being. Are we--

Dawn Taylor: [00:30:40] -- yes, right there.

Navid: [00:30:42] Yes, it is, it is hard. I always, I always have this conversation with my business partner that it is easier, like, you know, you deal with different people within different parts of your work. It is often a lot easier to be stupid, but to be...

Dawn Taylor: [00:30:59] That's a good way to word it. It is. It is so much easier to be ignorant and stupid than it is to actually face what's going on.

Navid: [00:31:08] And to be a better person. If every day you wake up and say, I want to be a better person, it is a fight. It is challenging because you have to question yourself. You have to understand your acts, you have to understand what's right or what's wrong. And that goes on. And often we've been taught to our life here that just go on, your challenges is just affordability in housing. Your challenges is just a bad system in the health care. Yes, there are challenges. These are the things that we all have come together and fix, and I take it on my shoulder within our own projects or whatever I try to fix to bring a little bit of self affordability and everything into it. But these are minor problems where our homeless here are funded by the government. They have opportunities. I'm not saying again, we have a system that we clean them up properly or we take care of a problem. We don't have that. But a homeless person here is pretty much one top 1% of the world. Like we have to understand the grasp of...

Dawn Taylor: [00:32:10] Hey, pause there for a sec. Say that again. The homeless in Canada...

Navid: [00:32:15] Probably in the one percent.

Dawn Taylor: [00:32:16] Are probably in the top 1% of people in the world.

Navid: [00:32:19] Yeah, just think about--

Dawn Taylor: [00:32:20] -- because of the funding and everything.

Navid: [00:32:22] Yeah. So not saying again if the funding is used properly, if the system is used properly, access to the health care, access to the funding, access to being able to not sleep hungry. You know what I mean? Like, they can. Like, again, the system is wrong because a lot of them on the corner of Hastings Street in Vancouver is a torture. Every time you drive by there, like I get in tears sometimes at some of them. And it is, it is, the system needs help, but they are still, to some level, way more fortunate. And then once we understand that as a person here, when we're walking around and going to be living our life, we should take it upon ourselves that how can we help the world as a whole? And that's always an exhausting thing to do, like because we have a life ourself. I still need to catch my, I don't know, pilates class or soccer game, and deal with work and business and this and that. And at the end of the day, what can I do? It's across the world, you know, whatever. But I think we we have to all value what we have and and part of it, part of, like, you know, it's like, we all make money to have a good life here, but it's a part that we give back is what makes us, you know, like it gives us a meaning to our life. And like, you know, you make your living by money, but you make life by giving back. And often that giving back doesn't have to be that complex, right? It could be just raising an awareness. It's just asking basically, or pointing out what's happening. You can't expect, as Iranians, like what we sell and what tortured us outside of Iran is that you see, like Iran being in a united nation, Iran being G7, we come left and right people from this terrorist regime, they end up in New York and negotiations there's negotiations about nuclear, negotiations about this and that. And it's so horrendous and it's so painful. And because the government ties, they normalizing it so they kept doing it. Imagine Iran killing women for a little bit of hair. Women cannot go to soccer games. They can't travel outside a country without the dad or the husband permission. If the husband dies, they don't get to have the kids, the kid goes to the family of the dad. There's so many things against women rights. So like I can go on forever. So what you wear, what you say, all those things matters. And then they had a person on UN women rights department. So that's the word, normalizing it, saying that that's their culture and that's what it should be. So we have to really, really understand. We have to really, as people, to digest things ourselves. And that's not normal. That's not normal that our government goes shake the hands of these terrorist regimes and makes a dealing for them. A lot of this anti riots, you know, tear gases and bullets and guns are imported from the US and Iran indirectly, directly from US and England to Iran.

Navid: [00:35:41] So it is, so there's dealings that happened, right? So once the whole world stands against a terrorist regime, a stance, not even that, stands for human rights of those people in Iran, then these governments, they can't simply deal with the Iranian regime that the terrorist regime of Iran that's taking the country hostage, then they have to ask them to close their embassies across the board. They have to basically arrest or deport every related government member with all their money seized, like exactly what they did with the Russian oligarchs. You know? And if that affects happen, then that regime crumbles and then the people will be free. Because if they can't buy everything that they buy with money they will fall. So it is, so it is just that what can people do is raising awareness. If you have any sort of platform, like you do have it, you're using it, you're having this conversation with me, is just raising that simple awareness that people know that they are normal humans living there. It is just not by their choice that they were born in a different country, whether it's Afghanistan, Iran, Africa, or it happens anywhere. But they are humans and they deserve to have basic human rights. And often they not even asking us or anybody to fight for their own specific rights. It's us asking our governments to do the right thing, to step up and do the right thing. Often what I see, which I find it painful, it's the dictatorship countries like Russia, Iran, China, Syria, they support each other like. Solid.

Dawn Taylor: [00:37:36] Yeah, they're good. They get along really well.

Navid: [00:37:39] Yeah. Like Iran regime is providing drones left and right to bomb Ukraine and Kiev where my uncle lives there. So it is, it is, the Iranian regime is providing those things to Russia. Russia is providing riot systems to Iran. And China is dealing with Iran through all the sanctions to buy their oil, the natural gases, the major dealings and things happening. And then as a Democrat countries, what are we doing together that not validifies them, to give power to the people but not validifying them? That's all we need to do. We just need to, and basically raising up to our government and making a noise and making them understand the things that they have to do. But Canada made a move finally. Iran took a plane down that was flying down from Iran pretty much, stuff over in Ukraine to come down to Canada. They killed about 170 Canadians, mostly Iranian Canadians, but Canadians nevertheless. Another 60, 78 people were in there as exchange students coming here to study. And so that plane got like, literally, Iran regime they shot down the plane. Accidentally did it, they wanted to kill somebody in there or whatever, we don't know. It took over 1000 days, over three years for Canada to basically take an action against what has happened there. So trying to, you know, finally we had the point that we in Canada were calling the IRGC, the Iranian government, whatever is the terrorist group they are.

Dawn Taylor: [00:39:28] The terrorist regime. Yeah.

Navid: [00:39:30] Yeah. They finally calling them a terrorist regime. They finally having, they going after the people from that regime here, they trying to come up one on one. But that's Canada that's a small pocket of the world where we need to work to step up. We need US to step up. We need all the Europe to step up, to close down the embassies, to identify this regime as a terrorist regime internationally and not allow these stupid articles, to not normalize these things that happens. Like if you understand, it's just a simple understanding for anybody in the publication is saying out there, if there is any article that ever comes out right now that it's not clearly about getting this regime out of the country, ending the Islamic revolution that has happened, it's a lie. No change of morality police, no stepping down of the leader, no other news, is just a distraction as a propaganda to distract everybody, distract the world from what's happening so they can continue their mass killings, they can continue to do what they're doing.

Dawn Taylor: [00:40:44] Which is so horrible. So one of the things I'm sure, like when you and I had first talked about this, I mean, like you my heart breaks. I, actually it's funny, I just did an Instagram live this morning talking about like if every single person did one nice thing for someone this month, whether it's donate money to something or buy a meal for someone who's homeless or whatever it is, how different would our world be if everybody did something? And I just did a challenge to people. And it's interesting, so there's already messages coming in from people going, Thank you, thank you for reminding me of this so I can actually do something. But when you and I first talked, my heart was absolutely broken for you, your family, all those women in Iran. But then my first question was, okay, but what can I do? Like logistically, what can I do to actually make a difference? Because I don't know how to kick an embassy out of a country. And so one of the things that you had mentioned was you were like, even just write letters, write letters, send emails to your government and like, make a noise, post on your social media, you know, share this podcast so people can actually hear what's going on. And make that loud. Can you send those letters again so we can put them in the show notes for people?

Navid: [00:42:00] Sure, yeah. It often, you know, these things are exhausting for people because you don't want, like you know, but it is just so often that single post, that simple hashtag, like Mahsa Amini hashtag, the girl that they killed at 22 because of her hair was showing up. It was, it broke the records of hashtag on Twitter ever, and it's still continuing. So just making the sense that like hey, we, like, you know, in any level to tell the world that we are watching because that has an effect. People don't understand that we use our social media often just for fun and maybe sometimes the wrong way. But we all have this weapon of saying to the world what's normal and what's not normal, right? So it's often simple as that, like, you know, if you get an understanding from this podcast, or you do your research, you hear something that really goes to your heart and you say it's wrong. And just simply saying that, taking that action of just like, Hey, you know what, I am with these women in Iran and I hope that regime falls, right? Get them to get that message of like nobody in that country in their right mind would want that regime to stay because it's wrong. And yeah, for sure, you know, there's letters that has been sent to the parliaments and the UN that could be used but again, often the easiest way is making a post, having some hashtags that brings attention to UNICEF.

Navid: [00:43:51] Why is UNICEF not doing much with regards to kids in Iran with what happened? What is the UN just announce starting investigations in Iran, how long is that investigation is going to take? Right? Like investigations happens in two years from now, is two years late. The investigations that happened two years ago, that's what was needed. So how long are you going to hold up? Yeah, how long are you going to get away from us? But I say it is a little bit of just basically getting attention to UNICEF and the UNs and the governments in the world that they see that they are getting mentioned against this revolution is happening, they have to act faster because the message to them is that the world is watching you. Are you going to, are they going to fill the void? I doubt it. And one thing I want to say, that the people may not care about another country, maybe whatever. Iran, like any other country, this is, this fight, this thing that happened in Iran, the women uprising and now the whole country uprising against the regime, it is a true fight against democracy. It is us--

Dawn Taylor: [00:45:06] --- it is. It is a fight for democracy--

Navid: [00:45:08] -- us taking actions as human being across the board, is not just for that country and those people. It's raising awareness for all the government in the world that now we are smarter than ever. Now we can see, we can communicate without you telling us what to see and what to communicate. And that's a huge message that goes around because in the past, I feel like in the past five or six years, we kind of stepped back in the world. Sexism is more out there, like you hear it more the racism, you hear it more. Now you have US, you get the sense of us being divided. You have woke right and left and everything is extreme and everybody is...

Dawn Taylor: [00:46:03] Everything is extreme right now.

Navid: [00:46:05] Standing against each other. And the reason of it is because of what the media pushes on us. I don't think anybody can say, I nobody should be able to say that I'm fully Republican or fully Democrat. There is, you have to have an understanding of what's going on. Like you, some policies may work for your business and your life itself, but some policies from our government may work for just bettering everybody's life. And we have to be human and we have to understand what the middle ground is. And we have, and our government should learn to be that way, to not demean each other. Often when you see a politician's fight, they mocking each other, they pointing fingers at each other. There's never understanding of what's good about something, or what I'm going to add. It's never that aspect. So it's causing division. But with people that are raising voices together, with looking at the things themselves and understanding the true fact, is giving and highlighted the governments across the world that we are watching. We're more intelligent. And they have to step up on actually fixing our world. We talk about, you know, climate change. We talk about a lot of things. But the actual step up, like, you know, changing our world is what matters for all of us. So we want to, you all want to live in a better world, a better country. We want our health care system here to be better and fixed. We are benefiting from a public health system that we don't have to pay when the crisis comes. But it shouldn't be, like, you know, in a normal day, you don't have to pay it but when the crisis comes, that's the time it works, but it doesn't usually work in other levels. So we want to, you want to help. You want to help on that. We want to be able to use our immigrants that they come here with all their knowledge and education as to fall in the system better so the country can grow faster, rather than limiting it to the people that they save the country here. Right? So it is, it is a lot of, it is a lot of things that needs to be fixed here. But it starts from us voicing our concerns to the government as a whole, as saying them that we see it, we understand it. And then not often with mocking them and criticizing them, with making them understand that we're watching, and make them understand that we know what the right answer is and we're watching to see when you deliver it, right? And the more and more you put the voice internationally towards everything, the better world we're going to go towards, I guess.

Dawn Taylor: [00:48:50] I agree. And so just finishing off here because we've, I can't believe it's been an hour now, Navid. I love talking to you about this. It's such a different perspective. It's such a different viewpoint of it. Because you're not afraid to actually have these conversations and you're not guarding yourself and you're not blocking yourself from it, which I mean, for people listening, we had a conversation before that started of, is it okay if I even say your name? Is that okay and is that safe? And he was like, Yeah, I'm not hiding. Like, understand how big of a deal that is. Like, a lot of people are living in fear right now and are really quiet. And I think the point you made about how this is for democracy, this is showing the whole world that every government, when we rise up as a group change can happen and things can be done. And, you know, if nothing else, there are people from Iran in your community, in your town, in your life that you might not even realize are struggling right now, hurting right now, having a PTSD response to what's going on, have family members still there who are in danger, who are fighting on those front lines. Check in on them, see how you can support, how you can help, how you can do that. But send the letters, send the letters to your governments, do the posts, share, share it everywhere so people actually have an idea. But more than anything, I don't kno, this is like the start of our conversations we ever had on this was accept the fact that we're ignorant in so many of these areas and do the research, start asking questions, start looking and spreading the awareness, even just knowing, even just knowing what is going on and get curious. Right? Like I say this all the time to clients, like no judgment, just curiosity. Like get curious about what's actually happening.

Navid: [00:50:49] And it's okay to ask questions like yesterday somebody had a post on Facebook about that basically this morality police in Iran has been put aside and right away I wrote a sentence on it that like, hey, this this is not the right news because of these reasons. Here is where you can get more information. Right? So it is okay to ask, it is okay to talk about stuff, you don't always have to, you don't always have to make a statement that what it is, you can ask the questions to understand. We can, that's how we grow.

Dawn Taylor: [00:51:29] You're hitting cancel. Cancel culture right there. Everybody is so scared. Everyone is so scared right now to ask questions and to actually go, hey, I don't know, like, how many questions have I asked you about what it was like growing up there and what's actually going on and what's really happening there. But I said, I'm like, I'm going to come across as a complete idiot. Like, I don't know. I just know what I was taught in my small northern B.C. town in high school that did the best they could. But I want to know. I want to know more and what I can do, which is why we're doing this podcast and having this conversation, right?

Navid: [00:52:07] Yeah. And then you said it like, you know, it's often a lot of people my age in Iran or outside of Iran that has relations, relatives, families, maybe even financial situations in Iran, they are afraid to talk because the back of their head is like, what if the regime doesn't go, I'm being broken, I have so much to lose. But my answer to them and myself is that what do we have to do is that a 14 year old and 9 year old is getting shot that doesn't have to. We can't be, we know better than that. If anything, I think they are way better people than I ever be. And we have to understand that that the 9 year old or 10 year old that stands in front of the bullets, that 16 year old girl that removes her scarves and fights for the people, those guys, that's what we have to be, to be their voice. And we can't hide, as I'm saying it to my fellow Iranians, that they're afraid sometimes to step out in the street. They worried about their families. They have the right to worry about their families. They have the right to worry about the financial situations and everything. But this is the fight for life of everybody else in that country and eventually your life down the line because the country is getting worse by day and day. And eventually it's going to get to the point that it's not going to be bearable for them. So better to step out sooner against that regime than trying to wait and see what happens. And often, and often what is my risk? You know what I mean? Like, I'm sitting in my extreme comfort on this side of the board, this is the least I can do. And, you know, and I hope my voice and what I said, it raises a little bit of awareness that helps them a little bit, those guys that are risking actually their lives. And and basically, lastly, I just want to thank you for dedicating this time in your podcast and getting this done.

Dawn Taylor: [00:54:17] Seriously, this whole podcast is about like the things no one wants to talk about, the hard conversations. And this is one of them, right? This is one of them. And it's very special to my heart. You know how much I love and adore your family and especially you are to me. And having these conversations over these last few months about what's actually been going on and even just being able to share that with my inner circle of like, Hey, do you guys actually know what's happening right now? Even actually paying attention to this has been really powerful. And I hope that, I hope this episode goes viral. I really hope it goes viral strictly for the fact of I want people to hear and understand what is actually going on and just shift some perspective, if nothing else.

Navid: [00:55:01] Thank you, Dawn. I really appreciate your time putting this and inviting me to your show.

Dawn Taylor: [00:55:06] Well, you're so welcome. So for everybody listening, we're going to have a bunch of resources for you in the show notes. So TheTaylorWay.ca/podcast, go down to the episode with Navid, you will see it there at the bottom. This episode, by the time this episode comes out, it's going to be a few more weeks from when we recorded it. We were at the right before Christmas right now, but when it comes out, I will try to have an update for you on what's going on in those show notes. I'm also going to get some resources from Navid on where you can go to follow to get better news of what's happening and maybe even a list of like the rights that are actually being taken away. Because I think right now a lot of people believe it's just the hair, that's it. Like it's just the hair and that that's the issue and that's what everyone's trying to do. And just like, come on, put on a scarf. It's not that big of a deal. But when you talk about women aren't allowed to like travel without their husband's permission or their dad's permission and all of the rights that have been taken away from 55% of this country, we will put together a list of some of those rights. Some letters, we are going to give a ton of information for you guys so that, honestly, being a little bit blunt, you have no excuse. You have no excuse to not know what's going on and to not be able to do something about it. So check out the show notes. If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave a review anywhere where you are listening to your podcasts. And again, thank you so much, Navid. This was awesome.

Navid: [00:56:36] Thank you, Dawn. All right. Take care.

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