Rebirth, renewal: Iranian diaspora’s wish for new year
As Iranian-Australians gather to celebrate the new year as war rages in their home countries, many hope the conflict will bring rebirth or renewal to people suffering under the Iranian regime.
A small crowd from Melbourne’s Iranian diaspora gathered at Federation Square on Saturday to commemorate Nowruz, the Iranian New Year.
It usually refers to the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere and is a time of celebration, rebirth and new beginnings that those in Iran and abroad come together to celebrate.
But sentiment in 2026 is also colored by rising political tensions and concerns within society due to the war between Iran and the US-Israeli alliance.
“This changed the mood from celebration to sadness, but at the same time people have hope that this could lead to something uplifting and lead to the rebirth of a new Iran that people experienced before the 1971 revolution,” community member Amin Riazati told AAP.
Conflict has killed thousands of people, spread to neighboring countries and hit the global economy since the US and Israel attacked on February 28 after talks on Tehran’s nuclear program failed to reach an agreement.
Despite living on the other side of the world, many Iranian Australians continue to feel the effects of the regime’s “repression”, with crowds in Melbourne waving the Iranian lion and sun anti-regime flag and chanting slogans.
Last year, families lost sons, daughters and other family members, and tens of thousands of people were killed on the streets of Iran.
Event organizer Sarah Parkhid called on Australians to stand with the Iranian people as they face mental pressures during the 22-day Iranian government blackout that has cut off the internet and phone calls.
Iranian-Australian Media Rangi told the crowd that Nowruz reminds people that winter is not permanent no matter how long it is, yet spring does not come on its own.
“This happens because people hold on, because people resist, because people choose over and over again not to give in to the darkness,” he said.
Iran’s new religious leader Mujtaba Khamenei, in his Nowruz speech read on state television on Friday, thanked the president, the government, the armed forces and the Iranian people for their resistance against the joint US-Israeli attacks.
Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the Israeli attack that killed his father and predecessor on the first day of the war, declared the new Iranian year “the year of the economy of resistance in the spirit of national unity and security.”
In a global message read to a crowd in Melbourne by the country’s exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, he remembered his slain “brave and immortal sons and daughters”.
He also praised the “patriotic struggle” that brought the case one step closer to “final victory.”
Mr Riazati shares the hopes and dreams of many in Australia for a new beginning of harmony, happiness and prosperity not only for the people of Iran but around the world.
