The 23-year-old Mani Sadeghi lives in Eindhoven, but is due to the war between Israel and Iran with his thoughts with his family in Tehran. The constant uncertainty and limited contact options with family and friends keep his life in his grip. “I am in my exam week, but I am looking at images of the war until six in the morning,” he says.
Where his fellow students at Tilburg University can fully focus on the exam week, Mani has his thoughts somewhere else. “It is difficult for me to sleep and I am looking at images from Iran on social media until six in the morning,” he says.
“The people in Iran who still have a little connection place images on social media. I see that buildings, houses and things of the people there are completely destroyed and bombed.”
Mani’s parents fled to Eindhoven in the 90s, because it would no longer be safe in their country. That is how his father was politically imprisoned. Family members and friends of the family still live Iran.
As a student of international law and Middle East studies, he is very busy with wars, but now that his own family has to flee their house, it keeps his life in his grip.
“My aunts have had to flee from their apartment with their families, but it is very difficult to get out of Tehran. The roads were blocked for a few days because gas stations were attacked. It is very difficult to make contact with my family. In twelve days we were able to call twice.”
Around five thousand people from Iran live in and around Eindhoven. Mani notices that the Iranian community comes together a lot to talk about the situation. “We talk about politics with a cup of tea,” he says.
“War is almost seen as football.”
Outside the Iranian community in Eindhoven, Mani notices that not everyone see the suffering that war entails. “It is almost seen as a football match where you are for one team or for another team. Victims are seen as sacrifices for something positive in the long term, but they are innocent citizens.”
The first days after the Israeli attack on Iran, Mani and his parents were very stressed. “But after a few days I became a bit quieter and you will see the facts as they are. It seems that the ceasefire is safe that my family is safe for the time being,” he says relieved.
Yet Mani also thinks that the ceasefire is a short break. He hopes that there will change in a different way for his family. “My family does not hope for improving the regime by bombs and violence, but by a socially institutional change.”
