A Window to the Fatherland/Dr. Nourizadeh/April 4

We begin tonight’s edition of A Window to the Fatherland with Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh reading one of his poems from the book of his collected works

Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:

We continue the program with talking to our special guest of every Thursday, Dr. Mohsen Sazegara, for his views about the disaster of flood across Iran.

Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:

Before anything else I wish to offer my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the floods in Iran.

So far more than 62 people have been killed in this national disaster but I believe the number will rise in the coming days as hundreds more are missing. We can only pray that the dimensions of this truly national tragedy will not get any bigger.

Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:

We have also lost our great legendary actor Jamshid Mashyekhi this week, which is further sad news for the nation.

Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:

The late Mashayekhi was part of a group of avant gard actors who rose to fame before the revolution and their artistic legacy will remain a part of Iran’s cultural heritage and our people will remember them dearly.

The flood seems to have taken much of its toll in the province of Lorestan and Iran’s western provinces. Most of the flood water that have submerged these areas must end in the Persian Gulf and the estimate is that more than 6 billion cubic meter of water will have to pass through the oil rich province of Khuzestan to reach the shore of the Persian Gulf.

This presents a major threat to the oilfields and the vast farming industries of the province, which in turn will affect the livelihood of the local population.

The Revolutionary Guard must be accountable for the deforestation projects and the building of unnecessary dams in the province, which have been carried out under the direct control of Khamenei’s office.

Their commercial activities have contributed to expanding the dimensions of this natural disaster, in the same way as they have done in the city of Shiraz by turning the flood diverting canals into motorways.