SMNTY Interviews: Elica Le Bon

Activist Elica Le Bon joins us to break down the situation in Iran and why women are and have been crucial to the revolution happening there.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to Stephane
never told your protection of iHeartRadio, and welcome to today's episode, which,
as you listeners always know, when it comes to guests
and people that I admire from AFAR, I get really

(00:27):
nervous and fangirly. And today's another one of those episodes
where I'm going to be really nervous and fangirly, So
put that little warning at the top. But I'm actually
we are crossing over my TikTok world to the podcasting world.
I love it. I love when I do these intersections,
don't you. Annie, I do, especially because I'm still not on.
You introduced me to Yes, and I have introduced you

(00:51):
to her videos, but I've been following her for a
while now and her content on social justice, the criminal system,
and her coverage of the revolution of Iran, and it's
the information we so need today. Alica, Yeah, so excited
to have you on. Thank you for having me. Can
you introduce yourself to our listeners? Yes, I am Elica Labon.

(01:15):
I am a criminal defense attorney, and I am an activist,
human rights anticostal state activist and more recently Iran revolution
activist and I live here in California in the United
States America. About that about sums me up. Yeah, I
love your TikTok videos and I know we're going to

(01:38):
tell everyone at the end. I think it's pretty easy
to find you. You're on all the all the social
medias that you do a lot of an amazing coverage
of things that we don't know that's happening in Iran.
But you also do a lot of conversation about the
criminal justicism in the US and the lack of justice
rather that is happening in the US. And you do

(01:58):
such an amazing job in making sure that you are
not only giving us this information, but you do it
with heart and passion. And first of all, I have
to say thank you for doing that, because it's amazing
hard content. It is hard. It is very difficult content,
especially in you know, today's world. Everything is like, you know,

(02:19):
you don't know what you can even say anymore, but
this stuff is like always in the forefront of like
the public conversation, you know. Yes, And with that you
also have some amazing clapback videos videos. Yeah, I know,
it's so funny when there's there's always that person that's like,
you're so much bigger than this, and it's like, but

(02:40):
I'm not. I'm just not. I love that you just
attack because I know there's a lot of trolls and
people who just out there trying to come at you,
and you're like, uh, let's get this straight. And you know,
I love that. And that's the thing is that I
never go after people, but if you come into my
home where I minding my own business, I mean, the

(03:03):
consequences are up for grabs. So and you do it
so eloquently it doesn't even feel like a clapback. So
thank you. This is where I get to the fan
girl and I'm like, oh my god, You're just amazing
and everything you do is amazing. So I needed that
today so well deserved. But yeah, we are so excited

(03:25):
to have you here, and we wanted to talk about
several things that you have been covering recently, but first
kind of go to them. One of the more recent
posts that you've had, especially on TikTok, and I'm sure
it's crossed over where you kind of give everyone a
reality check about how long this revolution has been happening,
dating all the way back in the seventies. And we

(03:46):
kind of did a small kind of I guess summary
of it. That's really awful to say, but we just
wanted to kind of tell everybody what was going on
to date, and we did kind of say, Okay, this
is a big thing that happened in the seventies and
it's just literally attaching it's after that. So can you
talk first about the history of the women fighting back
in Iran from the beginning essentially? Okay, Yeah, So in

(04:07):
nineteen seventy nine there was a big revolution and that
is when the Islamic Republic came into power for the
first time. So that's when the landscape of women's rights
drastically altered in Iran. So they were that's when the
imposition of mandatory hijab became part of the law. That's
why women's rights across the board became extremely restricted. No

(04:31):
more singing in public, no more dancing in public, no
more being seen with a man, no more being able
to do things without your husband's permission. So it was
like it was a drastic alteration of the landscape in
the country where women had previously enjoyed more of those rights.
And so the reason that I made that video is

(04:51):
because when people talk about the revolution in Iran today
in twenty and thirteen, they're like, you know, this revolution
has been going on since the death of Mini Massohina
Amini September sixteen, twenty twenty two, and it's five to
six months in the making. But the reason that I
made that video is to explain that this revolution has

(05:11):
been going on since the same year that the Islamic
Republic came to power, which is nineteen seventy nine. So
there have been waves of this revolution. There was two
thousand and nine, there was twenty nineteen, there was two
thousand and seven, like it's just been ongoing. But the
very first protest was on International Women's Day, March eighth,

(05:32):
nineteen seventy nine, and the women of Iran took to
the streets for six days straight to protest mandatory her job,
and there was all of it looked just like today,
but there just weren't the cameras right. There was all
the violence, all the beatings, all the executions, but they
fought for six days straight for their rights and they've
been going ever since. And I think that's an amazing

(05:53):
conversation that we have to have, is that we cannot
forget the women and the people that came before. There
is a little something different in the air paving the way.
But the women who have actually been there and have
been there and have been exiled or communicated or executed
and persecuted for so long. And that's kind of one
of the big things that we have to remember is

(06:15):
this is not anything new. It's just new to us
who is trying to figure out what's happening today exactly.
It's just been made aware to the international community because
of access to media and cell phones and all of
this stuff. Now people are finding out what's been going on. Yeah,
I mean this context is so important in the conversation
that's happening now, and especially with the news that we

(06:39):
might get here in the United States or what news
we don't get here in the United States. But can
you talk about what is happening right now and perhaps
specifically the role women are playing and what's happening right now? Well,
I think the role of the women in Iran is today.
It's as you know, prominent as it always was, because

(07:03):
you know, women are the ones that feel the brunt
of a lot of these laws. Women are the ones
who are the first one to be driven out into
the streets to process against them. I mean, especially like
you said today, we're living in a world where because
we have access to information and we have access to everything,
let's not forget that the women of Iran, who, by

(07:24):
the way, are overwhelmingly gen z. Right now in Iran,
I think it's something like eighty five percent of people
in Iran are under thirty. So these are just babies
like gen Z, and they all have TikTok, and they
all have Instagram. One of the protesters that was killed,
Haddisna Jaffee, who was only twenty years old. You still
can see her TikTok's where she's dancing, making dancing videos

(07:46):
on TikTok. So these girls and these women are subject
to these laws, but they're on TikTok and they're seeing
the rest of us just living these three lives, and
they're like, hang on a minute, why can't I live
like everyone else? Like why do I have to live
in a way that doesn't align with who I am
and what I want? Right? Because it's about freedom of choice.

(08:08):
Some women want to wear the high up, but if
they don't want to, they don't understand why they can't
have that choice. So having that access to that information
and to you know, these apps and TikTok and Instagram,
and seeing the way that the rest of the world's
lives and the way that women have those freedoms, not
necessarily all the freedoms, but at least those freedoms. That

(08:29):
is driving them even more now to take to the
streets because now they're not going to settle, you know,
now they know what kind of life they have, Why
would they settle, you know? Right? Yeah, I think that's
a big conversation in what's happening today. I know, at

(08:49):
the beginning with Massamani's death, the conversation was it was
a protest, and then the conversation shifted to this is
a revolution. Can you tell us how it got to
that point? Yeah, So, I think initially after Massa Gina
Amini's death, it seemed to the world like protests because

(09:10):
I guess the world wasn't fully aware of the historical
context of what was going on in Iran, and maybe
they didn't even intend for it to be a revolution
at first. But I think the protests grew because of
the fact that it wasn't just about h job, right,
So This was about so much more than that. It
was about freedom across the board. You know, they referred

(09:32):
to it as a women's led revolution because it started
with a woman. It started with the oppression of a woman,
but then it developed into a full scale, across the
board revolution where it's like, hang on, none of us
are free. Women are not free, men are not free,
children are not free, and they're not even free to

(09:53):
exercise their basic right to protest. Right, these men are
being hanged just for protesting. So because of that constriction
on their freedom overall, and because it's been going on
for so long it's been forty four years now, I
think the protests ripened into a revolution because it got

(10:15):
to a point where it's like, we don't just want
you to end mandatory hitch job. We don't just want
you to fix this or do that. We don't want reform,
we want a revolution. We don't want you anymore we
want regime change or iron We want democracy, secular democracy,
true democracy, which is yeah, that's such a huge conversation.

(10:36):
And one of the things that I found interesting, and
it could be me misreading some of the articles and
you let me know, is that they have there's a
conversation about something that is different with this time around,
with this revolution, is that for the first time, maybe
not so much, but there seemed to be more support
from the people. Do you agree with that or you

(10:59):
think that's just the mislead of like, No, they've always
had the support, you mean, from inside or from outside
of Iran, from inside, from inside Iran and outside of Iranda,
but mainly inside first and foremost. Yes, yes, So I
think there was a survey recently and the survey was conducted.
I need to remember how many people. It was two
hundred thousand people. I think one hundred and fifty thousand

(11:21):
of them were inside of Iran, and it was something
like maybe eighty seven percent wanted the Islamic Republic gone.
So it's overwhelming support for this revolution and get getting
rid of the Islamic Republic. Right again, we're gonna get

(11:42):
into the whole propaganda machine. But as people are saying, oh,
it's died down, but then we get more images of
people from all over the country, rural areas coming in
and to the support. Is that growing? Yes, So, like
you said, propaganda. One thing that they do is that,
you know, they shut down internet, so the reason that

(12:03):
they shut down internet is to stop the information coming
out of Iran, to stop it, you know, being in
the consciousness the awareness of the international community. So when
they have protests in you know, Zahedan and places that
more rural areas and they you know, fully block off
the Internet. What they don't want is for the rest
of the world to see how many people are going

(12:25):
out into in droves in the streets to protest them daily, weekly, whatever. Right,
So that's part of making it seem like the protests
aren't happening. But the protests are happening there every day,
you know, and they've been happening, they're just not in
the videos aren't always accessible because of their that control

(12:48):
over the access to the internet. So can we kind
of talk about that a bit more like that control
of the Internet and what we're what should we look

(13:11):
out for when it comes to the Iranian regime and
propaganda that is used against this movement. So there's a
lot when it comes to that. So the shutting down
of the Internet is one thing, so it doesn't allow
people to like I said, share information or receive information.

(13:33):
Another one is the accounts online. So the Islamic Republic
has long engaged in cyber wars and it's documented. It's
not just a conspiracy theory. They have documented history of
cyber wars. And they pay people to and bots to
cause problems online. So they'll fight with they'll cause you know,

(13:54):
division amongst the diaspora. They will you know, present an
image of support for the Islamic Republic. They'll pay them
to go online and say this is all fake, it's
all made up by Israel and the USA. It's not happening.
Everyone lost the Islamic Republic. These protesters aren't even being executed.
It's not real. Mass Sogina Mini didn't really get killed.

(14:17):
She just side of a heart problem. So they get
paid to go online and make up, you know, this propaganda.
And another thing they do is that. So there was
three whistleblowers from Meta who came forward and said that
the Islamic Republic, the regime was trying to pay people

(14:37):
at Meta to delete the account of Iranian activists and
delete their posts. So and that's why we all started
noticing that our content was being suppressed and we were like,
what is happening? Like videos will just disappear off the internet.
It's a lot, right it's scary. It is so scary,

(14:59):
and because really don't know who to listen to because
part of the propaganda is also in the US, we've
had many episodes about misinformation that's happening just like the
US politics, So going international, I'm sure it's even bigger
as to who is controlling what narrative and who was
allowing for what narrative to come out, and who's being paid,

(15:21):
as you had said, and like that's so scary that
the meta finally came out with like, hey, yeah, we're
being paid to suppress these things. Like when we see that,
what are some of the things that maybe we should
be aware of in when things like that are happening,
especially in the US. And I'm saying this as a
US centric obviously conversation right at this moment, but in
the US who we really do want to know? But

(15:43):
it's so hard to know who to listen to. Yeah,
I mean, I think the whole point of doing this,
it's not even necessarily to make people believe the counter narrative.
It's just that even if that fails, to make you
so confused that you just site to not believe anything
or to just not trust anything, and that's what we

(16:03):
see a lot of here in the US as well.
You know, they insert the confusion, they come up with
the theories, and then you don't know who to trust.
So you're like, I'm just gonna avoid the whole thing
and I'm just not going to listen and I'm not
going to pay attention. I'm going to be apathetic. And
that's how they win, because apathy for them, it's also
a win. It's as much as a win as you're
taking their side, right because the apathy is what they're

(16:25):
looking for. They want you to be apathetic to Iran.
They want you to be apathetic to whatever's going on
in the US. So that's the same sort of thing
that they're doing by the propaganda that they are listening online.
I think the best thing to do and the best
thing to look out for is whether you are listening
to a credible source, someone who has first of all,

(16:50):
an account with a face and you know you can
actually see them. They have videos, they have content where
they're showing themselves because a lot of the times people
will hide behind profiles, fake profiles, And the other thing is,
you know, what are they talking about? What is the narrative?
What is the incentive, where is it going and is

(17:10):
that a credible source? Because I've also had people counter
narratives coming from like white men in America who don't
know anything about Iran, and people will be like, hmm,
maybe I should listen to him, and I'm like why, why,
why should you? Why are you doing this? No, I

(17:32):
don't know just why men in general were, but no,
I think you did a really good tekdok video recently too,
about one of the propaganda things. And I think I've
seen a few of these types of conversations that have
come up from the regime, things like they're pardoning people

(17:53):
or they're not executing everyone. Everybody calm down, that was misinformation.
Can you kind of talk about the breakdown out of
their usage of rhetoric like that? Yeah, So I think
the video that you're talking about is where there was
I think it was a Router's News article that said
that the Supreme Leader was pardoning all of these prisoners.

(18:14):
So from the heading, it was like, Oh, that's amazing,
like everyone's getting off of a death throw. And then
you look at the subtexts and it's like everyone's getting pardoned,
except and it's like listening every possible everyone who protested,
anyone who breathed the wrong way, anyone who didn't apologize,

(18:36):
anyone who you know, had a conversation with the media,
and so once you got to the end of it,
you were like, Okay, since no one seems to be
being pardoned except for like rapists that wasn't that wasn't
on the list, then we know that the purpose of
that information is to present to the world that, you know, something,

(19:00):
what's going on in Iran isn't really going on in Iran.
You know, these people are not the people that you
think they're not, the terrorists that you think they're not,
you know, the occupiers that you think it's just misinformation
because look how lenient we are. We're even pardoning all
these people. But then you find out that they're actually
not pardoning anyone. You know, Yeah, I think that's really interesting.
The whole same conversation about when that article came out

(19:21):
that they were going to execute so many of the
protesters and they did it by like flight of night,
and then people countered it very quickly. We even like
had that moment of like, oh wait, maybe it's not.
But the conversation was we weren't getting the full information.
That first article was probably more true than not, but
because the regime was so quick and swift in order

(19:44):
to put that propaganda that we believed it. And it's
almost it's hard to take that back because I think
people are still having hard that didn't really happen type
of conversation. Yeah, I think, you know, it's important to
remember that the regime exists in power without any accountability.
So people who live and are raised in the West,

(20:06):
they view the rest of the world through this Western
construct where like things seem really implausible and impossible because
they would never happen here, you know, like here, I mean,
the US government does stuff, but it's so like underhanded
and sneaky, then it would never be that obvious, where
like the US government would be like, oh, we're executing
fifteen thousand people, just kidding nowhere, not like it just

(20:28):
it wouldn't work that way. So because it's so much
more underhanded, people think like that can't be going on
in the rest of the world, Like it can't be
a situation in the rest of somewhere in the world
where there's this supreme leader and he just you know,
nods his head and fifteen thousand people are gone, and
it's like, well that that kind of is the way
that it is over there. So because it's so hard

(20:49):
for them to believe that that could be true, it's
very easy to believe a different narrative, which is like,
come on, guys, don't be unrealistic. Of course that's not happening.
There's like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. I thought that
was a bit dramatic, and it's like, yeah, but you
it's hard to believe because that wouldn't happen here, even
though there is still the death penalty over here, but

(21:09):
obviously much more procedural way of getting to that. So
that's why I think they just want to go. They
it seems so hard to believe that. They just don't
want to believe it, you know, right, right, But then
you have to you have to remind them that this
is something stuff that's been been happening in Iran. You know,

(21:30):
nineteen eighty eight there was the massacre of up to
thirty thousand protesters, you know, and so when you see
that they've done it before, it's not that hard to
believe that they would do it again. And they did
start right executing them like one by one, Right, Yeah,
that's that conversation. It's like, just because you don't want

(21:50):
to believe it doesn't mean it's not happening, And it's
really irresponsible for us not to take a second log
and wait, let's talk about what the underlying conversation or
underlying aspect of this is, which is a powerful regime
is want to squash anything to keep their power, which
is that whole evil construct narrative that's like the beginning

(22:14):
of all the superhero movies that unfortunately doesn't exist, right,
But I think that's another conversation. I did want to
kind of go into specifics, not necessarily about the past
history or the regular Iranian laws, but like there is
a specific prison which has become kind of the keyword
of like if they're going here, that means they're in danger.

(22:35):
Can you kind of talk about why we need to
pay attention to these specific places and with the conversations
they may be leaving out. So there's a prison in
Iron called Evan Prison, and that's where they take all
the political prisoners. Political prisoner just literally means someone who protested.
So my mom was in Evan prison, my aunt was

(22:58):
in Evan prison, her husband was in prison. He was
executed in Evin prison. So yeah, my cousin never met
her dad because her mum was pregnant while she was
in Evin prison. And yeah, she gave birth just right
when she came out and they executed her dad. So
it's kind of known as like that, it's like the

(23:20):
place of no return. So after all these protesters were
arrested and they were sent to Evan prison, and then
sure enough, one by one they kept getting convicted of
like waging more against God and corruption on earth and
all of these random, you know, obscure charges that are
very all encompassing, and then their penalty would be death

(23:44):
because it's just very easy to give someone a death penalty,
and ran in a sham trial could literally last a
couple of minutes. So we started seeing that these people
kept getting the death penalty, the death penalty, the death penalty,
and that is kind of when we began our campaign
to try and you know, quote unquote make them famous
to get them out of there, which is something that

(24:06):
we've seen work throughout history in Iran. Right, Yeah, I
think it's so First of all, I'm so sorry for
what has happened with your family I cannot imagine the
trauma alone from that from in your family and then
hearing about what's happening, like trying to be helpful but

(24:27):
knowing the reality of it all. Yeah, they know it
first turned exactly when it comes to women that have
been arrested, it seems like there's less information about what
is happening with the women and some of the men.
I know that as the campaign say their name to
save their lives, which I do want to get into
in a second. Is there a background of why that
would be so? Yes, So I actually made a video

(24:50):
about this because this started as kind of like a
women's led revolution, and you know, the Islamic Republic is
aware of the sense activity over women's rights in this
context and other places in the world. Of course, right now,
women's rights has become a hot topic, a misogyny has
become a hot topic. My opinion is that they have

(25:13):
two goals to achieve. One is that they don't want
to piss the world off so much that there's a backlash,
right But they want to send a message that if
you mess with us, they'll be consequences. So the best
way for them to do that is to avoid doing
something so inflammatory such as publicly hanging a woman, right,

(25:34):
which is that's going to get the world's of attention.
Like feminists, people who care about women's rights are going
to be like, oh my god, they're hanging women, you know.
So the women are raped and killed in secret or
in the streets right where it's not so such a
public statement, but they still do the hanging of the

(25:55):
young men to send the message to the people inside
of you're on if you protest, this is what's going
to happen to you. And they hang them publicly from
a crane, so that that message is sense. It's not
done in secret or in private, it's so that they know.
So there is a gender apartheid the under the Islamic Republic,

(26:17):
but there's also a kind of mini gender apartheid in
the way that they treat them, in the way that
they molest them and torture them and kill them, you know, right.
And I guess one of the things we've been circling
around and want to really get to in this conversation
is about social media in the use of social media,

(26:38):
and we have been talking about it, but can you
talk about the difference social media can make in revolutions
or movements like these, and the impact of social media
on this one specifically. Yeah, So even though the Islamic
Republic is not held accountable to itself in its position

(27:02):
inside of Iran, it obviously has some degree of international accountability.
And so I guess it started in twenty twenty where
there were these three guys that were protesting the price
of gas and they were sentenced to death in Iran.
And I remember at that time the international community was

(27:23):
up in arms about it and everyone started talking about it,
everyone started posting about it. And then what happened is
that their sentences were commuted to life, and then people
kept talking about it even more, and then eventually it
was reduced again to five years, So they went from
having the death penalty to just I mean not just
five years, because five years and death in prison is

(27:44):
like a lifetime, but obviously a difference. So then when
this revolution came around, I had that in my mind.
I was like, what if we get the international community
to talk about these people, maybe there's a chance that
we could get them off death row. So the first
say their names to Save their Lives campaign I did

(28:04):
was for two girls who were on death row for
their LGBTQ status. So that was Zachar sent Itali, Hammadarni
and Lham Chubdar. So they were just these two young
women again just like on TikTok, living their lives and
they were arrested and sentenced to death for their LGBTQ status.

(28:25):
So I made this video and it got like two
million views on Instagram. It was like shared by everyone,
like even celebrities and people started sharing it, and then
I continue to do it on TikTok and these videos
were getting like millions of views and everyone at the
same time. Obviously I'm not just one person. Everyone worth

(28:46):
like campaigning for these people, Like the people whose names
were becoming known. People would like make videos and make
infographics and slides and like the names became prominent, and
then we started to notice that they were like being
released on bail, they were having their convictions overturned. And
so it's crazy because people think, like there's no way

(29:09):
that you're talking about these people can do anything on
social media, and yet we've literally seen these people, you know,
we make them famous on social media and the Islamic
Republic backtracks and they're like, hang on a minute, we
don't want the international uprising if we execute these people
who are literally they're so well known that their names

(29:30):
are even in the news, you know, And so they
just either overturned their death sentence or they let them go,
or they let them go on well they release them
temporarily pre trial. It's also interesting to see the effect
of social media for other governments try to get involved.
I know, this whole conversation about sponsorships that happened unfortunately

(29:50):
in the US, but they're outside, Like social media has
really started to catch attention to governments outside of pressuring
hopefully countries to whether it sanction or to at least
speak against they're running and regime all those things that
it really seems to have a push on that level
as well. Yeah, I mean, I think this was an
idea that was introduced in Sweden or was it Germany,

(30:12):
I can't remember. Where. You have these representatives that would
kind of like adopt or be a godparent to or
sponsor specific people that were on death row, and it
gave them something to it gave them a person to
kind of protect, and someone they became. The person at
the Islamic Republic was going to have to be accountable too. So, hey,

(30:36):
if you execute this person, you're going to have to
be accountable to this representative in Germany, Sweden, France, whatever, right, So,
and it gave them a line to follow up with
the Islamic Republic about the health and status of that prisoner,
because now you have a representative from an EU country,

(30:57):
which you don't want to be on their terrorist list,
you don't want to be signed by the EU. So
you have a representative from an EU country reaching out
to you like, hey, what is the status of doctor
Hamman Lara Hassan, What is the status of this person?
What is the status of this person? I want to know?
And that type of pressure of just receiving that phone

(31:17):
call or that email that's life changing for prisoners, you know, right. Yeah,
And speaking of that, what are some of the the
tags or the people specific accounts we should be following
about this revolution? Um, gosh, there's so many of us,

(31:41):
they don't know where to begin. So you have a
big voice. That's the one of the coalition leaders now
because they've formed an opposition coalition. So one of the
big voices in that regard. Her name is Massy Ali Najard.
So she is a Iranian woman. She is a journalist

(32:02):
and she's very very vocal against the Islamic Republic, and
I mean they've actually attempted kidnap assassination on her. Yeah.
I think we did a small thing on her. Yeah,
she's great. Um, there's so many. There's so many because
this is like all I do now is followed. Like

(32:23):
I'm like, just I might as well just go through
my followers list and just share it with Essentially, what
you're telling us is go on to your your social media,
find who you're following, and follow them exactly. Okay, gotcha.
But I guess one of the big tags again is
say their names, save their lives. Is there other tags
that we should be aware of that are specific to

(32:44):
the Iranian revolution? Yes, that one say their names to
save their lives? Um Iran hashtag Iran Revolution, hashtag Iran
hashtag master and mini hashtag Iranian protests. Those are the
main ones. I think the following your on how do

(33:17):
you think the movement and the revolution is going right now?
What do you think the status, how do you think
it's going. What should we be aware of as for
a morale, I think that every revolution has peaks and valleys,
it goes up and down, and I think that that's
just a natural part of human nature, is that you

(33:39):
have the moments where you're out there and you're fighting,
and then you have the moments that you need the
reprieve and the rest to recharge and recuperate. So I
think recently we've been seeing that period of just like
needing to recharge and you know, have that bit of respite.
But then I think following the formation of the Coalition,
that has a lot to inspire people that there's something,

(34:03):
there's actually a trajectory for this movement. Now we have
something someone to replace the Islamic Republic. It's given them
a goal, like a fixed goal to work towards. So
I think that the morale had dipped a little bit,
but I think now I'm noticing it kind of going
back up because of the coalition, which is which has

(34:24):
kind of changed things. I don't know if I know
much about the coalition, Can you explain that a little bit? Yeah,
So the coalition is Reza pala Vi, Marcy Ali, Najard,
Nazanin Boniardi, and Hamad a Smile. I don't know if
there's anyone else, but these are just a group of
leaders who have been prominent in the Iranian revolution from

(34:46):
outside of Iran. They will have a different role. One
of them as a German journalist, one's a former prince,
one is an actress, one is the guy who lost
his wife and child when the flight seven five two
was shot down by the Islamic Republic. So they have
come together to form an opposition to the Islamic Republic.

(35:09):
So now what's happening is that you're having events that
are being held where instead of like every year, the
EU will invite whatever whatever, instead of inviting the Islamic Republic,
now they're inviting the opposition, the coalition, and that is
a big sign to the world that there's now an

(35:29):
alternative to the Islamic Republic and they're taking that seriously. Wow, Okay, yeah,
that's fantastic. I know, pretty great. I mean that was
the one thing that was missing this whole time was
a leader, right, and now we have a coalition of leaders. Right.

(35:50):
That's phenomenal. So one thing we've been talking about on
this show is what are some things that we could
do as people on the outside. Well, it's interesting because
everything that we've achieved so far is really just because
we've managed to keep eyes on iron. You know, everything

(36:13):
that we've done has just been the success of international attention,
And people don't realize how much this makes a difference.
I mean, when I'm talking about attention, literally watching a
video all the way through increases engagement, even if you
didn't do anything, Even if you just watched it and
kept scrolling, you did something right, You boosted the algorithm.

(36:36):
If you downloaded it, you boosted the algorithm. If you
shared it, you boosted the algorithm. If you commented something,
you boosted the algorithm. So awareness has dramatically changed the
landscape of everything that's happening in Iran right now. Of course,
there's more that you can do. You know, you can
sign the petitions, You can call your representatives. You know,

(36:57):
you can call your representatives and ask them to coospond
to them to act, which is an act that sanctions
the regime's leaders. Like there's always if you're following accounts
of Iranian activists, there's always going to be things that
they can get you to physically do. But I think
people underestimate how much they're doing by just keeping their
eyes on the subject, not looking away. Not scrolling, you know,

(37:19):
staying engaged. By just engaging, you're keeping eyes on Iron
and with that attention, we have managed to achieve so much,
and we will be able to continue achieving so much.
That's a lot and I'm glad you can let us
know because there's so much like you just don't know
what you can do from the outside, especially when people
are disconnected, as Iranian regime has done a great job

(37:42):
in trying to disconnect at the outside world from what's
happening inside, including the people. Obviously they're not doing a
great job because we still do still like you, I
also think right, but I also think it's important to
give people tasks that they can actually do because you know,
if people say, oh, what we can can we do

(38:02):
and we say like, oh, well, you know, get on
the bus and go to DC, and it's like, okay,
well people are not going to do that. So if
we give everyone in the world or everyone who has
access to a smartphone whatever and Instagram TikTok, like a
very simple task of like, hey, if you see a
name video on Iron Watch all the way to the end, yes,
like just leave a comment like love this, so share

(38:25):
it if you feel really compelled share it, download it.
You know, that's something where people can feel like they're
making a difference without having to you know, take them
outside of their comfort zone, right right, which honestly though
we should be able to go outside of our comfort zone.
But you know, that's a whole different, whole different conversation.

(38:47):
I just want to meet people where they're at. I
love that you are that, Yes, we need more people
like you, But I'm like, why are you doing it?
I get that what's wrong with you? But you know,
some of the other things that we talked about, especially
when it comes to our government in the outside government
and having the government do something bigger, Can we as

(39:09):
citizens do something to encourage our own people, our own
representatives to be more involved, or what can we do
to get that push? So there's a few things we
would laugh to Biden administration to increase sanctions against the
Islamic Republic, so putting pressure on this administration to do that.
We need to get the IRGC on the EU terrorist list,

(39:34):
so we're putting pressure on the EU to do that.
And we have you know, political prisoners that we are
trying to get released, like too, Marge, who's the biggest
rapper in Iran. So we have like our free to
Marge campaign, so we like, we want to get people
to repost free to Marge hashtag free to Marge, post

(39:54):
is picture is content whatever. And then there's the Master Act,
which I mentioned, which is an act that sanctions the
regime's leaders. And we want to get people to call
their representatives and ask them to co sponsor the Massa
Act because that's something that they're gonna need to do
in order for it to be enacted. So for the

(40:16):
people who are ready to come out of that comfort zone. Yes,
it's that on our list, right. That's sooth things, both
things that can easily be done so easy if you
have a smartphone and time. Yes, I think you exactly.
I think it's pretty easy. Representative, you don't even have
to speak to them. You won't speak to the representative.
You'll just speak to some clerk that picks up. That's

(40:39):
like interning. They'll be like, what are you talking about?
That's what they always say to me, the Master Act
And I'm like, no, Master like Massa Amni and they're
like who oh no, yeah, wow, yeah that's again. Yes, sorry,

(41:02):
you'll just call them and You're just going to speak
to interms and don't worry, you know more than they do. Yeah,
do you literally have to tell them that you're like Iran?
You know, Middle East? Who state is that? That makes

(41:22):
me so sad? I love because I'm just me every day. Basically,
speaking of which one of the questions we often ask
our guests, and I know you are a busy person,
because we haven't even talked about what you do as
a career, which is can be deflating and oftentimes so

(41:42):
stressful as a criminal attorney in LA, especially fighting a
system that's so set up to make people fail. A
whole different conversation. But don't even get me started. I
will don't get me started. What do you do between
the vision and your work? How do you care for yourself? Oh?

(42:04):
My god, I don't. That's the problem, I know. And
this is why I'm sick. I mean, I'm literally like,
I'm sick for the second time this year, and I
was sick for all of January and I was just
I think it's just because I'm so burnt out, like
I've been going for like six months straight on this revolution,
and before that I was still doing my TikTok stuff

(42:25):
every day. Like through everything that was going on in America,
I was like angry, and then the revolution happened and
I was like very very angry. And then so I
was just been producing content every day and then you know,
going to work and I'm like literally in court and
like tweeting or like in court and making a story
and the judge is calling me and I'm like brb. Yeah.

(42:50):
So I think I just got really burnt out. But
now more recently I've actually gotten to the stage like
because I got sick again and everything, like I was
just like depressed and like emotionally burnt out. I got
to the point where I'm like, Okay, I actually cannot
do this to myself anymore because I'm just driving myself
into the ground. So this past week, I've just like

(43:10):
been in bed a week. This is the most that
I've done this week. So that's and that's funny because
you're not actually doing it trying to care for yourself
as literally because you're sick and now you're on I know,
this is this is this is the most that I've
done this week, which is good because usually I would

(43:30):
just be like morning tonight every day, and I just
I stayed in bed all weekend because I mean, I
actually couldn't get out of bed. It wasn't rus. I
like that. You're trying to count it as with a
fever in bed. Fine, I couldn't physically stand up. Aren't

(43:54):
you proud of me? Self care? Self care? I did
turn the can on, but I couldn't smell them. So well,
then I think you need to take a page out
of your cat's playbook and go get into a luxury
bag for a while. Yeah, it was that seems like, Yeah,

(44:19):
I'm gonna pretend like it's it's a luxury do that,
do that virgin out out the part where I said
flushion nova and just end it. Luxury bag we all need.
But okay, so that means what we need to do
is have you on in like six months so you
can tell us what you've done to take a break

(44:39):
for yourself. And you're gonna tell us something amazing because
a part of the political unrest, as I believe from
our week. We just did a great book club. In
the book, they talk about how taking care of yourself
is a part of the fighting against justice as well,
because you're actually caring for yourself. And yeah, so that
that's something that you need to remember because you can't

(45:00):
help anybody when you're feverie in bed for weeks at
a time. I know. Yeah, well, you know, that's just
it's one of those things where you don't realize until
it catches up with you. Right. So it's about taking
the breaks when you don't think you need them, right,
you know exactly, like you feel like, oh, I'm okay,
I'm good to go. Like that's the time where you're like, nope,
I've scheduled a break. I'm going to take a break
so that I don't get burnt out. That's the hard

(45:23):
that's the hard part. So I'm going to cut this
club and then send it to you every two weeks
on your tech talk to remind you. This is what
you sall me with your own words, troll me with
my own words. That's my dream, hopefully accountable. Oh my god,
I need to I need to see it. Yes, this

(45:44):
is how I make friends by being their troll. This
is what's going to happen, troll for their mental health.
Oh my god, that's great. That's a great title. You know.
That'll be on my tombstone. I was a troll for
their mental health is fine. That's a great, great legacy
to have truth. Well, goodness, thanks for taking the time

(46:08):
when you've been so sick to god show. I mean,
you know that had to be done, had to be done,
So thank you for having me though, even when I'm sick. Oh,
we were thrilled to have you, and we had no
idea you could do such a great job in covering
that up. I don't know if that's a good thing though. Okay,
I thought my voice was going to give it away,

(46:29):
but apparently it's not that bad. Then. Well, we would
love to have you back on in the future and
years check in on your self care and what's going on.
Hopefully by that time we can talk about three year on. Yeah. Yeah,
how that's looking like we're gonna put that out there.

(46:49):
We're gonna come with that. We're gonna go ahead and
put that out in the universe. Yeah, you can be back.
So you just you just got back from Tehran. What's
it like out there now that everything's free? And I'll
be like, girl, let me tell you, I'll I'll be
showing it from Tehran because I'll be like, I'm not
coming back yet. Exactly perfect, perfect from that. Yeah, me too,

(47:12):
and we have to do it before and after, you know, yes, yes, well,
in the meantime, where can our good listeners find you?
You can find me. I'm Elka labon pretty much everywhere
except the TikTok I'm Elka dot LBoN so Instagram at
Elca Lebon, TikTok at Elka dot LBoN, Twitter at Elca

(47:35):
Lebon and you know, whatever else, be the same thing, YouTube,
whatever thing that comes up in the future, across the board,
across the board. Just search me in your hats. Yeah, yes, well,
I trust that the listeners know how the Internet works

(47:55):
and how to search things. So I've always they've come
this far, if they've comes spa yeah, now they listen
to a podcast, they are already like leaps ahead on
this internet to find me exactly right. Yes, well, listeners,
please go do that. Go follow Elica wherever you can

(48:19):
for amazing content, informative content, important content. Um, thank you
again for being here with us. It was a delight.
Thank you so much for having me. Yes, oh, it
was such a delight. We hope you feel better soon.
Thank you, and rest for real. I'm going to rest, yes,
Samantha will haunt you. Oh, please haunt me, Please haunt me.

(48:43):
Yes and listeners. If you would like to find as
you can our email stuff and your mom stuff at
I hurtma dot com. You can find us on Twitter
at most a podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at
stuff Mom Never told You. Thanks as always to our
super producer Christina. Thank you, Christina, and thanks to you
for listening self whatever told you his protection of I
Heart Radio. For more podcast in my heart Radio, you
can check out the heart Radio app Apple Podcast wherever

(49:05):
you listen to your favorite show