Iran. A Reminder.
If you’ve followed the news, the start to 2026 has been anything but calm. I’ll cut to the chase…
As an Iranian who only 12 months ago visited the country, the current turmoil in Iran has been sobering for me. Watching the conflict from afar in the peace of New Zealand does something to you as a person. It forces perspective.
I am grateful to be a citizen of New Zealand.
We all should be.
History periodically confronts us with moments that demand moral clarity. Events that force us, even from afar, to remember what we stand for - and just as importantly, what we stand against.
In moments like this, distance does not absolve us of responsibility. Some struggles, though geographically remote, strike uncomfortably close to home.
What we are seeing in Iran is one of them.
The courageous protests in Iran are not unprecedented. History is filled with brave people rising against authoritarian rule, against regimes that wield power grotesquely and without a legitimate democratic mandate.
For young people today, living in relative peace in the West, the story of defeating Hitler’s killing machine need not be the sole lens through which we understand the fight for freedom against crushing control. The Islamist death cult of the Islamic Republic stands plainly before us right now as an example to learn from.
Authoritarianism is never distant. It waits at the door, as it did in Iran many years ago, and only enters when vigilance fails. Those of us in the West, in New Zealand, increasingly fractured and complacent in the freedoms we enjoy would be wise to pay attention to Iran.
Liberty is not an accident of history; it is purchased with blood and sustained by the courage of principled individuals.
But whether authoritarianism arrives cloaked in Islamist ideology (so often feared to be condemned in the West), or communist authoritarianism that many romantically yearn for, or the temptations of Christian nationalism which others dream of, the lesson is the same: ideological rule leads to tyranny and kills liberty.
Iran’s past 47 years leave us no ambiguity: religious nationalism kills, centralised economic control impoverishes, and ideologically driven regimes without democratic legitimacy bring nothing but repression, instability, and chaos.
The nation’s current tragedy is not unique, but it is instructive.
The fall of the Berlin Wall reminded a generation of the cost of freedom. The price being paid for the dismantling of Iran’s religious tyrants - when it comes - will stand as a reminder for those who have forgotten what liberty costs.
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice", yet this 'justice' must be first imagined by ‘aching visionaries’ who are deeply affected by the suffering, and incompleteness of the present world and who believe in the dignity of a freer and more flourishing life.
But once imagined, truth, justice, life, and freedom must be stood up for and defended by individuals, families, churches and civil society – it is not enough to imagine, it must be lived out.
This is why I am so deeply convinced of the work we are doing at PILLAR. Individual life, liberty, and rights require active protection - because when they are not protected, they do not merely weaken, they disappear.
If they are not protected they will disappear and along with them the lives of people, literally. Every campaign, legal battle, piece of content or event that we run is animated by the core belief that you and your freedom matter.
PILLAR’s mission statement rings powerfully here - we see a culture that cherishes freedom, a system that prioritises liberty, and people who recognise the innate value and dignity in one another.
This is not about abstract ideas or ideological victories, it is about people.
We’d be wise to look, learn, and to exercise our gratitude.
