It was here, in Paris, in this little corner of Persia in the 15th arrondissement, that part of the Iranian diaspora settled after the 1979 revolution. Here, in the Beaugrenelle towers, which had just been built at the time, “because Iranians like things that are modern and square,” said Shayan (those quoted by their first names did not want to give their surnames). Here, on Rue des Entrepreneurs, between numbers 59 and 72, Iranian restaurants and Persian delicatessens still line the street. Shayan, 41, born in Iran and living in France since the age of 18, runs a family business there that has been around for several decades.
Since the US-Israeli military offensive began on February 28, she has lived in both fear and hope. Fear, first and foremost, for her family in Iran – her mother, from whom she awaits daily news that arrives slowly amid severed internet and phone lines. And hope, too, rekindled for her homeland’s future. “For a long time, I hoped that a popular uprising would succeed in overthrowing the mullahs, but we couldn’t manage it. So yes, I was waiting for this outside help,” she confided.
According to a 2006 study considered an underestimate and the Iranians interviewed for this article, some 25,000 people born in Iran make up this small community in France – trailing Germany’s or Sweden’s diasporas and far behind the one in Los Angeles, which is said to be around 500,000 members – “but it certainly wields a certain influence,” said a left-wing activist.
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Fonte: Le Monde
