The connection between the price of chicken and the victory of the 1957 revolution!/ Let’s look back sometimes

Fars news agency community group Maryam Sharifi; I rush out of the fruit and vegetable market. My mind is so busy preparing the necessities for the iftar party that I don’t notice the obstacles in the way and tripping, the same and the contents of my shopping cart spread on the floor, the same… I stare desperately at the chaotic scene in front of me for a few seconds and then, slowly, I start to Collecting vegetables and fruits and… a pair of legs appears in front of me. Wordlessly, he collects all the goods from the floor and puts them in the basket and sits on the bench in front of the market while holding a package of chickens. I know him more or less. I saw him many times here and in different booths. He often comes to the day market to buy at these hours. A dignified man of almost 60 years old who is always so calm and I have rarely seen him talk to people in line.

I want to say thank you and get to the next stage of the purchase sooner by taking the last pen that is left in his hand, which shows the package of chicken in his hand and says: “One place, there is a problem. This was not our intention”… I look at him with surprise. Her low-back silver hair sparkles in the sunlight and deep wrinkles around her eyes. I say: I’m sorry, I didn’t understand… Without looking at me, he turns the package of chicken over and says: “It’s not as big as a quail, but look at the number written in the weight section!” Most of the weight of this imitation chicken is water. “Most of the money that you and I pay to buy these chickens is actually the blue money that is in these packages.” I have no compliments. Now, in this anxiety of preparing iftar for a guest regiment, I don’t have the time or patience for one of those endless political and economic discussions. I take a step forward and while waiting for him to deliver the package of chicken, I say: Yes, unfortunately. But what can be done?

He raises his head and says: “It’s enough to put our foot on the brake and look behind us”… and before I can say anything, he continues: “In 1957, I was a 16, 17-year-old young man who then From school, I used to work in one of the rooms of the clothes sellers’ bazaar in the big bazaar of Tehran. Those days were in the midst of revolutionary struggles, and with the intensification of people’s and trade unions’ protests against the government, problems had arisen in various areas. For example, chicken, which was 7 tomans (70 rials) per kilo, had reached 21 tomans per kilo in a strange jump; It means exactly 3 times! In the turbulent market of the country’s political situation, there was no handling of this issue and it reached a point where many people could no longer buy chicken. The general public, who had a more important goal in those days, and regardless of these issues, came to the streets every day and demonstrated against the Pahlavi regime, but under the skin of the city, beautiful things were happening.

One day when I was on my way to the market after school, I saw one of our regular customers sitting with a basket in his hand at the entrance of the market. After salam and alik, I asked: Is there any news? Why are you sitting here? With the movement of his eyebrow, he pointed to the front and said: “I sat down to see what happens to this itinerant chicken seller.” I turned my head. As usual in those days, the middle-aged man had placed a large amount of packaged chicken on his cart and was selling it. I said: What’s going on? What happened? Mr. Jupiter said with a laugh: “I came to buy chicken, I saw this scene. For now, in the half hour that I have been sitting here, the chicken in this man’s basket has gone from 21 tomans per kilo to 19 tomans per kilo!

I did not understand his words! I went to the itinerant chicken seller and stood in a corner with a little distance from him. A few minutes passed, a tall man with a newspaper under his arm went near the chicken seller’s counter and looking at the scribbled paper with the price of the chicken, which now had 19 written on it, asked: “Sir!” How many kilos of chicken do you have? The chicken seller answered: “100 kilos.” The newspaper reading man reached into his pocket and took out some bills and gave them to the chicken seller and said: “This is 100 Tomans.” “Give people 18 tomans per kilo of your chickens.” and went The chicken seller put the money in his pocket and immediately crossed 19 with a pen and wrote 18. I was still confused about what had happened. It was getting dark when an old man went to the chicken seller and said: “How many kilos of chicken do you have, Dad?” As he offered his seat to the old man, the chicken seller said: 100 kilos of Haji. The old man, who had just sat down on the chair, put his hand in his arm pocket and said: “I don’t need chicken.” But take this 100 tomans and sell the chickens to Khalqallah for 17 tomans per kilo. The chicken seller said “Ey Be Chashm” and changed the number on the paper to 17 in front of the old man’s eyes. This story continued and I, dumbfounded, as if I was sitting in front of the cinema screen watching an attractive movie, kept my eyes on the chicken seller’s table…”

I, too, have nothing less than the mood of 44 years ago in front of the story of the chicken seller’s bed, in front of the 60-year-old Mr. Muqar’s story. It’s as if I completely forgot about preparing iftar and the rest of the work on the floor. One day, I come to myself while I am sitting on the side bench and I am lost in his narration. I say helplessly: Well? What happened next? A faint smile appears on Mr. Muqar’s lips and at the same time he says: “The story of that night continued so much that the price of chicken in that itinerant seller’s table reached 10 tomans per kilo!” So many unknown people came and each of them gave 100 tomans to the seller and encouraged him to reduce the price of chicken, so that the price of chicken fell in favor of the people. Well, I remember that it was around 8 or 9 in the evening when I excitedly went to our customer and said: What are you waiting for? So why don’t you buy chicken? Don’t you see how expensive it is? He laughed loudly and mischievously said: “I’m waiting for it to reach its true price.” I want to buy 7 tomans per kilo. I don’t know if he achieved his goal or not, but that night, I bought 10 kilos of chicken for 10 tomans and took it home and my family was very happy.”

60-year-old Mr. Muqar pauses and looks at the package of chicken in his hand, which is now submerged in water, he sighs with regret and says: “These days, I think a lot about the story of that night and those days. Our revolution was won with that spirit of solidarity and compassion. That night I felt with all my heart that people’s hearts beat for each other. The one who had an open hand considered himself responsible to lighten the burden of the people as much as he could; Even made chicken cheaper by one toman per kilo. He would come, trust that unknown seller, give him his money for the sake of the people, and leave. That seller also considered himself committed to that philanthropic customer. He did not betray his trust and even though he was no longer present, he reduced the price of chicken for the benefit of the people because of his donation.

Yes, my daughter, our revolution won with these solidarity. Today, we need the same spirit of solidarity and compassion to overcome sanctions and economic problems. Until our hearts burn for each other, the knots of society’s problems will not be solved. Look at this chicken package. If the producer and seller cared about people, such a product would not reach you. You must remember one or two months before Eid, how people responded positively to the call of the producers in order to balance the production and supply of chicken, and came to the square with a sense of responsibility and did not allow the chicken producers to suffer by buying excess. Well, shouldn’t the answer to love and compassion be love and compassion?… I wish we would look behind us sometimes. We, the people of Iran, have overcome great crises with unity, solidarity and compassion for each other. Even today, this golden key can unlock the problems of our society.”

end of message/