whose air is it anyway?

Alice Russell - Hurry on Now f…

A dust storm has hit the city and I can hardly see past milad tower.

the dust storm

There are electricity pylons in the mountains just above us. Is it true they cause cancer? And what about the microwaves from the big satellite dishes on the roof at work? Did they put the newsroom at the bottom of the building to make it bomb proof? I’m not sure if all this technology and politics can really be trusted.

This morning there was a fracas in the street below my window. They’re opening up a dead end road which backs onto the mountains. The Basijis have buried some unknown soldiers up there and they want to make it a shrine to the politico-religious establishment.

The neighbours were complaining their peace would be broken by all the rough-stubbled plebeian men and black-clad women folk on Fridays, driving their noisy Paykans up the hill to cry in the name of the martyrs.

In Tehran, the right to clean air is something you only get with premium real estate. Central Tehran was a dust bowl today. The wind kicking it into your hair and eyes.

While one of the neighbours went irretrievably hysterical, a man revealed the undercurrent to the discussion:

Why not? Let the bottom-of-the-city people come up here and enjoy the air up here sometimes. You talk like you own it…

They did pay for their piece of the mountain. but I guess it didn’t come with a guarantee.