Australian Dream
Poetry by Mohsen Soltani
CD $30
Available from <http://www.stickylabel.com.au>
REVIEW BY SARAH STEPHEN
Imagine life beginning as a young, idealistic poet in Iran, uncovering government corruption and trying to expose it, then being forced to flee in fear of your life. Imagine then reaching a country you thought would offer you sanctuary, only to be imprisoned for four years, being forced to take your case to various courts to prove your story of suffering.
Mohsen Soltani appeared twice before the Refugee Review Tribunal, twice before the Federal Court and once before the High Court before finally winning his freedom. His struggle came to a symbolic close earlier this month when he became an Australian citizen.
Suffering severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, this remarkable young man has nevertheless managed to begin studies to become an architect and produce two CDs of his poems.
Mohsen was still in detention when Sydney Morning Herald journalist Tony Stephens first wrote about his poetry in October 2002: "Some of Mohsen Soltanyzand's poetry grabs life by the throat ... He has a lot of time to think about the words, for he has nowhere to go and not much else to do. So the words tumble out, in Farsi first, then in English with the help of a pocket translator and the friends who come to visit. And he hands copies of the poems to the visitors."
Stephens features as one of the readers on Mohsen's latest CD, Australian Dream, to be launched in Sydney on October 31, along with an impressive list of prominent Australians, all of them connected in some way to the refugee issue.
Speaking about the process of producing Australian Dream, Annette Hughes from production company Stickylabel told Green Left Weekly: "Really, this is Mohsen's baby — he's done everything on the production. We recorded a couple of things with him early last year, then he went into his bedroom and did the rest. As his contact with people through the refugee movement and his membership of Sydney PEN expanded, he asked people if they would read his poems for the CD, and everyone said yes, hence the double CD." PEN International is a worldwide association of writers that fights for intellectual freedom and in defence of writers in detention.
Other poetry readers include actors Bryan Brown and Claudia Karvan, journalist John Highfield, psychologist Zachary Steel, writer Tony Kevin, politicians Kerry Nettle, Andrew Bartlett and Carmen Lawrence, John Bell from the Bell Shakespeare Company, and a host of refugee-rights advocates and activists.
Steel has had a close association with refugees in detention for many years, and has been involved in important research uncovering the damaging psychological effects of long-term detention. He told GLW: "Mohsen and I met as detainee and psychologist in a terrible place, a system that has been designed to destroy and break the hopes, dreams and will of victims of violence and injustice.
"But Mohsen has always held on to the conviction that such a place should not exist, that such a place cannot survive the light of truth. He has fought tirelessly and constantly to this end, in his poetry, in his music, in his speaking, in his life. It is my honour to call Mohsen my friend."
The CD will be launched by authors Tom Keneally and Rosie Scott, who are active members of PEN International.
Scott told GLW: "Mohsen is an extraordinary man. He has never given up on doing all he can to help detainees and protesting their conditions, even though this is often at great cost to his health, which was damaged during the four traumatic years of his own detention in Australia.
"He is a very talented poet whose poems, by turns brutal, lyrical, passionate and despairing, make up a body of work which is a powerful indictment of the sufferings of people in Australian detention camps as well as being an important record of this shameful history. His poems, I believe, will be anthologised in the future for their literary excellence and contribution to Australian political poetry."
The launch night will feature many of those who took part in the CD's production. Live music will also be performed by Sandy Evans (one of Australia's leading jazz saxophonists and composers), Linsey Pollack (musician, instrument maker and composer, playing Lyrebird WX5), Kirsten Whalley (flute), Lindsay McDougal (guitar, Frenzal Rhomb), Sarah Stephen (violin), Shahin (guitar) and Mohsen (santor).
All funds raised on the night will go to the Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation, which provides financial assistance to asylum seekers living on Bridging Visa E.
[The launch will be held at 7pm on October 31 at the Leichhardt Town Hall, 107 Norton Street, Leichhardt. Entry will be by donation.]
From Green Left Weekly, October 26, 2005.
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