By Ray Carr
During lunch on Tuesday 23 March, our Amnesty International team hosted a presentation for the British Iranian actor and Amnesty activist, Nazanin Boniadi.
Nazanin is currently in New Zealand for the filming of the Amazon Prime recreation of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films. She has starred in many other films and TV series, such as ‘Iron Man’ (2008), ‘How I Met Your Mother’ (2005 – 2014) and ‘Hotel Mumbai’ (2018). Gym Two was filled with students eager to learn and listen: not only Amnesty members but a range of students keen to learn about activism and making change. We even invited back some of our ex-Westlake students to share the experience with us.
Nazanin started her speech off with a brief introduction about her upbringing and heritage, including her family’s choice to move from Iran to England not long after she was born. We learnt of the struggles and plight of prisoners of conscience who were being detained by the Iranian government for their activism. She urged us to recognise and learn our human rights so we could stand up against people trying to remove them. She spoke about her work through Amnesty and the human rights violation actions she has been working on: “out of the four cases I’ve worked on for years maybe one saw success… Even one success means saving one life that may have otherwise been lost.” Nazanin encouraged us to actively take part in social actions, whether it be petitions and letter campaigns through Amnesty, attending events with speakers discussing human rights, or taking part in marches or organised events.
Finally—and what moved the hearts of the audience—she spoke on being true to yourself. She explained her choice to branch away from her degree in biological sciences and into the arts while in her twenties. She emphasised the importance of a good education and the need for learning new skills. One of the most important pieces of advice she gave was not to let our goals be impacted on by either positive or negative comments, and to remain true to our principles.
In the question and answer session that followed, Nazanin replied to each query in an encouraging manner and gave advice on steps for us to take next in our exploration for justice. One of our amazing Amnesty leaders, Izzie Newton-Cross, presented her with a gift and card in thanks for her time and inspiration.
Everyone was eager to talk to her about their experiences and the gym became a hive of conversation as photos were organised and reactions to the speech were passed around. When the bell rang the audience left feeling more inspired and eager to make a change in our world.
