In this urgent and deeply moving episode, Julian Royce speaks with D, an anonymous Iranian PhD student living in the U.S., who shares why staying silent has sometimes been the only way to survive.

From firsthand experiences with Iran’s morality police to witnessing how academic institutions in the West can erase lived realities, D offers a rare, unfiltered perspective on power, fear, and human rights.

This episode is for listeners who care about truth beyond political narratives, the global struggle for women’s rights, and the cost of speaking out. It matters because real lives—and voices—are still being silenced, both abroad and closer to home.

Main Topics Covered

• Why the guest remains anonymous and the real risks of speaking publicly

• Life as an Iranian woman under the morality police

• The ongoing protests in Iran and mass human rights violations

• Fear of deportation and ICE from the perspective of a student immigrant

• Silencing of Iranian voices within Western academic institutions

• Ideology vs. human rights in global and campus politics

• Historical context: foreign intervention, revolution, and the Iranian regime

• The psychological toll of living between multiple systems of power

Key Takeaways

• Silence is often a survival strategy, not a lack of courage

• Human rights abuses can be ignored when they conflict with ideology

• Power is not only exercised by governments, but also by institutions and individuals

• Lived experience should never be erased in the name of political narratives

• Supporting human rights requires consistency, nuance, and moral clarity

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