6 Things I Learnt After Spending The Past 3 Months in North Korea, Iran and Iraq

(1) It is very easy to get swept up in something evil

In North Korea I attended a performance called the mass games. It is a huge spectacle and entirely dedicated to the greatness of Kim Jong Un. When the supreme leader turned up the whole audience went into a state of rapture. Their god had blessed them with his presence. There were 100,000 people in the crowd and only a few foreigners. I looked at the foreigners and noticed they were just as excited as the North Koreans. For the next 2 hours the North Koreans put on the most magnificent show imaginable. It was a show fit for the god they believed Kim Jong Un to be. They performed feats I didn't realise were possible and it was all for the sake of Kim Jong Un. It was hard not to fall into the trap of thinking this man was worthy of all this devotion simply because he was capable of conjuring it up.

When I looked at the other foreigners at the end of the show I could see they were clapping with the same wild enthusiasm as the North Koreans. The brilliance of the show had won them over.

I was also clapping ecstatically but I stopped quickly once I realised who I was applauding.

(2) People believe anything as long as there is no conflicting information.

It is easy for the west to see North Koreans as a bunch of idiots. How can they possibly believe they are living in the greatest country in the world when they aren't allowed to leave? How can they believe they are flourishing when famine is a reality? How can they love a leader when they know death is the punishment for anything other than blind obedience? Unfortunately they've never been allowed to question anything and their life depends on compliance. In order to rise through the ranks you have to prove your devotion to the cause. The more devoted you are the higher your position in society. That is how you achieve success and promotions. Anyone considered harmful to the party is demoted and risks being sent to a concentration camp.

I do not know whether people genuinely love Kim Jong Un or not. When they see him he is worshipped like a god and it's common for tears of love and joy to fill their eyes. But at the same time they know the punishment for not loving him. They are aware of the camps you can be sent to and they know the petty crimes people are punished for. Their love may be genuine but it is made easier by knowing their life depends on it. It is very easy to love something when your life is at stake.

(3) Sanctions don't work and only affect the poor

When the west imposes sanctions on these countries we are lead to believe that it makes life difficult for the leaders. But in reality the powerful hardly suffer at all. They have enough money and power to continue unaffected. The idea that the leaders are going to change is wrong. America would never admit this but the sanctions aren't supposed to affect the leaders. They are designed to make things so bad for the average person that they will revolt. In Iran this seems likely because things are getting worse and the average person desires a better life. They know the government will kill them if they do anything so the revolt won't come until living is so bad that death no longer seems like such a bad thing. Most young people are beginning to feel like this. Depression and hopelessness is everywhere.

In North Korea it will never happen, they still believe they are living in the greatest country in the world so a revolution couldn't possibly make things better.

(4) The opposite to sanctions is just as bad

The opposite to sanctions is allowing free trade which makes the regime rich and more powerful. They then use this power to further dominate their people. Whether this is more evil I do not know. But in the short term it would allow people to access medicine and supplies and lower of the cost of living. In other words it would drastically improve the lives of millions of suffering people. At the moment they are suffering greatly and the sanctions deserve a large amount of the blame. But remove the sanctions and the government will only have more resources to control their people and their oppression will continue longer.

(5) Sexual repression is one of the greatest evils in the world

Iranians are obsessed with sex. Men and women are kept separate because men can not be trusted from doing something wrong around a women. That is why the train carriages are kept separate and society justifies keeping the women covered in veils and hidden away.

Every woman has a story about being sexually abused. The reason is obvious. When people are forbidden from having sex they become obsessed by it. After you have sex you no longer think about it but if you never have it then you think about it constantly.

One girl told me her father raped her at knife point. Another told me she had a friend who set herself on fire because it was discovered she was no longer a virgin after being raped. Another said she'd been anally raped at a party. The statistics are unknown because nearly all cases go unreported. The woman who was raped by her father said she couldn't tell anyone because her father and uncles would kill her if she did. The one who was raped at a party couldn't report it because the police would arrest her if they found out she had been to a party. The girl who set herself on fire did so because no one wanted to admit or acknowledge or even believe that she was telling the truth. These are just 3 examples but I heard many more.

(6) There's more young atheists in Iran than almost anywhere else in the world

Before I visited Iran I assumed it was a deeply religious country. Within a few days I realised I was wrong. In theory it is a religious state and all laws are based on Islam. In reality the laws are only followed in public out of fear of punishment. Most young people are aware of this fear they have and are tired of it. They are tired of having to constantly follow laws that limit everything they do so they follow the laws with a large amount of defiance. The Hijab most women are forced to wear is worn with extreme carelessness and barely covers the parts that are demanded to be covered. They are aware of their oppression and understand that religion is the cause and this leads to a large amount of hate and disillusionment with Islam.