It occurred to me while watching this - and I no way mean to make light of the tragedy - that we never know how we will make a difference in the world.
May Neda be responsible for the end of this, and perhaps other, dictatorial and dangerous regimes.
Well, that makes me feel ... better? Less hopeless? Something. Anyway, I think a lot of times when it seems like there are no immediate results, I feel as though it was all for nothing, but it's true that sometimes the results you'd like to see don't happen right away, but that the seeds are planted.
Iranian women have been active for years, fighting for equal rights and asking to be treated as human beings rather than cattle.
Iran has a long history of female fighters and female resistance and these elections just showed Iranian public AND the world at large that Iranian women wont be victimized and are educated, brave human beings who will take to the streets and fight alongside men for freedom.
Im really proud to be a persian woman, these days. :)
Mothers of protesters in Iran have such a difficult role right now - over the last few weeks, many of them have been waiting day and night for news of their children outside of the infamous Evin prison, only to be told that they are in hospital with injuries sustained during torture, or worse, dead.
I can't even imagine what that kind of grief that uncertainty would cause.
@Penny: No one ought to lose a daughter. This reminds me of a zen story reproduced in Zadie Smith's (this is also in my mind because of the girl crush post yesterday) The Autograph Man:
A rich man asked Sengai to write something for the continued prosperity of his family so that it might be treasured from generation to generation.
Sengai obtained a large piece of paper and wrote, "Father dies, son dies, grandson dies."
The rich man became angry. "I asked you to write something for the happiness of my family! Why do you make such a joke as this?"
"No joke is intended, explained Sengai. "If before you yourself die your son should die, this would grieve you greatly. If your grandson should pass away before your son, both of you would be broken-hearted. If your family, generation after generation, passes away in the order I have named, it will be the natural course of life. This is real prosperity."
That is really some grim fucking stuff. I've got a 2.5 year old daughter, and my stomach lurches into my throat when I think of anything happening to her. My heart breaks for that poor dad, to see his lovely daughter gunned down in the street like that. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
This photo of Kim Phuc (full name Phan Thị Kim Phúc) was taken just after South Vietnamese planes bombed her village. She had only lived because she tore off her burning clothes. AP Photographer Nick Út and NBC cameraman Le Phuc Dinh filmed her and her family emerging from the village, after the air strike, running for their lives. This photo has become one of the most famous and memorable photos of Vietnam and won Nick Út the Pulitzer prize in 1972.
Nico Pitney just posted this item with more information about Neda. He's trying very hard to make sure his sources are trustworthy as he blogs, so it seems fairly certain that this is reliable:
"6:55 PM ET -- A bit more about Neda. A blogger apparently in touch with Neda's family members offers some new details (translated by reader Nima): she was born in 1982, apparently her full name was Neda Agha Soltan, and she was at the protest with one her professors and several other students. She was, they said, shot by a basiji riding by on a motorcycle. Also, she was apparently buried today at a large cemetery in the south of Tehran -- the memorial for tomorrow that I noted earlier has since been canceled." [www.huffingtonpost.com]
Every time I think about this video I cry. I went out for drinks with friends last night and started crying. Neda's image is completely indelible now. She was so brave.
No offense, but open up any European news weekly magazine and you will see images far bloodier than this. Think blown off legs and arms and maybe you'll start to get the picture. The human toll resulting from these conflicts is so shocking, so terrible, that it is worth much more of our attention than slapping some "Free [name country here]" bumper stickers on our Priuses.
@ocirats: @Spinfusor: Ok, this is not a who-is-more-exposed-to-the-realities-of-violence contest. No matter where you live, to actually see someone bleed to death in seconds, uninterrupted, uncensored, is unheard of.
I really wasn't ready for that video. I thought I was. As a father, I hope her family can recover from such a tragedy. I can't imagine what I would be feeling if that were my daughter.
I had naively hoped that the counter-revolution could happen in a peaceful, bloodless manner. I am sad to be proved wrong.
@stuntpuppy: i hope her father lives to see her death celebrated as a milestone on the path to freedom -- like the fathers of those little girls blown up in a black church in this country during the civil rights era
women have so long been voiceless and faceless in that part of the world; the throngs in the streets supporting theocracy are men men and more men
@if_i_only_had_a_heart: I think that comparison is facetious and diminishes what is actually going on in Iran. Whatever you may feel happened in Florida (and I agree, much of it was hardly above board), the final decision was made by the Supreme Court, a legal body. The 2000 election may have shown that the system you have is broken (and the fact that almost nothing has been done to fix it is troubling to me), but that's different than what happened here. This was outright fraud (allegedly) from the very top, and it followed years and years of oppression.
No matter how you feel about Bush, he's not Ahmadinejad.
@if_i_only_had_a_heart: also, the supreme court disgraced itself and went from being a legal body, which is exactly what the proterters in iran are fighting for, to being a politial kangaroo court, bringing down the ideals of this country to the level of countries where the only hope for justice is rioting in the streets
@if_i_only_had_a_heart: You are wrong on the law. Also: Obama had about a 50% gap in electoral college votes but only won by 6% of the popular vote. The electoral college was set up to prevent mob rule, and it is traditionally supposed to follow the sway of the popular vote. The 2000 Bush v. Gore decision went against tradition, NOT the law.
Now please stop trivializing the Iran tragedy. This is not about us. We're supposed to be shining a light on others.
@MooseWood: sorry but bush v. gore was a travesty of justice and degraded the freedoms and principles this country was founded on, from the florida decisions against counting every votes to the supreme court becoming blatantly the tool of the right wing and forsaking any cloak of justice. you can look it up.
11/18/09
May Neda be responsible for the end of this, and perhaps other, dictatorial and dangerous regimes.
09/28/09
09/28/09
Iran has a long history of female fighters and female resistance and these elections just showed Iranian public AND the world at large that Iranian women wont be victimized and are educated, brave human beings who will take to the streets and fight alongside men for freedom.
Im really proud to be a persian woman, these days. :)
07/30/09
Source- Awesome cousin and brave childhood friends located in Iran.
07/30/09
I can't even imagine what that kind of grief that uncertainty would cause.
07/30/09
Politics aside, a mother has lost her young daughter. I hope she finds some peace eventually.
07/30/09
07/30/09
A rich man asked Sengai to write something for the continued prosperity of his family so that it might be treasured from generation to generation.
Sengai obtained a large piece of paper and wrote, "Father dies, son dies, grandson dies."
The rich man became angry. "I asked you to write something for the happiness of my family! Why do you make such a joke as this?"
"No joke is intended, explained Sengai. "If before you yourself die your son should die, this would grieve you greatly. If your grandson should pass away before your son, both of you would be broken-hearted. If your family, generation after generation, passes away in the order I have named, it will be the natural course of life. This is real prosperity."
07/30/09
Let every death in the name of repression, ignorance and violence against the innocent be like the breeze from a passing gnat.
06/22/09
06/22/09
[www.famouspictures.org]
This photo of Kim Phuc (full name Phan Thị Kim Phúc) was taken just after South Vietnamese planes bombed her village. She had only lived because she tore off her burning clothes. AP Photographer Nick Út and NBC cameraman Le Phuc Dinh filmed her and her family emerging from the village, after the air strike, running for their lives. This photo has become one of the most famous and memorable photos of Vietnam and won Nick Út the Pulitzer prize in 1972.
now, neda.
06/21/09
"6:55 PM ET -- A bit more about Neda. A blogger apparently in touch with Neda's family members offers some new details (translated by reader Nima): she was born in 1982, apparently her full name was Neda Agha Soltan, and she was at the protest with one her professors and several other students. She was, they said, shot by a basiji riding by on a motorcycle. Also, she was apparently buried today at a large cemetery in the south of Tehran -- the memorial for tomorrow that I noted earlier has since been canceled." [www.huffingtonpost.com]
06/21/09
06/21/09
06/22/09
What a fucked up pissing contest this is.
06/21/09
I had naively hoped that the counter-revolution could happen in a peaceful, bloodless manner. I am sad to be proved wrong.
Insha'Allah, something good will come from this.
06/21/09
women have so long been voiceless and faceless in that part of the world; the throngs in the streets supporting theocracy are men men and more men
06/21/09
06/21/09
No matter how you feel about Bush, he's not Ahmadinejad.
06/21/09
what if people here really cared about politics and action here
06/21/09
06/21/09
Now please stop trivializing the Iran tragedy. This is not about us. We're supposed to be shining a light on others.
06/21/09
06/21/09
06/21/09