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Neda's Mother: Her Legacy Lives On
Union Stationary
Neda's Mother Discusses Life While Protesters Commemorate Death
Iran Accuses CIA Of Killing Neda Soltan
Neda's Family Driven From Home • Woman Pleads Guilty To Drunk Breastfeeding
Will Neda Agha-Soltan's Death Tip Iran Into "Revolution"?

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Aesop's Foibles. YES.
11/05/09

In reply to Neda's Mother: Her Legacy Lives On
You want to know something strange? Or not so strange, depending on your own reaction to her death. Anyway, one night a few weeks after she was killed, I was making dinner in my kitchen. Specifically I was mincing some garlic for a sauce. All of a sudden, I thought, Neda has done this before: stood in a kitchen making dinner, and smiling to herself about something she was thinking of. I stopped what I was doing and thought of the enormity of this realization. It seems like a fairly simple process: you see someone get hurt, you see them die, you know that they are dead. But it suddenly seemed like that moment, the one in my kitchen, was when I really knew what had happened and that it wasn't not real. It was really strange, feeling a kinship with a dead woman I'd never met before. Maybe because this had never happened to me before, maybe because she died so brutally and so publicly, maybe because she was wearing jeans and sneakers, maybe all or none of the above, but she didn't and doesn't feel like a stranger to me. Her name won't be erased from my mind, that's for sure. #nedaaghasoltan
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lavenderstain
11/05/09

In reply to Neda's Mother: Her Legacy Lives On
after the first revolution (the one the Islamists stole away) alot of streets were renamed after the "islamic martyrs" who had supposedly given their life for the revolution.

I believe that soon streets will be named, and monuments will be built in honor of Neda and all those who gave their life for the right to say "Yes" and "No" on their OWN accord. #nedaaghasoltan
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The Count of Monte Fisto
11/05/09

In reply to Neda's Mother: Her Legacy Lives On
The fact that they think they can erase her legacy by erasing the writing on her grave speaks volumes about why the regime is slowly dying. #nedaaghasoltan
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lavenderstain
07/31/09

In reply to Union Stationary
What is most important, is that we keep Iran in the news. And i know that people in Iran find the international support inspiring. I know this because my entire family lives there, and the number one thing they always ask me is: do people KNOW whats going on in here.

and number two is:

Do they know we exist? do they care?

And I want that answer to always be in the affirmative.
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NefariousNewt
07/31/09

In reply to Union Stationary
I applaud the solidarity, but I think that this doesn't go far enough. I doubt most of these people are going to go beyond this, to do their part to help foster new freedom in Iran. They will go back to their lives until the next tragedy or cause rolls around.
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Elaken
07/31/09

@NefariousNewt: What, pray tell, is their part in fostering new freedom in Iran suppose to be? I didn't realize we had a defined role.

I think people get unbelievably overwhelmed by their ineffectiveness when it comes to what is going on. This is what they can think to do and they are trying it. I just wonder how many people denouncing them are actually truly making changes in the world themselves.
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Hooplehead
07/31/09

@Elaken: @ Nefarious Newt: Agreed, what else are they supposed to do? Iran is half a world away and the current leadership isn't listening to Obama or Hillary. Nor are they that impressed with non-Muslims or Westerners, period. Even if these folks all booked flights to Tehran tomorrow, their odds of personally impacting this situation are nil.
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blackbird_pie
07/31/09

In reply to Union Stationary
I hate to say this, but I have to wonder how much of the attention being given to this is because it's a tragedy of the death of someone who was standing up for their freedom; and how much is because it's a tragedy of the death of an attractive young woman who was standing up for her freedom. Do you guys think that if it was a chubby middle-aged man who was captured on video just after being shot, that it would capture the world like this?
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..now it's just Aesop's Foibles. promoted this comment blackbird_pie was starred blackbird_pie was unstarred

Aesop's Foibles. YES.
07/31/09

@blackbird_pie I see your point, and no, I can't say with any certainty we'd see such interest had it been a middle-aged guy. However, I can also say that even if it's just the latest "cause" for some people, it's calling attention to a very real and very serious situation, and getting people involved is never a bad thing. I mean it's very easy to live in your bubble, day in and day out, and while it's a total shock to watch one of your peers bleed out and die in the street, it's also a way for some of us to sort of snap out of it and finally raise our heads and become aware that there are things much, much worse than crappy cell reception or overdue bills or what have you. And awareness and activism, I think, are better late than never, you know?
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BadHairLife
07/31/09

@blackbird_pie: Well, in Neda's case, she wasn't part of the protest, she was a completely innocent bystander. She was just going to a class, and was hit by stray gunfire as she got out of the car.

The balance of your comment on the attractiveness having an impact still stands, however.
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Penny
07/31/09

@BadHairLife: Yeah, I find it really interesting that she was not political in life but has been so greatly politicized in death.

I think I might have reached my old and cynical phase......
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BlondeGoddess
07/31/09

@blackbird_pie: Every cause needs a symbol, something or someone that touches people on an emotional level, to get connected to what is happening. I don't mind that it's a beautiful young woman, it has been a soldier before (Capa's famous photo of a soldier being shot during the Spanish war) or a child (like Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the Vietnamese girl that was running naked on the streets after a napalm attack). I still have a paper clipping on my kitchen wall of a young mother who cradles her dead child after the Beslan massacre, it's like a modern day Madonna and child, such an amazing image.

We are only human, and we respond to other humans. As long as it opens people's eyes to the attrocities of this world, I'm fine with it.
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Penny
07/31/09

In reply to Union Stationary
Something about this irks me. Maybe it's the dude texting....I don't know. I can't really articulate why I'm bothered.
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linnyt is a walking cliché
07/31/09

@Penny: he's telling his friends to get down to the square and join the demonstration. both dudes are doing that. they need all the support they can muster.
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dridirtitini
07/31/09

@Penny: the picture kind of gives off a "this is our cause of the month" feel. these people are more than likely truly concerned and passionate about the situation in Iran, but the photo just seems kind of... apathetic or something
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Penny
07/31/09

@dridirtitini: I think after reading the interview with her mother yesterday, I am at a point where I feel like the people in her life need to put this to rest somewhat. While I understand not wanting to forget the horrible thing that happened, I don't really like her being a lighting rod for all the problems in that country.

I don't know, I might just need coffee or something.
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AthertonMerriweather
07/31/09

@Penny: I feel the same way. I'm not against what they're doing and think demonstrations are important, but could they guy stop tweeting for just a few hours?
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otherginger
07/31/09

@dridirtitini: I'm reminded of a lot of protests here in SF; lots of, well, pampered looking white people in (ironically) Pantagonia products protesting Chinese rule in Tibet.
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purpleshoes reminds everyone to take typing breaks and stretch, ow
07/31/09

@otherginger: I'm not claiming there are no problems in the politics of protest in this country, but I'm also getting to the knee-jerk point of wanting to demand that people who insult protesters either prove they care more or shut up. If you don't care, then I don't see what business it is of yours what people who care do, and if you care in a more productive way, please tell us so that we can replicate your strategy. Personally, I think the Iran situation is well-served by shows of civilian concern coupled with noninterference from Western governments. I am pleased that people still care about it a month later.
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purpleshoes reminds everyone to take typing breaks and stretch, ow
07/31/09

@otherginger: also - sorry, apparently this set me off - I would rather see people who've bathed and put on proper clothing protesting than try to mediate between the media and the unwashed squatter crowd. I like many unwashed squatter kids, but I find the idea that the middle class can't care about things that tends to come with them obnoxious. If I protest, I'm not protesting so that we can all live without indoor plumbing, I'm protesting because I believe in a basic universal level of ability to participate and have a basic standard of living with no bombs falling through your ceiling.
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SharonTaint
07/31/09

@AthertonMerriweather:

And the dude behind him as well. Unbelievable.
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Penny
07/31/09

@purpleshoes reminds everyone to take typing...: It's not the protesting, it's the constant use of her image that bothers me. Not sure what squatter kids have to do with it, protesting is protesting.
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lavenderstain
07/30/09

In reply to Neda's Mother Discusses Life While Protesters Commemorate Death
" We are children of the revolution. Fight us and we will Revolt"- Is what the kids are saying in the streets these days.

Source- Awesome cousin and brave childhood friends located in Iran.
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gonewilde
07/30/09

In reply to Neda's Mother Discusses Life While Protesters Commemorate Death
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.
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Penny
07/30/09

In reply to Neda's Mother Discusses Life While Protesters Commemorate Death
I heard on the news this morning that police sent Moussavi back to his car before he could recite something from the Koran, as well.

Politics aside, a mother has lost her young daughter. I hope she finds some peace eventually.
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NefariousNewt
07/30/09

@Penny: She, and all Iranians.
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kithkin
07/30/09

@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."
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sybann
07/30/09

In reply to Neda's Mother Discusses Life While Protesters Commemorate Death
Let no death in the name of freedom be in vain.

Let every death in the name of repression, ignorance and violence against the innocent be like the breeze from a passing gnat.
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casi nadie (loves MCC forever)
06/26/09

In reply to Iran Accuses CIA Of Killing Neda Soltan
Honestly, Ghadiri is absolutely right in saying that the CIA does have a very long history of doing things of this nature; however, killing one innocent bystander isn't really their style. I don't think there's any reason to believe that Neda's murder was caused by the CIA.
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sjct
06/26/09

In reply to Iran Accuses CIA Of Killing Neda Soltan
Logically, you have to ask, who benefits from this young woman's death? Ahmadenijad? Hell, no. Last thing he wanted was to give his opposition a poster girl martyr. Witnesses say it was a sniper from a rooftop. Most likely explanation: A member of the opposition saw an opportunity to create an attractive symbol. Is the opposition supported by the CIA. Not currently likely, but still well within the realm of possibilities...

More logic: If the sniper was a member of the Basij, the volunteer militia that serves Admadenijad, wouldn't they know if one of their guys was on that rooftop? Haven't they been given orders to beat the shit out of protesters but try to avoid creating martyrs? Especially, attractive by-standers? Wouldn't Ahmadenijad have already frog-marched this guy in chains thru Tehran to show his disapproval of the act... if he could?
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J.D.Regent
06/26/09

@sjct: lol. you think the basiji are carefully sniping only old, ugly protestors? you have a lot of faith in their total PR control! neda is not the only one who has died at the hands of the basiji, just the only one on viral video. even if the cia did do it, it's not because the basiji wouldn't.
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J.D.Regent
06/26/09

@sjct: and by what "logic" is the government blocking access to her gravesite and evicting her family? i'm no fan of the cia, but the enemy of your enemy is NOT always your friend. in fact, that is the way THEY think.
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J.D.Regent
06/26/09

In reply to Iran Accuses CIA Of Killing Neda Soltan
Megan and Pareene, just like the way-back on Wonkette! Be still my beating heart.
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J.D.Regent
06/26/09

@J.D.Regent: whoa, waaay wrong thread. sorry guys.
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schlegs84
06/26/09

In reply to Iran Accuses CIA Of Killing Neda Soltan
Really Ghadiri? Who are the Iranian people at war with now? Eurasisa or Eastasia?
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