Saturday, June 27, 2009
Freedom for Iran
I am having shivers; the hair is rising on my body. I see violence in movies, but I have never in my life seen anything like the video of Neda Agha-Soltan's death during a protest in Tehran on June the 20th, 2009.
The videos are horrifying and scary.
The blood on its own is already too much; but what makes this recording heart-tearing is her eyes, Neda's eyes, staring for one last time directly at the camera, with so much life in them, yet with that life visibly seeping out of her eyes, like a flow of water racing out of a pierced dam.
I am afraid of writing about Neda; I am afraid my word, these words, cannot live up to her, to her courage and to the tragedy that beset her at such an young age.
What I hope for is that she is not forgotten. I hope that the memory of Neda remains forever, as a remainder of how privileged some of us are on this planet, and as a remainder of the work that is left to be done by others, and by us, on this planet, so that one day all human beings can live knowing that the system that our societies and governments have erected are here to protect us and not harm us.
Did Neda want to become a symbol of the thirst of freedom of the youth of Iran? Certianly not; but she has become one, and this is something that can no longer be reversed.
Here is a link to a search query on YouTube about Neda.
When the youth is protesting in the streets, when the youth is getting attacked and killed by the police, then you know that the state is a failed one. Why? Because the youth is a state's future. And if you attack your future, you attack yourself and everything your country will one day become.
During 1968 with the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia was a failed state. During the Kent State shootings in the USA in 1970, the USA was a failed state. During the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, China was a failed state. And on many other occasions in the 20th and 21st century, almost all countries have attacked their youth. All these failures led to changes, some minuscule, some enormous. But none will be forgotten and all are beacons of light on our path to a just and free society for all humans, regardless of which country they are in. Today, Iran is a failed state. Hopefully this will change.
Religion and state were never meant to be together.
And peace and love to all my sisters and brothers, in this and in the other world.
The videos are horrifying and scary.
The blood on its own is already too much; but what makes this recording heart-tearing is her eyes, Neda's eyes, staring for one last time directly at the camera, with so much life in them, yet with that life visibly seeping out of her eyes, like a flow of water racing out of a pierced dam.
I am afraid of writing about Neda; I am afraid my word, these words, cannot live up to her, to her courage and to the tragedy that beset her at such an young age.
What I hope for is that she is not forgotten. I hope that the memory of Neda remains forever, as a remainder of how privileged some of us are on this planet, and as a remainder of the work that is left to be done by others, and by us, on this planet, so that one day all human beings can live knowing that the system that our societies and governments have erected are here to protect us and not harm us.
Did Neda want to become a symbol of the thirst of freedom of the youth of Iran? Certianly not; but she has become one, and this is something that can no longer be reversed.
Here is a link to a search query on YouTube about Neda.
When the youth is protesting in the streets, when the youth is getting attacked and killed by the police, then you know that the state is a failed one. Why? Because the youth is a state's future. And if you attack your future, you attack yourself and everything your country will one day become.
During 1968 with the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia was a failed state. During the Kent State shootings in the USA in 1970, the USA was a failed state. During the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, China was a failed state. And on many other occasions in the 20th and 21st century, almost all countries have attacked their youth. All these failures led to changes, some minuscule, some enormous. But none will be forgotten and all are beacons of light on our path to a just and free society for all humans, regardless of which country they are in. Today, Iran is a failed state. Hopefully this will change.
Religion and state were never meant to be together.
And peace and love to all my sisters and brothers, in this and in the other world.
