No country can claim the banner of freedom when it starts killing it’s young.
A Poem for Neda Agha Soltan (1982-2009)
Written by Mandana
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Stay, Neda—
The twittering birds,
Green-garbed forests,
Scented blossoms… all sing
of spring’s arrival
Don’t go, Neda…
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Stay, Neda—
Sing with your people in the streets
Say, Long live life!
Down with death!
Tell the sun to shine,
the cold to depart
Don’t go, Neda…
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Stay, Neda—
Look at this city
At the shaken foundations of palaces,
The height of Tehran’s maple trees,
They call us “dust,” and if so
Let us sully the air for the oppressor
Don’t go, Neda
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Don’t be afraid
It is the sound of fireworks, not bullets The offspring-sparks of a great flame We are aflame, Fueled by baton-cracks and gunshots We are ablaze Don’t go Neda…
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Oh Neda, Neda!
Breathe
Rise
Shatter the cage
Break through the bars
Don’t go, Neda
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Don’t go, Neda—
Wait—
Look beyond the clouds
Lady sun is breaking through
She is just like you
Don’t go Neda
Oh God, don’t go…
8 comments
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July 1, 2009 at 3:34 am
lovewillbringustogether
Am not a fan of making political comments about a country i know next to nothing about – but i am quite sure of one thing… all is not as it might seem to outside observers and a certain bias is very evident in the ‘reports’ that are able to be freely transmitted into and out of Iran – or so it would seem – Far more than in say, China, where they know how to manipulate both media and their population and yet we seem to keep somewhat silent about the fact that there elections are not even allowed at all? My country’s Prime Minister actually speaks fluent Mandarin!
it seems though that he has not learned (like His Predecessor to the US Government) how to say ‘NO’ yet?
i think he rather likes them and the fact they are propping up our mineral-based economy.
Funny That. ( but i am NOT laughing Kevin)
As For Neda – i suspect she was shot more for the fact that she was not being a ‘good’ shi’ite woman and wearing the ‘appropriate’ (in an armed Baseji’s eyes) code of dress than for her ‘participation’ in an anti-government rally a kilometer away.
<B
July 1, 2009 at 6:50 pm
edfromct
From the all the reports I have read Neda was an innocent bystander who was killed by a bullet aimed at demonstrators.
Elections are at the core of any democracy. It won’t work if the government doesn’t reflect the “will of the people”, if the people have no faith in the honesty of the election.
One sign that a democracy is not working is when solders are shooting at people who are demonstrating against the government. The government does not trust the voting public, and rigs the election result, and the people don’t trust these results.
A sad point about the elections in Iran is that by all the accounts I read prior to the vote, the current government was strongly favored to win. There was likely no need to rig the actual vote count.
I think can think of two things that will do more to ensure democracy. A free, honest, flow of information and term limits.
I suspect the governments of both Iran and China are finding out how difficult it is to control information in this electronic age.
China has no history of democratic government. I doubt, if given a chose, the people would vote for one, although this could happen over time if the Chinese, probably the younger generation, feel they would be better off in a democracy.
To me Iran has been experimenting with democracy, which is not wide spread in the Middle East (Egypt, now Iraq, hopefully). Time will tell if this experiment succeds or fails.
July 1, 2009 at 10:27 am
Indian Lake Papa
As many have said; “Freedom is not free.” it is very costly.
July 1, 2009 at 6:13 pm
edfromct
Very true Papa.
Corsby, Stills & Nash song “Find the Cost of Freedom”
“Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground
Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down
Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground
Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down
(Find the cost of freedom buried in the ground)”
July 2, 2009 at 2:53 am
lovewillbringustogether
Papa said it beautifully.
Freedom is also largely what we ‘make it’. (perceive it) Your government and mine might give you limited freedoms but we are by no means fully free – we are not willing to pay THAT cost. Anarchy is the only result of total freedom.
So it comes down to the FORM of freedom the people will tolerate. There are many pros and many cons for the various forms of government that exist in the world today.
Freedom of the Press is a somewhat ‘debatable’ freedom since the press is largely in the hands of a few Plutocrats or an Autocratic government in many countries of the world – your’s and mine being in the former category and since those plutocrats largely determine who is elected to govern then the ‘freedom’ is again somewhat more in name than in nature.
Freedom is often an illusion, like much in life.
Comparing ours to someone elses can only be done fairly when we have lived for equal times in both country’s.
As for Neda being ‘innocent’ – the reports i have read indicate she was on the way to participate in a rally against the election results. In your country and mine that may qualify her as ‘innocent’ but we don’t live in Iran or the surrounding nations where violent revolution is frequent and is often violently (if sometimes surreptitiously) suppressed.
i’m not saying anyone deserves to die for expressing their opinion – but that in other countries people are more aware of the ‘risks’ of challenging State or Religious Authority and in Neda’s case she was apparently shot by a paramilitary wing of the ruling Government who have a reputation for using extreme methods to quell opposition. They are also likely to contain ultra-religious elements and those might easily have seen the outfit Nada was wearing as an Offence to Islam (jeans and no hadjib), besides the fact that she was looking to join in a rally that was some distance from the ‘lone’ ? shooter (who was seemingly not all that far from her and was likely to have been trained in rifle fire as part of his ‘job’. He is reported as saying he did not WANT to kill her, nor he did not aim for her? Or maybe he wanted to kill one of the people in her group?)
As for ‘rigging’ the election that most people thought (just not the majority of people with internet and mobile phone access apparently?) was a sure thing anyway. Does anyone in America realise that ONLY candidates that are selected by the Ayatollah Khamenie, the Supreme Ruler in Iran, are allowed to register for the election vote?
So why would anyone actually bother to ‘rig’ what is already a ‘fixed’ election with the outcome in no real doubt?
The ‘popular’ leader who lost the election to the existing Ahmadinajad was a former president with Anti-American tendencies – so why are there so many people making such a furore over this result?
Sometimes it is better the devil you know…?
To think there will be anything like ‘Freedom’ in Iran even with Mohsavi in ‘power’ (again) is naive to say the least.
As i said to begin with – all is not as it seems in Iran.
<B
July 2, 2009 at 8:32 pm
edfromct
1) I agree that if everyone was free to do whatever that wanted it would be anarchy. Being part of any social group requires accepting some limits to our freedom of action.
I will guess most people will put freedom from being hungry, and being homeless, ahead of political freedom.
It will be interesting to follow, and compare, events in China, where the communist party maintains tight political control, and the US, where government leaders (city, state and national) are elected by it’s citizens.
It is interesting to me that economically China seems to be moving towards a capitalism system, and away from pure communism. While it’s citizens don’t elect their political leaders, there seems to be a fair degree of freedom in how they operate their own business.
2) The most recent story I have read about the death of Neda Agha-Soltan is from the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/world/middleeast/23neda.html
“Her singing instructor, Hamid Panahi, offered a glimpse of her last moments.
He said the two of them decided to head home after being caught in a clash with club-wielding forces in central Tehran. They stepped out of the car. “We heard one gunshot, and the bullet came and hit Neda right in the chest,” he said. The shot was fired from the rooftop of a private house across the street, perhaps by a sniper, he said.”
Her fiance gives a slightly different story,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5664347/Fiance-of-shot-Iran-protester-Neda-Agha-Soltan-begged-her-not-to-go-to-demos.html
“I’d argue that there might be confrontations and she might get hurt,” he said. “She’d say it wouldn’t matter, even if she got shot.”
From the few stories that give any backgound about her she does not appear to have been an “active” participant in the demonstrations, but did support them. We will never know if she was specifically targeted.
3) I agree that the kind of political freedom we see in countries like the US and Europe, does not exist in Iran. The religious leaders must approve all candidates for elected office. What exist is rival camps within this ruling body, some more conservative, some more liberal, in the context of how they view the function of the government.
The voters chose between the candidates that in effect represent these rival camps. The voters do have influence as seen in the 1997 Presidental vote.
From Wikidpedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Khatami
“Running on a reform agenda, Khatami was elected president on May 23, 1997 in what many have described as a remarkable election. Voter turnout was nearly 80%. Despite limited television airtime, most of which went to conservative Speaker of Parliament and favored candidate Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, Khatami received 70 percent of the vote.”
Because the President can only serve two consecutive terms Khatami cound not run in 2005.
Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_presidential_election,_2005
“In 2005 the election led to the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline mayor of Tehran, with 19.48% of the votes in the first round and 61.69% in the second. Ahmadinejad is believed to have won the second round because of his populist views, especially those regarding the poor and their economic status”
A good article on the current (as of June) state of affairs in Iran is from the June 17th Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0618/p06s01-wome.html
“This is a very fluid, unpredictable, improvised moment, and I don’t know where it’s going to go, but I [do] know some people have to pay for this; we just don’t know who,” says Farideh Farhi, an expert on Iranian politics at the University of Hawaii. “Whether it’s going to be the Rafsanjani crowd … or Mr. Ahmadinejad, the bottom line is I think Mr. Khamenei will pay for this. He has mishandled this election in a very serious way.”
Freedom does have a price, as you and Papa said. In politics, as in religion, each of us has to decide how much we are willing to pay.
July 3, 2009 at 12:09 am
lovewillbringustogether
You are a true Font of Informed opinion – and usually quite a ‘moderated’ one at that.
i LIKE that in a person
(much better than those who hold very biased personal and political views)
even if we don’t always see things in exactly the same way
Concerning our freedoms – some people are willing (too willing?) to pay with their lives the ‘cost’ of their ‘freedom’.
Not all of them have good reason for doing so – they just believe (or have been convinced by others with less than generous intent) they do.
i prefer open dialogue to armed responses for a path to freedom.
<B
July 3, 2009 at 1:47 pm
edfromct
That is a very good point Love:
“i prefer open dialogue to armed responses for a path to freedom.”
I was thinking of the non-violent protest for freedom by Mahatma Gandhi against British rule in India, and Dr. Martin Luther King, for the rights of Afro-Americans, here in the US.
If you protest by throwing rocks at the police, or burn cars, you may be seen as just another terriost.
Gandhi’s followers allowed themselves to be beaten. Dr. Kings followers let people pour ketchup over their heads, and worse.
A violent revolution can work, as in the Czar’s Russia, but is very costly in human life.
Non-violent protest, in the long run, can be just as effective, with a much loss of life.