True Courage

“I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I’m listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to have very narrow eyebrows. Yes, maybe I will go to the salon before I go tomorrow! There are a few great movie scenes that I also have to see. I should drop by the library, too. It’s worth to read the poems of Forough and Shamloo again. All family pictures have to be reviewed, too. I have to call my friends as well to say goodbye. All I have are two bookshelves which I told my family who should receive them. I’m two units away from getting my bachelors degree but who cares about that. My mind is very chaotic. I wrote these random sentences for the next generation so they know we were not just emotional and under peer pressure. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mongols but did not surrender to despotism. This note is dedicated to tomorrow’s children…” - an Iranian blogger, with more courage than most of us will ever know.

[Re-posted for obvious reasons.]

Link Arms With the Citizens of Iran

Go Green in Support!

In most of the world we take our votes and our freedoms for granted. So much so that most people rarely bother or care to exercise their right to be heard in elections these days. Yet, right this very minute hundreds of thousands of people are standing up and speaking out; risking their very lives demanding that simple set of rights we all seem to take so casually.

The Iranian election was stolen from its citizens this week, and the government has responded to demands for new elections by throwing foreign news agencies out of Iran, blocking all television and internet news in and out of the country, and beating and killing those protesting for their votes to be heard. Our only sources of what is happening inside Iran come from people just like you and me, who have braved the police and government's threats and violence to come out and protest and send us images by cellphone and twitter of what is happening to them in that now-isolated country.

Please, please look at the link below and see what is going on in a part of the world you may have no knowledge of or link to. Open your eyes and see what is often demanded of those who seek freedom. If you are as moved and staggered by these events and images as I am, I ask you to stand in solidarity with the citizens of Iran and display green on your blogs, websites, and clothing. Show the world, and the government of Iran, and most importantly those fighting and losing their lives for what we so often claim to hold so dear, that we support free and fair elections in Iran and stand with our sisters and brothers there...regardless of nationality, religion, or ethnic background.

Flicker Photos from #iranelection by .faramarz