Neda’s death gives the resistance a face (5)
An Iranian girl called Neda dies in Iran’s city center, bleeding to death after a gun shot wound to her chest. Friends’ efforts to still the bleeding fail. A man, apparently her father, desperately shouts at her to open her eyes. Incredulously, the young woman looks into the mobile phone camera. Blood is coming out of her mouth and nose, and she loses consciousness. Neda dies. These are horrible images etched into the mind of the viewer.
The shakey 40-second footage has been viewed worldwide on YouTube and Twitter. Neda becomes a symbol of the resistance; a martyr. She gives the desperate resistance currently taking place in Iran one week after elections a face, and a name.
Neda stands for two things: for the resistance against the oppression of the power elite and for the brutality of the Mullah regime under which peaceful demonstrators are beaten and shot.
The paramilitary soldiers chase demonstrators on foot and on motorcycles and beat them down. They also open fire. One of them reportedly specifically targeted Neda, making her a symbol of the revolt which selected green as its color; green, the color of Islam and the color of the Prophet Mohammed. Mir Hussein Mussawi is at the political – Neda at the emotional – peak of the movement. She is the tragic icon of the resistance.
[More]
Updates:
1:17 pm EDT, June 22nd, 2009 — Cohen: Iran’s Children of Tomorrow
1:24 pm EDT, June 22nd, 2009 — Neda, Is She Iran’s Joan of Arc?
1:29 pm EDT, June 22nd, 2009 — ‘Neda’ death video steps up pressure on Iran over protests
1:32 pm EDT, June 22nd, 2009 — Neda’s death on YouTube fuels protests in Iran
Popularity: 26% [?]
Male, retired and the rest is of little interest to anyone. The site keeps me busy and if it helps others to stay abreast of daily events then my time is well spent.
Jack Says:
I find it interesting that while young people in Iran are in a desperate fight to take back their country from a gang of thugs people in Canada are more concerned with garbage pickup. Am I missing something here?
Have I popped your personal bubble and are you starting to feel uncomfortable? You should because our soldiers are in a faraway place fighting and dieing to help a people in similiar trouble and not to put to big a point on it I will say this. The thugs now in control of Iran have and are destabilizing places like Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan providing similiar thugs with the arms and training they need to continue. There is absolutely no doubt about that.
In case I’m right I draw attention to a short movie about the “non existent” WMD Saddam used on the Kurds.
You remember — the “WMD he never had”?
Chemical weapons are WMD for the uninitiated.
In my view, Iranians who fight this kind of thing need all the support they can get and I’m doing my best. I wish them all well and I will also say that while not a “true believer” I am certain Allah smiles upon them this day for this to is “his will” and they will understand that.
Maybe if they win we can soon start to bring our soldiers home and that’s good enough for me. I’m 100% behind them and “yes” — Neda is the face of change in Iran.
She will not be forgotten.
There’s much more to come and I really don’t care about the garbage in Toronto. Larger thoughts occupy my mind.
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Jack Says:
I will add — Neda’s death devastates me. Watching the video in the sidebar tears come to my eyes and I feel just like her father because I have two daughters just as brave.
I understand what she wanted — freedom – and I agree.
So does the Shah’s son as he answered a few questions today. I’m looking for his full speech now. If anyone finds the video send me a link.
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Soccermom Says:
All they want is freedom.
So sad.
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Jack Says:
Agreed and God bless them all as they take back their country.
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 4:34 pm
stageleft Says:
That WMD example is sort of a bad one to bring up Jack, specifically because we all know where Hussein was getting his weaponry at the time, who was expediting his removal from the “don’t give this guy pointy objects because he will hurt someone with them” list, who sold him the method of delivering his chemical retribution against the Kurds, and who turned a blind eye to his atrocities because at the time it suited their purposes to do so?
That said, I think your garbage strike concept is an all to frequent indicator of the way the west picks and chooses who they are going to be sympathetic towards.
How many in the west cared when children were denied medicine under the sanctions placed against Iraq? Under the ongoing embargo of Gaza? How about when white phospherous was falling on innocent men, women, and children in Fallujah? How about when the US used napalm like substances in civilian areas of Iraq? When it fell on innocent civiliansd in Gaza? When civilians were being slaughtered in Shri Lanka? What about the genocide in Darfur?
What about the child who died on the streets of Gaza not so very long ago because medical aid was denied by soldiers with guns? IIRC that child was a little girl as well, does she not matter as much as Neda? What about the Iraqi girl (what was she…. 13? 14?) who was gang raped at gun point by US soldiers, shot, and then burned to hide the evidence? Does that little girl not matter as much as Neda?
At the time of each of those events the west was more worried about mundane things on the home front because those were not, and are still not, “popular western causes“.
With luck I also popped a couple of bubbles, and made a few people uncomfortable – more than likely though that’s not the case because, as I said, no popular western causes were involved in what I discussed.
….. and now ya know why I try really hard not to put up posts like this one anymore.
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Jack Says:
There is a lot of hurt in this world Stageleft and I won’t deny that. But right this minute we have a chance to correct something if we support people who want to make change.
I don’t know that we will be successful but we try.
Regarding garbage — nobody gives a damn except those in Toronto. We don’t care because they elected Miller. Now they have to live with him.
“And I know”…why I ever mentioned TO’s garbage is way beyond me. My only excuse is that I had just woke up badly sunburned and my mind was on other things. I wasn’t thinking.
Sorry about that and hopefully you will forgive.
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Jack Says:
More on Neda in the latest update. Iran mourns her. So should the world.
As we learn now her name means “Angel of Freedom” and indeed she is. In my “pointy headed view” she is not dead — she has changed. Instead, she has cast off one life for another as do we all in time. Right now she is pointing her angry finger at “the monkey” and he is going to pay. It’s only a matter of time.
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 7:17 pm
timwest Says:
Stageleft……………….. looks like Bush and his right wing hawks were right.
Once the people of Iran saw freedom in Iraq, they would crave freedom since the bulk of Iran’s population is under 30.
Mean while B. Hussein Obama looks forward to July 4th celebrations with Iranian Govt officials.
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Cynapse Says:
The Iranians likely don’t crave anything that’s going on in Iraq. The violence has escalated via civil war since Saddam was thrown out. US reporters have been fired for reporting this fact.
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 10:35 pm
MaryT Says:
Who remembers all those trucks leaving Iraq before the invasion. Were they ever checked to see if they really were Red Cross trucks. I still think they were filled with those WMDs that Saddam had, and had used on the Kurds. As for medicine and food being denied, remember all those warehouses filled with food aid, found by the US soldiers. Remember the oil for food scandal involving Mo Strong and others, including a PM at the time. His family had contracts with Saddam and that is why our PM didn’t get involved, greed rather than some great love of freedom.
The protests in Iran will not stop overnight and many more will be killed. Let us pray that the revolutionary army will get a conscience and quit killing their own people.
The majority of the population is said to be under 30, so they will be around for many years to fight for freedom. What is our main problem in Canada, someone has to wait for EI, until all his severance and holiday pay is used up.
Posted on June 23rd, 2009 at 12:44 am
stageleft Says:
@timwest, yeah, right, that’s why there are protests, because Bush invaded and occupied a country, and in the process of doing so managed to kill tens of thousands of innocent people, create untold numbers of orphans, widows, and cripples, and render millions homless…. it hasn’t become anything like the rousing beacon of democracy he claimed it would be – but don’t let that stop you from saying it is – as Farley Mowat once said, never let the truth stand in the way of telling a good story.
Posted on June 23rd, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Crux of the Matter » Blog Archive » PM Harper condemns Iran’s “brute force” Says:
[...] to lose their lives for the freedom we in the west take for granted. Note: Visitors can also check out these sources at the bottom of this post at Jack’s Newswatch. This post C/P there as [...]
Posted on June 26th, 2009 at 2:52 pm