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Al Jazeera on #Neda, violence in Teheran, and Persepolis

Sun, 06/21/2009 - 8:01pm — lambert

Here's the video:

I took the "Neda" story -- more tweets on #Neda in English -- with a grain of salt -- Jessica Lynch, anyone? But since Al Jazeera gives a clip, I regard the story as a lot more -- haw -- credible, than if -- danger, Will Robinson! -- Pravda or Izvestia did.

James Poniewozik , writing in Time -- danger, Will Robinson! -- has an interesting piece on the Iranian election resistance as a feminist movement, citing the work of Iranian graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel about growing up in Iran:

[A]mong many other things, what's going on in Iran is a women's uprising, against a state that, in Satrapi's work, she protrays as justifying misogyny in the name of "protecting" women. "The protesters," reports the New York Times [danger, Will Robinson!], "included many women, some of whom berated as 'cowards' men who fled the Basijis."

Poniewozik supplies the trailer for the animated version of Satrapi's Persepolis:

"Punk is not ded"! ;-)

UPDATE For an absolutely classic example of fan-like projection, see liberal interventionist BAGnews.

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I took "Neda" seriously since video first appeared on FB

By Davidson on Sun, 06/21/2009 - 9:00pm

The graphic video appeared there first (I believe) before being uploaded to YouTube (You can see the video without any blurring, if you want, but I wouldn't recommend it as it shows her very last moments, including her mouth spewing blood and her eyes rolled to the side as her father howls in pain). It's obviously real. The father's screams are haunting.

Her image is just about everywhere. It seems that she was a 16 year-old who was just watching the protesters when a militia shooter shot her from a roof, most likely singling her out.

I wonder, if after the brutal crackdowns the opposition movement will remain potent enough to spur reform. I hope so, but I keep thinking how Pinochet used sheer terror to keep Chileans in line when they dared to speak out (or even if they didn't offer "enough" support) and how long it took to claw our way back. And that was without a large, bloody revolution removing Pinochet from power. Violence does indeed work. I can't imagine the hell the Iranian people are going to suffer.

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FB?

By lambert on Sun, 06/21/2009 - 9:06pm

Not FT ;-) ?

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"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi

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fb

By hipparchia on Sun, 06/21/2009 - 9:24pm

facebook

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Ha! Yeah, Facebook. Plus: update on "Neda"

By Davidson on Sun, 06/21/2009 - 9:31pm

It seems earlier reports on her age and how she was shot were wrong. HuffPo (!)

6:55 PM ET -- A bit more on Neda. A blogger apparently in touch with Neda's family members offers some new details (translated by reader Nima): she was born in 1982, apparently her full name was Neda Agha-Soltan, and she was at the protest with one her professors and several other students. She was, they said, shot by a basiji riding by on a motorcycle. Also, she was apparently buried today at a large cemetery in the south of Tehran. ABC News' Lara Setrakian writes, "Hearing reports Neda was buried in Behesht Zahra cemetery earlier today, memorial service cancelled on orders from authorities."

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You want to see projection?

By Damon on Mon, 06/22/2009 - 1:22am

Look across to the other side of the spectrum to this truly unbelievable trivialization of the issue by the likes of...

Rep. Pete Hoektra:

"Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.

Check out Pete Hoekstra is a Meme, BTW.

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But, we've always been at war with Eastasia...

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