This is Neda Agha-Soltan.
Neda was a 26 or 27 year old student, who was on the streets of Tehran during recent anti-government protests.
On June 20, 2009, Neda was shot through the heart, allegedly by a basij government thug, and died on the street where she fell, next to her music teacher.
Neda was killed because she, and hundreds of thousands of others, were speaking out against the results of the recent Iran elections. She died in the midst of a protest demanding democracy and demanding the right to speak freely against government tyranny.
As we, here in Canada, talk about human rights and freedom of expression as interesting academic topics of discussion, Neda and others like her are dying - are giving their lives, in the pursuit of those goals.
"Neda" means "voice" or "calling" in Farsi - and she has, since her death, been referred to as "the voice of Iran".
Not every icon of political change is a Martin Luther King Jr. or a Mahatma Gandhi. Sometimes they are just people caught up in circumstance, like the lone man standing before the tanks in Tiananmen Square. Or, like a young female student standing with a multitude of others to say, "no".
So then, perhaps, one should take pause and appreciate both the freedoms that we do have, and the importance of maintaining those freedoms.
2 comments:
In the meantime:
US says hot dog diplomacy still on with Iran
8 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States said Monday its invitations were still standing for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 celebrations at US embassies despite the crackdown on opposition supporters.
What a joke!! How can any human being even consider dealing with these animals? The Obama regime needs to be hammered over the head with this thoughtlessness 24/7
I agree entirely that the notion of "cozying" up to these thugs is beyond stupid.
At the same time, I will say this TM.. I think Obama is doing the right thing otherwise by basically doing nothing. FOr the U.S. to take a more involved approach suggested by John McCain would be a huge mistake.
Ahmadinejad is basically busy blaming the west for the unrest and anything the U.S. does to get involved in the dispute will give traction to a people who, while very unhappy with their own President, are still deeply opposed to the U.S. as a result of their support of the former Sha.
Sometimes, you have to just let the people rise up, and stay out of the way.
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