NEDA

I watched in horror as blood suddenly streamed from her mouth, then nose, as it filled her lungs to capacity and spilled out into the street. She thankfully did not seem to be in pain, but in shock, her dark eyes rolling to her right, as if to watch the camera/phone being used to film her demise. Her eyes seemed to be saying, "Why me?" Her music teacher called to her to be strong, to stay with them, but the damage was too severe. Her name was Neda Agha-Soltan; she was a mid-twenties Iranian beauty who was attending (but it is unclear if she was supporting) anti-election protests in Tehran, when she was shot by a militia sniper. She has become an accidental hero. She is but one victim of the conservative religious thugs that police morality in the streets of Iran. They have been a brutal stifling presence in the country for thirty years, and one wonders how many they have beaten, harrassed, and even killed. But we know they killed this time! For all the world to witness. Perhaps as many as twenty others (who knows!) may have perished at the hands of these thugs, but hers was a death captured for all to see. Many Iranians have protested their societal in-home detention by the religious fanatics, protesting behind closed doors and gated garden, as well as underneath their scraves and chadors, but not often in the violent streets, until now. Iranians, especially the youth, orchestrate a daring dance of defiance. And it is women now who have stepped to the forefront---in the election and political protest---and it is only right, as it is they who suffer the cruelist penalties for independent thought and action. Bless them. I do not know if the youth/women/reformist movement can withstand the crushing blows of clerics and their minions, and I fear many will be disappeared (as happened in Argentina and many other societies in the 60s and 70s) or will be murdered. Do we really need another corps of black-clad women walking/praying in a public square in protest of the untimely demise of their children, who only sought freedom? Do we need new Kent States and Jackson States, Pettis Bridges, Wounded Knees, and other infamous occurances where brave protestors and often innocent bystanders paid with their bodies and lives to protest discrimination and oppression? Repressive regimes cannot last. . .they can only prolong the suffering of their people. They will always fall. The mobster mullahs (religious-shahs), and that is basically what they are. . .organized criminals leeching off society so they can thrive without truly working and can lord it over a terrorized populace. I do not oppose those who seek salvation in the embrace of Islam, but I do denounce any religious fanatic who believes they have a right to impose their views and beliefs on everyone (whether they be overseas or here in America). Long live this rebellion. May green wave proudly. Give strength to those who stand up to their oppressors. Maybe one day there will be a truly free Iran, and Saudi Arabia, and the rest of the Middle East (heck, the rest of the world, for that matter).