My heart hurts for my people

Iran is a beautiful country and I couldn’t be more proud of my people. Writing this post is bringing tears to my eyes. For the past few days I saw video after video of my brothers and sisters slaughtered in the streets. More than anything I saw the courage of my friends insisting on peacefully demanding justice in the face of violence. And I learned to be brave for them.

Iranians went out to protest when they knew they might die. This is not a stupid frivolous act. This is a very concious decision. The young woman who writes in her blog that she will listen to all her favorite music today because she doesn’t know whether she will be alive tomorrow, is not stupid. She is strong, she knows the risk she is taking and she is still wiling to do it, and she knows why she is doing it.

I saw photos of Neda dying on the street. I can’t see the video. You all should. I don’t need to. Neda was a 27 year old woman, a university student of philosophy. And she had come out to protest with one of her professors. She was shot by a government thug militia f***er on a motorcycle right in the heart. She died within minutes.

It breaks my heart.

It crushes me and turns me into a ball of darkness and despair.

Most US media reported (incorrectly) that Neda was "a 16-year old philosophy student who was standing next to her father".  The level of incompetence is unbelievable. Neda wasn’t a 16 year old girl, she was a full grown woman who did not want to stay home and let a bunch of thugs roam the streets. She came out to peacefully insist on her presence in the streets that belong to her, to be present so they know she is there and she is not ok with what’s happening.

The government made Neda’s family bury her body only if they do it hastily, without telling people, and with the presence of security forces. They did not allow them to have a memorial service. They told ALL the mosques in Tehran that they are not allowed to let Neda’s family hold a memorial service there.

Meanwhile the conservatives are using her death for their political gain, and the muslim world stays quiet and watches us get killed. For shame. For shame. For shame.