The whole world is watching Neda Agha-Soltan

CAUTION: THIS BLOG ENTRY CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES OF VIOLENCE THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN OR MORE SENSITIVE READERS!

"Violence can only concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence.”
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I have yet to see an image of a captured moment in time that did not inspire me, anger me or make me wonder about the world around me. This past Saturday (June 20, 2009) I saw images that at first horrified me, eventually that horror turned to rage and had me wondering just what kind of government could do or even allow those charged with the protection of its citizenry to murder and maim the very same people they have (or at least I assume they have) sworn to protect. But then all I have to do is go back not quite 50 years to see our own governments, particularly the segregationist south's, handy work at trying to quash the voices of those fighting to bring an end to Jim Crow and get an equal stake in the American Dream.

I was very young at the time but for some reason those black & white images captured on 16mm film flickering across our Zenith on the news are etched in my mind. I had no clue as to what racism and segregation was at that time. At Dyer Street Elementary in Sylmar, California where I started school the classroom was a kaleidoscope of human color. For what ever reasons though my mind latched on to those images of Eugene "Bull" Connor and his thugs using fire hoses on children and German Shepherds on peaceful demonstrators. It was because of those images we witnessed the death of Jim Crow.

In 1968 the world watched as Mayor Richard J. Daley unleashed the Chicago Police Department against people assembled to protest the war in Vietnam, outside the Democratic National Convention. Just days earlier 5 nations of the Warsaw Pact lead by the then Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in order to bring an end to the Prague Spring which was an attempt by the Czech's to "de-Stalinize" their nation and make it more democratic. The images made it out of Czechoslovakia and the world saw Soviet oppression first hand with an image it would see repeated 21 years later in Tiananmen Square . 109 Czech's would die and another 500 would be wounded.









In 1970 with the focus was once again on Vietnam with unarmed students at Kent State University in Ohio protesting the incursions in to Cambodia. Ohio National Guardsmen would fire 67 rounds in 13 seconds and the world would see the deadly results as 4 would die most of whom were just walking near by. In 1989 the world would see a near repeat of Czechoslovakia in 1968 at what would call The Tiananmen Square Massacre. According to the Red Cross 2,500 were killed and another 7,000 to 10,000 were wounded as the People's Republic of China annihilated the voice of dissent and democracy.
Ten years later in 1999, Seattle, Washington Mayor Paul Schell and the Seattle Police Department would once again attempt to quash the voice of dissent in what would be come known as The Battle of Seattle. The internet had come of age and the chant became "the whole world is watching". And it was as over 600 were arrested and scores injured by rubber bullets and baton wielding police. Even though the Battle of Seattle was a success the WTO still only operates in the interest of multi-national corporations.
Now once again here in the 21st century we are seeing the very same thing happening in Iran. The voice of dissent being oppressed by a theocratic fascist government, that is murdering its own people. Once again much like the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia the Iranian government is attempting, with out much success, to keep the world from seeing the atrocities they are committing against their own people. One image has become the symbol of that fight for a people seeking to have their voices heard. She was a 27 year old woman unarmed and observing what was going on when a shot was fired from a near by roof top that would hit her in the chest and 12 seconds later she would be dead. Her name Neda in Persian means "voice", "calling" or "Divine message".
She has become the "Voice of Iran" and as in times past the voice of the people shall prevail despite what ever means tyrants use to suppress it and once again the whole world is watching.