Green Thursday
This Thursday is the tenth anniversary of the brutal repression of students in Iran.
Today a new round of repression is underway in Iran.
Here is something you can do about it. An anniversary demonstration at the Iranian embassy in London is scheduled for this Thursday, starting at 6 PM. Please wear green and come along to 16 Prince’s Gate, SW7. The nearest Tube station is South Kensington.
The only point – and I hope this leads other British bloggers to echo this call – is to show solidarity with the Iranian people.
In fact, as one Iranian exile tells me, people who “come selling newspapers and lecturing the people on what they should do” are not wanted. “Just join and express solidarity”, the exile says.
Please come.
Comments
| 7 July 2009, 5:09 pm |
“In fact, as one Iranian exile tells me, people who ‘come selling newspapers and lecturing the people on what they should do’ are not wanted. ‘Just join and express solidarity’, the exile says.”
Whomever could he be referring to there, I wonder.
| 7 July 2009, 5:42 pm |
I now have an Iranian exile on my Facebook and she is providung daily news about Iran.
| 7 July 2009, 5:42 pm |
I now have an Iranian exile on my Facebook and she is providung daily news about Iran.
| 8 July 2009, 10:55 am |
An international solidarity with the people of Iran for freedom, equality and prosperity and against the Islamic Republic is very important. We should try and mobilize such solidarity movement. However, I will not wear green. Green in the context of protest movement in Iran has a different connotation than here in the West. If people in Iran take on the green symbol, they are acting in the restraint framework of the society under the grip of dictatorship. But here we do not need to do that. Mousavi was the Islamic regime’s prime minister at one of its most bloodiest time. I have lost many comrades at this period in IR notorious prisons. People are leading Mousavi not the other way around. Election rigging is an excuse, a pretext for people to protest. The Iranian exile the above appeal refers to can be anybody with any political allegiance. He/she does not dictate the code of conduct in free demonstration. The place of birth does not give anyone the authority or legitimacy of automatic to tell other people how to behave or not behave in a demonstration. People are free to express themselves they way they wish to. If someone or organisations would like to present their literature and thoughts, they have the right to do so. But some of these Mousavi campaigners who wear green, try to stop the Iranian left from expressing their their ideas and slogans. I like to ask your support for people’s struggle for freedom, equality and prosperity, against the Islamic regime, gender apartheid and the veil and for the unconditional freedom of all political prisoners, including all who have recently been arrested.
please do read these articles. I have tried to present an analysis of the situation in Iran:http://www.womensliberation.net/english/archive/2009/06/20090623_azar_movment.html Iran: Myths and realities, what do the people want?
http://www.womensliberation.net/english/archive/2009/07/20090707_azar_st.html
and sign this petition please: http://www.petitiononline.com/mk072009/petition.html
In solidarity
Azar Majedi
| 8 July 2009, 11:04 am |
An international solidarity with the people of Iran for freedom, equality and prosperity and against the Islamic Republic is very important. We should try and mobilize such solidarity movement. However, I will not wear green. Green in the context of protest movement in Iran has a different connotation than here in the West. If people in Iran take on the green symbol, they are acting in the restraint of a society under the grip of dictatorship. But here we do not need to do that. Mousavi was the Islamic regime’s prime minister at one of its bloodiest time. I have lost many comrades at this period in IR notorious prisons. People are leading Mousavi not the other way around. Election rigging is an excuse, a pretext for people to protest. The Iranian exile mentioned in the above appeal can be anybody with any political allegiance. He/she does not dictate the code of conduct in a free demonstration. The place of birth does not give anyone the authority or legitimacy of to tell other people how to behave or not behave in a demonstration. People are free to express themselves they way they wish to. If someone or some organisations would like to present their literature and thoughts, they have the right to do so. But some of these Mousavi campaigners who wear green, try to stop the Iranian left from expressing their ideas and slogans. Iran, like any other society has different political trends and movements, has different classes and different socio-political and economic interests. It is not a homogeneous society. Indeed no society is.
I like to ask your support for people’s struggle for freedom, equality and prosperity, against the Islamic regime, against gender apartheid and the veil and for the unconditional freedom of all political prisoners, including all who have recently been arrested and for unconditional freedom of expression, beliefs and organisation.
please do read these articles. I have tried to present an analysis of the situation in Iran:
http://www.womensliberation.net/english/archive/2009/06/20090623_azar_movment.html Iran: Myths and realities, what do the people want?
http://www.womensliberation.net/english/archive/2009/07/20090707_azar_st.html
and sign this petition please: http://www.petitiononline.com/mk072009/petition.html
In solidarity
Azar Majedi
| 8 July 2009, 7:55 pm |
I will be there, and wear green, not for Mousavi, but for the extended meaning that it seems to have taken on. I’d absolutely love for Iran to show the west how to do democracy. But my experience from the US Democratic Party of losing too many elections because of lack of party unity tells me how important it is to not sacrifice the good–or maybe in this case only the better–in pursuit of the perfect.
I would love to meet some of you if possible. My mobile is 07815 901084 . Perhaps the moderator can delete the phone number out of this message on Friday, so that I don’t get all kinds of unwanted calls.
| 10 July 2009, 3:12 pm |
Photos and Video http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025946&id=1076302159&l=5b782b915d and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaAfC5HmagE
I hope that many of you will be able to come along.