Neda update

For those of you who were wondering what happened to her. Although the authorities refuse to give her a proper funeral, reports came in today confirming her burial at an unknown location. Authorities don't want to give her a real burial because they're afraid that it would become a rally point for protesters.

Our best wishes and condolences to her family and may she rest in peace.

Homage to Neda (18+)

[WARNING! This post contains graphic images, mature subject, and violence. WARNING!]

I would like to take a moment to remember and pay homage to Neda and all the other Iranians who died so far during the protests. The least we can do is never forget. Every time I see this video I cry. For those of you who don't speak Farsi, here's what we can hear on the audio:

Oh my God! (people passing by)
Someone needs to come and drive her away. (man)
Don't be afraid.
Neda, don't be afraid.
Put pressure on it. (talking about her bullet wound)
OH MY! (at the sight of blood coming out of her mouth and nose, lots of people start screaming at this point)
Neda don't go! Neda don't go!
Oh no she's dead! No! Please don't die!
Open your eyes! (that's what the man is screaming when the video ends)

I realize this is pretty graphic but it wasn't being translated properly on television.

WARNING 18+ WARNING 18+ WARNING 18+

Iran: some bg information

In order to completely understand the situation in Iran, first you must acknowledge that it isn't a black on white problem and there are many layers of complexity that range from political, cultural, economical, and religious. Therefore it makes it very difficult to make any conclusive decisions or judgments.

Iran has been around for thousands of years so it's difficult when people expect you to explain everything to them in a matter of minutes. I always ask them, how do you expect me to summarize thousands of years of history into 5 minutes? But more importantly, how do you expect to truly understand the situation based on a contortion of reality? Therefore, I urge everyone to do as much researching and reading as possible. If you don't know where to start I'll be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Even though Iran is a Muslim country now, it wasn't that long ago that Zoroastrianism was the prevailing religion. To this day you can still see the influences of Zoroastrianism on the daily lives of Iranians. After the Islamic Revolution many stayed in Iran and converted to Islam, but many chose to flee the country in order to have freedom of religion.

That being said, most Iranians are extremely proud of their culture and heritage and will invest a lot of time learning more amount it. Remember that 60% of Iran's population is under the age of 30 and the youth have an insatiable yearning for change and justice. Since 1979, Iranians have been waiting for a revolution, a real change, a real democracy, an uncorrupted government working for the people. So for Iranians this revolution has been in the making for some years now, the country has been in a state of revolution since the Shah was overthrown by American and British interests. Besides, most of the people that supported Khomeini are either dead or really old, the time has finally come for the next generation to take over and they refuse to continue with the current regime.

Unfortunately, those factions in the world that were involved in 1979 are still around today. These are some of the people that were behind the scenes during the Bush administration and that implemented those policies to go into Afghanistan and then Iraq. Even though Bush is no longer president this faction still exist and they have stayed true to their course. Their plan has always been to attack Iran and/or North Korea. Many people as me why? That's not the issue here. The real concern should be how are we going to stop these guys from pursuing their agenda? Right now their goal is to start a civil war in Iran. And they're going to use different tactics to reach their goal. They have 2 cards they can play to go into Iran: one is oil and the other is nuclear. Just like for Iraq, they're going to play on people's fear. The propaganda has already started, for example take the ad playing on CNN sponsered by United Against Nuclear Iran. That's just one of the subtle ways to start convincing Americans that they should invade Iran just like they did Iraq. And we all remember how well that turned out for Americans. Besides, these people firmly believe that Americans are stupid and easily controlled. Heck they fell for our trick to go into Iraq, what's to say they won't fall for the same trick again? THIS IS THE REAL ISSUE AT HAND. This is why we must not let violence take the upper hand in this situation. I would like to congratulate President Obama on his speech and thank him for being so wise towards the situation. He understands that the fanatical faction in Iran wants nothing more than the US to get involved. What would anyone gain from another Iraq? We must learn from the lessons of history and not let events like Tienanmen square be forgotten.

Like I said before, start paying more attention to the propaganda that's going to start on local news, CNN, BBC ... all these medias are owned by the people that own the USA. Don't get me wrong, there are good factions inside the US trying to fight this corrupt faction that's out to destroy Americans. These guys just want more for themselves and less for everybody else. They don't have morals, scruples, or remorse, they don't think like you and me so don't try to rationalize their insanity. You'll only give yourself a headache because they aren't rational, you can't be if you're going to do half the atrocities they do.

Look for stories that spread stupid lies like if the situation in Iran goes bad oil will become more expensive since Iran is the #2 biggest supplier. And other stories about how we have to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear energy. Then look at who is writing these stories, for which companies, who owns those companies. Who will benefit from this war? Remember the Iraq war and Halliburton?

Those are the 2 main excuses that this faction is going to use to start another war in Iran.

Iranian Protests

So I decided to start blogging about this because I feel it's my responsibility to help the world understand what is going on in Iran so that hopefully we can resolve the conflict peacefully without resorting to foreign countries invading the country in order to avoid civil warfare (this would be catastrophic for the rest of world, further explanations will be given later on). So if you have questions about what I wrote please reply to me, it will be my pleasure to answer your inquiries. My goal is to start an intellectual conversation online that could help people see that we don't need to resort to violence.

For a week now protesters in Iran have been showing up on the streets unarmed and have maintained their peaceful protests. The real treat here isn't the protesters who merely have their words as weapons but the people on the other side beating them and shooting them down.

Iranian Protest Continues ...

I've been having trouble sleeping at night ever since the protests started in Iran. But this isn't about me, this is much bigger than me ... recently many of my friends and acquaintances have been asking me what is going on in Iran? What's the scoop? What's really going on? They made me realize that many people in the world, whether it be the media, foreign governments or average people, they don't know or understand what's happening. And there is so much misinformation out there right now that it's easy for people to get confused but more importantly to be mislead.

Like so many other Iranians that had to leave Iran, I feel that I have a responsibility towards my people and my country. Iranians from all over the world are watching the events unfold from their homes feeling helpless, frustrated, angry, and yet so proud of our fellow countrymen back home. We wish there was something more we could do to help them, but for many of us going back home isn't an option. However, it's not only Iranians, the international community has come out in substantial support to end the violence on the streets of Iran.

But this raises the ultimate question: What can people outside of Iran do to help?

Obviously showing your support is the first step, but for many this isn't enough when faced with the horrifying images of all our brothers and sisters who gave up their lives in the name of justice and who continue to do so every day.

Neda may have become a symbol of the violence in Iran, but we must not forget that she's not the only one who lost her life. So I urge the community to continue supporting Iran so that all that have fallen so far didn't do so in vain.