YouTube videos in support of Majid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNgN1rbXjLc&feature=related

From Amsterdam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tcneJXG0JM
Free Majid Tavakoli website

“To the people in Iran: I only wish that I had half the courage that you do to stand up for my rights.”

“Keep your strength. Keep your courage. Keep the peace.”

Make your voice heard by making the voices of those in Iran heard. Participate in United Arts 4 Iran and celebrate the civil rights movement in Iran. For more information, visit united4iran.com

Shirin Ebadi poses with volunteers

Honestly, I just fell in love with all of them. I’m head over heels.

We wanted more people at our rally. Of course we did. We wanted to show Iranians that in a free country, 10,000 people could show up to peacefully demonstrate. In the end, we had about 2,000. Of course it is, as my husband and the coordinator of the Amsterdam event says, “cucumber time” in the Netherlands. Everyone, and I mean half of everyone, is on vacation.

Shirin Ebadi (photo by TJ Schuitmaker)

Still, we managed to get a great crowd and to have a peaceful demonstration. And while I would love to talk about every one of our amazing speakers and performers, I am going to use this space to talk about Shirin Ebadi. She really energized the crowd. She led us in chants, responded to hecklers, and called us to action. She asked us to show our support for the mothers of those who have been killed in Iran by going to a local park once a week dressed in black. I can do that, can you? She asked us to send a strong message to Nokia/Siemens who sold software to the Iranian regime that allows every cell phone call made in Iran (and the US) to be tracked. (It made me happy to carry around my old, un-smart Sony Erickson phone.)

Our crowd (Photo by TJ Schuitmaker)

Unfortunately, we did have an Iranian embassy employee wrapped in a Shir-o-Khorshid flag taking photos of all those in attendance. I am sure that other demonstrations will have similar stories.

Overall, our event was great. Our team was even better, and I’m so tired that I can smell my pillow.

- Tori Egherman

Former Iranian Premier Mohommed Mossadegh

The Iranian summer episode of peaceful demonstrators confronting armed revolutionary guards and militia who shoot at them with live ammunition, beat them, and arrest them goes on in Iran. Some 2000 intellectuals, journalists, and civil rights activists have been arrested in the last four weeks, including three friends of mine. Many have been killed in the streets or during violent interrogations and torturing. Amnesty estimates that the number of deaths goes into the hundreds.

This coming Saturday, the 25 of July, has been announced as a Global day of solidarity with the Iranian people and their quest for freedom and democracy. In more than 90 cities all around the World there will be gatherings and demonstrations. You can find detail information about 25th of July at http://united4iran.org. (For information about the Netherlands, you can go to http://united4iran-nl.org) With this personal letter, I want to invite you to respond to the call of the Iranian people for Global solidarity. They need and appreciate any sign of support. But also I would like to share my personal ideas about what is going on with you.

Iran went through a comparable summer episode in 1953. Then it was a coup d’état against the democratically elected, liberal-oriented Prime Minister Mossadeq. The coup was executed and led by a top CIA agent and three Iranian generals. This successful coup became a seed of shame for the Iranian collective consciousness. There was this shared feeling of moral corruption: “How did we let them just do this to us without doing anything?” The coup was also the starting point for serious collective doubts about democracy as a possible destiny for Iran. Last but not least, because of the clear and visible involvement of the CIA, it also was the seed of blind Anti-Americanism. The proud nation of Iran lost its self-confidence.

[ Watch this beautiful youtube fragment with English subtitles from a recent movie by Iranian-American artist and director Shirin Neshat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjT2IeYSxY4 ]

After the coup, as a result of the repression it brought to Iran, utopian, violent fantasies of radical revolution became more and more popular in Iran. By the1970s, young activists felt that anything was better than liberal democracy whether it was the utopian fantasy of Leninism, Maoism, or Islamism. They simply didn’t want to be associated with something as pragmatic and “soft” as democratic liberalism which was defeated so easily. They turned their backs on what they saw as the illusion of their parents’ generation. The seed of shame resulted in a harvest of tough political.

One of those tough ideologies was Islamism. It was not only a utopian ideology with leaders orating about a society to come, it is also comes with strict moral and personal codes for each individual, and provided what seemed like a recipe for a life of dignity for people who had the feeling that by accepting tyranny they had lost their moral value. Islamism had the answer to understanding relations between America and people of Iran. America was the Great Satan and the (Shia) people of Iran could be its most important challenger.
In short, Islamism fit a morally and politically traumatized and defeated nation, like Nazism fot a post World War I Germany. Three decades of the Islamic Republic brought indeed a sense of independence from the great world powers to Iranians. It gave them their sense of pride and independence back. In addition, it brought many, many miseries. It brought bloodshed, torture, and the use of violence against the people. The Islamic Republic brought collective repression and the individual hypocrisy of “playing the public Muslim” vis-à-vis being secular at home and brought about a collective and continuous act of self-censorship. These are just some of the harvests of a revolution which was in its origin driven by a collective need to get over the trauma of 1953.

Now, thirty years after the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian people refuse to fatalistically accept this new coup within the state against their legitimate choice of the pragmatic and liberal-oriented presidential candidate Mousavi. Their peaceful and gentle struggle is for a noble cause and driven by the lessons of history. More importantly, it is driven by a consciousness of how history can become a nightmare for the following generations.

I hope that you will attend one of these solidarity gatherings this coming Saturday in your city or country. If not that, at the very least you can wear something green on Saturday, talk to your friends and network about Iran, and show and declare your solidarity. It will be heartwarming for me if my friends all around the globe would join me in this. And it would be a simple, yet important act to support Iran in it quest for freedom and democracy

Warm regards ,

Yours,

Shervin Nekuee

cross-posted at voteforiran

ما صدایی نداریم : شما صدایمان باشید

(معلم 52 ساله، تهران)

چیزی که در ایران برایم جالب است، همبستگی مخالفان و تفرقه در حکومت است؛ آنچه ایرانیان در گوشه و کنار دنیا انجام می دهند فوق العاده است

(نویسنده 32 ساله، تهران)

بیست و پنج ژوییه روز پشتیبانی با معلمان، نویسندگان، زنان خانه دار، دانشجویان و جمعیت بی شماری است که برای حقوق انسانی و دموکراتیک خود به خیابان ها رفته اند. در این روز ما صدای ایرانیانی خواهیم بود که برای حقوق خود مبارزه می کنند. هر جا که باشیم برای ایران متحد هستیم؛ چه در ایران چه در خارج. بیایید پیامی محکم برای همبستگی با مردم بفرستیم. بیایید همه اختلاف نظرها را کنار بگذاریم برای آنچه همه به آن معتقدیم: ایران آزاد و دموکراتیک

پشتیبانی مالی

در گردهمایی 25 ژوییه تی-شرت هایی با بهای دست کم 10 یورو به فروش خواهد رفت، همچنین نشان های ندا با بهای یک یورو. سازماندهندگان داوطلب در بین جمعیت نیز کمک های مردمی را گردآوری خواهند کرد. یک یورو، دو یورو و اگر مایلید بیشتر! بقیه پول را همراه داشته باشید

غذا و نوشیدنی

ما مجاز به فروش غذا و نوشیدنی نیستیم. لطفا غذا و نوشیدنی تان را با خودتان بیاورید

United 4 Iran: A Global Day of Action, 25 juli 2009
Zaterdag, Amsterdam, Museumplein, 12:30 – 15:30

“Wij hebben onze stem verloren: jullie moeten onze stem zijn!”

(52 jarige lerares basisonderwijs, Iran)

“Wat ik indrukwekkend vind, is dat de oppositie in Iran zich verenigt, terwijl het regime uit elkaar valt,” vertelde een 32 jarige schrijver uit Teheran. “Wat Iraniërs over de hele wereld voor ons hebben gedaan, is gewoon fantastisch.”

Op deze dag steunen wij docenten, accountants, schrijvers, huisvrouwen, studenten en ontelbare anderen, die de straten op zijn gegaan om hun democratische rechten en mensenrechten te eisen. Op 25 juli zijn wij de stem van de Iraniërs die strijden voor hun rechten. We vormen een eenheid voor Iran, of we nu zelf uit Iran komen of niet. Laten we een krachtige boodschap van eensgezindheid uitzenden. Laten we onze verschillen aan de kant zetten voor datgene waar we allemaal achter staan: een vrij en democratisch Iran.

Tijdens de demonstratie krijg je voor een minimale donatie van 10 euro een t-shirt. Ook worden er Neda-buttons verkocht voor een euro per stuk. Onze vrijwilligers gaan rond voor kleine donaties van een of twee euro (meer is altijd welkom), dus neem je kleingeld mee!

Helaas hebben we geen vergunning om consumpties te verkopen, dus neem zelf eten en drinken mee.

Thank you for being heroes!

“We have lost our voices: you have to be our voice.”
(52-year old school teacher, Iran)

“What’s amazing to me is that in Iran, the opposition is united and the regime is falling apart,” a 32-year old writer in Tehran told us. “What Iranians all over the world have done for us is just amazing,” he continued.

This day is to support the teachers, accountants, writers, housewives, students, and countless others who have gone into the streets to demand their democratic and human rights. On the 25th, we will be the voice of Iranians struggling for their rights. We will be united for Iran whether we are from Iran or not. Let’s send a strong message of unity. Let’s all put aside our differences for the one thing we can all agree on: a free and democratic Iran.

Donations:

We will have t-shirts available for a minimum 10 euro donation. Neda buttons will also be for sale for one euro each. Our volunteers will also be collecting donations of one or two euros (more is always welcome). Please bring your loose change!

Food and Beverage:

We do not have permission to sell food or beverages, so please bring your own.

Thank you for being heroes!

U2 Amsterdam July 21, 2009
Originally uploaded by u2log.com

I have always been a big fan of the Irish pop band U2. I grew up with two older sisters in the eighties, when their star was rising. Their music is great, ever changing, yet with a unique style. They quite simply rock. However, what is particularly appealing to me about U2 is that they use their fame to better the world. They’re pop-stars AND true idealists. U2 has cooperated with politicians, scientists, cultural icons and other stars to set up global campaigns for human rights, global justice and for equality. Just like what we are doing right now for our Amsterdam manifestation on July 25.

Yesterday, U2 performed in the ArenA stadium in Amsterdam. I was there. The concert was amazing: Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen gave us a show that was not only invigorating, but also inspiring. Among the many songs they played was the song Walk On, with which they support and praise Aung San Suu Kyi for her activism and fight for freedom in Burma. She has been intermittently under house arrest since 1989 for her efforts. Masked volunteers marched on stage, all with the face of the activist. U2’s message was clear: we are all Aung San Suu Kyi. And we are all fighting for freedom.

For me the most touching performance was when they performed the song Sunday Bloody Sunday, the lyrics of which describe the horrors of Northern Irish ‘Troubles’ of 1972, during which British troops shot and killed 13 civil rights marchers. During the song, the 360˚ viewscreen showed us images of the 2009 election protests in Iran, overlaid with the colours of the Iranian flag and white doves. The song’s message and the imagery strengthened my conviction that what we’re doing, organizing the world-wide United 4 Iran event, we’re not doing alone. We’re in this together. All of us.

U2 tried and succeeded to give the whole stadium, all 40.000 of us, a sense of intimacy, of togetherness. Of solidarity. Let’s try to top this on the 25th! Walk On!