Speed of Life

July 9, 2009 Anti-riot forces attacking with teargas. People chanting 'don't be afraid, we're all together' #iranelection فیلم فوق مربوط به لحظاتی است که تظاهر کننده ها به تقاطع طالقانی ولی عصر رسیده و به طرف میدان ولی عصر راهی شدند. ساعت 6:23 بعد از ظهر مدت زمان راه پیمایی از وصال به طرف ولی عصر حدود 25 دقیقه بود تا هنگام رسیدن به تقاطع طالقانی ولی عصر، نیروهای انتظامی و سپاه متعرض جمعیت نشدند ولی مسیرهای پشت سر جمعیت را برای جلوگیری از افزایش جمعیت می بستند. بعد از رسیدن به تقاطع طالقانی-ولی عصر جمعیت مسیر خود را به طرف میدان ولی عصر ادامه دادند که این فیلم مربوط به این لحظات است. در این لحظات نیروهای ضد شورش به طرف جمعیت گاز اشک آور پرتاب نموده و با موتور سیکلت به تعقیب آنان پرداختند و جمعیت را به طرف خیابان طالقانی راندند. من بعد از آن به طرف چهار راه ولی عصر رفتم که به مردم اجازه رفتن به طرف میدان انقلاب را نمی دادند. و حتی نیروهای سپاهی سوار بر موتور به زدن مردم عادی در پیاده رو با باتوم پرداختند. در مسیرم به ایستگاه مترو، تعداد زیادی ماشین زره پوش حامل نیروهای ضد...

"Our private lives continuously intersect with the history of our time. Rarely was this more evident than in Tiananmen Square in 1989 when I saw a million students rise up in protest. My friend climbed atop our taxi and shouted, 'Democracy is not only for America! Democracy is not only for China! Democracy is for the whole world!'" -Huston Smith The images from around the world bear witness to a global reality. "We are not sheep", they cry from the streets of Tehran to the streets of Urumqi. In both Iran and China, the ruling forces have duped many of the poor, rural citizens of their country into acting as proxy agents for their power grab. In China especially in Tibet and the Uighur regions, much like the British did during the height of their empire in the 18th and 19th centuries, ethnic groups are set against each other to distract the people away from the real foe - the unjust government. The riots this week in China were bloody and many innocents died...

July 9, Tehran #iranelection , originally uploaded by .faramarz . Protests marking the 10th anniversary of the 1999 student killings (by the basij) at Tehran University More photos from July 9, 2009 can be found here: Photos of the 10th anniversary protests in Tehran Reports ppl coming out of their homes, standing in their own streets, shouting Allah Akbar and death to the dictators. #iranelection #gr88 RT @oxfordgirl Basij reported to be in retreat for first time, perhaps not happy being led by Khamenei son?! #iranelection #gr88 From the New York Times: Update | 12:07 p.m. The New York Times has received two e-mail messages from a witness to the protests on Thursday in Tehran, whose name we will withhold for that person’s safety. This first e-mail message was sent just over one hour ago: The phones are completely out. I’m hiding in an international hotel…. riot police wanted to break in but the managers convinced them. The crowd is running in the thousands, starting in Enqelab ...

June 6, 2009 Shirin Ebadi, the Chair of the Defenders for Human Rights Center has issued an open letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, requesting the removal of a ban placed on the operation of the DHRC, and an end to security and political pressures on civil, political and human rights activists by governmental bodies and officials in his administration. In this letter, Ebadi has reviewed the pressures imposed on the members of the Defenders of Human Rights Center over the past six months. She has further asked the President if these actions and pressures, which are all in contradiction to the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, are in fact in line with the best national interests of the government and the country. The letter issued by Shirin Ebadi appears below: The honorable President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, As you know, after the victory of the Revolution in February 1979, limitations were placed on female judges and they were disallowed from serving in this position. As such, I...

U2 plays Electrical Storm in concert for the first time ever on July 2, 2009 in Barcelona.

Update: U2 Now Scrolls Rumi Poem Azadi in Solidarity With Artists 4 Freedom The Irish rock band U2, during a concert for their new album No Line on the Horizon , bathed the concert hall in Barcelona in a rich green and scrolled what appeared to be Rumi's The Song of the Reed Flute or alternately titled in a translation by Philip Dunn, Manuela Dunn Mascetti and R.A. Nicholson - On Separation and Words . Video of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" with Rumi's poem can be seen at: U2 and Rumi Krista Tippett writes that "In the Song of the Reed , Rumi reflects on the human spirit through the metaphor of the ancient reed flute or ney that is popular in Middle Eastern music. This poem opened the Masnavi, Rumi's compendium of rhyming couplets that explored issues of Sufi theology and the spiritual journey." I post the poem in full in solidarity with the struggle in Iran: ( Please buy the book and Coleman Bark's heartfelt translations of Rumi also belong on your boo...

U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday in Green for Iran (Live 02 July 2009 @ Camp Nou, Barcelona) July 7, 2009 Video in Milan Can Be Found Here: U2Goes Green Again for Iran in Milan Much thanks to Bono, the Edge. Larry and Adam Also a must read from Der Spiegel Online is an interview with Iranian theologian and philosopher Mohsen Kadivar: Iranian Regime Critic Mohsen Kadivar 'This Iranian Form of Theocracy Has Failed'