Her dark eyes are haunting. They reveal the intimate agony of a brutal death, but Neda Soltan died publicly -- for the world to see.
I am deeply stirred by the screenshot from a YouTube video showing Neda's eyes as she lay dying Saturday on a Tehran street. A highly connected world allows us to experience things as they happen and that, believe it or not, makes us accountable for those events. They are no longer foreign news items posted on a ticker that does not force us to engage. What is happening in Iran binds us as humans. What is happening does not allow us to be dislocated and remote. It demands our very human recognition.
It has not been independently confirmed who killed Neda, who was 26 years old. But Iranians who posted the video say the Basij, the pro-government paramilitary force, shot her, The Associated Press reports. Nico Pitney of The Huffington Post quotes a BBC Persia interview that apparently features Neda's fiance, Kasamin Makan. He says that Neda was not even a part of the protests when it happened. He also is quoted as saying:
"Neda's goal was not Mousavi or Ahmadinejad -- it was her country and was important for her to fight for this goal. She had said many times that if she had lost her life or been shot in the heart, which indeed (is) what happened, it was important for her to continue in this path," he said.
Whatever her political views actually were, Neda's face now is emblematic of a revolution. Memorial pages have been created for her on Facebook. Twitter is flooded with posts about her and the YouTube video depicting her death is a graphic, heart-wrenching recording.
This open display of anger and pain and protest coursing through social networking platforms connects us to the human cost of upholding the core values of Iran and any country. Every person has the right to judge a government freely and civilly. Elections should be free and without the terror of reprisal. Protesters should be respected, not disabled by tear gas or felled by bullets.
Violence may be necessary at times, but before you open your mouths, be aware that this is the price.
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moderate
6:13PM Jun 22nd 2009
For all you people saying we need to start bombing Iran or any other country, watch death. How many Neda's are you willing to kill to prove a point or impose our government on others.This video shows the horrors not the movie version of death. This is the face of an average muslim, is she the one you called aterrorist and said they all deserve to die. They are the same as you and I.
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moderate
6:38PM Jun 22nd 2009
Wade... endlessly vulgar and wrong about everything. Never surprises, just keeps showing what an uneducated bully he really is. Does your mom not love you.
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moderate
7:09PM Jun 22nd 2009
Looks as if wade was finally censored. my previous post made sense because of his attack. Good, he needs to learn that his nasty posts are not wanted or necessary.
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DD8V92
9:05PM Jun 22nd 2009
Cry baby Leftist, what's the matter...can't handle the truth?? Moderate, are you jealous because Wade can make complete sentences that actually have form and content?
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Crandall
7:11PM Jun 22nd 2009
I am so thankful that we have a president who is working towards world peace...viewing this makes me feel ill and listening to the screams of the people around her is horrifying and breaks my heart.
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bigfoot
10:04PM Jun 25th 2009
People died just like this 230 years ago for YOUR freedom and mine. And many have died since that time. THAT is the price of freedom, nothing less. If you don't believe anything is worth dying for then you are just a sheep. People are putting their lives on the line in Iran now because they refuse to be sheep for the mullahs. They are human beings, free in their hearts if not in their daily lives. I am proud of them! What is the purpose of YOUR life?
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DD8V92
9:01PM Jun 22nd 2009
Great post bigfoot, You are right on. People of other nations are willing to die for freedom. Most Americans whine and cry if the cable goes out. We might get a taste of what it is like to have our freedoms taken away. The Left seems Hell-bent on doing it. I abhor violence, but there may come a day when we have had enough.
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PCL
1:27AM Jun 23rd 2009
Though I agree with the premise that the price of freedom is steep--telling that to a parent who has lost a child, or the spouse of a loved one who has died fighting for freedom, and you will be but blowing in the wind.
This is the Iranian peoples' fight--if they want their freedom from the tyranny of religious dogma, if they want the western democracy that so many of them covet in privacy, if they want to live their life as the spirit of all human beings truly dictates--then they will fight for it, just as Americans did over 200 years ago. But make no mistake about it, those who lose loved ones in this fight will mourn and never recover from their loss, just like those Americans did, and have always done where freedom has exacted a toll.
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moderate
9:24PM Jun 22nd 2009
ddv... wade usually resorts to single sentence rants were half the words are vulgar. That shows a weakness of mind, maturity and coherence.
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DD8V92
9:48PM Jun 22nd 2009
A mature and intelligent person can look past what you call vulgar, and see what's in the heart of the message. Wades posts speak volumes of truth with accuracy. Not to seem patronizing, but I admire one who will speak the truth without fear of criticizism. The truth is always good, no matter what package it may come in. I would rather hear truth in vulgarity, than a lie in eloquence.
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moderate
9:59PM Jun 22nd 2009
ddv... small angry and unhappy people resort to his kind of rants. Usually he cuts and pastes other peoples writings. In this case it was maybe 10 words and half were vulgar, not a great mind or disiplined he is very weak.
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kour'avi
3:12AM Jun 28th 2009
Everyone spoken here, is well. History, vulgar words, and 200 years ago does not change the fact this little girl lost her life to the ignorance and way of a particular government's attitude towards its people. I am reaching into our own journalist and writing them,,i am writing of my own feelings of this girl to discharge the anger that came into me seeing her die like this, in my own personal notes. The few "i do not know" American journalist or writers of their own blogsites that claim to be journalist, and have their many "placs of distinguished" and honorary ceritfications placed around on their sites , have yet to answer me. And really at this point i don't think they really care. Just want to look good. and it's me another American, asking for help, a suggestion at least. Instead of commenting and adding fuel to my own misery about her, i am trying to reach out to someone here in our country aside of political resources and help this family. I want to help this girl, even as she is. I want to help this girl. It may not be now, tomorrow, or anytime in the next one month or three. I want to help this family and this girl. Rather than adding all the history of long lost past. Vulgar words and it's over there and if they want freedom, then they will fight for it. I feel they need a little help. These people. Love, and understanding these people. That video was put up there for a reason, not just for the world to see. But for someone to reach in and help them, love them. This girl is our daughter, our girlfriend, our fiance', sister, lover. There are others yes. But for me to shrug my shoulders and say it's over there and somehow it will work out, i do not feel that is going to happen. And it hasn't before and before my time in this world. This religion so it's called, and this government so it's called,and i speak of Iran, how closely are the fine lines with this religion and government, sewn together? And what parts are taken to give an answer. So far these people are beaten, tear-gassed, shot at, kicked, controlled, hacked at...the list is gathering. And the more these people retaliate, even in quiet, they are more so hurt. How long before there is only the government with it's soldiers of fortune left? That president, newly elected? and this government of Iran. What do you have left, if there is no people of that country alive or around anymore? Tell me. Italy, is displaying a remarkable effort to help these people. I hope more will follow their example. I truly feel this is the answer to save these people, for now at least. Time will show the results, but they will live in serene and safety, have no more hurt, no harm in meantime. If there is no one around for the bullies to bully, and only bully their own kind, what will be left then, because there are no people to hurt or harm anymore, just themselves to shoot and kill. This government and its fortune of soldiers to turn on each other....
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Larry LeFever
11:17PM Jul 27th 2009
dying eyes (a song for Neda Agha-Soltan) by Larry LeFever
her eyes roll back and far to the side she's gone, gone now, nothing left to hide unjust, insane, unholy, fair unfair it's neither here nor there she was taken away by an age-old war hope we can now see what she died for
the blood now flows from mouth and nose somebody pressing the wound screams but she's gone, gone now, that we should see she's gone, gone for eternity all now red, white, black it seems but it's not just Neda here we can now see
(chorus) i saw, i saw a woman die i saw, i saw her dying eyes i saw, i saw Neda die i saw, i saw her dying eyes
a symbol, a message, a meaning she may be once a woman, a daughter, a sister there to see but now gone and never never a mother to be and though once a danger there to somebody and maybe somehow even now or yet to be that's not just Neda there we can now see
(chorus)
she was often covered there, hidden, had to be under a thumb, that chador she sometimes wore but while dying, on her we could clearly see sneakers, jeans, modernity Neda now plain to see Neda now plain to see
peace be upon you, Neda peace peace be upon you, Neda peace