Dear Friend and Reader:
Her name was Neda Soltai, or Neda Agha Soltan.В In Farsi,В neda means “the voice”.В On June 20, 2009, Neda was shot in the chest, you might even say, in the heart — В killed by Basij militia while taking part inВ Iran’s post-election demonstrations.
TheВ Basij orВ Baseej, whose name means “Mobilization of the Oppressed” В is a voluntary paramilitaryВ force founded by the order of theВ Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini November 1979. Contrary to their name, the job of the Basij has evolved to repress dissent from activists, writers, and rival factions, and, typical to an oppressive regime — to quell student protests.
Early estimates say around the time Neda was killed, 19 have died, over nine times the number of those killed during the last Iranian Revolution in 1979. В More have been killed since then. Most first and second levels of opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s campaign leadership were arrested or at least detained and held for questioning. Dissenters have been beaten, some say tortured. In the midst of what is growing into a heavily armed crackdown against civilian dissent, you would think the last thing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the ruling mullahs would want isВ martyrs.
As Eric reminds us in his recent post about the Saturn-Uranus aspects of the Iranian protests, what was once revolutionary — twentieth century theocratic Iran whose stern rule is reminiscent of centuries before –has become a flash point for the next iteration of the Iranian Revolution. It is Revolution 2.0, with the dissent of brave men and women made globally accessible by You Tube, Twitter and Facebook, and it feels like the revolution ofВ night versus day.