1. Originally posted by Ali709:Anyone still following up on this? I had almost forgotten about U2 for a month or two, but after the recent stuff, I find myself singing U2 songs in the car, without even having listened to them in this time...

    Anyone saw Neda? The girl who was shot for no reason?

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528441,00.html
    I'm not posting the youtube video here as it might be disturbing for some...those interested can find it, just search.

    I don't know where this is headed to...the streets are very much controlled, Saturday was like an unofficial martial law (it is forbidden in Iranian constitution). Many people killed, the scenes and the stories are horrifying...and the opposition still has more plans for the days to come...I hope it doesn't turn into a civil war...I wish the "supreme leader" had been wiser in his Friday talk

    Meanwhile...still the SMS is shut down for almost 2 weeks now...many sites filtered, yesterday even yahoo mail was unavailable.

    Today, I was reading plans of street marchs by people...seeing reactions of people, scared of going to the streets...and the lyrics of Breathe shouted in my head:

    Every day I have to find the courage
    To walk out into the street
    With arms out
    Got a love you can't defeat
    Neither down or out
    There's nothing you have that I need
    I can breathe

    ...

    Walk out into the street
    Sing your heart out
    The people we meet
    Will not be drowned out
    There's nothing you have that I need
    I can breathe
    Breathe now
    Yeah, yeah



    Best and saddest post in whatever time...a fucked up world it is, really fucked up.

    Take care Ali, all the best and good to hear from you

    EDIT: I watched the vids, read the reports and felt the need to PM you mate...I just don't get it anymore.
  2. Ali my friend...
    I have...

    I'm so sorry mate... I'm so sorry....
    saw the video and I broke into tears... I feel there's nothing I can say...
    please take care!
  3. Hey Ali, thought of you today when reading about Iran. They were making a big deal about how some clerics are now marching in the protests....what do you make of it? Can you give us a sense as to what it's like? Is that as big of a deal as the US media makes it out to be?
  4. ...and this is the world that we live in...

    How's with your life Ali? Can people go to school or work? Where do you live exactly?
  5. I think I'll dedicate an acapella performance of SBS to the problemns in Iran, next open mic night. Would any of you object?
  6. Thanks Mark... great to know that there are people outside iran following us and understanding our situation...great not to feel lonely.

    Casper...thanks, the pm helped a lot...answered you there,

    Johnny, that's how we all feel here, everyone broke into tears, but that's one in many, the one that got filmed, I find problems controlling myself just thinking of all the rest...I keep hearing terrible news, of friends and family lost...I told you guys a while ago that a 21-22 year old boy in our family got shot in the head...a friend of mine saw a 13 year old boy shot in the chest in front of him...I see videos of guards kicking girls and boys...it's terrible.

    Jeremy...first something you should know about Shia islam, tho this doesn't apply to everyone in iran.
    In Shia islam, there are some major clerics, called Maraje Taghlid (meaning references for following or imitating). These clerics look deep in the quran and all historical stuff of islam and extract the rules of Islam. People then have to choose one of these clerics and follow them in all matters of religion. This system is mainly used to extract rules for new issues that may come up and not be mentioned in the Quran and also to keep the religion up to date.

    this country is now ruled by a cleric and it's a theocratic system, therefore the clerics are very important. The leader, Khamenei, is a cleric, but not a major one in terms of his level of knowledge and degree in Islam...he just got elected for the job by a council and he is not really a reference as explained above. So, he is scared of the reference clerics, because if they give an order against the leader, people will follow the references and not the leader. They used this power with Shah as well during the Islamic revolution and another small revolution we had before that.

    So, it is important if they start marching with the people, it is indeed a big deal. But not all of them are doing so, there are clerics in the protests, but not the references, a few of the references sent letters condemning the killings and supporting Mousavi, but they aren't the major ones, they didn't march with the people, and they are unofficially under house arrest after their comments.

    [sorry for the long talk, your question required it!]

    Yogi, my life is fine...I live in the north of the city and there isn't much going on here, only late night slogans shouted from rooftops, but that's all...there were night protests here last week, but with the recent government crackdown, there is nothing now.
    The real stuff happens in the center of the city, and it is very small now, there is a huge force on the streets in the center, not allowing anything to happen. People can go to work and school this week, last week it was a bit disrupted. Major universities have postponed their final exams for a couple of months, there are also some strikes disrupting some businesses in the city.

    and Aaron, no, I wouldn't, go on!

    And as for updates, there was a protest in front of the parliament today, which got stopped before it could actually begin, not many people got to be there, as the forces attacked again and made them all run away...we'll have to wait and see what happens next...

    I think with all that they have done, they are going to stop this movement by use of force, leaving a big scar in the mind of the youth and making them lose their hope and trust in the system...just pray for the lost ones, I hope they haven't lost their lives for nothing.
  7. I'm reading in newspapers that Neda's parents were thrown out of their home...
  8. hmm...haven't heard about that one...I know they didn´t let the family arrange a mourning ceremony. Traditionally (and religiously) there are gatherings in a big mosque for all the related and friends, one day after the death, then on the 3rd, 7th and 40th day. But all mosques were ordered not to accept Neda's family...they just buried here with her close family, a quiet burial with maybe 5 people. Really sad...


  9. Yeah, it is a fairly confusing site. It's against the use of music as torture. Y'know, like how they played songs really loud at Guantanamo and other places worldwide as a form of legal torture. This campaign is against it. Zero decibels=silence.
  10. Originally posted by gwiz:[..]

    Yeah, it is a fairly confusing site. It's against the use of music as torture. Y'know, like how they played songs really loud at Guantanamo and other places worldwide as a form of legal torture. This campaign is against it. Zero decibels=silence.


    Okay, thanks. Interesting. I'll try to look at the site again later on.