Iran

The Arab governments which include countries such as Saudi Arabia are watching Iran, scared of a revolution coming their way. Many of their activists are looking closely as well, wondering about the outcome of millions of people gathering in Tehran, Isfahan, Ahwaz, Shiraz, Gorgan, Tabriz, Rasht, Babol, Mashhad, Zahedan, Qazvin, Sari, Karaj, Shahsavar, Orumieh, Bandar Abbas, Arak, and Birjend.

In order for anything to change, there must be risk. People like me who are afraid of taking certain risks will live under oppression for the rest of their lives. It is the braves of the world who pave the way for the rest of us cowards. They risk getting tortured and killed so that the generations ahead of them can live a better life. As Martin Luther King Junior put it - Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

In Iran, many students have been shot to death. The numbers have not yet come out because the foreign media has been barred from reporting on the Iranian revolution. And since they cannot verify the numbers, they are unable to report it. I watched a video showing a man who got shot. Blood was gushing out of his wound and someone else was trying to get the bullet out of him with his fingers. Iranian hospitals are full. Even the military hospitals where the ambulances are supposed to take the injured protesters to be healed and punished later are full. Obviously, the death toll is well over the 7 people that were previously reported.

Iranian authorities have broken into activists’ homes and work, confiscated their properties and broken their computers and other belongings. They have arrested foreign ambassadors and reformists and have threatened websites that report the news on Iran. I guess what I don’t understand is why is the Iranian government holding everyone else responsible but not themselves. And why are they angry at the rest of the world for reporting the news? Reporters are simply doing their job – covering the news. They have done nothing wrong. The news is coming out and people are curious to read and watch it.

This revolution is not about foreign governments interfering with the Iranian government but rather it is about the will of people against the will of a government that refuses to annul the previous election and start fresh.