The death toll after a week of this conflict is at least 17, according to the Globe and Mail, and it could be more. I haven't heard who of these people are for or against the government, but it doesn't matter. They're all human beings, who died in a really messed up situation. Apparently the police are stalking the streets, virtually empty of protesters now. But I have to suspect that's not the end of it. If I could have predicted one thing, it's that people were going to react with anger as soon as Ayatollah Khamenei said what he said on Friday. And now this sort of thing happens:
Warning: this video is extremely graphic and disturbing.
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjQxq5N--Kc"
It seems so voyeuristic in the worst sense that these images are being put up for everybody see, but in a way, it's kind of inevitable, and perhaps the only way to show just exactly what is happening in Iran. With restrictions on foreign journalists in the country, we rely on amateur videographers to show us the brutality on the streets of Tehran and abroad in the Islamic Republic. The authorities need to be held accountable for their actions, and the world needs to be shocked out of apathy.
I don't know if things would have turned out differently if the ballot count was more accurate. From an outsider's point of view it seems like Mousavi supporters might not have reacted this drastically if the results were actually representative of their vote, even if Ahmedinejad did win fair and square. But there's no way of telling, now. And it doesn't seem to matter anymore because the issue has moved beyond partisan politics. People are dying. The swelling mass of protesters shows a country deeply unhappy with the system itself, regardless of who won the election. Maybe the West is more sympathetic to Mousavi and his Green Revolutionaries as is the Western media, but even so, that mass of protesters is a number too sizeable to overlook. I'm not one to say that one form of government is better than another. Each nation has to figure that out for themselves, given their history and values. But no matter what guise the system takes, I cannot tolerate a government violates its social contract, that ignores its own people and then attacks them when they try to speak up. The same goes for any government, theocracy, parliamentary or republic or whatever. As soon as innocent people like this woman get shot, there's no question something's got to change.
Oh and I know I'm stating the obvious with all of this, but it has to be said. Again and again and again, if necessary.
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