badass iranian women (#2)

Politics are dirty; it swallows you down and throws you up brain washed

Behind every person, there is a hidden reason

I wanted to go live on a mountaintop, staying away from politics

But I couldn't, because it is so hard to accept what they do...

and from an article by the female writer of the award winning graphic novel and film "Persepolis":

...I call Iran home because no matter how long I live in France, and despite the fact that I feel also French after all these years, to me the word “home” has only one meaning: Iran.

I suppose it’s that way for everyone: Home is the place where one is born and raised.
No matter how much I am in love with Paris and its indescribable beauty, Tehran with all its ugliness will in my eyes forever be the “bride” of all cities around the world.
It’s a question of geography, of the smell of the rain, of the things we know without ever having to think why we know them. It’s a question of the Alborz Mountains protecting my town. Where are they? Who will protect me now? It’s a question of the unbearable smell of pollution, a smell I know so well. It’s a question of knowing that the blue of the sky is not the same everywhere, nor does the sun shine the same way in every place. It’s a question of wanting to be able to walk under my own blue sky, of wanting my own sunshine to caress my back....

18 days ago, June 12, 2009, something happened, something I never believed I would see in my lifetime: Iranians, crowding into an extremely tiny space of democracy, usually left just large enough for them to vote for a president whom the Guardian Council had already approved, truly voted. The question much of the media asked before the election was: “Are Iranians ready for democracy?” “YES!” came the answer, loud and oh, so clear.

With a voter turnout of 85 percent, they started to dream that change was possible.
They started to believe “Yes we can,” too. It’s likely needless to remind you that this was not the first time Iranians showed how much they love freedom. Look only at the 20th century: They launched the Constitutional Revolution of 1906 (the first in Asia); nationalized the oil industry in 1951 (the first Middle Eastern country to do so); mounted the revolution of 1979; and engineered the student revolt of 1999. Which brings us to now, and that deafening cry for democracy.

Almost 20 years ago, when I started studying art in Tehran, the very idea of “politics” was so frightening that we didn’t even dare think about it. To talk about it? Beyond belief!

To demonstrate in the streets against the president? Surreal!

Criticize the supreme leader? Apocalyptic!

Shouting “Down with Khamenei”? Death!

Death, torture and prison are part of daily life for the youth of Iran. They are not like us, my friends and I at their age; they are not scared. They are not what we were.
They hold hands and scream: “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid! We are together!”
They understand that no one will give them their rights; they must go get them...
This generation, with its hopes, dreams, anger and revolt, has forever changed the course of history. Nothing is going to be the same.

From now on, nobody will judge Iranians by their so-called elected president. From now on, Iranians are fearless. They have regained their self-confidence. Despite all the dangers they said NO! And I’m convinced this is just the beginning....

below updates on the most recent situations in Iran:

and in the streets it ain't over yet - the government hasn't beaten the people into submission yet - this video from July 3rd show citizens driving riot police into retreating off of their street while people from the rooftops cheer when the riotpolice flee:



and the government continues fighting off protests from within as well:

Top clerical group defies Supreme Leader, calls government illegitimate. This is very significant.

The most important group of religious leaders in Iran has called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate, an act of defiance against the country's supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country's clerical establishment