At a Peace Rally for Iran on June 25th, 2009

by Kenneth Reveiz

NEW YORK - June 28, 2009

I found out about the rally through an old high school acquaintance’s Facebook status:

“PEACE RALLY FOR IRAN NEW YORK Candle Light Vigil for NEDA and all those who have been so BRAVE in IRAN. Please come and support them. Wednesday, Jun 24 - 7:00pm New York Metro Union Square NYC www.freeiranbracelet.org”

The website sells, as the Live Strong campaign did, bracelets. It plans on “donating the proceeds to Reporters without Borders, who have continuously put their lives at risk in various countries throughout the world, so that the truth can be shown to all the citizen’s [sic] in the world.”

After work—still dressed in suit and tie—I took the subway to Union Square and watched as, at around 7:10PM, under a slowly graying sky, scores of Iranians and non-Iranians stretched columns of green across the plaza. Green, of course, is the color of Islam.

“This is solidarity for Iranian people,” one woman explained in a British-schooled accent to her daughters, who were dressed like twins but weren’t twins. The shorter girl held an unlit candle, a perfect white circle.

At the edges of the expanding display of color, a bearded man held a large sign. It read “DEATH TO DICTATORS,” around which words he had pasted black-and-white computer-printed pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, among others I did and didn’t recognize.

I was surprised to find opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi on the poster. In fact, the bearded man was speaking to a tough-looking, white-haired police officer, complaining that he had been “pushed away” from the general demonstration. The others—one woman was near tears: “This is hurting! This is not our message!”—had been incensed by his “message of violence.” Claiming he had every right to be there as they did, it was determined that he should stand a little off to the side.

He spoke to a young woman with a tape recorder, explained that all those pictured on his poster were “basically the same,” explained that Mousavi was a hard-line dictator, no different from Ahmadinejad. I had heard one student call Ahmadinejad a “monster,” an “inhumane form of human being,” as “not deserving any kind of respect,” and “not part of Iran anymore.” I wondered if this man felt the same way about Ahmadinejad as she did, and still thought the comparison to Mousavi valid, I should have asked. In any case he spoke into the recorder with conviction, gently affirming his opinion, answering questions with the self-assurance of a serene and special truth.

An older, visibly distressed woman tried to interrupt the interview. “So aggressive—why is he so aggressive?” she asked after he and the reporter ignored her. Her husband cautioned her to not “entertain him.” I realized that, with black pen, he had scribbled into the eyes of his dictators.

There had been other rallies, in front of the United Nations building, at Union Square. This is what one tall, bespectacled redhead told me as she stretched a paper bag filled with pins to the crowd of at least a hundred.

One pin read, “NEDA Your voice will never die,” referring to a girl who was shot dead, allegedly by a Basij soldier. Videos and pictures of the brutal killing of the Iranian—now a martyr—circulate all over the Internet. “Neda” is Farsi for “voice.” A computer graphic of a dove, whose ruptured heart had plummeted centimeters below its body, accompanied the words.

The other pin read “WHERE IS MY VOTE?”

Sure enough, at the center of Union Square, which slowly grew darker, was, surrounded by a perimeter of young, white roses, a perimeter of white candles slowly being lit, which itself held down a banner, green and large: “WHERE IS MY VOTE?” with a splatter of blood; above the words were pictures of a brutalized Neda and more words: “Rest in Peace;” “Free Iran.”

As I walked back to the subway a man drew, with a compass, inky circles into a notebook.

Osama Does Winston Churchill

By Sarika Arya - -

Meet Osama. A 5 year-old resident of Jenin Refugee Camp, in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. I posted this photo on my Facebook with the caption, “Osama does Winston Churchill.” I expected a few comments on how cute and round he is, and maybe someone would notice his shirt spells basketball with an "R". Instead, it sparked this reaction:




(Note: Rather than using everyone’s names, I’ve used their Facebook network – where they’re from – in capital letters, which actually adds another interesting dimension to the conversation.)

ISRAEL:

cute
i bet you didn't ask his parents why they called him OSAMA before you uploded 60 pictures of him.
think about his age and what happend probably few months before he was born.......
think about it.. and tell me if you'd be able to give him a loving kiss again
Churchill ? there's another leader comes up in my mind now... and he sure isn't british

LONDON:

ISRAEL, this is a 5 year old boy who is fascinated by a digital camera. I'm not really concerned about the origins of his name. I'm more interested in how he and his family treat other people and how they are treated in return. They were incredibly generous to me and my friends. Ultimately, when Osama grows up how he behaves will have nothing to do with his name but what experiences he had as a child. Hopefully, those experiences won't be violent ones.

ISRAEL:

you're being naive and you prefer to ignore things that may smash you're peacefull reality

MOROCCO:

ISRAEL bro, i have to be with LONDON on this one. He has no say in the name his parents choose for him. and we are nobody to judge that. lets just hope this generation grows up with less pride in their heart on both sides. pride blinds thought and aspirations. i think tis pretty clear israelis dont want to live with the fear of rockets shatering their homes and kids and palestinians dont want to live in the world's biggest open air prison. i really, really hope that one day, the holy land will know peace. until then, i hope your well bro, i miss u.

ISRAEL:

to be with LONDON on this one ? there is no ISRAEL vs LONDON i just want LONDON to understand that the reality she created to her self with that visit is way out of the blue and i have nothnig against that cute kid but trust me there's a reason his name is osama and i wish LONDON would ask for it. that could brake some of the fake prespective she got to her self
beside i wish that kid all the best and i hope i'll grow in a better life than his parents

PALESTINE:

i didn't get it what's wrong with his name osama?

UNITED KINGDOM:

Sorry i don't know you ISRAEL - but just to clear the matter up - the reason his name is Osama is because it was his grandfather's name...Palestinians have a tradition of naming the eldest son after their grandfather....

Now that its cleared up...OSAMA IS ADORABLE...maybe he'll start wearing underwear by the time we go back....xxx

ISRAEL:

yea that's a nice closer for this talk... but plestinians and other arabs have a tradition to name there kids after "great leaders" and shaids and PALESTINE can tell you it's true. now you guys had a very intersting month and like i said you think now you know more about the two sides and the conflict. but you gained only 0.5 present of information cuz that a very short time, spesific place and one side of the story...

PALESTINE:

well ISRAEL that's true but i mean osama is a common ancient arabic name and its one of 77 word that means Lion.
plus its a islamic religious name ,, such as the jewish name that was mentioned in the old testimanet yacov, benjamin jared,, osama was one of the prophet's close men. so u'll find this name a lot ,, and i dont think he's named after osama bin laden,, though in my opinion osama bin laden ain't nothing but an american imaginary charcter that help the super power justifying all its action.

in addition to that you're right, they should've visited tel aviv and enjoyed the night life over there or maybe jerusalem's java street, it's a tottaly different rich open world only short distance farther from where they were

UNITED KINGDOM:

We actually did visit israel...tel aviv, haifa, and jerusalem. We had those nights out and honestly, it felt a little uncomfortable being there when some of our close friends back in Jenin couldn't be there and enjoy life the way we can. We even spoke to IDF soldiers about the conflict and a settlement spokesman.

I'm not going to be so arrogant as to say that I completely understand both sides of the conflict but I will say that nothing justfies the way people are living in Palestine. Putting aside whos right and whos wrong - it is a humanitarian crisis. No human being should have to suffer like they do in Jenin....I am not even saying I am Pro Palestinian...It shouldn't be about sides. At this point it is a humanitarian crisis - I am Pro Peace and Pro Human rights - Aren't you Israel?

ISRAEL:

i'm pro justic and pro israeli as you can guess and as a combat soldier i tell you i'll do anything in my power to let my little brother walk safely on the steert or go on a bus with no fear he may not go off of it in one piece.
tel aviv and haife are nice but like you didn't go to ramallah wich is very nice you also havn't been to sderot and ashkelon where kids just like in gazza were born to a reality they wake up 10 times a night because of the sounds of the qasams landing on them and when they do get some sleep they pee in their pants. jenin sent hundreds of terror atackts into israel straight from jenin !! so maha .. in a way they put them selves in this crisis

PALESTINE:
yeah resistance attacks we're sent from jenin because u mr as a combat soldier willing to do anything to protect people on buses and in the street, they also are willing to do anything to against who is humilating them and taking over their lands and surrounding their city by fence and settelments and checkpoints.

and ISRAEL ramalah is nice i stay there inorder not to cross checkpoint everyday on my way to college, we have some nice places but what is not nice about it that every now and then the idf enters and keep arresting ppl and shooting and killing ,, their like theifs enter in the middle of the night out of nowhere stealing all the pleasure of the night away. already since i got into college 4 ppl i know got arrested and three were killed thats in 2 year the ppl i know!

sorry for the kids of sderot but thats how scary settelments is , they are spread all over the westbank in between cities taking over all the natural and water resources :s...

PALESTINE:

its resistance ,, what goes around comes around it hurts me to say so and i hope for this to end ,,
p.s. you scary as a combat soldier but u'll never scare who were born to be free :)

ISRAEL:

do the math and tell me if the acts from jenin gave them any good ...
the thing is PALESINE that you'll do the same if you were me and you know you'll choose the same way if you only had the chance
p.s.
i had no intention of being scary :)

UNITED KINGDOM:

ISRAEL, something I don't think your accepting is that these things happen on BOTH SIDES...which i don't think excuses any of it. Don't you realize its a cycle?? That the more Israel oppresses a nation, the more attacks palestinians will initiate...And at this point Israel has all the power over Palestine and is therefore the only one who can put an ... end to this whole situation - unless of course palestinians leave their homes (again) when they have NO WHERE to go and are too poor to afford it anyway.

UNITED KINGDOM:

I think the difference between mine and LONDON's experience and yours is that we are on the outside and saw both sides and came out thinking their needs to be peace because if you have any compassion you realise that human beings do not deserve to live like that....the people we met have done nothing wrong and why should they pay for what a ... minority of their nation has done. And i do think that there are a lot more palestinians suffering then there are Israeli's but it doesn't justify it - it just means you should start seeing the other side as well...
I see that those people in the settlements are suffering and like PALESTINE feel for them too. They are however illegally in those settlements and have the choice of coming and going...the people in palestine generally don't. The settlements are in Palestine not Israel.

UNITED KINGDOM:

I know I won't change your mind about anything, I just hope that being a IDF soldier - you will at least consider the other side. Or at least consider that many people feel and experience the same things you do - and maybe worse.

ISRAEL:

UNITED KINGDOM that's very useless... i'm not going to start expalinig the whole conflict now and the 1413562134 diferrences beetwen the so cold facts and statistics you're talking about and the reality. i'm verry sorry UNITED KINGDOM you really have no idea about this conflict and like i said in the time and place you had you probably get 0.5 present of information about this conflict and i believe even my friend PALESTINE would be with me on this one. i also think that's really not and objective experience but that would probably be just me...
and that is why this is very useless the continue this discussion. that's not evan about changing my mind you can ask LONDON and she'll tell you i'm one of the most understanding israelis you can find and very open minded. but your facts are wrong and with that i can't and i don't want to argue...

ps. trust me you should hope that all of the IDF combat soldiers would be like me

ISRAEL:

btw - the settlements issue is so complicated you can't even imagine don't pretend to thnik you can deal with it and again,, i'm not going to get into this with you it has no point.