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Thursday, June 18, 2009

International Oh Bondage, Up Yours!

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 12:54 PM

First: Ahmadinejad is hiding:

Speculation is intensifying about the whereabouts of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed victory in the Iranian presidential election but has not been seen in public since Monday, when he was in Russia for a conference.

Second: A what-he-said to Sullivan about why Iran matters so very much:

Moreover, Iran is at the very heart of the global struggle between the forces of distorted and politicized religious tyranny and the power of real faith and freedom. This struggle was never ours' to impose, however good the intentions. It was always there for the people themselves to grasp. And grasp it they now have - with astounding courage, clarity and calm.

And so at the white-hot center of the global conflict, this astonishing force has emerged to resist escalation, unwind conflict, get past ideology, insist on change, and demand a better future. This is hopeful enough. But the use of technology to achieve this offers a whole new paradigm for world politics. We saw its power in the Obama campaign, which harnessed a similar spirit in utterly different circumstances. Now it's transforming the other side of this previously unstoppable conflict.

Third: They continue to march, mourning the dead and fighting for the living:

And this X-ray Spex song is my personal soundtrack to the green revolution after listening to it and watching the video above at the same time:

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Comments (9) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Andrew Sullivan is an idiot. His commentary is little more than a rehash of Bush's "global democracy vs Islamo-facsism" crap. I was hoping we were mature enough to think about this is terms of real, material national, class, and political interests clashing in a particularly complex part of the world. But I guess not.

Posted by Outos on June 18, 2009 at 1:40 PM

If only one-tenth of the number of people willing to put their lives on the line in Iran and be imprisoned and tortured for their rights did the same for gay marriage here in the US ...

Sadly, I guess we're lacking in a certain something.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 18, 2009 at 2:20 PM

Warrior in Woolworth playing in my head now...Thanks for that.

Posted by julie russell

on June 18, 2009 at 2:43 PM

I love that song, the saxophone totally kills.

Posted by douchus on June 18, 2009 at 2:46 PM

@4 : the sax is played by Ms Lora Logic. This song is literally 30 years old to the day.
Lyrics to this song are perhaps strange & inappropriate to juxtapose w/ the situation in Iran:
Bind me
tie me
chain me to the wall
I want to be
a slave to you all
Oh! Bondage up yours" etc.

Posted by E on June 18, 2009 at 4:09 PM

And then: "Oh bondage up yours. Oh bondage no more. Oh bondage up yours. Oh bondage no more."

That's the part that matters.

Posted by Brendan Kiley on June 18, 2009 at 5:49 PM

Hey, if you want to help these people out remember to change your Twitter time/location to Tehran so as to misdirect government censors. Just to make things interesting toss in references to locales in Tehran or phrases from Persian mythology.

Posted by Y.F. Redux on June 18, 2009 at 6:12 PM

The Iran thing is only going to end with a few thousand dead young Iranians and martial law for the foreseeable future. If Ahmadinejad is not traveling, he's regrouping and figuring out with the rest of his crew how to wipe the protesters out as quickly and discreetly as possible.

This is just another Tienanmen Square.

Posted by Gomez

on June 19, 2009 at 12:38 AM

I'm pro-democracy, a complete and utter liberal, and generally pro-Mousavi in the "He's got to be better than Aminidiejienjad" way. I'm definitely in support of the protestors, who are risking a lot to fight for their rights.

But when you really get down to the actual political positions of the two major candidates, isn't it kind of like watching an election between Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and rooting for the non-incumbent in hopes he won't be so fucking crazy?

Posted by RobotRevolution on June 19, 2009 at 7:04 AM