Sarah ([info]alannalp) wrote,
@ 2009-06-19 00:57:00
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Current mood: contemplative
Current music:Lateralus- Tool

If you're going to call this post "Anti-American", don't even bother commenting, onegaishimasu
I haven't said anything about it because everyone else has but I am in complete support of the Iranian people.

Shame on you, America, for not doing the same thing when Bush stole the election twice. This kind of demonstration is what "freedom" looks like. And isn't it ironic that it's happening in one of the countries that's a member of the "axis of evil". Seriously, even though Bush is gone, I will never understand why we were so silent.

I hope everything is resolved peacefully in Iran and that whatever happens teaches the world that the people will always have more power than governments.


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[info]colorwhirl
2009-06-18 04:39 pm UTC (link)
But you were here, too. You were in the US in November of 2004.

I don't know about you, but I was at rallies and protests in Philly.

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[info]alannalp
2009-06-18 04:54 pm UTC (link)
I couldn't go to the protest in 2002 because I was still in high school and my parents were very strict AND Republican.

November 2004 was weird. I was in Oberlin and I thought for sure all the students were going to take to the street but no one did anything. I was waiting to hear about some kind of uprising and nothing happened. I went to all kinds of protests but nothing ever came out of it. People weren't passionate about the cause so nothing happened.

I actively protested the war in Iraq in DC and in Louisville and in Cincinnati. I was at that gigantic, first protest in DC just before we declared war. I thought for sure someone would listen but no one listened to us. I couldn't believe it.

I decided to leave the States in 2006 and when I came back, I attended a few more half-hearted protests and I just felt like the American resistance was just as commercial and vacant as the fucking zombie shit people watch on TV. There's strength in numbers and the numbers of people who really cared just weren't there.

Our country was born from a revolution and we seem to have forgotten how to have one. If I knew how to start a revolution I would but I don't. Honestly though, I don't think in the case of Bush a peaceful protest was what was in order and that's why nothing got done. It's sad but true.

You can say Obama was revolutionary but you know the qualms I had with him. I think the guy is doing a good job but we'll see.

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[info]crazy_go_nuts
2009-06-18 10:43 pm UTC (link)
It's just not so easy to overturn or even change a government through protest. Take 1968, for instance... the most passionate protests America saw in the 20th century. And yet we were in Vietnam for another 7 years after that, and kept making Vietnam-like decisions for decades to come.

If you look at 1968 in a global context, there were protests everywhere, but the only place they had any real impact was in places like France, where the workers joined with the students (in the US, the workers were generally pro-Government). Not to sound all Marxist, but I do think a revolution (or effective protest movement) needs support not just from those of us in academia but from the common guy on the street.

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[info]alannalp
2009-06-19 04:19 pm UTC (link)
The　workers joined the students in the Bush protests becasue Bush was anti union (my typing is gonna suck because I am on a Japanese keyboard. Like, I can`t find some puncuation because of it).

I agree that revolutions are not so easy and that there has to be a strong, national movement, but what I`m saying is that Americans are too comfortable to really challenge the way of life they know.

And honestly, I have a hard time in believingt that peaceful protests work. I think that the only way to have a revolution in some countries (not all) is by shedding blood. It`s sad but true. You`ll probably strongly disagree with me but that`s why I believe that Americans should always have the right to bear arms.

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[info]lucid_dr34ming
2009-06-18 04:40 pm UTC (link)
I'm in total support of them as well, and its amazing how many people this is touching. Even some of the snark communities I frequent have been posting updates and info regarding it when anything new comes along.

I still love how the GOVERNMENT told twitter to push back their downtime so we could continue to have updates from the Iranians who've managed to get through the internet blocks and tell us what's happening.

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[info]alannalp
2009-06-18 04:58 pm UTC (link)
I don't know, I'm sort of skeptical of the US intentions in all of this. There's revolutions happening everyday...why is this one important?

Is it important because it's an Islamic state and we're "not friends" with them?
Is it important because Iran has the 5th largest supply of oil in the world?
Is it important because they may have nuclear weapons and their technology threatens our power in the region?

It's all purly political and I think the government and media have ulterior motives in this. You can't take the news and what the government says at face value EVER. Especially if they're rallying behind something like this...

I'm still in support of the Iranian people, of course. But I'm skeptical of what is being fed to the American people and why.

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[info]madali
2009-06-19 01:07 pm UTC (link)
I think its "important" to the common person in the west (obviously some) due to the snowball effect of internet coverage. Unlike a lot of other conflicts in the world, this one really doesn't have two sides to a lot of people, its the protesters as young, attractive, internet savy people and the government as riot police and angry looking men. Its EASY to be in support of it.

Also (and this is probably the most important), there's not much else going on in the world.

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[info]alannalp
2009-06-19 04:25 pm UTC (link)
Yeah but I mean, until recently and I`m talking like, last week, American was bitching about Iran`s nuclear program and preaching about how they`re so billigerent and dangerous because they have one. Now everyone is like GO IRAN (btw, I`m using a Japanese keyboard so I can`t access some puncuation).

I think that the youthful face of the revolution does have a lot to do with the coverage though, you got that right. You were the first one who pointed it out to me in the coverage of the events leading up to the election.

As far as nothing else going on in the world, Pakistan is still a mess and Kim Jung Il is about to die so North Korea is looking pretty tense too.

It`s heating up to be a hot summer. The news is going to be explosive by August at the rate we`re going. It will be interesting to see what breaks over the next couple of months...

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[info]moonwrangler
2009-06-19 12:09 am UTC (link)
I almost got arrested during the 2004 protests-the cops rushed us and a friend got arrested for not getting on the sidewalk fast enough. They tased him. So yeah, you are 100% right.

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[info]alannalp
2009-06-19 04:27 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, there are the few brave souls who do get arrested in American protests. I knew of an old man (I didn`t know him personally) in Cincinnati who got arrested for protesting and did some jail time for it. He used to stand on the conerner every Friday holding ant-war signs. I even went to a few of his small protests.

What`s the story behind the police rushing you guys?

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