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Neda Soltan Death Another 'Shot Heard 'round the World'
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by stevesmys | June 23, 2009 at 10:00 am
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The video captured death of "Angel of Iran," "Angel of Freedom," Neda Soltan has become the new "shot heard 'round the world," pulling global support for the people of Iran.
The phrase, pulled from the opening stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's American Revolutionary War battle song, "Concord Hymn," refers to particular historical moments that have echoed around the world. That war was one. The death of Franz Ferdinand, another.
And while the phrase wasn't used specifically for the massacre at Tienanmen Square, there are strong parallels between the brutal images of those 1989 protests and of Neda Soltan's death. Both are very potent symbols of revolutionist movements in countries with limited civil liberties.
For China and Iran specifically, those deaths threw petroleum on a fire already well out of control.
And like the Chinese government at that time, the Iranian government has imposed strict regulations on journalists to control the flow of information.
When the Iranian protests began, they were uncoordinated rallies culled by the anger and confusion over their subverted civil liberties.
Now, with Neda's death, they have something tangible to rally behind. Something to show to their aggressors and say, "This is what you have done."
Whether Iranian authorities will listen is another matter, but the movement now has a focal point: a pretty face oozing with blood. A human heart that has now stopped beating.
Tienanmen Square and Neda Soltan images resonate so strongly with Western viewers because it illustrates an injustice we don't know personally. The single basic right that our nations are built on – that of personal liberty – has been stamped out like the butt of a cigarette. They want what we have and now many of our hearts are bleeding.
And, on some level, it puts our own issues with North American freedom into perspective.
American has had its own moments as well, particularly in the 1960s. The Chicago riots in 1968 and the 1970 Kent State shootings, for example.
Thankfully nothing like that has happened since then because society realized immediately afterward that this governmental behavior is completely unacceptable. Our countries allow for the masses to pipe up. And we did. And they listened.
The people of Iran don't have that freedom. But they do have the collective support from the people that do. Hopefully that means something.
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stevesmys
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Gene Lewis - Virtu Imagery
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 12:46 on June 23rd, 2009
I was going home from a photo gig when I got to the Federal Building in Los Angeles, CA, and saw all the Protesters lined Veteran Ave and Wilshire Blvd shouting slogans in English and Persian and also horns from supportive motorists echo throughout the avenue. I had to stop and get some photos. This is my first protest that I got photographed.
The solidarity and synergy in the crowd was amazing. I had older men pulling me to shrines for the woman named Neda Agha Soltan who was senselessly killed by the violence in Tehran.
I was exciting and a bit surreal at the same time.
Gene Lewis - Virtu Imagery has contributed a photo to this story.