(no subject)
Its strange, this feeling that I often get, that I'm betraying a cause if I allow certain political events to go unmentioned here. Its hard to know what to say though.
On the twelfth of June, Iran held its presidential election, and Ahmadinejad was re-elected. Or, "re-elected." I keep thinking back to when Bush won and began his second term, how awful that felt. Except that this must feel so much worse - at least for us, there was hope. At least we could tell ourselves, change comes slowly, but it is coming. The voters will come around. And at least we have so much freedom. But as my dear Iranian friend said the other day, change has come to the Iranian people...it just has not come to the government. The voters spoke, and continue to speak. They were ignored, and continue to be ignored. And they do not have so much freedom.
The truth is that I don't know a whole lot about this issue...but I do know that my (very smart, trustworthy) friend is broken-hearted to the extent that he considered throwing away everything he has worked for here, to go home and protest. (If he were to leave the US, even for a visit, he can't come back.) He has told me many times that he will stay in the US for the rest of his life, unless political change comes to his country. It could have come on the twelfth - my friend could have gone home some day, and could have lived, with freedom, in the country he loves. But that didn't happen, and so my facebook home page is flooded with articles in Persian, and although I cannot read them, my heart breaks for my friend.
On the twelfth of June, Iran held its presidential election, and Ahmadinejad was re-elected. Or, "re-elected." I keep thinking back to when Bush won and began his second term, how awful that felt. Except that this must feel so much worse - at least for us, there was hope. At least we could tell ourselves, change comes slowly, but it is coming. The voters will come around. And at least we have so much freedom. But as my dear Iranian friend said the other day, change has come to the Iranian people...it just has not come to the government. The voters spoke, and continue to speak. They were ignored, and continue to be ignored. And they do not have so much freedom.
The truth is that I don't know a whole lot about this issue...but I do know that my (very smart, trustworthy) friend is broken-hearted to the extent that he considered throwing away everything he has worked for here, to go home and protest. (If he were to leave the US, even for a visit, he can't come back.) He has told me many times that he will stay in the US for the rest of his life, unless political change comes to his country. It could have come on the twelfth - my friend could have gone home some day, and could have lived, with freedom, in the country he loves. But that didn't happen, and so my facebook home page is flooded with articles in Persian, and although I cannot read them, my heart breaks for my friend.