Solidarity
Like some other sites, notably the BBC and Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish, we are changing the color of our logo to show our support for the Green Revolution in Iran. Yes, this can be described as narcissitic (a complaint leveled at Sullivan when he changed the color scheme). And yes, it is basically a meaningless gesture in the grand scheme of things, but still.
When you identify with justice, it is never pointless.
I like it. Although, you may wish to select a slightly darker, richer green. This green sort of looks like “money green”.
Um…yeah, to #1’s unintended point, this seems symbolically analogous to the state GOP’s purple-ink finger party that was so roundly ridiculed here.
Hey, I like the solidarity, but just commenting on the appearance of then vs now.
It is the green Sullivan is using, and it is the green in the “Vote” sign above. Indeed, the green the Iranians are using, painting their hands and fingers is kinda this color.
The GOP was doing that, RSmitty, to rub it in the face of Democrats at Bush’s State of the Union. It was a partisan trick, and the lemming state party gladly followed along.
There is nothing partisan about this.
I have been following this story very, very closely. NYT Lede, Sully and Huffpo have been great.
I have been wearing green and will continue all week. I agree that it does basically nothing, but when secret policy storm universities, shoot up dorms and smash computers, etc., etc. I feel like wearing green in solidarity is the least (and only) thing I can do. People are being pounded and killed in the street. It’s horrific and heart-wrenching. Thanks very much for going green and mentioning it!
By the way, the Beeb didn’t go green. Their banter changes colors periodically. This was refuted on Huffpost and by Sullivan. BBC is too old school to take sides I think.
Ah. Oh well.
Here’s what John Cole says:
Can someone please tell John McCain it’s not about us.
That was John Cole criticizing Sully on changing the color scheme of his site. And he is right, but like I said…. “still….”
Why do people wear Phillies hats to the ballpark. It ain’t because they are going to pinch-hit. Just supporting the good guys.
Great point, DG! (I still have my Baggio tee!)
Changing the color is harmless.
How about the Azzuri yesterday? The Americ… I mean Italian kid Rossi made quite the debut.
My Iranian Facebook friends are asking everyone to use the “Where is My/Their Vote” graphics as their profile pic.
I have changed my Twitter location to Tehran also. This is intended to overwhelm the censors that are trying to track down the people getting the information out.
Nice LG!! The Baasij are brutal so any misdirection may just save somebody.
Actually, independent polls in May, indicate that Ahmadinejad was probably fairly elected by a 2-1 margin.
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/48139772.html
Then why cordone off and lock the Ministry of the Interior as the polls close? Why jam mobile phones, SMS and sat TV straightaway? Why report official returns and validate them within hours rather than the 3 days prescribed by Iranian law? (Nate Silver at 538 documented the very odd results.) Maybe he did beat Mousavi in Tabriz (MHM hometown) by 10+ points… Maybe…
I am not a conspirarcy theorist be any means… but I call bullshit on this.
Sure Dorian, but Al Gore lost his home state against GWB. Just sayin’ is all…
That poll (and apparently it was a decent one) was in mid-May. Meaning it wouldn’t have captured the Mousavi apparent surge in late May, early June.
It is possible that this thing was won fair and square, but that seems to mean that you have to accept or ignore not just one or two coincidences or anomalies, but a whole truckload of them.
JFK: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
RWR: “We will show our Solidarity with the courageous people of Poland and call for an end to their repression, the release of all those arbitrarily detained, the restoration of the internationally recognized rights of the Polish people, and the resumption of internal dialogue and reconciliation in keeping with fundamental human rights.”
BHO: “I am deeply concerned.”
So GRex goes back to his neocon roots that a year ago wanted to obliterate the very people protesting in the streets. Every foreign policy expert (and no, neocons are not foreign policy experts, they are foreign policy idiots), including Sen. Dick Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, says that President Obama’s response is pitch perfect so far, because America cannot be seen as meddling in Iran’s internal politics, given our history.
And given the fluid nature of the situation where Ahmadi and the conservatives could emerge victorious, it would be foolish to take sides. As an Iranian student protesting himself said, “thank God, Obama gets it.”
Apparently GRex doesn’t.
According to the WSJ these are Obama’s remarks:
“Mr. Obama said Monday he was deeply troubled by the violence surrounding the election, but stressed it was up to the Iranian people to choose their leadership. He said he would maintain his policy of directly negotiating with Iran’s leaders on its nuclear program, irrespective of the vote.
“It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran’s leaders will be. We respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran,” Mr. Obama said.
“What I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy and optimism into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was,” he said.”
And let’s not forget the history of Iran and how the Ayatollahs came to power — they were able to invoke the Great Satan and portray the Shah and others as instruments of the Great Satan. For Obama to do much more than what he’s already done would be to give that old exuse new life and we already know what the Ayatollahs would do with it. If the Supreme Leaders are going to steal an election and abuse their citizens let them do that in a way that makes it clear to everyone that they are stealing from their own citizens. There is no point in letting them get away with that because they can say Mousavi and his supporters are American stooges.
Paleocon, not Neocon, get it straight Del Dem. (hence the name G Rex.)
The Iranian people (Persians if you’re all semantic about it) are sick of the mullah rule, not being able to hold hands in public or wear blue jeans or listen to pop music, whatever. This fake election and the resulting outrage could be the tipping point, and President Obama needs to be nudging, not keeping his hands in his pockets.
Fair points, cassandra, especially with regards to US support for the Shah and his regime helping give the Ayatollahs credibility, and the risk of tarring an opposition candidate as pro-American. Thing is, nobody in Iran is particularly supporting Mousavi, just voting against Ahmadinejad. My friend Nousha, who drove 6 hours to cast an absentee ballot in Ohio that probably wouldn’t be counted anyway, said, “I just wish I was voting for somebody instead of against somebody.”
Nudging is what it sounds like he said today — the more complete version that came from the paper, not your silly reduction. They need to work this out without US interference that would give cover to the mullahs for worse than what they are doing now.
Obviously we’re cross posting.
I don’t think there’s anything else we can do here except hope that everything is resolved peacefully.
Yes, well Iranian elections are going to be mostly protest elections. When your candidates are pretty much pre-selected for you you don’t get to make any choice that have any real meaning. And for as much as people are in the streets for him Mousvi won’t mark a sea change in Iranian policy either. It would mark a real effort towards the Iranians actually talking back to the mullahs in a way they don’t often get and we shouldn’t get in their way.
We are cross posting, but an Iranian friend of mine (here, running a lab) pointed out in an email that perhaps the biggest bit of progress on display here is that no one in the Tehran streets is yelling Death to America.