To read the original Facebook note where I found this, here is the link
A Bloody Tomorrow in Iran – Harrison Kalodimos
June 19, 2009 at 6:22pm
When Ayatollah Khamenei (the Supreme Leader of Iran) gave the khutba (sermon) at today’s Jumu’ah (Friday Prayers), he broke his multi-day silence to reject the Iranian people’s plea for restoration of a legitimate democratic process (full speech here). Instead he once again told the Iranians to accept Ahmadinejad as their President and ignore last Friday’s obvious voter fraud. More frighteningly, he told the crowd that he was washing his hands of responsibility for any harm that comes to the protesters at the hands of the Revolutionary Guard (the Army) and the Basij (a government militia). With a protest publicly planned for 4pm tomorrow (8am ET), there is no doubt that Khamenei means to violently suppress the voice of the people.
One Iranian blogger contemplates the brutality she is sure to face tomorrow:
Translation:
“I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I’m listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to have very narrow eyebrows. Yes, maybe I will go to the salon before I go tomorrow! There are a few great movie scenes that I also have to see. I should drop by the library, too. It’s worth to read the poems of Forough and Shamloo again. All family pictures have to be reviewed, too. I have to call my friends as well to say goodbye. All I have are two bookshelves which I told my family who should receive them. I’m two units away from getting my bachelors degree but who cares about that. My mind is very chaotic. I wrote these random sentences for the next generation so they know we were not just emotional and under peer pressure. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mongols but did not surrender to despotism. This note is dedicated to tomorrow’s children…”
Tonight, people all over Tehran are calling “Allah-o Akbar” into the night. This simple prayer, “God is great” in English, represents the Iranian people’s indefatigable hope and faith in this time of trial. Listen to the sound of hope against all odds here.
The translation of the woman’s speech is as follows:
“Tonight, the cries of Allah-o Akbar are heard louder and louder than the nights before.
Where is this place? Where is this place where every door is closed? Where is this place where people are simply calling God? Where is this place where the sound of Allah-o Akbar gets louder and louder?
I wait every night to see if the sounds will get louder and whether the number increases. It shakes me. I wonder if God is shaken.
Where is this place that where so many innocent people are entrapped? Where is this place where no one comes to our aid? Where is this place that only with our silence we are sending our voices to the world? Where is this place that the young shed blood and then people go and pray — standing on that same blood and pray. Where is this place where the citizens are called vagrants?
Where is this place? You want me to tell you? This place is Iran. The homeland of you and me.
This place is Iran.”
Post Author - Harrison Kalodimos
It is a place like many other around the world where power in the hands of the few can suppress the many with guns and evil deeds.
The voices are hears even in silence, maybe more so.The silence awakens the conscience of the world and each hears in his own heart the cry for freedom.
The heart of every being cries out for freedom and we are all represented in your silence. It weighs heavily on our heart that we cannot join you in the battle but in spirit we will be there.
God be with you