quadruplify | Jun. 20th, 2009

Even though I haven't been as invested in the situation in Iran as many people on the Internet have, to the point of setting up proxies and spearheading DDoS attacks on pro-Ahmadinejad and pro-Iranian government websites and going to protests anywhere in the world to show solidarity, it has still affected me in ways current events hardly do. I write these entries as a form of catharsis, as well as to try and document what has been going on -- I think I have tried not to make other people care if they don't want to, and I certainly don't intend to spam people's f-lists with this, even though to some degree I probably have. But it's impossible to deny the sheer importance of this situation. You can rationalize why it is all you want -- the importance of Iran in the region and the world, the fighting for freedom and democracy, the sheer number of people from all walks of life protesting, etc. -- but ultimately you know it's important because it's something you feel, something you intuit to be true. Because of this, it's hard not to be emotionally invested in this.

So I'm writing this entry because I'm afraid things are only going to get worse.

On Friday morning Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, threw down the gauntlet by implying that any protests from here on out are likely to be met with a very real, very brutal, and very bloody crackdown. Things are going to be very differnet from now on. And in a way, they already have -- in the backs of the minds of many concerned people seeing their fellow human beings rally against oppression and tyranny, holds the fear that within the next 48 hours, we could very well see another Tiananmen Square. I don't mean to be dramatic, but this is a very real fear, only because it is just so plausible. And when you realize there's hardly anything you can do about it except sit and watch, well, what can you do except try to alleviate that fear just a little? Like, say, writing a LiveJournal entry about it?

As usual, I've already said far too much, so I'll turn it over to others:

( 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.... )

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