What I have witnessed." A powerful note from a female medical student in Iran, translated from Farsi by a trusty reader.
Hello,
It's painful to watch what's happening.
I don't want anything to do with what has been said this far, as I neither have the strength nor the resilience to face all these unfathomable events.
I only want to speak about what I have witnessed. I am a medical student. There was chaos last night at the trauma section in one of our main hospitals. Although by decree, all riot-related injuries were supposed to be sent to military hospitals, all other hospitals were filled to the rim. Last night, nine people died at our hospital and another 28 had gunshot wounds. All hospital employees were crying till dawn. They (government) removed the dead bodies on back of trucks, before we were even able to get their names or other information. What can you even say to the people who don't even respect the dead. No one was allowed to speak to the wounded or get any information from them. This morning the faculty and the students protested by gathering at the lobby of the hospital where they were confronted by plain cloths anti-riot militia, who in turn closed off the hospital and imprisoned the staff. The extent of injuries are so grave, that despite being one of the most staffed emergency rooms, they've asked everyone to stay and help--I'm sure it will even be worst tonight.
What can anyone say in face of all these atrocities? What can you say to the family of the 13 year old boy who died from gunshots and whose dead body then disappeared?
This issue is not about cheating(election) anymore. This is not about stealing votes anymore. The issue is about a vast injustice inflected on the people. They've put a baton in the hand of every 13-14 year old to smash the faces of "the bunches who are less than dirt" (government is calling the people who are uprising dried-up torn and weeds)
This is what sickens me from dealing with these issues. And from those who shut their eyes and close their ears and claim the riots are in opposition of the government and presidency!! No! The people's complaint is against the egregious injustices committed against the people.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
more censorship: Iran
just a few minutes ago, twitter names removed for safety:
- most of the tunnel/proxy apps are blocked, it's getting near impossibe to reach twitter.
- oh its really bad now more people are going to die
- they take all cameras.. mobiles are dead many internet blocked...
- YAHOO MAIL, YAHOO MESSENGER, GTALK, LIVE MESSENGER. All are blocked in Iran
- PLEASE PROTECT YOUR IDENTITIES IRAN TWEEPS! We need you safe. If you don't want your TWITTERNAME used in RT, please saying so!
- "thanks to someone (probably gov) we're are now also spies of israel! and to be shoot on sight"
censorship: Iran & China
An image of Mir Hossein Mousavi is seen (lower left), fixed to a desk with a smashed computer monitor in a room in a Tehran University dormitory after it was attacked by militia forces during riots in Tehran, Iran in the early hours of Monday, June 15, 2009. (AP photo)
Iran: Activists Launch Hack Attacks on Tehran Regime
Iran SMS networks "mysteriously" fail right before elections ...
Iranian election uprising: Twitter tracks it real-time, Iranian ...
Iran: death penalty for "corrupt weblogs" - Boing Boing
Iran web censorship update: admins detained - Boing Boing
Iran: magazines at newsstand censored in ink, stickers - Boing Boing
Charges of new 'Net censorship in Iran - Boing Boing
Iran: new BBC TV documentary on culture, media, tech now online ...
China Orders Patches to Planned Web Filter
Experts Say Chinese Filter Would Make PCs Vulnerable
EDITORIAL; China’s Computer Folly
China Faces Criticism Over New Software Censor
China Criticized Over Computer Filtering Plan
China Requires Software on New Computers to Block 'Unhealthy Information'
To Shut Off Tiananmen Talk, China Blocks More Web Sites
direct news from Iran...
One of my best friends is now is Iran, he just emailed the following:
6/16/2009 1:24 AM:
"Things went terribly wrong with the elections. There was widespread rigging of the polls, to have Ahmadinejad reelected. Results in favor of Ahmadinejad were announced even before votes were counted. The outcome was widespread protests and demonstrations. Students were and still are being arrested and beaten by mob control and tugs supported by the government. The situation is very bad indeed. I hope I can get out before things get worse."
Monday, June 15, 2009
power to the people of Iran!
Twitpic - Share photos on Twitter
Iran / today / police & people #IranElection on Twitpic
This Is What Fascism Looks Like
This Is What Fascism Looks Like, Ctd
no mo. It is a crime ... one person dead in Tehran #IranElection on Twitpic
Live-Tweeting The Revolution
Live-Tweeting The Revolution
Iran blocks foreign coverage of election protests: media
Iran blocks TV, radio and phones – but web proves more difficult ...
Persia on fire!?!?!!!!???
from Twitters seconds ago in Iran (twitter ID's removed):- Forces are killing people in Azadi Sq. with machine-gun! Shouldn't stay night there... #iranelection
- Massive failure from old media to cover the #iranelection. If it wasn't for the web you wouldn't know anything was going on.
- I uploaded a YouTube video -- Iran09 - 32 - Jun 15th - Azadi Sq http://bit.ly/uOlMD#iranelection #greenrevolution
- BULLETIN -- AT LEAST ONE DEAD AFTER PRO-GOVERNMENT MILITIA OPEN FIRE AT OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS IN TEHRAN. #IranElection
- Sadegh Zibakalam, Prof at Tehran Univ, says number of crowd "simply uncountable...maybe 1,000,000, maybe 2,000,000" #iranelectionRT @oxfordgirl: More reports coming in of shots at Azadi square. Don't separate, keep in large groups
- This is no longer abt the election or Mousavi, it is about power in the hands of the people #iranelection #iranelections HOPE
Saturday, June 6, 2009
previously unseen photos of Tiananmen Square Massacre
Beyond Tiananmen Square
Previously unseen pictures obtained by the Guardian show how the violence centred on Tiananmen Square played out in surrounding areas...
Friday, June 5, 2009
remembering "Tank Man"...
In the summer of 2007, I was invited to take part in an artist residency program at Platform China's Beijing International Artist Platform (BIAP). The project that I completed during my residency included wheatpasting up sections of hand printed wallpaper on the streets of Beijing, China. My prints, installed guerrilla style without permission, not only engendered much discussion with local residents but surprisingly stayed up for more than a week before all traces were removed. The prints conflated two divergent images of China. On top of highly romanticized images of China from anachronistic chinoiserie wallpaper, I silk screened photographic images of the "Tank Man ," an image banned in China, of a lone city resident standing up to a column of tanks on June 5th, 1989 in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The image above and the images in my previous post show some of the installation of that project on the streets of Beijing. Also, the following blog mentions my work in connection with a series of paintings by Chen Guang, a former soldier that fired shoots in Tiananmen, - William Andersen
Thursday, June 4, 2009
remembering Tiananmen...
June 4, 1989 ...I was 21 and just coming into my own ...just moving out of my parents' home, just taking on my own ideas about politics, religion, war, life, love and everything... since I was young, every time I had uttered even the slightest criticism of the USA, my parents would tell me to "go live in Russia," and I still remember having to crouch down under my desk or go hide in the basement of my grade school as a drill to prepare for a Russian atomic missile strike (like that would have saved us in any way)... now, in the summer of 1989, the Soviet Union was collapsing, Poland's Solidarity movement was challenging Communist rule and winning 99% of the vote in semi-free elections, the Berlin Wall was soon to fall, it seemed only inevitable that the peaceful pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square would mean an end to Communist totalitarian rule in China. I remember watching the students live on all the TV screens at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where I had just declared my major as art (against my parents' wishes) and I felt a real solidarity with these rebellious freedom lovers......then the tanks rolled in, the guns were fired across the square... hundreds, perhaps even thousands, were murdered...
...lots of excellent articles in the New York Times today, especially by Nicholas D. Kristof who personally witnessed the massacre:
Bullets Over Beijing
Remembering the Tiananmen Protests
On the GroundChina Floods Tiananmen Square With Police to Bar Protests
meeting a former soldier that fired shoots in Tiananmen...
...very strange that I met this artist, Chen Guang, in the summer of 2007 at an art exhibit of the most shocking art that I've ever seen... I had a very difficult time with his art and with much of the art in the show... but knowing a little more about his background makes me really think... a former soldier that fired shots at protesters on June 4, 1989 when he was only 17, now he is the featured artist in a New York Times Headline article:Tiananmen Square Scars Soldier Turned Artist
Lo Ch'ing's poem for June 4...
中國六四白上衣
羅青
在 六月四日 那天
那天一大清早
天安門廣場一角
一定會出現一個白上衣
在 六月四日 那天
一個穿白上衣的人
一定會出現在中國大地的中心
在 六月四日 那天
全中國的人都自動穿上白上衣
自動降下了一望無垠的六月雪
在全中國的土地上
在 六月四日 那天
2009年6月4日清晨.
一首行為藝術詩
Lo Ch'ing is a well known Chinese scholar, poet and painter, and I am lucky enough to be able to count him as a personal friend. Born in Mainland China in 1948, his family escaped to Taiwan fleeing the communist takeover. As a child, one of his instructors in traditional Chinese arts was Pu Hsin Yu (溥儒), the cousin of Puyi (溥儀), the last emperor of China.
The Postmodern (?) Misquote in the Poetry and Painting of Lo Ch'Ing
Goedhuis Contemporary - Lo Ch'ing 罗青
Lo Ch'ing on artnet
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
the Chinese Century?
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
The General Motors Corporation has agreed to sell it’s Hummer division to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd. of the People’s Republic of China.
...maybe it will be The Chinese Century?
Monday, June 1, 2009
GM bankrupt/US Treasury Secretary in China...
On Monday, General Motors files for bankruptcy protection and US Treasury Secretary in China
Just a coincidence? ...maybe we should be worried:
Selling out to big brother: China, Inc. and the US, Inc.
No Laughing Matter
Why The Chinese Laughed At Geithner
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