The World is Watching

Update: 12:49pm EST - More video is available, sourced from HuffPo and the NYT Liveblogs. First up is a lengthy 7 minute clip, apparently from today, showing police and protestors clashing, with a decent veil of tear gas all around. Scary stuff indeed. The others are CNN iReport videos, also apparently from today. CNN is currently running video of what may be an unofficial protest rally that has grown quite large despite the crackdown on planned rallies. I'm going to try and find these videos if I can. Any suggestions, please send them to me via Twitter...

I'm going to see about pulling these videos down and reposting them to create copies just in case Iran's current regime grows some balls and tries to take down everything...

Update: 12:30pm EST - @BreakingNews Online is reporting that Iranian protestors who are either killed or wounded are being carried away almost immediately by police forces. To me, this looks like a clear attempt to prevent people and the media from seeing the results of what are clearly sickening and horrifying acts. For some of the fastest updates in the world of news, I suggest following them on Twitter.

BNO is also confirming that Mousavi has, in fact, said that he is "Ready for Martyrdom" and fully intends to continue working for change until his death. Confirmed by a Reuters-based witness.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I think I'm ready to call it: The Iranian Revolution has begun.

This calls memories of Boris Yeltsin standing on a tank and talking to the Russian people during the collapse of the USSR. I truely have lived during very fascinating times indeed...

Update: 12:05pm EST - CNN still says opposition leaders haven't been seen, yet HuffPo is running tweets from Iranians confirming his location, as well as his speeches and the chants of protestors:

"Crowd rushing to Jihoun St, where people are saying Mousavi is there and talking with protesters"

Protesters in Revolution sq r chanting: Goftim agar taghalob besheh basatetoon jam misheh!! "We told u if u cheat it'll be the end of u"

The situation is heating up. This is history, kids! My thoughts are with the people of Iran right now. Going to take a break, smoke a cigarette, visit my cats and try to calm my nerves.

Update: 11:53am EST - Still no confirmation found for the Kohmeni Shrine Bombing. The International Media Blackout is somewhat effective, preventing agencies like CNN, BBC etc. from doing independent confirmation. State-run media is still the only source of information on that.

From the Huffington Post Live-Blog:

A report on opposition leader Mousavi:@LilyMazahery: "Mousavi is at head of Jayhoon ave. giving a speech."

Reliable Iranian on Twitter: "mousavi among people: I am ready for death"

Another: "Mousavi - Confirmed - I have prepared for martyrdom"

Tweets from the TehranBureau.com staff: i'm dying with worry. please pray for us. 13 minutes ago from web

i'm worried 14 minutes ago from web

she hasn't returned 14 minutes ago from web

my young sister has taken to the streets as well 14 minutes ago from web

things are horrible, please pray for us 14 minutes ago from web

And from the New York Times Live-Blog:

From Shiraz, by way of our reader gb’s mother:

My mom is again stressing that the protesters were totally peaceful not even chanting when they were attacked. My mom’s friend said she saw right in front of her that a plain clothes person hit this young man with a baton so hard that the baton broke.

Another friend that lives in Daneshjoo Square (the place the protests took place) said that plain clothes police came to their homes this morning and told them they are not allowed to let any of the protesters seek refuge in their houses or they will be held responsible.

Yes, I'm Atheist. But I urge you all to do whatever it is you do to show your support for the people of Iran. We were once like them, in a revolution against an unjust system. We won our freedom, the people of Iran can, too...

Update: 11:40am EST - CNN is reporting that, in the second video I have posted below, protesters are shouting "Death to Kahemeni" in Farsi. They're also reporting that protests and marches have sprung up in the USA as well.

Some Iranians are posting pictures on Twitpic of the various scenes in and around Tehran.

Republican leaders are butthurt because we're taking a passive stance on Iran so far, at least in an official government capacity. I guess they really do love to meddle in international affairs, especially when it comes to oil-producing nations. Meanwhile, American citizens are NOT taking a passive stance, taking to Twitter, Facebook, etc., helping to disseminate information and post news links.

Update: 11:24am EST - OK, here we go. First of all, welcome to everyone pouring in from Twitter! Glad you decided to stop in for my take on the situation in Iran. And now, I'm going to make a lame attempt at live-blogging history. First up, here's the video I linked to previously, as well as some others culled from various sources around the web:

Students and police clash. A billboard appears to be set on fire, and reportedly, the police forces fired on the students on-camera. I can't really tell, maybe you all can.


Video, apparently from a storefront, shows riot police backing up as protestors advance. This video has been aired on CNN.

While reports indicate that the major protests called for today have been more or less blocked by state forces, people are still taking to the streets in Tehran and, presumably, the rest of Iran.

IF YOU'RE IN IRAN AND HAVE VIDEO, POST IT ASAP AND LINK IT ON TWITTER! Eventually, I'll get my hands on it and - like so many others of us around the world - we'll throw it up in order to keep these images from being drowned out!

Still no confirmation on the Kohmeni Shrine Bombing. No images yet, only state-run media reports that there are two dead and 8 injured. This is up from 1 dead and 8 injured, which would lead me to think that the updated figure should read 7 injured if one died. Take everything you get from Iranian State Media with an entire can of salt, because it's probably pro-regime bullshit.

More updates to come...

ORIGINAL POST: For every kid who's ever said that history isn't important. For every kid who's ever said that the world is a boring place where nothing happens. For every ignorant fuck who thinks that things half a world away has nothing to do with them.

History is happening right now in Iran. This Video shows a clash between students and police. I can't really make it out, but at some point, the students are fired upon.

The Huffington Post is live-blogging, with video as it comes out of Tehran and other parts of Iran.

State-run Iranian TV is reporting on a bomb blast at Ayatollah Kohmeni's mausoleum earlier today. Of course, it's state-run TV, so take it with several grains of salt. There are rumors that they actually reported the blast a few moments before it actually happened, which is very possible and - if true - could be a thorn in the side of the current power structure. There have also been reports that there's no evidence of any bombing at all yet. Interesting.

And you people thought this didn't affect you. Need I remind you that Iran is a nuclear capable rogue state? Remember the Bush Years when you were all happy to be afraid? Well, now you actually SHOULD. Depending on the outcome of any potential revolution, some very interesting people could be in charge of some very powerful weapons...

To the people of Iran, if you can find a way around the blocks and censors and can actually find and read my site: STAY STRONG, DON'T BACK DOWN, KEEP FIGHTING. Despite what your government says, not all Americans are evil. In fact, many of us are behind you 100%, spreading news, pictures, and video to protect your work by making it as widely available and as hard to trace as possible.

WE WANT YOU TO SUCCEED! GOOD LUCK!

We The People

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.

Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the Present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People; unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.

He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.

He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislature.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond the Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule in these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Powers to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic Insurrections among us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of the divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Signed by ORDER and
in BEHALF OF THE CONGRESS
JOHN HANCOCK,
PRESIDENT.

ATTEST.
CHARLES THOMSON,
SECRETARY.

The important part is in bold, my emphasis. Wake the fuck up, people. It's time. In an election where we hear twisted versions of what the Founding Fathers wanted for our country, it's time we looked back and really paid attention to what they wrote down.

This document is the absolute foundation of this nation. That provision showed that our founders, when faced with an oppressive and corrupt government, believed it was their right - their motherfucking DUTY - to rise up and cast off that government, and start over again in the fairest way possible.

Where it's due: Text copied from Wikisource, font weight changes and the centering of the first line by me. The Declaration of Independence is a Government work, and is therefore in the public domain, something else our government has forgotten about with regards to more modern works and copyright law.