A Cry for Help from a Sea of Flowers and a Desert of Death

The following text is a free translation of a post writen by Dutch-Iranian refugee and Leiden University lecturer, Afshin Ellian, published earlier today in Elsevier Magazine.

The world commemorates Neda.

Last Friday thousands of Persians went in mourning to Tehran Cemetery where Neda and other victims of the Islamofascist regime lay buried. A sea of flowers in a desert of death.  Remembrance and mourning are the only weapons at the disposal of powerless people. This is our weapon against those in power, who wish to expunge history. 

You, dear reader, needs to jump into action. Act against torture! Already thousands of citizens, prominent politicians and mainly young people have been arrested. The messages human rights organizations and I have received are very worrying indeed. The mullah regime tortures without restraint. They want to force confessions.

The detained are forced to confess that their instructions to destabilize Iran came from rich Jews, Israel, the U.K., the E.U. or America. A NewsWeek journalist has already confessed. Think of something! Write petitions and send them to the Secretary General of the U.N. and the E.U. Presidency to force Tehran to release its political prisoners.

Torture and detentions cannot restrain the longing for freedom. Even Real politicians, like Farid Zakaria, believe Islamism has no future in Iran. Apparently even opportunists - who demanded President Bush faced up to reality - have seen the light.

What was that? The Islamic Government is supported by the people, and therefore Western countries must talk to them on an even keel? That sort of nonsense is in short supply these days. Those types thought the West should not heed people like me. It's very ironic that they should want to talk to me now.  Until a year ago I was a traumitized refugee, but all of a sudden I'm an expert!

I don't want to talk to these charlatans anymore. I'm not even an expert. I'm just a little Neda, a little voice. We've been trying to press home for thirty years now that the regime is immoral, and that it doesn't have popular support. But some Western politicians begged to differ. In fact, they share a world view with Ahmadinejad.

The glory of freedom.

Ahmadinejad still believes the people love him and his regime. He called the protesters "hay and straw": Khas wa Kashak. He also called them hooligans. The people have reversed that and call themselves Khas wa Khashak. They wrote on a placard: the "epic story of straw and hay".

Artists have made this beautiful rendition:



Iranian liberty loving men and women now also have international artists on their side. Famous performers like John Bon Jovi have already sang songs for the people of straw and hay. 



They sing about the glory of liberty. Why are European performers so silent?

Many wear green wrist bands in solidarity with the rebellious Iranians. Green: the nature of liberty. Why did Mousavi choose the colour green? Red is the color of Communists and Socialists. Isn't green the color of Islam? But this isn't about Islam. It's also one of the colors of the Iranian flag - which has also nothing to do with Islam. Green is the symbol of nature's rebirth. In this way the color green is being de-Islamized.

Mousavi is a gifted painter, who has had expositions in Tehran. A friend in Tehran told me: "Mir Hussein (Mousavi) has accidentally used too much green paint and the situation has gone out of control. Now we're swimming in green, the green of Persia, the green of nature. And that's freedom. That's the nature we want. The green of the Prophet needs to get tender again."

The Green Revolution is the revolt of the nature of man, shouting for liberty. The epic story of hay and straw. 

Mousavi's future is unknown. But we do know that the world needs to support the green wave of freedom. Liberty is more attractive than Koranic rant. Thirty years of Koran, Jihad, Sharia and the Prophet Mohammed have brought forth children who yearn for freedom and not Jihad. Isn't that wonderful?

Here's how you can keep up to date with the rising Iran Body Count. The sound of imploding collectives is always grim.