Cost of Freedom

A few nights ago, I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Halfway across the world, my peers were standing up against a political establishment, itself, established from popular uprising three decades ago. As I lay in bed that night, I thought about the parallel lives that these young and courageous Iranians were living. Risking imprisonment and even death, they took to the streets in the biggest sign of uprising in the thirty-year history of the current Iranian theocracy. Moussavi, himself, has indicated that he would accept martyrdom in the pursuit of greater freedom.

I often take the freedom that I enjoy for granted. For all its flaws, the American political experiment has survived the test of time, insurrections, wars, and other external/internal factors. It enumerates freedoms that I, as a citizen, am entitled to, and the justice system is, in theory, out to ensure due process of law. I am able to freely express myself, among other things, and anticipate my voice to be heard. I have economic opportunities with the possibility of upward social mobility. I don't fear the state's security apparatus barging into my apartment and dragging me off to prison on trumped up charges. I have the ability to gather in public rallies and demonstrations. I can move around the country and the world without government approval. The benefits of living in an open society can go on and on.

Like many outside of Iran, I've been glued to the television and the internet, watching and reading the most current news coming from Iran. I was particularly moved when it was reported that protesters addressed the issue of government crackdown on public rallies. They said that a million lives lost for greater democracy would be worth it for the forty-some million other Iranians and subsequent generations. This is the cost of freedom. Generations before have all paid their dues, many with their own dear lives. In America and in the rest of the world, brave men and women, often students, have shouldered the call to have their voices heard.

Hopefully, future Iranians and global citizens will look to July 2009 as another watershed moment in the pursuit of greater freedoms.

Twenty Years Later

On June 4, 1989, tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square and the army fired on its own people. The world watched in horror as China brutally suppressed any signs of open rebellion to cement its political legitimacy.

20 years later, there are rampant fears that history will repeat itself in another area of the world. Days have passed since the apparently fraudulent presidential election was complete, and the streets of Tehran continue to be hotbeds of political dissent as demands for legitimate democracy are heard with no end in sight. Analysts expect the situation to only worsen. And many anticipate that it is only a matter of time before the tanks coming rolling down in Tehran.

If Iran experiences its own Tiananmen Square incident, what will happen next? Will it lead to the broader mobilization of revoluationary activity? Or will it effectively quell any future prospects of democratization?

I'm no expert on Middle Eastern affairs, but something about this is captivating. I've been swept up in the revolutionary spirit. Although I cannot imagine what these brave men and women in Tehran are facing, I embrace the principles they stand for and am there in spirit with them. In a speech, former President George W. Bush once said, Everywhere that freedom arrives, humanity rejoices; and everywhere that freedom stirs,let tyrants fear." So in that spirit, let Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei fear. And let the seed of democracy runneth over into other tyrannical regimes in Sudan, North Korea, Burma, China, Zimbabwe, and others.

Let freedom ring.

pictures courtesy of Boston.com.

death to the dictator

The world holds its breath as Iran's future holds in the balance. The streets of Tehran are colored in green, the color of Iran's newest revolution, a revolution built upon the promise of real democracy.

The voices of the people can no longer be suppressed. The will of the people can no longer be denied. Death to the dictator!

For photos, click here.

Hodge Podge of News

It's becoming a busier summer than I had originally anticipated. Work at school has been crazy busy these past few weeks as I coordinate this US-Korea event the day before the South Korean president meets with President Obama. On top of that, I've been reading like crazy for my internship. And then I'm traveling almost every weekend in June. It's been hard to find any meaningful me-time, when I can just relax and recharge. But in the end, this is the road I chose to take. It is what it is. I cannot complain.

There's been a lot of world news that is of interest. North Korea has an heir apparent. It also exploded another nuclear device and fired short range missiles into the Sea of Japan. It put two U.S. reporters on trial for trumped up charges and sentenced them to 12 years in a forced labor camp. South Korea joined the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative in response to North Korea's provocative acts. Its former president committed suicide by jumping off a cliff. It enacted economic sanctions on North Korean companies. China and Russia are apparently showing signs of frustration with North Korea. China stepped up its censorship efforts leading up to the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident.

Elsewhere around the world, Pres. Obama delivered a conciliatory speech to the Arab-Muslim population in Cairo that was received with "cautious optimism." That speech is partially credited with the success of the U.S.-backed political coalition in yesterday's Lebanese parliamentary elections which denied the Shiite Hizbollah from increasing in power. That election could foreshadow the results of another Middle East election coming up on Friday in Iran. In Pakistan, there are signs that locals are fed up with Taliban incursion with local militia fighting Taliban forces in the tribal areas. An Air France flight fell off the radar and into the Atlantic Ocean, presumably killing everyone on board.

All in all, there is no shortage of interesting events going on around the world. We live in challenging but exciting times. I'm cautiously looking forward to Iran's presidential elections that pits the incumbent Ahmadinejad against three other moderates in a seemingly tight race. If Mousavi, the main oppositional leader, can win, it would truly be a promising sign of improving relations in the Middle East and hopes that extremism will continue to wane. But we shall see.