keep paying attention/mess with some heads

a call for people to keep their eyes and ears peeled for Iranian related material, particularly cultural...

i sent in this scoop from a free local newspaper here in Dublin southside.

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the embers of Pyro-Theology at gb09 are glowing brightly. *much* work to be done but my confidence that we can pull together a worthwhile offering is gaining.
i can't/won't give any details away but i think this could be an engaging gathering.
(time tbc/friday evening/Centaur. keep the date.)

NOTE: our friends in Moot helped created a "protest" for our Fundamentalism gathering a couple of years back - brilliantly led by the Father. it was integral to setting the mood and theology for the night.

money quote (from someone in the queue, who took the Father's iain paisley-esque hell, fire and brimstone trickster protest against ikon to be the real deal):

"fuck off!! i'm going in to worship!!"

hehe. oh the ironies in those 7 words. as jonny would say, it works on many levels.

i can't say anything about the plans for this year, but if you're gonna be on site and are available to lend a hand in the 30 mins before the event and possibly during it, let me know how i can contact you by direct mail. we may need some extra hands for this year's evanDalistic infiltrating. please note, any info you are given as a result, you are asked to keep to yourself.

right, i am running massively behind this morning and am meant to be travelling to Belfast. better get my ass firmly in gear.

LB

jason jones behind the veil

first there was Wasilla. then came ASU and Florida. each time, as i shuddered and cringed, i thought he couldn't get any better... and then Jason Jones went to Iran.

because i can't stick these on my fridge:

I`ra`ndecision 2009: Ahmadinejad rally in Tehran

Behind the Veil: part 1 - Minarets of Menace

part 2 - Persians of Interest

part 3 - Ayatollah You So

part 4 - The Kids Are Allah Right

Moment of Zen - Iranian playground

صلح و عشق :: peace and love

LB

satire meets tyranny

take this quote from mark twain

and mix it with last night's daily show iran coverage & interview with Embrahim Yazdi's son (22/06/09)

and, if you feel moved to respond to Yazdi's advice, there's an opportunity as an individual to voice your concern to Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei via an email campaign set up last week on the Amnesty International USA, or take up the alternative actions (e.g. contacting local Iranian embassies) available your local Amnesty site.

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Caspian Makan, Neda Agha-Setan's fiancee, was interviewed by BBC Persia:

About payment for releasing the remains, Mr. Makan had this to say: "No specific amount has been paid at this time, although hospitals, clinics, surgeons and medical examiners have been ordered by the Iranian security services, based on various orders, not to list 'bullet wound' as the cause of death on the death certificate in order to prevent the families from filing international complaints in the future. I haven't seen the release notice of Neda's remains yet, but I will obtain it from her father in the coming days." (via Nico Pitney on 22/06. italics my own.)

there is a lack of logic to this defensive policy that even a child could spot. this is not 'simply' avoidance of future charges via evidence tampering and supression of truth. in a case of domestic abuse, the use of this underlying manipulation of logic and reality on an adult, let alone a child, would be filed under evidence of psychological abuse. as bureaucratic defense, (as has been so consistently evident in Khamenei's speech last Friday and all other attempts by authorities to deny electoral fraud) it's nothing short of Orwellian.

but then as someone pointed out to me last night, recalling Zimbabwe as just one of so many examples, since when did the insanity of believing of one's own lies ever stop anyone fron running a country for 30 years?

tragically, it doesn't stop there:

12:40 AM ET -- A 19-year-old shot in the head and killed during the demonstrations... and Iranian officials asked his parents to "pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a 'bullet fee' -- a fee for the bullet used by security forces -- before taking the body back." One of the most tragic stories I've read in a long time, by the Wall Street Journal's exceptional Farnaz Fassihi. (Nico Pitney)

i'll be honest and say i read that quote and found it difficult to comprehend, such is the inhumane mindfuck this adding-insult-to-murder represents.

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i've not been able to get this reader post from the daily dish out of my head. only time will tell if the reader called it right, but whatever is to come, i suspect this'll still win my nomination for best use of motherfucker in 2009.

i find myself unavoidably reminded that looking the other way and saying nothing, or taking more interest in Perez Hilton than global hunger, AIDS, genocide, war crimes and political oppression is a choice granted to those of us who have democratic freedom.
i count myself fortunate to have the undeniable luxury of limiting my cares and concerns solely to the insignificant and peurile if i should so choose, however much that is an arguably wasteful disregard of one's liberty and humanity.

LB

Allah o Akbar

i recommend hitting play and then reading the accompanying letter. it reads movingly, and reminds me of Brueggemann's description of Psalmic prayer: the speech of extremity.

I cannot in any way claim to know what people are thinking or meaning on the ground, but for centuries, 'Allahu Akbar' has been in the Muslim world a battlefield of meaning and ultimately of political legitimacy. They are five syllables pregnant in meaning, mutability and richness, not simply a ritualistic or fundamentalist dogmatic trope. Nor is 'Allahu Akbar' simply a prayer. In fact, despite all its negative, violent connotations in the West, 'Allahu Akbar' has been uttered by Muslims throughout history as a cry against oppression, against kings and monarchs, against tyrannical and despotic rule, reminding people that in the end, the disposer of affairs and ultimate holder of legitimacy is not any man, not any king or queen, not even any supreme leader, but ultimately a divine force out and above directing, caring and fighting for a more peaceful, rule-based, just and free world for people to live in. God is the one who is greatest, above each and every mortal human being whose station it is to pass away.

The fact that 'Allahu Akbar' is echoing through the Iranian night is not only an indication of the longing of people there to find a peaceful and just solution to this crisis. It also points to how deep the erosion of legitimacy is in whosoever acts against the will of the people, in whosoever claims to act on God's behalf to oppress his fellow human, including in this case some of the 'supreme' Islamic jurists themselves. This all goes to show that Islam, far from being merely an abode of repression and retrogression, has the capacity of being a fundamentally restorative and democratic force in human affairs. In the end, so it seems, at least in the Iranian context, 'Allahu Akbar', God is greatest, is a most profoundly democratic of political slogans. So deep is this call, that what is determined out of this liminal moment may very well set the terms for (or against) a lived, democratic Islamic reality for decades to come.

from Nicholas - a reader at Nico Pitney "live-blogging the uprising" at HuffPo. (post: 3.40PM ET, 6/18/09, titled Allah 0 Akbar!)

LB

we are limbs to each other

Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.


- Saʿdī, medieval mystical poet, native of Shiraz, Iran translating the Prophet Mohammad

no excuse for apathy

the events that are unfolding are significant on a number of levels - first and foremost for the people of Iran and their self-determination. but i suspect, like many others online tonight suspect, that we may yet see an even wider change...

i feel something like sadness underneath the amazement and horror at what is being broadcast via the new media today. there is a degree to which i am ashamed. that we who have so much freedom squander the right to publicly rally and raise our voices.

"Life has come to a halt. There were at least 2-3M in the streets today. I've never seen such anger. We are not going let this go. They've closed all the universities (during final exams) and have started a purge. Many of our professors are missing and student organizers are moving constantly to avoid detainment. The police is just watching and the army has declared neutrality. The violence is 100% caused by the BASIJ and thugs who are roaming the streets. They seem to be targeting girls, swinging with clubs and chains. Its disgusting but we are protected by numbers. Get the word out-- the more of us stand together, the safer each individual will be. The reports of the university attacks yesterday are true. We don't know how many were hurt or killed."
from a dish reader, here. italics and highlight my own.

i hope we learn from the people of Iran. for not only do we not stand up and use our freedom to speak loudly in solidarity with those who are voiceless in other parts of the world, we rarely stand up for the voiceless in our own neighbourhoods...

for those who have lost their lives and suffered brutality, may we feel deep sorrow...



as the bumper sticker say,

if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention

and most of the time, i'm not...
they are outraged. and i am humbled to be alive to witness their courage and tenacity.

for in all of this, i can only speak for myself. when i say, "we", i really mean "i". but if they seek others to add their voice, count me in the collective...

LB

"in a turbulant world..."

hard to know what one can say such is the speed of news and developments coming out of the ::green revolution:: in iran - but i think this is twitter perhaps finally finding its true value. and given the power of blogging in iran in recent years, this is perhaps not surprising. reading the tweets out of the raided university dorms has made for sobering reading. it never ceases to amaze and humble me at how couragous humans can be when faced with physical threat.

in other, totally different, news - i'm sorry i haven't a clue returns.
it'll be on radio 4 and the bbc iplayer as of tonight. episode details here. nice.

yesterday's collaborative session with jayne and jonny went well so i now have two weeks to take the ideas and the processes we messed about with back to dublin and create the pieces for the exhibit. but i'm glad i asked for their energy and input. it was something of a masterclass in experimenting with techniques and i'm looking forward to playing with ink and graphite powder, salt and acryclics over the coming days.

last night's ikon was a good step toward greenbelt. i spent much of this morning sorting and typing the notes from the creative discussion we got going. colour me feeling very hopeful at what it could become...

downpour has finally passed over and despite continued rain it's time to get moving. a trip to the art store and chats with The Father and with my gay boyfriend await. and soggy converse i suspect.

LB