An underground newspaper which has been circulating amongst protesters has been published online. The paper entitled "Khiaban" or "The Street" gives details of the protests of past days from the perspective of those on the streets of Iran. The copy seen (left) was published on 19th June and tells of how people were enraged by the election out come, leading to the demonstrations over the past week. "Yet since the results were announced, the situation changed and people became angry, and sought the crest of the wave to propel them beyond the ignorance, repression and hundreds of lies. During recent days and nights, the tide has again turned."
The newspaper also says that whilst the youth are on the street, they are advised by older relatives who remember the 1979 revolution. It also says that many people are leaving their doors open for injured protesters to take refuge in their homes. The paper goes on to explain how the deaths and statements from government have only acted to further anger the demonstrators. "Killing us and calls for calm have only made the situation more acute. Now we have more questions; more than just issues with vote counting. We want a different voice."
The paper goes on to say "We do not want to be sacrificed to corruption and graft again, for the nth time, so that our interests are ignored. We do not want a slaughterhouse that would set society back thirty years. We do not want a repeat of the fraud of 1979. We do not have any media but the world has gotten smaller so we no longer experience one thing on the streets yet read something different in world media. We do not want the next generation to be ignorant about what happened on the streets of Tehran, Esfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Kermanshah, and the rest of the cities, large and small. We will represent a new voice in this power play: the voice of the people crying out in the streets. The people who have no delusions about colors and who demand change."
It's publication online comes on the day which saw protests on the streets turn increasingly violent and the deaths of as many as 19 people. Hospitals have been inundated with many injured and are calling on people to donate blood because of a nationwide shortage. In yesterday's violent scenes, all European and many other embassies in Tehran opened their doors to the injured. A source in Tehran said "Tehran is burning with the blood of our Martyrs - The streets are full of dead".
Mir Hossein Mousavi also announced, yesterday, that he was prepared for martyrdom in the fight for freedom and called for an indefinite strike if he was to be arrested. Latest reports say that daughter of Rafsanjani, Faezeh, has been arrested for her own 'protection' by the Iranian authorities. This comes after she appeared on the streets of Tehran speaking for Mr Mousavi and encouraging the crowds to continue to defy government bans on protests.
The Iranian government has maintained it's ban on foreign media reporting from 'illegal' rallies, meaning that social media sites such as twitter have continued as the way for protesters to get information out of the country. Not only have regular updates of events in Iran been posted, but videos have been posted to sites such as youtube and CNN's Ireport along with hundreds of thousands of pictures to flickr, twitpic and other similar sites. Yesterday, saw the upload of the extremely distressing footage of a young women, who twitter users have named Neda (voice or call in Persian), dying after being severely wounded in protests.
("The Street" can be viewed in its entirety at http://moniroravanipor.com/images/stories//xyaban1.pdf If anyone can translate the entire paper or parts of it into English this would be greatly appreciated. Please send any translations to boozhooz@yahoo.co.uk.)
BOOZHOOZ WOULD LIKE TO THANK THOSE IN IRAN WHO HAVE POSTED VIDEOS, PICTURES AND INFORMATION ONLINE. YOUR'E BRAVERY HAS MADE THIS REPORT POSSIBLE.
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