Iran Protest List for Monday…

Things are slow right now, but there are still some events:

LONDON: Protest at Iranian Embassy everyday, weekdays 6-9p weekends 4-7p #london

KANSAS CITY (MO) rally: Mon June 29, 7:30-8:30pm, JC Nichols Fountain (by PF Chang’s, Country Club Plaza)

VIRGINIA TECH Iran rally: Mon 6/29, 8-9p, Burrus Hall, Blacksburg, VA http://tinyurl.com/nf4jpw

BERLIN, 29.Juni, 18.30h, Stille Kundgebung für Iran, Berliner Dom/Museumsinsel http://tinyurl.com/mhvth2

BERLIN Iran demo: Mon 6/29, 18:30, Berliner Dom @ Museumsinsel http://tinyurl.com/mhvth2

Sunday Iran Protest List

It’s that time again…here’s another list of actions to copy and paste!

United States:

WASHINGTON DC Rally: Sun 6/28, 11am-5pm, Iran Interests Section, 2209 Wisconsin Ave.

PITTSBURGH vigil: Sun June 28, 3PM, Schenley Drive in Oakland, near Hillman Library http://bit.ly/hNkiX

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL rally: 6/28, 5-7:30p, Yankee Clipper Hotel, 1140 Seabreeze http://tinyurl.com/noa3l5

ATLANTA rally: Sun 6/28, @ CNN Center, 4-7pm, bring green balloon! http://tinyurl.com/p78w95

HOUSTON Iran rally: 6/28, 8-8:50pm, Water Wall (Galleria), 2800 Post Oak Blvd. http://tinyurl.com/n7c5fo

BATON ROUGE (LA) protest: Sun 6/28, 2-4pm, Louisiana State Capitol, 900 N 3rd St http://tinyurl.com/letqfd

L.A. Iran protest: Sun 6/28, 2pm, Federal Building (Westwood), 11000 Wilshire Blvd http://tinyurl.com/kjlugc

Worldwide:

OTTAWA protest: Sunday, June 28th, 11am by Iranian Embassy, 245 Metcalfe St http://bit.ly/IH8DL

ISTANBUL Iran rally: 6/28, 6-8p, Konsulgari Iran, Sultanahmet; Taksim Meydani http://bit.ly/Smx0b

PARIS Iran rally: Sunday 28th, 2-5pm, Place Bastille http://bit.ly/hAazm

PARIS: Marche de Solidarité avec l’Iran, dimanche 28 juin 14:00 (Place Bastille) http://bit.ly/hAazm

COPENHAGEN, Denmark Iran demo: Sunday night June 28th, 17:00 @ Rådhuspladsen
København, Danmark Iran demo: søndag aften den 28 juni, 17:00 @ Rådhuspladsen

LISBON / LISBOA Iran vigil: Sun 6/28, 20:30-24:00, Praça Luis de Camões http://tinyurl.com/kvmq5e

LISBON / LISBOA Irão Velas Vigil: Dom. 28/6, 20:30-24:00, Praça Luis de Camões http://tinyurl.com/kvmq5e

STOCKHOLM Iran demo: Sunday, June 28, 15:00-18:00, Sergels Torg http://tinyurl.com/l4qp37

SYDNEY Iran protest: Sun, June 28, 4pm, Sydney Town Hall steps http://tinyurl.com/kwnv48

Protest & Action List, Saturday Edition

Please Tweet, msg, email…show up, keep calm, and pray for truth.

They can’t protest, so we will.

United States:

WASHINGTON DC Iran rally: Sat 6/27, 11am-5pm, Iran Interest Section, 2209 Wisconsin Ave.

KEY WEST, Florida rally: “In Memory of Neda”, 27 June 10A-12P, Bayview Park at Truman & Jose Marti Dr.

NYC Iran protest: Sat 6/27 12-3pm, @ The United Nations HQ,  47th & 1st Ave

TALLAHASSEE, FL Iran protest: Sat June 27, 5-6pm, In front of Old State Capitol, Monroe & Apalachee

ATLANTA Iran rally: Sat 6/27, 6pm, Roswell Rd & Johnsons Ferry Rd, Sandy Springs http://tinyurl.com/p78w95

SALT LAKE CITY Iran rally: Sat, 6/27, 11a-2p, Salt Lake County Building, 2100 South State St

SANTA BARBARA Iran protest: Sat. June 27, noon-2p, State St.

DENVER Iran rally: Sat June 27, 2pm, Capitol (200 E. Colfax)

ST. LOUIS (MO) Iran rally: Sat 6/27, 5-8 pm, Old Court House, 11 N. Fourth St & Market http://bit.ly/11lPcK

HOUSTON Iran rally: Sat. 6/27, 7-11p 2313 South Voss Rd., by Al Hadi Center http://tinyurl.com/pjn9ph

MINNEAPOLIS Iran protest: Sat 6/27 9p-12a, Peavey Plaza, Downtown, Nicollet Mall & 11th St. S

LOS ANGELES Iran candlelight vigil: Saturday June 27, 7-10pm, UCLA Bruin Plaza

Canada:

TORONTO Iran cycle rally: Sat 6/27 2-4p, Centrepoint Mall, Corner Yonge/Steeles http://tinyurl.com/r3pgrk

TORONTO Iran protest & human chain: June 27, 4-6p, Yonge St & Sheppard

TORONTO Iran vigil: Sat 6/27, 9-11p, Ryerson University Quad, 55 Gould St. http://tinyurl.com/pvzuex

VANCOUVER Iran protest: Sat 6/27, 6-8p, Vancouver Art Gallery, W Georgia St, btw Howe & Hornby, wear blk

World:

FRANKFURT Iran demo: Samstag, 27 Juni, 13:00, auf dem zentralen Römerberg in der Altstadt

HAMBURG Iran demo: Samstag 6/27, 14:00, Iranische Generalkonsulat, Bebelallee 18 http://tinyurl.com/oq7ah2

COLOGNE / KOLN Iran demo: Samstag 6/27, 14:00-16:00 Rudolfplatz

LONDON Iran demo: Sat 6/27, 14:00-19:00, outside Kensington High St station, to Iran Embassy

BASEL Iran demo: Sat 6/27, 16:00-18:00, Barfüsserplatz http://tinyurl.com/p5hwlz

TEL-AVIV Iran demo: Sat 6/27, 20:00-22:00, Rabin Sq.

NICE, France Iran demo: Samedi 6/27, 19:00, Place Masséna

Today is the one-week anniversary of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan.

Consider her family, removed from their home and forbidden to publicly mourn her. Consider her fiance, and the future she could have enjoyed. Consider the future we still have, and the freedom running through it. Waste nothing.

Friday’s Worldwide Iran Protest List

You know the drill: Cut ‘n’ Paste away…

United States:

NYC Iran protest: Fri, June 26, 5-10p, Union Square; Columbus Circle (Merchant’s gate, W 59th) 6pm

BALTIMORE protest: 6/26, 8-9:30p, S. of Mt. Vernon Sq, 600 N. Charles St., http://tinyurl.com/mgrwqb

ATLANTA rally: FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 6:30 pm, Lenox Mall: Peachtree St.

TAMPA, FL – Candlelight vigil: Friday June 27, 7:30-9pm, Bayshore Blvd

CHARLOTTE, NC Candlelight vigil Friday June 25, 8-10pm, Marshall Park, S. McDowell St. & E. 3rd St.

DALLAS protest: Friday, June 26, 8-9pm, Federal Building, 1100 Commerce, http://tinyurl.com/lfy3dh

TEXAS A&M protest: Friday, June 26, 8:30-9p, College Station, TX

COLUMBUS (OH) protest: Friday, June 26, noon-3pm, In front of Ohio Statehouse, 60 E State St

DAYTON (OH) protest: Friday, June 26, 5p, Couthouse Sq. (corner of 3rd/ Main), wear green/black, signs

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Peavey Plaza, Nicollet & 11th, 9pm daily thru June 27th

INDIANAPOLIS rally Friday June 26, 5-7pm, Monument Circle on Market St.

ROCHESTER (MN) protest: Friday, June 26 6-8pm, Mayo Civic Center (circular drive area facing library)

MADISON (WI) protest: Fri, 6/26, 8-9:30p, Library Mall by Memorial Library/Union http://tinyurl.com/ncj9cr

BLOOMINGTON (IN) protest: Friday, June 26, 9-10pm, Sample Gates

http://tinyurl.com/lyeg4e

EUGENE (OR) protest: Friday, June 26, 4-6pm, UO (13th & University) to City Hall (Pearl St.)

SPOKANE (WA) protest: Friday, June 26, 6:30p,  Saranac Bldg., 25 W. Main

SEATTLE, WA vigil: Friday June 26, 8pm, 7201 E. green Lake Dr. N (north of the lake)

LAS VEGAS protest: Friday, June 26, 7pm, ULV, (S. Maryland Pkwy) Behind FDH Building (grassy area)

IRVINE (CA) protest: Friday, June 26, 5p, Corner of Jamboree and Barranca, wear black/green, signs/candles

SAN JOSE, CA vigil: Friday June 26, 7:30pm, Stevens Creek and Winchester (Santana Row)

SAN FRANCISCO protest: Friday June 26th at 2pm at the Golden Gate Bridge

SANTA MONICA, CA silent vigil: Friday June 26, 7-9:30pm, Southside of Santa Monica pier

SACRAMENTO DAILY, 6-8pm, Intersection of Sunrise Blvd and Greenback lane

SACRAMENTO Candlelight Vigil: Friday June 26, 8-10pm, Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, 1515 J street

LA protest NIGHTLY: Friday, June 26 and continuing, 7p, Wilshire Federal Building

Canada:

TORONTO protest: Friday, June 26, 6pm, Mel Lastman Sq. (N. York subway station), http://bit.ly/jlBuR

OTTAWA protest, Friday June 26, Noon-2pm, Iranian Embassy, 245 Metcalfe St. http://bit.ly/Euyeg

CALGARY protest, Friday June 26th at 7pm, City Hall, http://bit.ly/kMVBg

LONDON, (ON) protest: Fri, June 26, noon-3p, London City Hall, 300 Dufferin Avenue

Worldwide:

BERN, Switzerland Iran Demo: Friday, June 26, 18:00, Iranian Embassy, Thunstrasse, http://bit.ly/2812gh

MAINZ, Deutschland: Freitag, 26. Juni, 18:00, Gutenbergplatz, Friedliche, schweigende Demo

HELSINKI, Finland protest: Friday, June 26, 15:00, in front of Parliament (eduskunta)

STOCKHOLM, Sweden protest: Friday, June 26, 15:00, Iranska Ambassaden, Elfsviksvägen 76, Lidingö

SUNDSVALL, Sweden protest: Friday 26 June 2009, 17:00, Torget

BOCHUM, Deutschland: Freitag 26. Juni, 17.00-19.00, Iran Demo, Dr.-Ruhr-Platz

ROME / ROMA Candlelight vigil: Friday June 26, 7-11pm, Piazza Barberini, http://bit.ly/10Sdei

MILAN / MILANO Protest: Friday June 26, 6-8pm, Piazza Diaz, http://bit.ly/NyOae

LONDON protest: Friday June 26, 12:30-1:30pm, Iranian Embassy, 16 Princes Gate http://bit.ly/1LC6yy

When They’re Like Us…

…It hits harder.

I know it shouldn’t be so. I know it’s tribal-think, and completely opposite the democratic principles these people are fighting for. But I’m willing to admit that it’s easier to root for folks you can relate to, at least a little bit.

Long ago, stories of faraway wars were fantastic, mythic, or simply unheard-of. Reports took the form of tales about foreign hordes with fantastic leaders; and later, rogue armies with savage, gifted captains.

In the West, this mentality shifted in the 300 years spanning the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Peasant revolts, the printing press, and struggles for religious and national self-identity combined to produce a trend of mass action, running parallel to traditional war. Event leaders still rose to the top, but the strength of the mass actions lay in their sheer size and voluntary nature.

Photography changed the game again.  In its infancy, its cumbersome equipment and setup meant few spontaneous action shots—let alone photos of unplanned demonstrations. Photography evolved hand-in-hand with mass-produced news media; and before a century had passed, the average person was able to see, for the first time, large groups of human beings gathered in unauthorized protest.

Film and television took these motionless images of massed human figures and animated them. No longer a static sea of blurry faces, crowds now moved and shifted like schools of fish, their physical and psychological evolution visible to the cameras pointed at them. The world heard, for the first time, their distinctive roar.

I’ve watched politics for twenty years. Even in that brief span, I’ve seen changes in the portrayals of foreign conflicts. Each new medium caused mass movements to alter their self-concept and tactics. The printing press mobilized them. The camera humanized them. Television validated their power.

But even in my childhood, in the early 80′s, they were still a shapeless mass, hollering incoherently at desperately-objective foreign news cameras. They were still Somebody Else.

I’ve watched that change.

Put the cameras, the camcorders, the microphones in the hands of people without press credentials. Give them an electronic uplink to transmit what they record to the rest of the world, and you have something absolutely new in the media: a crowd of individuals.

It has taken millennia, but we are in the process of animating ourselves to ourselves. Our human record has gone from excitingly mythic to excitingly real. These plastic and metal gadgets, so easily pointless, contain also the potential to transform our species’ self-image. This network of wires—so shaky, so flexible, so lighting-sharp—might often hold up a mirror to the worst in us, but it also shows us the best.

A heavy tide…not of bodies or faces or hands, but of people. That’s far more beautiful and dangerous.

Wednesday’s Twitter-ready Protest List

As always, spread the word:

NYC protest: Wed 6/24, 7-10p, Union Square, 14th Street, wear Black/Green, bring candles, flowers, ribbon

LA protest: 6/24, 6-10p, Ventura & Sepulveda Blvd, wear black/green, bring candles, green (not Iran) flags

SAN DIEGO protest: Wed 6/24, 7-9p, Federal Building, 880 Front S & Broadway, bring candle

WILLOW GLEN (CA) protest: 6/24, 6-10p, In front of Willow Glen Elementary, Lincoln & Minnesota, downtown

TWIN CITIES protest: Wed, 6/24,11:30 – 1:30, Hennepin Co. Gov’t Center Plaza btw 3rd & 4th Aves, no flags

MONTCLAIR (NJ) protest: 6/24, 8-10:15p, Church St. Stage, S. Fullerton, wear green, brng candles/posters

BURNABY (BC) protest: Wed, 6/24, noon- 2p, Freedome Square, SFU (Burnaby campus), 8888 University Drive

BATON ROUGE protest: Wed, June 24, 8-9p, LSU, Speech Alley- In front of student union building

INDIANAPOLIS protest: 6/24, 8:30-10p, White River St. Pk., Celebration Plaza, 801 W Wash. St, no flags

GAINESVILLE protest: Wed 6/24, 5p, NW 34th St & NW 8th Ave

MIAMI vigil: June 24, 2009, 10p, Torch of Friendship

ATLANTA protest: June 24, 8pm, Piedmont Park, 14th Street Entrance, bring candle

MINNEAPOLIS, MN vigil: 9pm daily thru June 27th, Peavey Plaza, Nicollet & 11th

VANCOUVER vigil: June 24, 9:30pm, Vancouver Vancouver Art Gallery (W. Georgia side)

Meanwhile, In Florida…

…it’s freaking hot.

1. The heatwave and humidity has brought the heat index to over 110 degrees for the better part of a week. It’s been between 85-90 degrees at night.
2. My car has no A/C. I haven’t been going anywhere.
3. My iPod Touch’s speaker blew, so I sent it to Apple for a free replacement.
4. I’m finishing a paper on peacebuilding in Bosnia for my Conflict in the Balkans class with Dr. Metcalf. She’s leading a study abroad group to Dubrovnik, Croatia right now (envy!), so she gave us an extra week to turn this paper in. Just when I thought my opinion of her couldn’t go higher.
5. I’m struggling to get my loan paperwork in for my own study abroad trip this fall/spring. Direct Loans is taking their sweet time getting me the loan packet, FSU’s taking their sweet time figuring out when they’re even going to fool with fall loans, and I’ve got seven weeks before I need to get on a plane—if a miracle occurs, and this works out.
6. I love Tallahassee in some ways, it’s a beautiful place (see above pic), but sometimes I feel like it’s an oasis of questionable quality in the middle of an angry desert. It’s very difficult to meet people here who are doing anything with their lives at all, or who care about anything besides scoring a mediocre job in middle management somewhere. It feels hard to be myself—I’m not fit and hot like the South Florida cuties who come up for school here, all of whom are 10-12 years younger than me; but I don’t fit in with the older people either, who have settled into somewhat run-of-the-mill lives, and look on my passion and enthusiasm as a sign of my immaturity and need to “settle down”. It’s making me hate the South, my lifelong home.
7. I guess I’m just feeling smushed right now. Like a lot of my energy goes towards just not letting my spark get blown out…let alone towards building that spark and putting it to good use. I want to be doing that right now. I’m at the age where that’s what I ought to be doing—putting my ambitions and dreams into play. Instead, I’m constantly wrapped up in defending that spark from people who seem hell-bent on extinguishing it.
8. But I still live in a free country. I can go to sleep at night, safe in the knowledge that I won’t get dragged out of bed and beaten. There is darkness in my life. I have serious opponents right now. But I also have a fair chance to defeat them, and get on with the life I was meant to live all along. My life might be more difficult than some people I personally know…but in the grand picture, it’s damn easy.

photo uploaded to Flickr by the catalyst…