The demonstrations that followed the announcement of the June 2009 presidential election results were a unique event in Iranian life. Young and old, men and women, rich and poor went down in the streets together, demanding to know where their ballots had gone. The strength of the green crowd was to find troves of poetry and humor within the very soul of Iran: “If I rise up / If you rise up / Everybody will rise up / If I sit down / If you sit down / Who will rise up?” some placards read, while others were chanting the slogans of the day: “Well now, you small dictator, where are your 24 million electors? / Basij, shame on you, give us back the oil money! / Who voted for that monkey?” It took the unbridled violence of the government militia, multiple arrests, torture, rape, the “accidental” death of prisoners and the hanging of protestors to rein down this movement.
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VIDEO : Street scenes in Teheran, in June 2009.
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