green

I'm sure that many of you out there have heard some or most of the news about the current situation in Iran.

For those of you who are a bit behind onthe times, here's a little update: basically, the election results for the Presidential race between incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iranian reformist Mir-Hossein Mousavi have managed to anger many Iranian citizens. The June 12th election declared Ahmadinejad the winner, however Mousavi and many of his supporters are claiming that votes were "stolen" and that foul play has been employed.

I've been following the politics of the whole situation pretty closely (thank you, Rachel Maddow and Anderson Cooper!), but I think that the thing that really gets to me is this whole revolution that's taking place. More than a million have taken to the streets in protest of the results wearing green, the color of the movement.

It fills my heart to see these people stand up to a government they don't believe in and face the risk of being punished, or even killed (the death toll caused by brawls between police and protesters has been set at about 19). Although decriers are claiming that the marchers are wild and uncontrollable, actual videos of the events show the protestors as peaceful actors of civil disobedience.

I guess the matter of who actually wins the election is not imperative to me. After all, from what I've read and heard, the nuclear policies and feelings towards the US are pretty much the same between the two candidates (although Mousavi has shown more partiality to our nation). I think the fact that those who disagree with the matter at hand are being punished and harmed is what really gets to me. I know that democracy is not perfect, but the number one thing that makes it valuable is the freedom of speech. Even if countries don't accept the same form of government that we have, I think that they should, at the very least, give their citizens the right to speak their minds and disagree with the administration.

That's just my opinion, and I think that the world would be a lot better off if it were like this.