Iran. Why so little mention in the Western press of the demonstrations that still took place this Saturday and Sunday, in the streets of Tehran? Thanks to the Franco-Iranian writer Armin Arefi and his dissident friends on the inside, we followed them, live, on the website of my online magazine, minute by minute, street by street, twitters, photos, videos captured on cell phones and immediately posted, messages of distress and hope, calls for help, minuscule and pathetic victories. Even if there were only a few thousand, even just a few hundred, demonstrating, even if only a handful defied the Basiji paramilitaries on their motorcycles and the combat helicopters swooping down over Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, even if only a small minority disobeyed their leaders, who, fearing the threat of a bloodbath at any moment, called on them to stay home, still it was up to us to be at their side in thought, to salute them, support them, count them when we could, name them. And in the place of that, nothing. Or, shall we say, almost nothing. Well, that’s the norm for mass media coverage. One day, bright lights, the next, an inexplicable shadow.
