Persian Westender

Definitely therapeutic

I had to leave the rally in London midway, as long before the elections I had booked matinee tickets for Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. So I went to the theatre with a green ribbon tied around my wrist and green face paint on my cheeks. Many people approached me during the intermission and afterwards to ask me what my outfit was about. I had assumed that everybody had followed the recent events in Iran, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Personally, I felt a lot more useful taking the message to people who would normally not seek it. We have a lot of work to do.

The best one was when an older British lady asked me after the play, is this in solidarity with the Iranian people? When I said yes, the poor woman seemed not to know quite what do say so she said, "Congratulations!" It felt weird to hear it at the time, but the more I think about it, the more I like the fact that she chose to say, Congratulations!

Hard to ignore the call of protest

I think its hard to ignore the call of  protest living outside of Iran. I dont know about anyone else but I have felt a little help less... and by being part of what ever is organinsed 1. helps me feel Im doing something useful by making people aware, applying some pressure for action by UN and Govt of Uk, and 2. hopefuly providing some measure of support and encouragement to those in Iran.

Im in almost daily contact with friends and family in Tehran. They have felt supported by the calls and conversations, emails etc exchanged and part of that has been knowing that people outside of Iran recognise whats happening there and are doing something. At first they said they feel cut off, alone and that they felt the world has forgotten them. Now they ask what else has happened?

Yes the new slogans are great .. and I agree with TheMissus we have to get centralised and organised. I am hoping that a leader or leading organisation will emerge from all of this.

 Javaneh

Yes this solidarity is

Yes this solidarity is good for our moods in here, but I doubt that people in Iran could see much about what has been done outside Iran to get more motivated.  As you know very few of them have access to youtube, they even hardly can upload their videos (usually do it by sending emails to others outside Iran). But lets be honest, given they could see these rallies (lets say by satellite tvs), at best we are the ones who have the luxury of walking happily in nice and clean streets of fancy cities with fancy balloons in hands, waving hand and smiling, at the end we get the kudos of watching a mini concert. Contrast it with each step that people in Iran take in the streets, they may get any imaginable harsh treatment by the basijis. Buttons, being arrested, tear gas, you name it. They should run for their lives. We are bourgeois in our protest.

But no, I am not discrediting these rallies at all. I know westerners/foreigners who see these protests realize that people( both boroon marz and daroon marz) of Iran are different from what has been depicted in the media. They see that we are not a suppressed Middle eastern people any more, and people who have the luxury of living abroad did not forget their compatriots inside Iran and care about them.

Anonymouse jan, nice avatar! 

2- Of course these ralleys

2- Of course these ralleys make a difference: They show solidarity which is good for everyone's mood. If people in Iran see the youtube clips, I'm sure they will feel that at least we've got their back.

Also, international pressure is important. We won't change the world, but it's important to put pressure on the governement of Iran by attracting attention to the problems there.

But we are going into another phase. What we need now is to expand beyond our little communities. We should get people from other countries with political prisoners involved into huge ralleys. We should be getting people from various human rights organizations to join in and send their supporters. We should get unions and so on....included in these gatherings. Time to step it up a bit now.

I agree with your 2nd

I agree with your 2nd point.  It sums up the global day of solidarity, the questions surrounding it and the right answers in my opinion.  People in Iran will hear about the day.  Certainly when it is a "global day".

I like point 3 and the slogan too.  I also believe this is the slogan of this movement.  It is definately the strongest and most meaningful. 

Everything is sacred.