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If the young, and old, women and children, stood up and said, THATS ENOUGH, I WANT TO LIVE - FREE! Should the rest of the world step in and help them attain what they want, freedom from intolerant imams who govern the country of Iran?
Below just a couple paragraphs to read and think about. We really don't know what it is like to be without equal rights. :cry:
The article is not that long, I have quoted key points for you to quickview, or go the site and read it all.
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Dawn of an Islamic Revolution
By Reza Aslan, AlterNet. Posted April 28, 2005.
Half way down the article and as quoted on the site:
''On the day Khomeini returned to Iran, I took my four-year old sister by the hand and, despite my mother?s warning not to venture outdoors, led her out of our apartment in downtown Tehran to join the celebrations in the streets. It had been days since we had gone outside. The days preceding the Shah?s exile and the Ayatollah?s return had been violent ones. The schools were closed, most television and radio stations shut down, and our quiet, suburban neighborhood deserted. So when we looked out of our window on that February morning and saw the euphoria in the streets, no warning could have kept us inside.
Filling a plastic pitcher with Tang and stealing two packages of Dixie Cups from our mother?s cupboard, my sister and I snuck out to join the revelry. One by one we filled the cups and passed them out to the crowd. Strangers stopped to lift us up and kiss our cheeks. Handfuls of sweets were thrown from open windows. There was music and dancing everywhere. I wasn?t really sure what we were celebrating, but I didn?t care. I was swept up in the moment and enthralled by the strange words on everyone?s lips -- words I had heard before but which were still mystifying and unexplained: Freedom! Liberty! Democracy! ''
And at the end of the article:
''For most of the Western world, Sept. 11, 2001, signaled the commencement of a worldwide struggle between Islam and the West -- the ultimate manifestation of the clash of civilizations. From the Islamic perspective, however, the attacks on New York and Washington were part of an ongoing clash between those Muslims who strive to reconcile their religious values with the realities of the modern world, and those who react to modernism and reform by reverting -- sometimes fanatically -- to the "fundamentals" of their faith.
This is a cataclysmic internal struggle taking place not in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, where the Islamic message was first introduced to the world, but in the developing capitals of the Muslim world -- Tehran, Cairo, Damascus, and Jakarta -- and in the cosmopolitan capitals of Europe and the United States -- New York, London, Paris, and Berlin -- where that message is being redefined by scores of first and second generation Muslim immigrants.
By merging the Islamic values of their ancestors with the democratic ideals of their new homes, these Muslims have formed what Tariq Ramadan, the Swiss-born Muslim intellectual and grandson of Hasan al-Banna, terms a "mobilizing force" for a Muslim reformation that, after centuries of stony sleep, has finally awoken and is now slouching toward Medina to be born. ''
Reza Aslan has studied religions at Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He holds an MFA in fiction from the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he was also visiting assistant professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. His work has appeared in The Nation, Slate, and The New York Times, and he has been profiled in USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Born in Iran, he lives in Santa Barbara and New Orleans.
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Well, would you stand up for those who ... live in fear everyday of making a mistake; breaking a religious rule; accidentally saying the wrong thing; being in the wrong place at the wrong time; desire to change religions; marry someone your family doesnt approve of; just want to travel; or leave the country?!?
Should someone help them?
Below just a couple paragraphs to read and think about. We really don't know what it is like to be without equal rights. :cry:
The article is not that long, I have quoted key points for you to quickview, or go the site and read it all.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dawn of an Islamic Revolution
By Reza Aslan, AlterNet. Posted April 28, 2005.
Half way down the article and as quoted on the site:
''On the day Khomeini returned to Iran, I took my four-year old sister by the hand and, despite my mother?s warning not to venture outdoors, led her out of our apartment in downtown Tehran to join the celebrations in the streets. It had been days since we had gone outside. The days preceding the Shah?s exile and the Ayatollah?s return had been violent ones. The schools were closed, most television and radio stations shut down, and our quiet, suburban neighborhood deserted. So when we looked out of our window on that February morning and saw the euphoria in the streets, no warning could have kept us inside.
Filling a plastic pitcher with Tang and stealing two packages of Dixie Cups from our mother?s cupboard, my sister and I snuck out to join the revelry. One by one we filled the cups and passed them out to the crowd. Strangers stopped to lift us up and kiss our cheeks. Handfuls of sweets were thrown from open windows. There was music and dancing everywhere. I wasn?t really sure what we were celebrating, but I didn?t care. I was swept up in the moment and enthralled by the strange words on everyone?s lips -- words I had heard before but which were still mystifying and unexplained: Freedom! Liberty! Democracy! ''
And at the end of the article:
''For most of the Western world, Sept. 11, 2001, signaled the commencement of a worldwide struggle between Islam and the West -- the ultimate manifestation of the clash of civilizations. From the Islamic perspective, however, the attacks on New York and Washington were part of an ongoing clash between those Muslims who strive to reconcile their religious values with the realities of the modern world, and those who react to modernism and reform by reverting -- sometimes fanatically -- to the "fundamentals" of their faith.
This is a cataclysmic internal struggle taking place not in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, where the Islamic message was first introduced to the world, but in the developing capitals of the Muslim world -- Tehran, Cairo, Damascus, and Jakarta -- and in the cosmopolitan capitals of Europe and the United States -- New York, London, Paris, and Berlin -- where that message is being redefined by scores of first and second generation Muslim immigrants.
By merging the Islamic values of their ancestors with the democratic ideals of their new homes, these Muslims have formed what Tariq Ramadan, the Swiss-born Muslim intellectual and grandson of Hasan al-Banna, terms a "mobilizing force" for a Muslim reformation that, after centuries of stony sleep, has finally awoken and is now slouching toward Medina to be born. ''
Reza Aslan has studied religions at Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He holds an MFA in fiction from the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he was also visiting assistant professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. His work has appeared in The Nation, Slate, and The New York Times, and he has been profiled in USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Born in Iran, he lives in Santa Barbara and New Orleans.
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Well, would you stand up for those who ... live in fear everyday of making a mistake; breaking a religious rule; accidentally saying the wrong thing; being in the wrong place at the wrong time; desire to change religions; marry someone your family doesnt approve of; just want to travel; or leave the country?!?
Should someone help them?
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