Iranian riot police flee from protesters. June 20, 2009
I took a break from blogging over the weekend for several reasons. Most of them were personal, but I also wanted to gain some perspective. Like many, I'd been giving a lot of space and attention to the ongoing Green Revolution in Iran.
Not without cause either. It's a momentous and important event that has the potential to change the lives of millions of people -- and the politics of a tumultuous region -- for the better.
But it's also important for those of us outside of Iran to keep perspective.
This is their revolution. It is not ours.
For the small help and support any of us can give, typing away at our computers, setting up proxy servers or re-tweeting, this will not be decided by us. Not at all.
This will be decided in Tehran, in Qom, in Isfahan. It will be decided by people for whom this is not simply an admirable cause but a matter of life and death.
Whatever we do, ain't none of us facing bullets.
Remember that, because it is extremely easy to get carried away -- and I include myself in this -- in the rush of witnessing larger events. It's natural to cheer at footage like that above, but it's all the easier from a distance, removed from the dust and truncheon blows.
That's one reason why I've trying to turn some attention to how we can learn from this to better influence our own politics, to call the bullshit to worldviews that have been highly detrimental to people in Iran and elsewhere.
That's where a lot of the focus should be. If everyone involved now acts and votes accordingly for the next 20 years, that will do a lot more good for the Iranian people than shading every profile in the world green.
Yes, everything is connected, and I think the knee-jerk "just do what you can locally, the globe will fix itself by magic" view of the world is both foolish and doomed. But everyone over here who has poured energy into this cause needs to increase that tenfold the next time elections roll around.
The same level of drive should also be put into building tomorrow's political coalitions, stopping rape, revealing corruption and getting us out of our knee-deep societal shitpile.
Actions speak louder than words. Always. And with that, I've said enough.
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