New York Goes Green

As Ahmadinejad took the stage at the United Nations General Assembly on SepT 23, speaking of compassion, justice and peace, thousands of Iranians gathered outside the UN and demanded the “coup President” to be held accountable for the crackdown, torture, rape and murder of hundreds of Iranians back home, while holding pictures of those who were bloodied, bruised and killed following the contested presidential election in June. “Free political prisoners” and “shame on you liar” the protesters shouted outside the building as Ahmadinejad babbled inside the GA using his usual hypocritical and inflammatory remarks.

See the following flickr link for my full album of the green NY protests held on 23 Sept: http://www.flickr.com/photos/afsanehhojabri/sets/72157622322264345

The anti-Ahmadinejad protests lasted the entire duration of his stay in New York on September 23 and 24. The protests were organized by different groups and attended by thousands of Canadian-Iranians and American-Iranians, as well as by their non-Iranian supporters with diverse political affiliations yet a united voice against the current Iranian government. The events included performance art: inspired dance, music, painting, and play-back theatre as vehicles to commemorate the tragic loss of innocent lives during the past three months and to honour those who were brutally treated or are still being held captive. While some groups gathered outside Ahmadinejad’s place of residence to express their anger and scorn towards him, other demonstrators marched Central Park while holding green balloons and wearing green wristbands, head bands, T-shirts or simply displaying a green color - which is the symbol of the opposition movement in Iran. The following link provides a nice summary of different events held during the two-day anti-Ahmadinejad rally held in New York last week, capturing the essence of various forms of protests by the Iranian diaspora and their supporters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri5KAqtmGjQ.

The chants are mostly in Persian; yet it is certainly worth watching for non-Persian speakers too.

On September 24th, the protesters marched with a 2000-meter long green banner, stretched across the length of Brooklyn Bridge. The green scroll is covered with signatures collected from more than 180 cities around the word denouncing Ahmadinejad as the legitimate president of Iran. It has travelled to many big cities around the world and is now considered almost a national treasure by many Iranians.

Source: http://www.payvand.com/news/09/sep/1276.html

As Ahmadinejad spoke at the United Nation’s GA, delegations from several countries including France, US, Britain, Australia, Argentina, Italy, and New Zealand, walked out on him. Canada was the only country to boycott his speech altogether. The international community is rightly disgusted at Ahmadinejad’s questioning of the Holocaust, and failing to comply with the international inspectors on the issue of uranium enrichment. Sadly, however, his gross violation of human rights and his active and ongoing assault on the people of Iran is rarely, if ever, presented as a cause for serious concern, attention or a walk-out by the governments.