Iran's Neda Agha Soltan, Martyr of Her Country

The Iranian woman who was shot by a Basij thug during a protest rally in Terhan a couple of days ago has been identified as Neda Agha Soltan, identified as a twenty seven year old philosophy student.

Her name is said to mean "voice" or "calling" in Farsi. According to an account in the Huffington Post, quoted by Hot Air, the murder of Neda Agha Soltan was as senseless and as random as a drive by shooting in any crime ridden American city.

"--Neda was at the protest with her professor and several other students and that the fatal shot was fired by a Basij driving by on a motorcycle. No rhyme or reason; I wonder if he even aimed." Think of the Basij as the Hitler Youth of the Islamic Republic, young kids from the countryside barely able to shave, given indoctrination and guns to enforce Islamic morality.

Robin Wright of Time Magazine has an excellent piece on Neda Agha Soltan and the meaning of martyrdom in Iranian political history.

"The belief in martyrdom is central to modern politics as well as Shiite tradition dating back centuries in Iran. It too helped propel the 1979 revolution. It sustained Iran during the eight-year war with Iraq, when over 120,000 Iranians died in the bloodiest modern Middle East conflict. Most major Iranian cities have a Martyrs' Museum or a Martyrs' cemetery."

It will be one of the great ironies of history if the concept of martyrdom, as illustrated by the senseless shooting of a young Iranian woman, Neda Agha Soltan, is used against the very regime that was born and sustained by martyrdom.

The concept of martyrdom in a fight for freedom is not unique to Iran. History is replete with stories of such people, such as American's Nathan Hale ("I have but one life to give to my country.") or Ireland's John McBride, of whom Yeats wrote "He, too, has been changed in his turn, Transformed utterly: A terrible beauty is born."

Neda Agha Soltan is different from all of those others because her martyrdom can be seen on video on YouTube, over and over again, a beautiful young woman bleeding out on the street as her friends vainly try to save her. Images are a powerful thing. To hear of such a thing as the death of a young Iranian woman is one thing. But to be able to see it at the click of a mouse is something far more powerful than any song or story. Such is what the age of instant communications have wrought.

As of this writing, Iran's Revolutionary Guard (think of them as the Islamic Republic's SS) is threatening to deal deadly force in the streets of Iran's cities. Meanwhile, a general strike is being planned. It remains, therefore, to be see whether Neda Agha Soltan is to be the martyr of a lost cause, or through her death have helped to midwife a new democracy in Iran. In any case, as Yeats might have said, in Iran another terrible beauty is born.

Source: Neda, Iranian Woman Shot Video Seen Around the World, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, June 21st, 2009

Neda identified?, Allahpundit, Hot Air, June 21st, 2009

In Iran, One Woman's Death May Have Many Consequences, Robin Wright, Time Magazine, June 21dt, 2009