Remember this clarion call for (especially Western) silence and indifference in the name of privacy and respect toward the martyr Neda, and against those who would appropriate her as a “sign,” a symbol?
Here’s Neda’s mother in a BBC interview thanking the world for its attention:
I don’t want people to forget her. People – Iranians – have all been very supportive. They come to me and congratulate me for having had such a brave daughter.
And now I want you to do something for me. I want you, on my behalf, to thank everyone around the world, Iranians and non Iranians, people from every country and culture, people who in their own way, their own tradition, have mourned my child… everyone who lit a candle for her – every musician, who wrote songs for her, who wrote poems about her… you know, Neda loved the arts and music. I want to thank all of them.
I want to thank politicians and leaders, from every country, at all levels, who remembered my child.
Her death has been so painful – words can never describe my true feelings. But knowing that the world cried for her… that has comforted me.
I am proud of her. The world sees her as a symbol, and that makes me happy.
Muslims ‘not of the West’ need as much protection from Western Muslims who will colonize them as they do from any other oppressor.
Who among us will rush in and do the patroniz…err…protecting? 