Congratulations to the people of iran for standing up in the name of freedom. It’s not about democracy or religion or any other neatly labeled niche. It’s about basic fundemental human nature. The masses are tired of being walked on, manipulated, abused & marginalized. While the congratulations obviously doesn’t apply to the tyrannic tactics of abuse or the pain and suffering that all of the Iranian people are dealing with right now I’d also like to give a toast to every single man, woman and child in the world that has ever fought against terrible odds for freedom from oppression.

In closing I’d like to put a quote from Ani DiFranco’s excellent piece “Self Evident” up:
“so here’s a toast to all the folks who live in palestine
afghanistan
iraq

el salvador

here’s a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore

here’s a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of oklahoma city
just to listen to a young woman’s voice
here’s a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner’s guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream”

To all of those suffering people, fighting for truth, freedom and equality I say I’ve got your back. I’m not an American. I’m a citizen of the world. A Terran. As a human on planet Earth I consider everyone to be family. That means I lost family in Auschwitz, Russia, Croatia, Serbia, on 9/11, & too many more places/times to list.

To all of you in China, Burma, Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Tibet, Nepal, America, Mexico, Darfur, Palestine, anywhere, everywhere that people are being stomped on for wanting to be free I’m there for you in anyway I can be.

oppressi liberandi