How Green I am Today..
Cats: Society|
…”How green I am today’, I thought,
how conscious my body.
God forbid if grief arrives from behind the mountain.
Who is hiding behind the tree?”…*
- Sohrab Sepehri
(*from the poem “The Green Space”)
How powerful is a call for justice? How far does a desperate cry travel? How many people can be touched by images of an uprising colored in the jade green flag of hope and belief? Iran’s green movement that was spontaneously aroused since last June touched the hearts of all those who felt a sense of solidarity with the oppressed Iranian people who now had enough of their corrupt regime and went into the streets in unimaginable numbers to demand their basic civil rights. People from all over the world heard their voice, showed their solidarity, attended demonstrations and did whatever they could in their own way to show that even though Iran is a country far away, they care for the struggle of those courageous people who protest against their oppressive regime.
The internet has been flooded with initiatives in support of the green movement. Youtube contains perhaps even more video’s on this subject than one perhaps could imagine. People make musical tributes and movies, sing songs, design bracelets and T-shirts. But the green movement has reached further than perhaps perceivable at first. Large labels and companies are supporting the green movement. The first and most visible company was Twitter which allowed people to turn their profile picture green to show their support to the green movement. But who would have thought designers would be influenced by the green movement. First it was the Italian designer Guillermo Mariotto who dressed his models with green wrist bands and walked down the isle wearing a T-shirt expressing his support for the Iranian people. But even Karl Lagerfeld has been inspired by the wave of green, when introducing his Jade collection in the fall of 2009. Madonna and Jon Bon Jovi were the most famous music artists who supported the green movement, apart from many other Iranian and non-Iranian musicians who tributed to this movement.
If you pay attention, green is the new color everywhere. One could say that green is just a color and that it could just become a trend without any particular reason. But when considering the flood of green images from Iran, one can’t deny some kind of connection. Could it be that Iran’s green movement has reached so far into the molecules and cells of Western society that perhaps even unconsciously, there is a sympathetic response to a struggle for freedom in a far away country?
Whatever it is, the ubiquity of green gives a sense of hope for Iranian diasporas who feel powerless in their support of their countrymen.
