How Neda Divided My Family

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Not everyone believes the shocking video of a woman shot in Tehran. Telmah Parsa writes from Iran on why many Iranians—including his mother—refuse to accept the horrific video tells the whole truth.

Last night I watched a disturbing video clip that has captivated Iranians and audiences around the world:

On a backstreet, a girl in her 20s, wearing blue jeans and white sneakers, is shot. The bullet has apparently pierced her chest. She collapses to the ground as a few men rush to help her and apply pressure to her gunshot wound. A man tells her: “Natars”—Farsi for “Don’t be scared.” Suddenly, out of her mouth and nostrils blood gushes forth. Then her eyes lose their focus and her head bends toward the camera. By now her face is soaked with blood. The same man who had told the girl not to be afraid now shouts: “Neda, bemoon!”—“Neda, stay with me!”

But Neda cannot stay. She dies.

Iran’s constitution has no Second Amendment. Only the state’s officials are allowed to bear arms. Neda was killed by a member of Basij paramilitary forces Saturday in Tehran. The video clip of her murder has circulated widely, turning Neda into a rallying cry for many struggling in the streets. (CNN ran the video in a pixilated version because of its graphic nature.)

Watch the Shocking Video

After watching the video my brother’s eyes were full of tears. I was too incensed to cry. But not everyone was disturbed by the video.

“That’s what comes from pouring into the streets,” was my mother’s casual reaction when I showed her the clip. My mother is hardly a callous person. On Friday, when the supreme leader declared in his nationally broadcast sermon that he is willing to give his life for “upholding Islam,” my mother—like most people listening, including a prayer hall filled with grown men—wept.

She was not touched by the video of Neda because it was not compatible with her essential presumptions. She cannot believe, for instance, that a Basij member could kill an innocent girl. To my mother, Basij members are the embodiment of everything admirable: They are deeply religious and completely devoted to the supreme leader. Their demeanor resembles that of the “martyrs”—those killed during the Iran-Iraq war. My mother’s brother was a young Basij member who was killed during the war. She could not believe someone so much like her brother could have murdered an innocent girl.

There had to be another explanation for what had happened to the girl in the video. But as it was difficult to come up with any, she shrugged off the problem by saying: “Well, that’s what comes out of pouring into the streets.”

Her offhand reaction, however, offended me. She was quick to detect my indignation. “Son, you and your brother have been brainwashed by the Western media…Why do you believe everything they say?” This is our parents’ typical line when they encounter the deep chasm that separates our way of thinking. It is completely futile to debate and determine who is actually being brainwashed. Like us, they have not suddenly formed their outlook in a day, as a result of open debating with someone.

My brother and I often forget that the state-run TV is almost the only way our parents, like many Iranians of their generation, get information. The state knows this very well. That’s why Jam-e-Jam, Islamic republic’s broadcasting building, is one of the most heavily fortified sections of Tehran. (A tank sits parked in front of the building as I write.)

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