Dying seconds that will last for ever
by Cassandra Jardine The Daily Telegraph 05:55 AM Jun 26, 2009 Since finding its way onto the Web, the video of Neda's horrific death has opened the world's eyes to what's happening in Iran. AFP THE death of a young woman on the streets of Tehran is caught on camera and viewed by millions. But should we be watching? You tick the box saying you are over 18. You notice the warning that the material you are about to see could be upsetting. But nothing can prepare you for the horrible immediacy of watching a young woman die, as Neda Agha Soltan does on YouTube. The moment you hit the "Play" button, you are pitched into the streets of Tehran, where a woman in jeans is lying on the ground while several men attempt to help her. As the camera moves around the scene, away from her legs, past the striped T-shirt of a helper, we see the face of the 27-year-old philosophy student. She is young and beautiful, but it is her eyes that are unforgettable. They stare at you with a look of animal panic, as blood begins to trickle out of her mouth. The film lasts only 40 seconds, but it is enough to affect world opinion. Over the past few days, millions of people have sent links to each other, wanting to share the horror that brings home so vividly the violence which the Iranian authorities are meting out on innocent citizens. United States President Barack Obama spoke about the clip: "We have seen courageous women stand up to brutality and threats, and we have experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and painful, we also know this: Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history." In years to come, the bloodied face of Neda - already called the Angel of Freedom - will be the image that lingers of the Iran uprising, just as the naked, napalmed girl running down the road has come to encapsulate the Vietnam War. Neda never set out to be a martyr: Her boyfriend has said that she was with her music teacher when she briefly stepped out of the car, only to become caught up in history. Yet, she is already on her way to becoming Iran's Joan of Arc. These images, as the great war photographer Don McCullin has said, are our modern version of religious icons. The footage of Neda's death certainly has the ring of truth about it: The panic-stricken voices, the blood that spread with shocking speed over her face (as it would since she had been shot in the heart) and the testimonials of relatives. This looks like an image that we can trust. But should we be looking at it at all? Generally, the British media steer clear of such shocking images because they contravene one of our last taboos - that the moment of death is private and should be witnessed only by those who care for that person. In the YouTube age, that principle is being eroded. And yet, Mr Stuart Franklin, president of Magnum - a cooperative representing many war photographers - believes that there "is a difference between Neda's death and voyeurism. It's about drawing attention to an issue". He feels that images force change. "I was in Tiananmen in 1989, when gory photographs of students were glued to lamp posts. It was the only way people could see what was going on. The photographs taken at the Heysel stadium (where 39 football supporters died in 1985) focused attention on inadequate design and police practice." At the time there were protests about the Heysel publication. Upsetting as the results may be, the alternative is worse. Many appalling atrocities of recent years have passed relatively unnoticed because there are no images to which the public can attach their outrage. Repression in Burma and Tibet has been helped by the lack of reporting and filming. And who remembers the deaths of rioting Mexican students before the 1968 Olympics? Few, because no images exist. What Neda's death does not do is shed any light on the nuances of the conflict. For that, words and thought are more reliable than pictures and emotion. From TODAY, Comment – Friday, 26-Jun-2009; see the source article here.
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