Features
Airborne Toxic Event & The Neda Project
The song, titled “Neda,” is available for purchase through iTunes with all proceeds going toward Amnesty International. According to its site, Amnesty’s mission “is to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.”
Agha-Soltan died June 20 while protesting the reelection of Mahoud Ahmadenijad. Amnesty International says she “was apparently shot by a Basij (paramilitary) sniper.” Bystanders at the protest caught the 27-year-old’s death on camera and the video quickly went viral.
The Airborne Toxic Event explains that the video the Los Angeles-based indie rock band made to go along with the new song is “a retelling of the historic events surrounding Neda’s death: the disputed Iranian Presidential election, the brutality of the regime in cracking down on dissent, the desecration of Neda’s grave [and] the massive movement towards freedom and peace in Iran.
“She represents the most fundamental decency of the human spirit standing in the face of the most base corruption of that spirit. All she wanted was for her vote to be counted. For that, she was shot through the heart in the street in broad daylight holding a sign that said simply ‘freedom.’”
The band has helped set up a website called NedaSpeaks.org which provides information on taking action to help release political prisoners in Iran as well as a link to donate to Amnesty International. Fans are also encouraged to upload a picture of themselves holding a sign saying “I am Neda” to show their support to “the cause of freedom.”
Click here for The Airborne Toxic Event’s website.
Click here for NedaSpeaks.org.
Click here for Amnesty International’s website.