Borrowing a term here used by Vaclav Havel, in Iran, perhaps, we are witnessing the visibility of a "parallel culture" which has emerged in relation to the "official culture" (i.e., those who sanction and direct the violence against the reformers and protesters). Here is what Havel wrote, in 1984, in "Six Asides About Culture":
"What exactly is a 'parallel culture'? Nothing more and nothing less than a culture which for various reasons will not, cannot reach out to the public through the media which fall under state control. . . . Even though the 'second' or 'parallel' culture represents an important fertile ground, a catalytic agent, and often even the sole bearer of the spiritual continuity of our cultural life, like it or not, it is the 'first' culture that remains the decisive sphere. . . . It will be in the 'first' culture that the decision will be made about the future climate of our lives; through it our citizens will have the first genuine, wide-scale chance to stand up straight and and liberate themselves."
Is Have'ls notion of parallel culture helpful in understanding the current crisis in Iran? I beliecve so. One difference is that, as the images and video below demonstrate, the parallel culture does indeed have access to the media, via cellphones, twitter, and other social networking tools that can never be completely controlled by the State. One of the features of digital culture is that it is insecure, with new holes, gaps, security breakdowns, and broken codes emerging all the time. It is not stable, and therefore is exploitable.
The video below, purportedly shot on July 9, shows bravery of an even different order from the early peaceful protests. For now the demonstrators know of the terrible fate that awaits them at the hands of the security apparatus. Here is the footage, followed by three screen grabs of human beings whose names I do not and will never know, but whose images haunt me in the deep and unfairly peaceful darkness of Michigan nights:
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