Allah-o-Akbar

July 10, 2009 11:36 AM

Iran: The Rooftop Project. "This is meant to be the most complete possible collection of recordings of nighttime protest in Iran since the beginning of the uprising. Its goal is to locate and profile at least one video for each night primarily focusing on the nightly chanting of Allah-o-Akbar from the rooftops, whenever that footage is available. Some of these videos have not been widely seen until now." [Via]
posted by homunculus (24 comments total)

This is kinda cool...and kinda makes me go "wait...". Isn't stuff like this which is locating the buildings that people are protesting from making it easier for the Gov't goon squads to actually locate them?
posted by hal_c_on at 11:43 AM on July 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

Nationwide Protests Met with Main Force;
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posted by homunculus at 11:50 AM on July 10, 2009

Allah O' Akbar? I didn't realize god was Irish.
posted by ooga_booga at 12:10 PM on July 10, 2009 [3 favorites]

Watching these gave me actual chills.

hal_c_on, I think the point is if that you get a bunch of people doing it all over the city in the dark, no-one can really tell where it's coming from.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:14 PM on July 10, 2009

I'm protesting right now into my soup.

My chinese soup.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:20 PM on July 10, 2009

hal_c_on, I think the point is if that you get a bunch of people doing it all over the city in the dark, no-one can really tell where it's coming from.

I thought so too...before I saw actual buildings and neighborhoods in the videos.

And speaking from experience as well as from common sense...those in power who want to cease these protests won't give a damn about who the actual people were. They will persecute/prosecute anyone they can reasonably associate with those buildings/neighborhoods.

I really don't think the "I can't identify the actual protester, so I won't beat anyone in this building" arguments work for the goon squads.
posted by hal_c_on at 12:39 PM on July 10, 2009

They're mad as hell... etc.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 12:45 PM on July 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

I agree with hal_c_on that posting these seems dangerous. Nevertheless, I listed to several. I found this one heartbreaking. It's shown with subtitles. It was filmed after Neda was killed. Over the rooftop shouts, a young girl is praying and pleading with God to listen to and answer her people's prayers.
posted by marsha56 at 1:08 PM on July 10, 2009

Taking seriously what ooga_booga said, it immediately bugged me that the phrase was so badly mistranscribed. The Arabic I'm familiar with can most closely be written in English as Allah-hu-Akbar, and the only significant difference I can hear in the Farsi in the videos is the last word, which sounds more like "Ashbar." These are all approximations, of course, since there are consonant and guttural sounds involved that don't exist in English (written or spoken) but I would have liked someone who's obviously so passionate about this cause to get something like this right.

Of course, this is coming from an Israeli-born Jew, so take it for what it's worth.
posted by yiftach at 1:19 PM on July 10, 2009

ooga_booga clearly isn't Irish.
posted by blixco at 1:50 PM on July 10, 2009

I really don't think the "I can't identify the actual protester, so I won't beat anyone in this building" arguments work for the goon squads.

They don't need video to tell them which buildings people are yelling from. They can just look up.
posted by zennie at 1:52 PM on July 10, 2009

Counter-Targeting The Protesters
posted by homunculus at 2:13 PM on July 10, 2009

it made me cry. heartfelt peoples' protest always does. wonderful post.

also, though, it made me cry because i don't believe in god, and it's tragic to hear people crying for a reaction from an obviously indifferent man in the sky.
posted by RedEmma at 9:09 AM on July 11, 2009

I hope these protests aren't in vain. These people are crying out for help and it doesn't seem like the world is ready to step up to the plate. Hopefully the Iranian clerics(radicals) can step aside and let the real Iranians run there government.
posted by ilrozo23 at 6:17 PM on July 11, 2009

Outing Iran: The Bahai Oppression

U.S. panel demands release of Baha'is facing trial in Iran
posted by homunculus at 8:36 AM on July 12, 2009

Iran's Terrifying Facebook Police
posted by homunculus at 8:53 AM on July 13, 2009

Iran's Terrifying Facebook Police

Wow. Iranian members of Facebook would be well-advised to change their search privacy settings to "friends only" and "no networks" and to change their Twitter accounts so that their real names are not connected.
posted by zennie at 10:34 AM on July 13, 2009

Iranian consumers boycott Nokia for 'collaboration'
posted by homunculus at 6:50 PM on July 14, 2009

Behind Iran's Silence
posted by homunculus at 3:17 PM on July 16, 2009

Tehran's streets erupt after a key cleric speaks
posted by homunculus at 2:51 PM on July 17, 2009

Global Demonstration In Solidarity With Iranians
posted by homunculus at 11:37 AM on July 24, 2009

Iran's Protesters: Phase 2 of Their Feisty Campaign
posted by homunculus at 9:16 AM on July 28, 2009

Reports of Prison Abuse and Deaths Anger Iranians
posted by homunculus at 8:41 PM on July 29, 2009

Iran security forces retreat as huge numbers of mourners gather at cemetery: As many as tens of thousands of protesters meet at the grave of Neda Agha-Soltan, whose shooting death was videotaped. Meanwhile, the first group of protesters arrested in the unrest heads to trial.

Updates on Post-Election Protests in Iran
posted by homunculus at 9:24 AM on July 30, 2009