A new iconography

One of the things that makes the images coming out of Iran so compelling is that we're seeing a brand new iconography being created. The narrative and iconography of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that has shaped Iran—and to some extent the entire Islamic world—is being replaced with another one. Whatever the short-term outcome of these events, the world has been forever changed. This genie can't be put back in the bottle.

Here are two images that sum it up for me. One could label them technology and women. In the first we see the new tools of grass roots resistance to oppression that the Iranian regime is finding impossible to suppress. As M. Leary points out if you look close enough at this photo of a smashed up dorm room at Tehran University you can see a stack of CD-Rs and a battery charger for a digital camera—some of the new tools of revolution. Though the Basij were able to take this computer down, I'm guessing the owner lived to blog/tweet/upload another day.


Of course the other amazing aspect of all this has been the leading role of women. In some cases they have been the ones leading the charge, literally and figuratively. In this case a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, as a group of chador-clad women rush to the defense of a man being beaten by pro-government thugs. Whatever liberation means for these women, and it may well mean something different than it does in the West, it certainly includes being treated as equals under the law. It's impossible to imagine the status quo being maintained after scenes like this.


Photos from AP