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We hold these truths to be self-evident

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 4, 2009

The familiar words of Independence Day are not academic observations. They are fighting words:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

It is from this uncompromising heritage that many Americans see the protests in Iran and instinctively side with the people in the street. We wonder why they don't organize and fight back.

We are sick with fury when we see the murder of Neda Agha Soltan, a young Iranian woman shot while watching a protest. The cell-phone video of her death lays bare the raw brutality at work.

We know Iran must have its share of heroic leaders but understand that as soon as they speak up, they are arrested. We wonder how Thomas Jefferson, Paul Revere, John Adams or George Washington would have fared against a true police state.

A quick look at our own history helps us appreciate the depth of the Iranian repression. It helps us appreciate what those holding up posters of Neda's bloody face are up against.

In 1770, six years before Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, British troops stationed in Boston had a bloody run-in with an angry mob. Being pelted with snowballs, sticks and oyster shells, the fearful troops opened fire. Five civilians died. It's called the Boston Massacre.

We've all seen Revere's famous engraving of the scene, of a line of troops firing into a crowd, but it's easy to forget that the troops were charged with murder and had to stand trial. John Adams, no fan of the British, agreed to defend them and did so brilliantly. He described what a video would have shown - a group of soldiers in fear of their lives. Most of the Redcoats were acquitted, and two were found guilty of a lesser offense. None went to jail. It was a reasonable verdict, though totally unsatisfying to Bostonians who had the image of Revere's engraving in the minds.

In Iran, the government did its best to downplay Neda's death. It showed no interest in finding the person who shot her. It outlawed a memorial service for her. It forced her family to flee their home. It intimidated witnesses.

If it could, Iran's government would destroy the disturbing video of her final seconds of life. Instead, its leaders are trying to discredit it. An Iranian diplomat suggests she could have been shot by the CIA to make Iran look bad. Astonishing.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the propaganda value of Neda's death points to "interference of the enemies of the Iranian nation." With a government like this, who needs enemies?

American patriots in the years after the Boston Massacre did not forget. Their anger grew. Governments exist to represent and protect all citizens, even powerless ones like Neda Agha Soltan. When they refuse, it is self-evident that they deserve to be overthrown.

John Hancock helped make sure the British troops were not forgiven. Four years after the massacre he delivered a fiery speech that helped build support for the coming revolution. This Fourth of July we redirect Hancock's rage toward Ahmadinejad and the religious leaders who back him: "How dare you tread upon the earth which has drunk in the blood of slaughtered innocents, shed by your wicked hands? How dare you breathe that air which wafted to the ear of heaven the groans of those who fell, a sacrifice to your accursed ambition?"

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