I have been monitoring Twitter to keep up to date with all of the information coming out of Iran over the last 12 days, and there have been increasing calls from Iranian twitterers for their fellow citizens to refrain from violence. While it may be the case that some violence is necessary for real change to occur in the Islamic Republic (just as it was in the United States during our separation from England in the Revolutionary War), this video is a remarkably powerful display of the kind of nonviolent gesture currently being promoted.

The scene echoes the 2003 Rose Revolution of Georgia in which, following a disputed election in which voters claimed to have been disenfranchised, the supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili stormed the Georgian Parliament carrying roses and forced the President Eduard Shevardnadze to flee. The legend is that the protesters were only carrying the flowers, but there are also some reports to the contrary that cannot be discounted. Regardless, the sentiments of that action seem to now be playing out on Iranian streets and the bravery of these citizens has to be admired.

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