Is There a New Face of Jihad?

Is there a new face to Jihad--which, by now, we are all aware means some sort of life-struggle addressed by Islam-- the ugly face of which has been featured for several years now on the covers of weekly news magazines? The above picture, from a story featured today today at Drudge (showing the placard "Live Free or Die,") is a group of students at Tehran University who are protesting the policies of failed blogger, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran. "Live Free or Die" is, of course, the motto of the State of New Hampshire. Pretty boring photo, huh?

Nearby Pakistan also has a number of students and members of "civil society" (a kind of Germanic concept for us Americans) who are demonstrating on a daily basis for fundamental human rights.

Today is the UN's Universal Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the Universal Declaration. The Declaration will look pretty familiar to anyone in the US, but apparently is more acceptable to the world without the American Brand on it.

Last April, I blogged about a protest in Iraq with thought that the idea of advancing political causes through freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and the ballot box, rather than through violence, would be a wonderful development. Boring as the above picture may be, let's hope that these non-violent pictures will be the new face of political involvement in the Islamic world and a harbinger of better times to come.

If this story interests you, you might want to read about how free, online rap and hip-hop is the new voice for political freedom in Iran.