'Iran Can You Hear Us?'
'Can't believe the news today…'  

Fifteen years after the violent suppression of a 'Green Wave' of Iranian citizens demanding peace, freedom and democracy, and three years after the crackdown on the Women Life Freedom activists, the country's political leaders are again set on brutally stamping out a wave of anti-government protest. Given the current internet blackout it is not clear exactly what is happening, but news sites are reporting at least 2,500 deaths, and more than 18,000 protestors arrested.  

When the band took the U2 360° Tour around the world from 2009, Sunday Bloody Sunday went out nightly to the people of Iran: the stage was bathed in green, the script on the giant screens featured poetry in Farsi with images by Iranian artist Shirin Neshat. The band dedicated Sunday Bloody Sunday, one of their earliest protest songs, to those out on the streets in Iran following what were widely considered to be rigged Presidential election results.

In September 2022 Mahsa Amini, a young woman from Iran's oppressed Kurdish minority, was arrested by Iran's "morality" police who arbitrarily detain women who do not comply with the country's abusive and discriminatory compulsory veiling laws.

Mahsa Amini's death in custody three days later gave rise to the "Woman Life Freedom" uprising as women and men in Iran demanded gender equality and an end to decades of oppression. 

The band responded to the protests in Iran at Mahsa's death by posting lines from Bani Adam, a poem on human interconnectedness by the C13th poet Saadi Shirazi.

"Human beings are body parts of each other,
In creation they are indeed of one essence.
If a body part is afflicted with pain,
Other body parts uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you shall not retain."

The band marked International Women's Day in her memory: 'For the women and girls of Iran on this International Women's Day.  Your trinity… Woman. Life. Freedom.'

On this most recent and most repressive wave…

We still can't believe the news today
How long… 
How long must YOU sing this song… 
 
Praying for the safety and freedom of our sisters and brothers in Iran who are not just praying… 
They are in the middle of it
We know we are not