"I wouldn't know a twitter from a tweeter, but apparently it is very important," [U.S. Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton said.
link: Cyber-sympathizers aid Iran protestors online by AFP: Yahoo! Tech
Recent Posts
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Fine Distinctions Matter
Break the Body, Break the Body Politic
Hashem Aghajari [is] an old revolutionary-turned-reformist intellectual who became famous when he was sentenced to execution, in 2003, for saying that Muslims were not monkeys who should follow a Supreme Leader. (“We have a saying in Farsi,” Aghajari told me in 2005, the day Ahmadenijad’s Presidential-election victory was announced. “‘There is no shade darker than black.’ The worst they can do is execute me. I have prepared myself for that. If I am worried, it is not for myself. It’s for the Iranian people, for young people, today’s generation and future generations. My freedom and my life, and those of one or two people like me, don’t matter.”) Student demonstrators succeeded, back in 2003, in pressuring the judiciary to commute his sentence to two years in prison. Did I know, my friend asked, that Aghajari had lost a leg in the Iran-Iraq war? There he was, among the protesters at Azadi Square on Monday, holding his wooden leg under one arm.
link: Laura Secor: Optimism and Anger in Tehran: News Desk: Online Only: The New Yorker
Forty Acres, A Mule, A Work Order, and Oh Yes, We'll Take your Firstborn Child
The [Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy] reported at the time that the Chinese authorities had issued notices warning Tibetan farmers of serious consequences or even confiscation of lands of any one who refused to do farming. Chinese authorities in Kardze later reportedly went on an “arrest and beating drive” against farmers who continued to defy authorities' order to till their farmlands. According to TCHRD, many of the Tibetan youths in Kardze were arrested and detained by Chinese authorities after taking part in anti-China protests last year. “Even if people in Kardze wishes to till the lands, there is hardly any manpower left behind to do the farming work,” the centre said in a statement.
link: One suffers gun shot, three seriously wounded in Chamdo - www.phayul.com
And His Mother was Mrs. Peel: John Lennon's FBI Files
If the British intelligence on [John] Lennon was banal, the US effort was downright ludicrous. When Professor Wiener secured access to the bulk of the FBI files nine years ago, he discovered that the FBI could not get even basic details right, like Lennon's address in New York. They hatched plots to arrest Lennon on drugs charges, which never materialised, and drafted a wanted poster whose most striking characteristic was that the photograph they used was not of Lennon at all, but of another rock singer with long hair and glasses called David Peel.
A number of informants were sent out with instructions to catch Lennon in the act of advocating violent insurrection, but all they ever heard him say was that he would join anti-war protests at the Republican and Democratic national conventions only "if they are peaceful". The most memorable tidbit they unearthed did not concern Lennon at all, but rather a parrot belonging to an anti-war group trained "to interject 'right on' whenever the conversation gets rousing".
What Thou Lovest Well Is Still Limited by Your Server Capacity
“We don’t have the heart to cut off the Iranians,” said Shiyu Zhou, a computer scientist and leader in the Chinese effort, called the Global Internet Freedom Consortium. “But if our servers overload too much, we may have to cut down the traffic.”
link: Op-Ed Columnist - Tear Down This Cyberwall! - NYTimes.com
If You Don't Have The Skills, Don't Make The Kills
We knew about Ahmadinejad's crappy Photoshop skills before. This photo—cloning supporters to make a bigger crowd—is just confirmation that he and his minions are a bunch of morons. [Kheirkhah via Boing Boing]
link: Gizmodo - Ahmadinejad Lying Again With Photoshop - Ahmadinijad
The Victory of the Promiscuous
Twitter is promiscuous by nature: tweets go out over two networks, the Internet and SMS, the network that cell phones use for text messages, and they can be received and read on practically anything with a screen and a network connection.
link: Iran's Protests: Why Twitter Is the Medium of the Movement - TIME
Pandora's Keyboard
When Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone founded Twitter in 2006, they were probably worried about things like making money and protecting people's privacy and drunk college kids breaking up with one another in 140 characters or less. What they weren't worried about was being suppressed by the Iranian government. But in the networked, surreally flattened world of social media, those things aren't as far apart as they used to be — and what began as a toy for online flirtation is suddenly being put to much more serious uses.
link: Iran's Protests: Why Twitter Is the Medium of the Movement - TIME
". . . The Merging of Facebook and Twitter with a Potent Opposition Leader. . . ."
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Sunni nations have tense relations with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Shiite-led theocracy ruling Iran. But they don't want protests in Tehran to inspire similar democratic fervor in their countries -- especially the merging of Facebook and Twitter with a potent opposition leader like Iran's presidential challenger, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
link: Global Development News
What You Witness You Will Become
While people would clearly condemn racism in advance, the majority of non-black people would sit mute and indifferent as blatant acts of anti-black racism occurred before them, according to the Toronto research, published today in the journal Science.
link: TheStar.com | GTA | Study exposes tolerance of racism, Joseph Hall
. . . And Sometimes When You're Silent You're Just Silent
So far the mullahs — a potentially critical swing vote — have remained largely silent. . . .
The Double Edge
Will the champions of "democracy" still applaud if the surging crowds have anti-Western antipathies? I don't know (but I doubt it). We'll just have to wait and see...
link: TYWKIWDBI
Twitter Destiny
looking at images #iranelection & reminded of young Iranian who told us, i want to change my destiny
link: (7) iranelection - Twitter Search
What is Art Without Risk?
JUNE 12–A North Carolina man is facing criminal charges for creating an amusing piece of public art from construction barrels.
link: Coilhouse » Blog Archive » Crackpot Visionary of the Month: Joseph Carnevale
Family Values
An attempt to relaunch the controversial Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun ended in chaotic scenes after the management of the London venue that was to host the group's first meeting in five years cancelled proceedings, complaining "fundamentalist thugs" had tried to enforce the segregation of men and women. Supporters of the group, which wants sharia law in Britain and has praised the 9/11 terrorists as the "Magnificent 19", were ordered to leave Conway Hall in Holborn on Wednesday night when it emerged that Al-Muhajiroun had placed bouncers on the doors and were not letting women into the main hall.
link: Islamist Al-Muhajiroun relaunch ends in chaos over segregation attempt | UK news | The Guardian
On The Edge of a Knife
Most of these [32 dead] citizens lost their lives in the attack on Tehran University dormitories on June 14 and the opening of fire by the paramilitary Basij forces on June 15. The violence started after Iranian citizens protested against the results of the tenth presidential elections, and the interference of security and paramilitary forces connected to the government.
Yazdi Arrested
Ibrahim Yazdi, the dissident veteran of the 1979 revolution who is a leader of the Freedom Movement of Iran — has been arrested. Yazdi was arrested at 3:00 pm today in Pars Hospital in Tehran. He was hospitalized yesterday because of health complications. He and close to about 100 others were taken from the hospital to Evin prison. During last few days, dozens have been arrested from the Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) in different cities of Iran.
link: Iran updates – tehranbureau
Take Back the Night
[T]he escalating anti-government movement is being met with fierce resistance as the authorities call on the country's hardline, quasi-legal militia the Basij. If the days belong to the anti-government protesters, the nights belong to the Basij. At nightfall, thousands of them flood into the streets seeking out government opponents.
link: 100,000 protesters by day in Tehran, but nights belong to Basij | World news | The Guardian
Who Else Is There In The Neighborhood We Can Fuck With?
There has been another attack on a Romanian family in Belfast, this time in the east of the city. . . .More than 100 Romanians have been moved to temporary accommodation following the attacks.
link: BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Further Belfast Romanian attack
The Vision Problem
Leslie Gelb has a great line in his book Power Rules: "Without vision, men die. With vision, more men die."
link: RealClearWorld - The Compass Blog
Twitter Exclamatory
chanting 'my brother - my martyr - I will claim your vote for you!' - #Iranelection
link: persiankiwi (persiankiwi) on Twitter
Under The Radar
Declan McCullagh writes:
Daniel Calingaert, deputy director of programs at Freedom House, a human rights group, says Iranian authorities have been focused on jamming phones and satellite connections and have not paid as much attention to the Internet.
"They're still focused on cat and mouse games with satellite broadcasting," Calingaert says. "They had jammed BBC Persia, which is probably the most respected and known source of news. And then we've heard that BBC moved to different frequencies. A lot of people are able to get it. It varies based on time of day and neighborhood. . . ."
Even if Iranians can't always secure a reliable Internet connection to the outside world, they nevertheless have a potent voice: the Iranian and Persian diaspora, amounting to millions of former residents living abroad. It just takes one e-mail message with a video or photo attached for the contents to rocket around the diaspora and eventually end up on a place like TehranBureau.com. In a pinch, a simple phone call to a family member abroad can be transcribed for a Twitter feed.
Freedom House's Calingaert says: "What makes this situation different from others and is driving a lot of it is that you have a very large and vibrant online and blogger community of Iranians outside the country."
"People are really bypassing channels though Facebook and Twitter and contacting their cousins," Amnesty's Janmohamd adds. "You've got one of the largest Iranian diasporas in Los Angeles. Information is getting out there."
link: Iranians find ways to bypass Net censors | Politics and Law - CNET News
The Silent Demonstration
6:40 pm: Karroubi issued a statement today [Farsi] inviting people to participate in Friday demonstrations starting from Hafte Tir Sq. and to attend the Friday prayer at 11am. He has asked people to wear black. Karroubi accuses the government of betraying the people’s trust and praises the silent demonstrations, saying “silence is full of untold stories.”Karroubi then had even stronger words: “Those who are bothered by the greatness of such a civil behavior tried to blame the fires and other destruction on the nation and supporters of reform. They are masters in engineering trouble, as they are masters in engineering elections, and in the process, they murdered a group of our countrymen. I express my condolences for these murders… They [the vigilantes] try to scare people and ignore their protests by censoring the media and showing propaganda… Karroubi, invited people to continue their participation and warned against plots by suspicious individuals to turn peaceful demonstrations violent. “Their ultimate goal is ending the presence of this great nation. Do not hesitate to participate.” In the end, Karroubi said he will not recognize Ahmadinejad as the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
link: niacINsight
You Also Speak When You Don't Speak. . .
John Kerry Writes:
If we actually want to empower the Iranian people, we have to understand how our words can be manipulated and used against us to strengthen the clerical establishment, distract Iranians from a failing economy and rally a fiercely independent populace against outside interference. Iran’s hard-liners are already working hard to pin the election dispute, and the protests, as the result of American meddling. On Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry chastised American officials for “interventionist” statements. Government complaints of slanted coverage by the foreign press are rising in pitch. We can’t escape the reality that for reformers in Tehran to have any hope for success, Iran’s election must be about Iran — not America. And if the street protests of the last days have taught us anything, it is that this is an Iranian moment, not an American one.
link: Op-Ed Contributor - Respond to Iran With Silence - NYTimes.com
Fact: The Power and the Ambiguity
Hamid Dabashi writes:
The assumption that the government has rigged the election has become a "social fact" that millions of Iranians believe. On the basis of that belief, they have put their lives on the line, with reported casualties of dozens injured and at least one, perhaps up to nine, people killed.
link: Commentary: Rigged or not, vote fractures Iran - CNN.com
Public Situation Withheld From The Public: Why Twitter Works
The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Majlis briefed lawmakers "about the current situation in the country," Press TV reported. No details of the report have been made public.
link: Iranian protesters mostly unfazed by government warnings - CNN.com
"Bunch of Criminals Wounded"
as far as I know they even take down our own Red Crescent's request for help. according to gov: bunch of criminals wounded
Keep Your Head Down
Jason Rezaian writes:
"Please don't take any picture or video," people asked. I agreed, as I had watched many local citizens documenting the event themselves.
I stood wondering which route to take home, while the thousands, who just a few days earlier felt so much hope about the coming election, walked onward. Many carried signs in English, intended for the noticeably absent foreign media to snap. Indeed, the last week has often felt like a series of massive photo ops gone awry.
Still, there was plenty of hope that word would get out. I knew that the handful of foreign journalists still here could help by transmitting what they saw. Given the limitations imposed on us even before the situation became contentious, I think we've done a good job of reporting something that no one can seem to define.
Perhaps just offering a sense of the overall confusion, rampant conjecture, and—for lack of a better word—con is enough.
The fearless people of Iran have been the real force behind getting the news out. With little more than phone cameras and dial-up Internet connections, they have mobilized the international community to pay attention.
On the day after the election, when riot police beat stone-throwing protesters, I ran for cover while hundreds of Iranians stood motionless to "get the shot."
For people who have experienced their share of violence over the last 30 years, most of all when Saddam Hussein's bombs reached Tehran, it seems that taking a beating for a worthy cause is reasonable for once.
But Who Will Check the Fact-Checkers?
Associated Press reports:
Iran has accused the United States of "intolerable" meddling in its internal affairs, alleging for the first time that Washington has fueled a bitter post-election dispute.
Iranian Guantanamo
from niacINsight
12:48 pm: Reliable information according to Fereshteh Ghazi:Saeed Mortazavi, Prosecutor-General of Tehran and a prosecutor of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, has ordered all of the arrests of the past few days, and he has given no legal avenues to the prosecuted or their families to find out more information.
The total number of arrests of political prisoners, journalists, and human rights activists in Iran is approaching about 500.
Reminders from the Authorities
Today's protests in Tehran and Isfahan come despite reminders from the authorities that under the Islamic penal code the disruption of domestic security could carry a death sentence.
link: Euronews
The Truth Factor
Frank James writes
[W]ho can tell what's reliable and what isn't on Twitter? It's impossible to know even if what you're reading was actually written by people in Tehran or elsewhere in Iran, especially since there's a movement for as many people in the Twittersphere to use the Iranian capital as their location a là "I'm Spartacus" to make it harder for Iranian censors to stop tweets that are actually from Iran.
The unintended consequence of that move was to make it even harder for the non-Iranian censors to figure out what's really from Iran and what isn't. For instance, how do we know that Gabhan is really in Tehran and not, say, spoofing from Johannesburg?
And even if he's in Iran, how do we know his information is credible? It's even possible that some of the tweets are coming from Iranian authorities or foreign intelligence agencies issuing disinformation.
One function of mainstream media journalism is to disseminate information we've determined to be reliable. It's not easy to do and we journalists make mistakes in vetting "facts," witness much of the important reportage leading to the Iraq War. We're human.
But the reliance on Twitter and Facebook is essentially throwing the doors open to everything and anything.
link: National Public Radio
Bloated Body Politic
Robert Talt writes:
Turnouts of more than 100% were recorded in at least 30 Iranian towns in last week's disputed presidential election, opposition sources have claimed.
In the most specific allegations of rigging yet to emerge, the centrist Ayandeh website – which stayed neutral during the campaign – reported that 26 provinces across the country showed participation figures so high they were either hitherto unheard of in democratic elections or in excess of the number of registered electors.
link: The Guardian
Silent Coup
DANIELLE PLETKA and ALI ALFONEH write:
link: The New York Times
Conscience Lockdown
"A Rift between the State and the Nation"--Torn Conscience
Saeed Kamali Dehghan in Tehran, Ian Black, Robert Tait and Vikram Doddguardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 June 2009 19.45 BST
Iran elections: Khamenei calls for calm as unrest grows
Trouble in the Bubbaverse
Racist tweets are the happening thing among South Carolina Republican bigwigs. This week’s was pretty straightforward:I JUST HEARD THAT OBAMA IS GOING TO IMPOSE A 40% TAX ON ASPIRIN BECAUSE IT’S WHITE AND IT WORKSThat’s from Mike Green, a hardworking G.O.P. operative. Like his Party’s environmental policies, he is green in name only and emits noxious fumes. His apology, a two-tweeter, was straightforward, too, mostly:I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE FOR THE COMMENTS I MADE ON TWITTER YESTERDAY. I MADE A MISTAKE. I REALIZE THAT MY COMMENTS WERE HURTFUL, WRONG AND HAVE NO PLACE IN CIVIL DISCOURSE.(“I made a mistake” is feeble, but let it pass.)
Stop That Orwellian Sports Metaphor!
David Zirin writes for The Nation:
Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has compared the protests following his country's recent sham election to the common scuffles that take place after a soccer game. He said:
Some people are sentimental and become excited. As I said, I compared it to a soccer match. Their team has not won in the match.... In the end, I don't think we'll have any serious challenges. Sentiments are high, and sometimes they do some stuff on the streets, but in the end we had 40 million people participating, and what is happening on the streets is like a football match.
Someone needs to let Ahmadinejad in on the differences between a soccer riot and the explosive expressions of dissent taking place across a country of more than 70 million people, 70 percent of whom are younger than 30.
The Public Situation Not Made Public
The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Majlis briefed lawmakers "about the current situation in the country," Press TV reported. No details of the report have been made public.
link: Iranian protesters mostly unfazed by government warnings - CNN.com
