Twitter stream from Iran

Truthout.org is posting selected tweets and other updates that it’s tracking out of Iran. This is an exciting moment in activism and the history of the Internet. It may be the shape of things to come. Here is the stream. Thanks to Marc Ash, the editor of Truthout, for pulling this together.

6 thoughts on “Twitter stream from Iran”

  1. is this a u.s. manufactured destabilization of Iran’s government?
    http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts06192009.html

    “What would clear proof look like in an infosphere that is cloudy (perhaps deliberately so)? There is no direct evidence that the Iranian election was stolen either, but that hasn’t prevented U.S. journalists from operating as though it were so (“faith-based reporting” as Dave Lindorff calls it). Wild speculations, repeated through media channels, come easily out of what media scholar Jayson Harsin names diffuse “rumor bombs.” What are the “facts on the ground” when social media produce a bottom-up mist? In these latest infowar escapades, we need to revise our concepts: not the fog, but the fog-machine of war.”:
    http://counterpunch.org/bratich06222009.html

  2. Eric

    a letter sent to Shirin Neshat from Mania Akbari
    posted on facebook.

    Amin Maher, the actor in Abass Kiarostami’s movie “Ten” and son of
    Mania Akbari artist and director got arrested. Mania states:

    ” It was Tuesday around ten in the evening, when I first heard of my son’s
    arrest. I got shocked and I found myself in total despair. Amin is
    only seventeen years old and is currently in eleventh grade and
    attending the program in his school. I immediately started to look
    for him, experiencing very hard and painful moments. Moments that
    neither cinema nor any other kind of art will ever be able to express.
    What I went through and witnessed that night is not easy to
    describe…I had no idea where they had taken my son to, therefore I
    stared looking in every ambulance, every police station and every
    hospital in town. I came face to face with other parents looking for
    their children as well. Mothers screaming and calling the names of
    their sons and daughters. Fathers weeping silently. Terrified kids in
    police stations awaiting their faith…it was a total nightmare. A
    nightmare that will remain with all of us for the rest of our lives.
    It was early Wednesday morning when I finally found my son at the
    Pasdaran’s police station. The reasons for his arrest were that he was
    wearing a green band to show his support for Mr. Moussavi and also
    that he had been identified as an active participant during the
    presidential campaign.
    Finally on Wednesday he was released with the intervention of some
    friends, artists and some related police authorities. Amin had been
    subjected to serious beatings and emotional disturbance.
    I felt ashamed of seeing him in his condition. I had created a false
    illusion for him regarding the country he had been born in, about
    prevailing humanism and democratic atmosphere. I had always encouraged
    him to consider going to top universities in Iran, instead of opting
    for studying abroad.
    I remember talking to the press a while ago, mentioning humanity, the
    love for people, patriotism and the positive way of thinking towards a
    democratic society.
    Unfortunately now I have to express my disagreement with the
    ever-increasing violence in our society today.
    Violence is not the answer and freedom will only be attained through
    respecting the democratic rights of each and every human being.
    Although my son took the beating from the opposition group, I as a
    mother and an artist oppose to any violence under any circumstances.
    Today I would like to take this opportunity to ask my fellow artists,
    friends and family to participate in promoting a peaceful approach and
    strongly condemn any kind of violence.
    Therefore I hope to be able to live in my country Iran, where I will
    never have to see another club nor another whip.”

    Mania Akbari

  5. yes it’s important to keep up to date on what’s going on in Iran, and yes tweeter may be a good way to get it (although remember two-thirds of Iranian youth have no access to such technology, so it’s not really a democratic media, although perhaps more democratic than traditional media)

    but what is also important to note, and perhaps not to get caught up in, is the way western media and almost all self-proclaimed ‘experts’ on Iran are talking about this as is democracy was thwarted. i find a striking instance of this being when Moussavi claimed he had won the election before the polls even closed, someone who might not have known what he was talking about.

    here are two links to articles that actually address the fact that perhaps democracy actually worked in Iran, as it has so many times before, and how perhaps now we see an upper class /privileged led movement to protest against the wishes of the larger majority of poorer Iranians. yes the suppression and violence against the protests are to be condemned, but it is important to intelligently analyze what actually happened before jumping on the bandwagon of ‘Iranian democracy is corrupt’

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14018

    http://counterpunch.org/amin06222009.html

    you decide…

  6. Eric:

    Nico Pitney has been “live-blogging the uprising” at Huffington Post . . .getting very little sleep. His efforts have landied him on Charlie Rose, Rachel Maddow, etc. Excellent constantly updating tweets, video, etc.

    Mousavi’s facebook page just announced that they want to hold global solidarity demonstrations on Thursday ‘for the martyrs that have been lost so far in our fight for justice.’

Leave a Comment