Any of you friendly folk following the Iranian twitter feeds amid the mass protests?
Thoughts?
For those of you who don't know - Iran sort of had an Obama v Bush magnitude election, Bush won, but of course that seems dubious. Now there's been a huge crackdown and for some reason Twitter is the only outlet not being blocked by the regime. Students are protesting, police are using cattle prods on them, and as the twitter feeds are constantly being updated, some are falling silent and making you wonder what happened to the posters.
http://twitter.com/azarnoush
http://twitter.com/jadi
http://twitter.com/tehranbureau
http://twitter.com/hamednz
http://twitter.com/Shahrzadmo
http://twitter.com/knv
http://twitter.com/mousavi1388
http://twitter.com/sasan_j
http://twitter.com/smileofcrash
http://twitter.com/alirezasha
http://twitter.com/IranElection09
http://twitter.com/Change_for_Iran
http://twitter.com/IranRiggedElect
http://twitter.com/madyar
http://twitter.com/TehranBureau
http://twitter.com/iran09
http://twitter.com/y_shar
http://twitter.com/Change_for_Iran
http://twitter.com/StopAhmadi
http://twitter.com/smileofcrash
http://twitter.com/Mynumberone1988
http://twitter.com/iranbaan
Users that have not twittered for +1 hour:
http://twitter.com/mohamadreza (Have protected updates)
http://twitter.com/parastoo
http://twitter.com/bahadorn
http://twitter.com/Bahram81
http://twitter.com/parhamdoustda
http://twitter.com/2hamed
http://twitter.com/IranUltimatum
http://twitter.com/tehranelection
http://twitter.com/TwitPersia
it's sad but it's not really shocking to me...the election itself, is as corrupt as when he won 4 years go..the problem w/this guy is he caters to the part of the anti-west, israel-hating muslim world, instead of the middle class, mostly educated people who want reform... i will be curious to see how Obama reacts to this election. It will make me sick if it's accepted (flashbacks of Zimbabwe's election..when South Africa did nothing), but at the same time, Obama HAS to accept it because of the concessions Ahmadinejad has made. If we treat him the way the last administration did, it gives fuel to the fire and the rest of the world won't feel compelled to step up with us.
Especially when they're now shooting people
This is awesome! The voice of the people is heard thru TWITTER! Bob would be so proud. I was waiting to figure out what Tweets were good for and now I know! Screw the details on what underwear Shaq is wearing today, we've got a revolution taking place fueled by Twitter!
Some are claiming now that there are over a million protesters. How many people even live in Iran?
Just looking at all of this Twitter stuff, it's amazing the age we're in where we see and hear about things as they're happening.
I was going to say that at least the massive student protest was heard, was noticed and would have an impact on the decisions being made by the power(s) to be, but then I am thinking in "western free world mode". Given the alternate reality in which this particular Iran faction thinks the protests may have no value until the next election.
Go ahead and turn on CNN. They're running stories on free boob jobs, gay men in insurance commercials, and weed.
Say what you want about the futility of "new media" but here you have Twitter as (a) the only voice for a lot of people on the ground, and (b) a pickaxe to the attempted informational freeze-out perpetuated by the gov't just prior to the election.
There's no spin on the war on terror. And you're getting it from the people experiencing it - Gonzo journalism at itsbest.
Apparently the most violent ones are gangs of super-conservative militias going around beating up kids - not official government actions.
also, I just wanted to share this very poignant picture:
(http://www.elchode.com/images/photos/help.jpg)
A protester rescuing riot police from a crowd after taking a brutal beating.
Their universities have vacated; professors and students are in hiding and on strike. Thugs have invaded the dorms and are beating students. Wired is reporting that there are low-level hacks sabotaging the hardliner's anti-revolution propaganda, probably originating from 4chan and anonymous.
Of course I have no idea, but if I was the existing government, I might pay certain "super-conservative militia" to carry out my dirty work in order to keep my hands clean.
(http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20090615&t=2&i=10511861&w=450&r=2009-06-15T175931Z_01_BTRE55E1DZD00_RTROPTP_0_IRAN-ELECTION)
(http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20090615&t=2&i=10511225&w=450&r=2009-06-15T170009Z_01_BTRE55E1B3G00_RTROPTP_0_IRAN-ELECTION)
(http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20090615&t=2&i=10512128&w=450&r=2009-06-15T181124Z_01_BTRE55E1EJ900_RTROPTP_0_IRAN-ELECTION)
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSWBT01137420090616
Quotehttp://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSWBT01137420090616
That's really interesting.
There's an interesting WIRED story about the twittering as well, including information that the Gov't has gone all undercover and posted fake feeds
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/web-attacks-expand-in-irans-cyber-battle/