Keep Your Eye on Iran Tomorrow

Keep your eye on Iran this Thursday. Tomorrow, February 11th, marks the thirty first anniversary of the fall of the Shah in 1979, paving the way for the establishment of the Islamic Republic. It is also the day when Iran's Green protesters have called for tens of thousands to turn out in the streets all over the country to protest the current government and call for its overthrow. Sympathy protests are planned in cities around the world, organizers keeping in touch via cell phone and twitter. It is going to be a big deal.

Thursday in Iran will be bloody, no question about it. The Islamic Republic will come down hard once again on dissent. The protesters simply do not have the critical mass to unseat an entrenched, repressive theocracy, unless the military and paramilitary join them, which is not likely.

The Government, fighting for it's life, controls the army and the instruments of power and is not about to give up. After eight months, it looks like things are at a stalemate. But you never can tell.

The Iranian government continues to wave it's nuclear sabre at the rest of the world, unsettling the neighbors and angering the West. Its bellicose posturing is on the increase. Economic sanctions are almost inevitable. The Iranian people are not happy and they keep protesting. In spite of arrests, torture, assassination, beatings, and harassment, martyrs to the Green Revolution keep being made which fuels more protests and more martyrs. Momentum is surely building.

Keep your eye on Iran tomorrow and say a prayer for the protesters. It takes time and sacrifice, but in the end light will always triumph over darkness.

Today In Iran They Remembered Neda

Today in Iran they remembered Neda, the young woman whose shooting by a rooftop sniper made her a symbol of the opposition to Iran's ruling theocracy, and a martyr to the cause.

Today, July 30th, it is 40 days, since she was gunned down in the streets of Tehran during post election demonstrations-- an important interval in terms of Iranian mourning customs. Family, friends, and reformers asked for governmental permission to mourn at the graveside. It was denied.Word went out, by word of mouth and on the internet, that mourners were to gather at Beheshteh Zahra cemetery in Tehran with Neda's family at the grave today. Thousands did just that in a breathtaking show of solidarity . In spite of attempts to stifle communication with the outside world, the internet is full of words and images from Iran today, and of demonstrations in the name of Neda

You can read the excellent, English language reports from people on the scene at the Tehran Bureau website. There is a good slide show of today's events posted online by an Iranian blogger. One of my favorite American political bloggers has done an excellent post which gives the blow by blow of today's action. Another good source of information is the New York Times blog The Lede, which has been filing reports from Iran all day long. Videos are being uploaded to YouTube by the minute it seems, The one below was filed today. Have a look. Neda may be gone, but she is far from forgotten.








photo source:http://twitpic.com/c5ai9

Stand With Iran Today for Freedom

Today, July 25th, is a day of global solidarity for the people of Iran. You can stand with Iran today at events in more than 110 cities across the globe.

Even if you can't attend an event, you can let the people of Iran know that you salute their bravery and are with them in their struggle. There is plenty you can do. Go to the website that is coordinating all of today's events, United4Iran.org and check out all the ways you can show your support, by donating, or by blogging the struggle, following on Twitter and retweeting Iran tweets, becoming a Facebook Fan or just by spreading the word among your friends and family.

Let us not forget the people of Iran who are struggling to make their voices heard



Iran Solidarity Update

Have a look at some of the videos posted today on YouTube from events and marches all over the world. People across the globe stand in solidarity with the people of Iran.

London outside the Iranian Embassy

Hamburg Iran Election Demonstration

Chicago Rally

Brisbane, Australia

Amsterdam

Heidelberg, Germany

Stockholm, Sweden

Paris, France

Tehran


More than 2000 people watched a live stream of a green scroll being unfurled at the Tour Eiffel in Paris. You can see it too here For more information check the United4Iran website I have also become an avid reader of an excellent website, Tehran Bureau. I recommend it highly. Do check it out and follow on Twitter for up to the minute, cutting edge reports.

Today, July 25,2009 is only the beginning of the story, I am certain.

Freedom Will Not Die in Iran

No matter how brutal the repression, freedom will not die in Iran. The more you try to stamp it out, the more it will surface. Once the people have spoken, their voices will not be silenced.

This video was uploaded to Youtube just today. I can't read the Persian, but I definitely get the idea. Have a look and you will too.

This Saturday We Are All Iranians

It is Saturday, June 20th, the day that the tipping point was reached in Iran. Today is the day that demonstrations in Iran stopped being about who won the election and started being about freedom. Yesterday, the blood started to flow in earnest as the government played hardball with dissenters and as evening fell fear was in the air and death was on the streets.

The people of Tehran stood on their roofs and prayed to God. A young Iranian woman captured the moment in a moving poem and posted it on YouTube for the world to see. Please watch and listen and as you do offer a prayer not only for the people of Iran but for all of humanity everywhere. Because this Saturday, June 20th, we are all Iranians.

Tweeting the Revolution

This is my third day of tweeting the aftermath of the elections in Iran and the experience is just blowing me away.

On Sunday, Twitter had the news long before TV and the amount of info that was being shared online, albeit without vetting, was just amazing. I won't mention the names of the Tweeters in Iran for security reasons, but picture this.

I'm in New Jersey, reading tweets from an Iranian student sitting with a laptop on a balcony in an apartment building in Tehran. I'm getting a blow by blow of what's going on in the street below. Iranians in New York and London are tweeting reports from their friends and relatives in Tehran. Demonstrations are being set up in front of Iranian embassies all over the world on Twitter. Links to Youtube and Flickr give me up to the minute graphic images to chew on. Meanwhile, CNN is re-running a report from Iran filed hours earlier by Christiane Amanpour. Let's see-- Twitter or CNN? It's a no brainer. It was a watershed moment in the world of communication not unlike CNN's coverage of the first Gulf War. The gap was so great, we will never be the same again.

By yesterday, half of the Twitterverse had green icons, in solidarity with the Iranian people. Efforts to block twitter and silence the Iranian twitterers were being countered by internet saavy geeks and hackers all over the world. Demonstrations were increasing. Tension was mounting. CNN was scrambling and the beat went on.

Last night I read an interesting blogpost laying out the proposition that the whole thing was a well planned Israeli effort to destabilize Iran by delegitimizing the election. You can read the whole post here and decide for yourself whether it is truth or disinformation. Whatever it is, it made me stop and think.Not only is the situation in Iran a watershed moment in the world of politics and a sea change in communication techniques, it might also be a new wrinkle in espionage.

Whatever is happening and whatever the truth is, it is big. Very big. The world will never be the same again and as events unfold, we may just find ourselves tweeting more than one revolution.