Iran's Digital Revolution or Iran's Regime, Meet the Internet

Politics

July 6, 2010

iran

digital revolution

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Hopefully you've been following the near-revolution in Iran in the past week. As a half-Iranian, the last week's events have personally affected my family. My dad's been trying to call our relatives in Tehran for the past week, but the government cut off extra-national phone communications.

It's almost impossible to know what's happening to my family over there. All of my cousins are part of the more than 70% of the Iranian population that's under 30 of age. They're of the same youth you see in the street demonstrations. And as the Iranian government clamped down on official news coverage of the hundreds of thousands of people protesting in Tehran, the outside world has only been able to get bits and pieces of the struggle through pictures, videos and texts over the Web.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the Tehran streets despite a government ban on protests.

But the Internet wasn't something the backwards regime thought of. The most popular social network in Iran, Facebook, gave the first glimpse into the brutality of the state-sponsored religious militia, the Basiji. Soon after Twitter users such as @IranSolidarity gave eyewitness accounts and information on how the global community could join in for a free Iran. Instead of paved avenues and concrete buildings, cyberspace became another front in the war for Iran.

A protester helps an injured riot police officer. Although the police have warned against "illegal" protests, many oficers have stated that they will not fire on the protestors.

This revolution is the ultimate example of online activity creating substantial offline change. The current regime under the Ayatollah, Guardian Council, and religious zealots secured itself due to its isolation and control of media. Now with social networking and ubiquitious Internet access, it's near impossible for the regime to prevent the Iranians from reaching out to the world.

U.S. Government Asks Twitter to Stay Up for #IranElection Crisis [Mashable]
Social Networks Spread Defiance Online [NY Times]
Iran Election Twitter Feeds [Huffington Post]

If you'd like to know the events from the June 12th election until now, CNN put together a concise visual timeline of the past week. Want to join in on the worldwide online revolution? Here's six things you can do to help with social media.

For those new to Iran, here's a quick rundown of the basics:

A Timeline of 20th-21st Century Iran-US relations

1953 US and British intelligence services engineer a coup in which Iranian military officers depose Prime Minister Muhammad Mussadeq, a leading exponent of nationalising the oil industry.

1979 16 January - US-backed Shah of Iran forced to leave the country.

1979 4 November - Iranian students seize 63 hostages at US embassy in Tehran, prompting drawn-out crisis leading to severing of diplomatic ties and sweeping US sanctions against Iran.

1980 22 September - Iraq invades, sparking a war with Iran which lasts the rest of the decade. While several Western countries provide support to Iraq during the war, Iran remains diplomatically isolated.

1981 20 January - Last 52 US hostages freed in January after intense diplomatic activity. They had been held for 444 days.

1985/6 US holds secret talks with Iran and makes weapons shipments, allegedly in exchange for Iranian assistance in releasing US hostages in Lebanon. With revelations that profits were illegally channeled to Nicaraguan rebels.

1988 3 July - US cruiser Vincennes mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Airbus over the Gulf, killing all 290 people on board.

1989 3 June - Ayatollah Khomeini dies. President Khamenei is appointed supreme leader the following day.

1995 President Clinton imposes oil and trade sanctions on Iran for alleged sponsorship of "terrorism", seeking to acquire nuclear arms and hostility to the Middle East process. Iran denies the charges.