Reflections from someone who traveled to Iran last December: “When I was there, I felt the energy of young people that wanted and needed change. Nearly two out of every three people is under thirty. Many of them highly educated, including many women. A hope for change is what brought millions of women and men to the ballot boxes. A hope for change brings these same people to the streets now. Demanding their rights and demanding their votes to be heard.”
"Despite the crackdown, the videos and tweets indicate to many that broadly distributed Internet tools — and the spirit of young, tech-savvy people — cannot be completely repressed by an authoritarian government."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demonstrates the reverse-talk of autocrats everywhere.
On protesting a stolen election:
“Street challenge is not acceptable. This questions the principles of election and democracy.”
On his favorite candidate just happening to win:
“This is a sign of God’s mercy for this nation,” he said.
On the idea of a recount or monitored election:
“If we break the law, we will have to do it in every election and no election would be immune. This is wrong. This is the beginning of dictatorship.
There you go protesters, it’s you who are threatening democracy and trying to install democracy. I think the official world response should be “Pfftt!”
I’ve been doing some teasing about what I’ve called Twitactivsm, but it is amazing that ordinary citizens are able to shoot and distribute almost real-time video from a country in protest despite the internet restrictions. Here are some Youtube videos that came through the NYTimes live coverage feed.
Tehran, Meidune Emam, 5pm
Iran June 18 2009
Iran June 18 2009
There are also some good photos on this Twitpic page.
A rare hopeful image from Tehran: “A backer of Mir Hossein Mousavi helps evacuate an injured riot-police officer during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009.” From Boston.com’s striking collection of photos from the Iranian protests.
