Comments on: Iran Protests: It’s not about Twitter, it’s not about us

By: GlobalComment » #WeLoveTheNHS: Healthcare misinformation targeted on Twitter

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:11:12 +0000

[...] new and creative ways around the barriers to getting their voices heard—we saw it with the Iranian election, where the problem was official government censorship. This time around, British citizens were [...]

By: koroush

koroush — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:13:24 +0000

Protest in San Diego – Free IRAN!
Start: July 12, 2009
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Location:
FEDERAL BUILDING– Downtown SAN DIEGO.
on Front & Broadway.

Contact: iranpeace@yahoo.com

People are being tortured and killed daily because they spoke out against the government, over 3000 more are awaiting their deaths in the prisons. Even though this is LAST MINUTE, try to come out today to support those in Iran that have fought for their freedom.

BRING YOUR FLAGS & SLOGANS! We will provide some as well.

By: News for June 24 | Xenia Institute

News for June 24 | Xenia Institute — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:11:19 +0000

[...] Global Comment | “The story is about Twitter only to the extent that it’s about us, the rest of the world outside of Iran and especially here in the U.S. Yes, it’s inspiring to see a field of green avatars on Twitter, or to see people normally uninvolved in politics even in their own country passing on information about a protest thousands of miles away, but when the comments are mostly about what Obama is doing about Iran, I have to remind myself that this isn’t our protest.” [...]

By: mandala

mandala — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:35:49 +0000

The whisper of a million voices

The echo of each footstep

Can you hear them?

Cries from a roof top

Neighbor after neighbor

A call to God

A prayer for deliverance

Can HE hear them?

Where is my sister’s vote?

Where is my brother voice?

Can you hear them?

The silence is deafening.

The world is listening.

(N.Walji. 06/20/2009)

By: Raven’s Eye

Raven’s Eye — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:44:47 +0000

[...] Most of us in the States don’t really know what the Iranian people are protesting about, though. And perhaps we don’t have to know. Our willingness to support a public protest that would, without a doubt, be written off in this country as the work of “professional protesters,” “troublemakers” or “fringe elements” without even knowing what it’s about speaks volumes. Does it mean that we’re truly committed to democracy……We can learn a lot from the Iranian people, and I hope that when the protests have ended (and I know we’re all hoping they end peacefully) the people who turned their profile pictures green do some thinking about solidarity and what it really means, and learn more about Iran and other countries around the world that haven’t needed America’s intrusion into their affairs to reaffirm their own right to choose their government. Share and Enjoy: [...]

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:32:01 +0000

You raise some very interesting and thoughtful points. It makes me wish we had stood up in 2004 and fought against obvious election irregularities. It also makes me wonder where the social media as protest platform will go from here. There are still plenty of people on twitter buzzing around the pro-choice/Dr Tiller issue and the ONE campaign twitters regularly about issues and activism in Africa. Which issues rise and capture world-wide attention? Which ones deserve to and are truly worthy of our help and attention? Some of it ends up being about access and affluence- there is no buzz about twitters from Sudan or refugee camps in Ethiopia (although I bet someone is twittering from there). And how easy would it be to overload the twitterverse with protest tweets and loose your audience? Just some thoughts. Again, very nice post.

By: aidin

aidin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:06:52 +0000

all doors close to us..please help us
The government people say is a lie. Confinement to death all people will. Saturday is the day the revolution. Public protests to overthrow the government. We request all the world, we help.

By: Ma Anders

Ma Anders — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:31:14 +0000

As a Black American of civil rights era legacy I cannot tell you that my generation has ever drunk “the Kool-Aid over America’s inherent goodness and more-democratic-than-thou nature”. We know first hand about America’s willingness to do whatever to whomever. Many of us old civil rights activists (which used to be almost every Black person in America) worry that to accomplish his goals, the current president will have to fall back on this approach.

What does this have to do with Iran? I would suspect that the same thing is happening. Over time those Iranian leaders whose palette contained only black-&-white over the last 30-40 years have themselves done much painting with gray. Many Iranian citizens have discovered they were used and forgotten for revolutionary purposes. Thus the present large-scale protests phenomena may have more to do with the outrage of manipulation and misuse than it does with an overt cry for democracy. Democracy is just one of man’s many forms of government; while it works (sort of) in the U.S. it isn’t for everyone – and they have a right to decide that locally.

Hopefully the Iranian protest will yield two results:

First, the people of Iran will learn to never lend out their intents to those who govern. This is called NOT getting the government you deserve, but getting the government you intended.

Second, maybe the next set of nation building capital-based interventionists will realize sometime it’s not chickens that come home to roost, it’s raptor and they will attack. Interfere with other countries now, pay later and in spades.

By: Iran, censorship, social networks — and hundreds of thousands of people risking their lives « Liminal states

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:24:37 +0000

[...] in Iran protests: t’s not about Twitter, it’s not about us, Sarah Jaffe says it far better than I can: The most inspiring thing about the protests in Iran [...]

By: Erica

Erica — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:40:09 +0000

Great article. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for drawing the parallels of America’s own elections to Iran’s. From my journalistic perspective, I have to say the most exciting things to cover are natural uprisings and protests. It is such a fascinating display of democracy. And on the flip side, so is sitting on a couch.