Fury in Iran. It has been an amazing couple of hours on Twitter. The Iranian government has shut down almost every form of media in the country but they have not been able to stop people on Twitter. Students are twittering from Tehran University as the police hunt them down. Pictures are being uploaded that might not otherwise get out. Poor Twitter had been scheduled to shut down for maintenance for an hour or so tonight but so much protest came down that it would stop people from communicating. People in Iran are finding each other to see if they are still alive and where they are, so Twitter postponed the maintenance to tomorrow. All media have been asked to leave. #IranElection is the hash tag or the keyword people are using to find out what is going on.
I am not sure if it will make a difference in the long run but it is weird to see the people of Iran protesting the election and fighting for even a little bit of democracy in the face of the theocracy. The president of Iran is strictly a figurehead, the Ayatollah is the one who runs the country, but it would be nice to have this be the beginning of the end. It was not that long ago when Iran was not a theocracy. Not that the Shah of Iran was a good guy but the Ayatollahs have nothing on him.
Getty Image by Olivier Laban-Mattei. A Mousavi supporter helps evacuate an injured riot police officer.Go watch a little bit of history in the making on Twitter.
1 comment:
I don't have a witty comment for all this. Just hopes dashed. I realize it wouldn't have been much, for them or us, but a measure of hope is lost.
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