Neda Agha-Soltan has became an icon of Iran unrest after she was shot and killed during a protest in Tehran this weekend. (Photo is a still from a YouTube video that captured her last moments before dying.)All eyes and ears are on Iran, and for the first time it's not because of the award-winning coverage of the media.
Technology has turned average citizens into reporters and photojournalists whose real-time correspondence can be seen and heard throughout the world on computer screens, blackberries and cellphones via text messaging, blogs, emails and social network websites such as Facebook and Twitter. This steady stream of manic reports and images has made every person on the other side of the source an eye witness to these events.
The value of Twitter, a fun and "cute" website set up to enable friends and strangers to be in constant, instant communication with each other and to entertain them in the process, shoot up at rocket speed when it became the news source this weekend, with so-called tweets flowing at a rate of dozens per second, hundreds per minute.
Without these reports, news networks such as CNN would've been lost in the aftermath of the June 12 presidential elections, when confronted with increasing violence stemming from clashes between protesters and security forces the Iranian government banned foreign press coverage of the events.
Well, it didn't work.
Rather than decrease exposure, the communication blackout increased it by encouraging people to seek out information rather than wait for the media to feed it to them.
Without technology in the hands of ordinary people, the world would've never learned about Neda Agha-Soltan (right)--a 26-year-old woman described by family and friends as a "beam of light,” a music and travel lover but never an activist--shot by militia during a rally whose death was captured by a cellphone camera, the graphic images disseminated throughout the world turning her into the movement's first martyr.Neda Agha-Soltan has become an icon of Iran unrest. In less than a minute, amateur footage shot using a cellphone and later posted on YouTube for all to see, shows Neda bleeding and dying after being hit by a bullet on the neck. This is one of many examples, possibly the most powerful yet, of civilians' ability to document and report events inside Iran despite government restrictions on foreign media as well as Internet and phone lines. (Getty/Handout)
What now?
The public outcry for democracy, justice and freedom has not been silenced despite the government's efforts to crush the masses of people that have taken to the streets of Tehran to protest the election results they claim were rigged to declare incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.
The question, for me at least, has been, will it make a difference? Will their efforts to call attention to their cause spark long-term change in Iran or just lead to more of what we have already seen? How long before they give up? If the uprising produces nothing but more violence, why continue to put their lives in danger?
And danger is what they're facing everyday in Tehran--ongoing protests, rallies, fires, clashes, batons, rocks, tear gas, opposers, supporters, riot police...more violence and chaos.
I wonder if there's a point of no return, and if they have reached it.
A tanker would end this. But now that Iran knows a ban on foreign press coverage is useless, would it unleash such military force on its people while the world watches?
A leaderless revolution with many captains
Earlier today, one of the CNN anchors said he's been in contact with a 19-year-old young woman in Iran who has been sending him messages and photos via email. Soon after she was on the phone live from Iran.
The girl reportedly was badly beaten Saturday but returned to the streets today.
Below are some of her statements, some paraphrased and some in quotes, most of which were replies to questions from the anchor.
- When asked about beatings she said: "I have been beaten so many times...and this time it doesn't matter...I just want to help my brothers and my sisters...". She said she saw an old woman and three others being beaten at a bus stop by Basij (Iranian militia) who were telling them to leave, "but the old woman said this is her country...and she's waiting for husband to pick her up and would not move...they beat her and three others."
- About Neda, the woman who has become the symbol of this movement, she said she tried to go to the memorial but police stopped her. She added that people are chanting: "We don't want you to kill another Neda--we are all Nedas today."
- When questioned about a 5-year-old boy who was hurt by the Basij, she said they "hit him with motorcycle...a woman over him was crying for help and we went to help her but police would not let us."
- Regarding whether or not she thought the elections were a success, she replied: "I don't know why they make a fool of themselves because everyone knows...everyone took part in this election because we don't want Ahmadinejad to be president...that's why we all went out...we wanted Mousavi to be our president."
- When asked why she kept going back and risk being beaten again or worse, she said: "because I think it's my, um, responsibility, because many of my friends are in this situation, then I stay at home I worry about my friends other women other boys that are hit, then i think maybe I should go and help them."
- To a question about what she and others say to the police who beat them, she replied: "If you're Iranian you should not beat your mother, your brother, your sister."
- Regarding the role of women in the protests she said: "If you want the truth, I think that women are more than men...the women are all together...they are so more than men...the women, they don't have a chance to express themselves to say that we're important in the future of our country...and now we can play a role...it's a good chance for us."
- And, finally, when asked how she feels about the current state of affairs in Iran, she replied: "I'm absolutely optimistic because history has taught me that every revolution is fought like this...some people die, but nothing stays the same forever...this is how revolutions are...unfortunately we don't have a leader, and that's not good."
Former Crown Prince Pahlavi on Iran
Former Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. (AFP)Former Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi said Monday the protests in his country were supported by much of the military and clerical establishment and could end up bringing down the entire Islamic government.
Pahlavi, who has sought an end to the Islamic regime since his father was deposed in the 1979 revolution, said he had sources within the military and intelligence that were ready to switch sides, with some refusing to carry out orders to suppress the protests.
"It's almost a revolutionary climate," an at-times teary-eyed Pahlavi told reporters in Washington.
He said "a movement" was born on June 12, the day the presidential elections were held.
"It is not Islamic or anti-Islamic, it is not for capitalism or socialism, nor any other ideology or specific form of government. It cares little about historical squabbles before its birth. It is about the sanctity, even more, the sovereignty of the ballot box. It may not succeed immediately. It may have ebbs and flows. But, let me assure you it will not die, because we will not let it die," he said.
He noted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sealed his own fate by backing Ahmadinejad.
"A week (after the elections), the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic decided to stand erect as a dam in front of this movement, sanctioning theft of the ballot box and flagrant fraud, all in the name of Islam," he said.
"It was an ugly moment of disrespect for both God and man. It will not stand. The citizens of
"Your governments have insisted that they would not interfere in
"It is vital that the free world not fall for such cruel cynicism in the name of realpolitik," he added.
"You can't at the same time hold allegiance to the regime and at the same time hold allegiance to the people," Pahlavi said. "This is no longer tenable."
If you ask me, I believe we won't be seeing Ahmadinejad any time soon because an assassination attempt is all but sure the moment he steps on any street of Tehran.
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