HEAVENLY JOKE SPARKLER HERO ([info]inactivism) wrote,
@ 2009-06-17 22:18:00
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Current mood: anxious
Current music:My Chemical Romance - Heaven Help Us

Heaven help us now, come crashing down ;; [HELP THE IRANIAN PEOPLE!]


i realize now i do not fear death... i fear my daughter will not be free when i die


- From the Twitter of an Iranian medical student


"If it bothers you so much, then why don't you stop watching?" seems to be the question of the last few days from my friends and family who know how invested I have become in the cause of the Iranian people (as I have explained in great detail here) The answer is simple: one day of caring is not enough. We must be the voice for the people of Iran who would otherwise be silenced. They are without reliable news sources, they are without mobile phone calls, text messaging, facebook, twitter, youtube, AIM, Yahoo, Google, and pretty much every other useful outlet for information you can think of. Yet they persist on the streets and on the internet in any way they can. The least we can do, whether we are across continents, oceans, or time zones, is spread their words safely.



My death is irrelevant.Wht is important is that u do not forget my words.We want freedom.i will die 4that


- From the Twitter of a protester in Tehran


Right now, brave men and women in Iran, both young and old, are sacrificing their lives for their voices to be heard. They must fear not only the police, but also the Basij -a force of men loyal to the government who plant themselves among crowds in plain clothes in order to discretely attack protesters and incite chaos.The protesters are peaceful. They mass together in crowds that are reported to grow in size every day. At night they have very few, if any, safe places to stay. Houses with satelite dishes were attacked by the Basij tonight, and during the 50 minutes of Twitter's maintenance, another university was attacked.



140 characters is a novel when you're being shot at.


- From another Iranian Twitter


WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?



  1. The most obvious thing to do is stay informed. Keep an eye on reliable sources on Twitter, refresh blogs and news sites that are covering the stories.

  2. If you are on twitter, retweet information from reliable twitters, but REMOVE THE USERNAME if they are in Iran. People have died because of the lack of responsibility by fellow tweeters and the media in this front. They can be tracked down by the government of Iran.

  3. Spread the information elsewhere. Repost this article or write your own on Facebook, Myspace, Tumblr, or anywhere else you can think of. If you write your own, make sure you are concise and accurate. Link to your sources for people to learn more.

  4. Change your location on Twitter to Tehran or Iran, and your time zone to GMT +3:30.

  5. DO NOT auto-refresh and take down websites, even if you are asked. It slows down the internet for the rest of the people in Iran.

  6. If you make a proxy DO NOT post it publically, otherwise it is useless. Send it in a direct message to a trusted source.

  7. DO NOT spam the hash tag #IranElection with useless things to "confuse the government". This does not help at all.


USEFUL SITES TO FURTHER HELP


Cyber War Guide for Iran Elections


Green Revolution - How to Help


Anonymous - Why We Protest - Iran



STAY INFORMED!


Follow on Twitter: @ProtesterHelp and @StopAhmadi


(REMINDER: DO NOT REPOST PERSONAL TWITTERS OF THOSE INSIDE THE COUNTRY, EVEN IF THEY ARE RELIABLE!)


Chronology of events


Live-blogging by Andrew Sullivan


General information from a poser on Fark.com


Live-blogging on HuffingtonPost



دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election


- original article by one_hoopy_frood on LJ


(7 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]jelliclekat
2009-06-18 04:07 am UTC (link)
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is what I've been looking for.

(Reply to this)


[info]ragweedtd
2009-06-18 04:49 am UTC (link)
I am actually such a wreck over what's been going on in Iran for the past few days. No sleep tonight. :/

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]inactivism
2009-06-18 04:50 am UTC (link)
I've been so out of it the last few days, I only caught up on what's going on tonight. But I feel like shit and I've been crying while reading about it; it's just so awful. ;_;

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]ragweedtd
2009-06-18 05:08 am UTC (link)
Me too, I've been in tears for the better part of the evening. What's worse is that no one in my dorm seems to know/care about what's going on.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]vinovisions
2009-06-18 07:43 am UTC (link)
Thank you for this, seriously.

So many people do not understand the gravity of the situation, nor do they care, nor do they frame it correctly. Media must be used to fight injustice, it is a powerful tool for both sides. All sides, there are rarely just two sides. Anyhow... this is what I logged onto facebook to see:

using your Twitter or your Facebook status to "support" what's happening in Iran is just another way to not really do anything, and feel better about it.

Not naming any names there, but I was disheartened by it. Saddened to see that one of my very intelligent friends had become the quintessential douche-bag apathetic artist. They did not see the merit in getting the words of the people out there so people like you and I must urge others to do everything in their power to spread truth, even when it is hard to hear. Even when it has to be done through a seemingly frivolous medium like a social networking site. It is times like these when we must use what's at our disposal to make this world a better place and I for one support this idea and appreciate you for refusing to be shortsided on the matter and understanding what is really trying to be accomplished here... and that we're doing what's in our power to help as much as possible. We can't keep throwing our hands up and saying, "Nothing I can do."

Furthermore, I hope that people are able to see the parallels between the situation in Iran and American society today. Just because we're a Western society does not mean that we're infallible to such social diseases as fascism and inadvertently supporting the forces that propel such dangerous and powerful views. We are ALL affected. This is truly a world issue.

Keep fighting the good fight.



(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]jelliclekat
2009-06-18 02:27 pm UTC (link)
using your Twitter or your Facebook status to "support" what's happening in Iran is just another way to not really do anything, and feel better about it.

Agh, that's sad. I don't watch a lot of TV, so there have been plenty of times in the past when I discovered what was happening somewhere else simply because I saw someone mention it on Facebook or Twitter. Social networking sites have become my major source of finding out if important things are happening in the world.

I mean, there have even been times when social networking sites let me know things before a news broadcast even aired, or let me know things that a news broadcast wouldn't air. So it really bothers me when people slam social networking as something "useless." Even a little Facebook status might be enough to make someone google "Iran election" if they hadn't before, if they see that one of their friends is concerned about it.

It terrifies me when people say I shouldn't care about what's going on thousands of miles away. My country (the United States) is certainly not operating in a vacuum. I don't understand why so many people don't see that. We don't get to do whatever we want and expect that we won't screw over anyone else or get screwed over ourselves. Every country in the world is playing this huge balancing act with every other country, and when things get messed up in one place, it can seriously affect everyone else.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]vinovisions
2009-06-18 05:37 pm UTC (link)
Exactly my point. Yes, social networking sites have the good potential to be shallow, a vehicle for narcissism, inconsequential, etc, etc... this is not one of those cases.

As in most cases, there are many things our news has overlooked or WILL NOT report because let's face it, Iran's supposed to be the enemy, right? There's never been a worse joke. An entire people is not the enemy, they do not have the backing or power or motivation really, to strike us, they simply want to go on with their lives. It's always the people in power. We cannot hold this against the people of Iran, rather, the tyranny it's under is the culprit (as it usually is). And while sometimes, I see social networking as useless, the people that use it to spread information that would otherwise go unsaid, undiscovered or unexplored are turning a potentially useless invention into a very important part of free speech and free news. Yes, it's a very good way to let a friend or two know what's going on in the world, even if someone just types "Iran".

Our news, like Iran's news has a tight leash on it. We also have a tight leash here, but not so tight that we can't get the word out there. They have no chance over there right now and we, in America, should support them to the end because they are brave enough to do what we won't (of course, a general statement, not true of everyone): stand up, point out and fight the abuses of power there.

I understand why it terrifies you that people say you shouldn't care because it terrifies me too. They would rather the world work that way, they would rather that America was the world and the center of the universe for them. Like it's not important to emphasize the rights of another people. The first thing that people must understand is that we're all connected and that God is not the divinity here. We are. If people invested their faith in human beings the way they do "God" and held them divine in their minds... I should imagine things would change substantially. No, we are not operating in a vacuum and thank god. That would be a pretty sad existence. You're right, it's never "us and them". It's "all of us".

(Reply to this) (Parent)

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