Does it come as a surprise that in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the most widespread method of political mobilisation is Twitter? Considering that 75% of this nation’s population is under 30, it certainly doesn’t surprise me. Members of Generation Y (a.k.a The Millenials) have embraced the instant communication of text and social media websites, and have proven them as effective organisational tools. From the text-organized political protest in the Philippines that unseated the President Joseph Estrada in 2001 to the online social networking origins of flash mobs, Generation Y is finding ways to utilize the tools at our disposal to make an impact on society. These tools (social media and text message, a.k.a. “sms”) are easily accessible in countries with technological infrastructure and, most importantly, make it easy to disseminate and spread the latest news.

In Iran’s latest presidential election, which took place on 12 June 2009, the youth sector rallied behind the Reformist party candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and against current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The President has been accused of corruption, and the many of the polls preceding the election predicted Mousavi’s victory. When Ahmadinejad was declared the victor and the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (who holds the ultimate authority in the Iranian government) rushed to congratulate him, there were allegations of fraud and the supporters of Mousavi, largely youths, revolted. They took to the streets, participating in demonstrations organised via text and Tweet. The Iranian government , who has unlimited powers of censorship in Iran, quickly sprang into action, blocking access to social networking sites and blocking texts messages in hopes of quelling the uprising. The government also forbade foreign journalists from covering the protests in an attempt to control their international image. Khamenei suffered a large blow to his legitimacy and had to call for an official investigation of voting fraud after feeling the pressure put on by the young protesters. Last Friday, he declared the investigation completed and Ahmadinejad the winner, as well as hinting that state-sanctioned violence might occur if protests continued.

So why was Twitter so instrumental in this election? The government was able to block access to most social networking sites and to text messages, which the protesters relied on to gain information about when and where the next demonstration would be. Twitter, however, could be reached via proxy server, meaning that individuals like Austin Heap, an American IT director in San Fransisco, could allow Iranians to bypass government-imposed internet blocks by sending and recieving information through another country. Twitter even postponed its regular shutdown for maintenance in order to make itself available to Iranians, who make posts regarding the election results easily searchable by labeling them “#IranElection”. The Iranian election has become to most-tweeted topic on the site, according to Twitter’s statistics.

Compared to Twitter, traditional media conglomerates have been left in the dust. CNN in particular has been criticised for its lack of coverage on the unrest following the Iranian election. Although CNN had gained recognition from its extensive coverage of the Gulf War, it seems to be ignoring the unfolding events in Iran. Of course, there is a Twitter label for posts that criticise CNN: #CNNfail. Twitter, in this instance, has surpassed its niche as a trite status updater to become a site of uncensored political opinion and mobilisation made by the people, for the people. If the traditional media companies want to stay in business they’ll have to figure out a way to keep up with the participation and attention social media attracts.

Sources:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10264398-2.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/16/MN75188C6K.DTL
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5549955/Iran-protest-news-travels-fast-and-far-on-Twitter.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/world/middleeast/16media.html?_r=1
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/IR.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=channel
http://www.newsweek.com/id/199150
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_asia/2009-06-20/928346189315.html
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1702462

Thanks to Hamed Saber for the photographs, keep up the amazing work