This video of a young woman dying on the street has become the defining symbol of the rebellion in Iran. It's a rebellion where a government has turned on it's own citizens and is killing them without a scintilla of guilt or remorse. A rebellion where young innocent students are being killed unconscionably by the government's forces. A rebellion where opposition leaders are being house arrested to prevent them from stoking the protests any more. A rebellion where numerous journalists have been apprehended and harassed in order to choke the flow of news and information from the country.
Perhaps the last time the world witnessed such high-handed treatment meted out by a government to it's own people was in 1989 at the Tiananmen Square in China. Many parallels have been drawn between the two rebellions over the last few weeks.
Over the last week or so, the protests in Iran have died down. The government's crackdown on the protesters seems to have worked. The demonstration rallies have been few and not as massive as the earlier ones. Perhaps the rebellion is over too. But I'm sure it is going to change the situation in Iran in not so distant future.
Down the years the rebellion in Iran would be remembered for two main reasons.
For one it would be remembered for the brazen way in which the government stole it's own people's election. How a candidate who was immensely popular and the favorite to win (even was reported to be winning by 2/3rd majority votes at a time) suddenly lost by almost 11 million votes is beyond comprehension.
Second and more importantly the rebellion would be remembered for the role that 'Social Media' has played in it. As the Iranian govt blocked all news agencies to prevent them from reporting what was going on in the country and restricted the movement of reporters (even deported some foreign reporters to their home countries), the people of Iran found a novel way of letting the world know of the atrocities they were being subjected to. They found a new way to plan protests and discuss strategies. They used social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube extensively to make the world aware of their cause.
Iranian Twitterers, many writing in English, posted photos of huge demonstrations and bloodied protesters, detailing crackdowns on students at Tehran University. At one moment in time, it had become such a movement that Twitter postponed maintenance scheduled for early morning, California time, which was midday in Iran.
Just look at this link and you'd realize the extent to which Twitter was and is still being used for the protests. Give it a minute and see the number of new posts that it shows you at the top of the page. You'd find some spine chilling stories of the venom spewn by the riot police and militia in Tehran and other cities.
This rebellion has shown us what Social networking websites can achieve for us. They're not merely a way to share pics of your latest trip or a way to tell your friends what phone you bought recently. They are a great platform to come together for a cause. Surely this would go down in history as one of the biggest achievements of 'Social Media'.
People all across the globe have shown their solidarity for the rebellion in Iran. Players of the Iranian national soccer team wore arm bands to show their support and concern for their people when they played a WC qualifier match in South Korea a few weeks back. They were dismissed from the national team a consequence. U2 recently performed in Barcelona and showed their support to the dissidents' cause. Have a look here. Outside Iran numerous people are in constant touch with Iranians and helping them send information out to the rest of the world. They are going beyond the typical shows of support by setting up proxy IPs and trying to confuse the Iranian security services. Leaders all over the world have condemned the actions of the Iranian government.
Come to think of it. All this would not have been possible if it were not for these social networking sites. People outside Iran would have remained oblivious to the happenings there.
Hopefully the Iranian government takes notice of its people after this revolution and takes steps to improve their living conditions just the way the Chinese government did after the Tiananmen Square incident in '89. It did not spell the end of Communism in China but it definitely resulted in an improvement in the living conditions of its people. Here's demanding an encore.
