December 7th in Iran:The due date for this presentation has coincidentally fallen on the same day as the highly publicized, tweeted and blogged about National Students' Day in Iran. Students' Day came about to commemorate the killings of three Iranian students during a protest at Tehran University in 1953. Iranian students have made it known that they plan to have a large opposition movement rally on this day.
New York Times journalist, Zazila Fathi, describes how the Iranian government is attempting to close off reporting of this planned opposition rally. She states, "The authorities have ordered foreign news media not to cover the event and Internet service was reduced to a trickle on Saturday, so slow that it was impossible to “open e-mails or any Web pages,” a journalist in Tehran said."
In the face of intense government censorship, it is incredible to see how much information has been leaked out of the country today through Internet technologies such as Twitter and YouTube. Today's events in Iran are an example of how Internet technologies such as Twitter have made it nearly impossible for governments to completely close off states and their citizens to the rest of the the outside world. I have included a video clip that surfaced today as an up to the date example for this presentation.
Thesis:
For this paper, I will argue that new media technologies have lessened the power governments have over media censorship. I will also argue that Internet technologies such as Twitter and proxy servers have made it nearly impossible for countries to be completely closed states. In this presentation I will highlight some specific examples of Twitter posts and YouTube videos that have been leaked despite the goverments efforts to keep the protests and violent unrest under wraps.
Background:
On June 12, 2009, Iran had a record 85% voter turnout for the presidential election between Mir Hossein Mousavi and presidential incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On June 13, 2009, it was announced that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the winner of Iran's 10th presidential election with 66% of the votes. Mousavi supporters were outraged and claimed election fraud. This claim was largely in part based on pre-election polls that pointed to Mousavi as the clear favorite. The opposition's rejection of the election results and their distrust for Ahmadinejad and his politics led to the protests, bloody unrest, and increased government censorship that continues in Iran at this very moment.
(Note: U.S. mainstream media has predominantly favored the notion of election fraud in their reporting of the Iran election. However, some studies suggest the election results were not rigged, rather pre-election polls were inaccurate because of poll center bias and poor polling procedures.)
Government Censorship:
Immediately following the election, Iranians took to the streets in protest. At the same time a flow of citizen reports started flooding Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and various other Internet sites.
One Twitter user posts, "Students & people fighting back a large group of police & Basij right now at university of physics! I'm going to join them. #iranelection 11:34 a.m. June 14 (Change_for_Iran)."
Twitter Feed - Click on this link to view the full Change_for_Iran Twitter feed. This particular user, who goes by the name Iranian Student, was sited by media outlets such as Newsweek and The New York Times. You will notice this person has not posted anything since June 28.
"YouTube - دانشجو میمیرد ذلت نمیپذیرد ، مشهد ۱۶/ آذر" ( http://bit.ly/5qH44m ) #iranelection #16Azar about 3 hours ago from twithat." (madyar).
"Photos from yesterday's Tehran protests:www.flickr.com/mousavi1388 #iranelection 10:04 a.m. Jul 10th from web1388).
As the protests intensify and become more violent, the Iranian government does their best to close off Iran from the eyes of the rest of the world. It is reported that the Iranian government severely limited Internet access by having Internet providers slow down home internet access speeds. In some instances the Internet was completely shut down. Cell phone reception has also been cut off in specific locations where protests were scheduled to take place. In addition, the government started cracking down on Twitter and threatened severe punishments for those who posted information. In turn, Twitter users had to be extremely careful about their identity and many discontinued their use of social networking sites.
These Twitter posts from persiankiwi describe these events. Persiankiwi was also used as a source (unconfirmed) by news media in reporting the Iranian protest. This user has not posted anything since June 24, 2009.
"phone line was cut and we lost internet -#iranelection- getting more difficult to log into net - #iranelection 8:05 June 24 from web." (persiankiwi).
"they catch ppl with mobile - so many killed today - so many injured - Allah Akbar - they take one of us -#iranelection 8:18 June 24
Photographs taken at protests and demonstrations have also become extremely dangerous and are used by Iranian officials to identify protesters. Below, I have posted the content from the Iranian website www.gerdab.ir. This website tracks and posts photos of protesters, encouraging the Iranian public to identify them. Some of these photos were taken from user generated sites like flickr and from news media websites.
 شماره 4 No. 4 |  شماره 3 No. 3 |  شماره 2 No. 2 |  شماره 1 No. 1 |
 شماره 8 No. 8 |  شماره 7 No. 7 |  شماره 6 No. 6 |  شماره 5 No. 5 |
 شماره 12 No. 12 |  شماره 11 No. 11 |  شماره 10 No. 10 |  شماره 9 No. 9 |
 شماره 16 No. 16 |  شماره 15 No. 15 |  شماره 14 No. 14 |  شماره 13 No. 13 |
 شماره 20 No. 20 |  شماره 19 No. 19 |  شماره 18 No. 18 |  شماره 17 No. 17 |
 شماره 24 No. 24 |  شماره 23 No. 23 |  شماره 22 No. 22 |  شماره 21 No. 21 |
 شماره 28 No. 28 |  شماره 27 No. 27 |  شماره 26 Number 26 |  شماره 25 Number 25 |
گفتني است، در آينده نيز تصاوير ديگري از عاملان نا امني و آشوبگري منتشر خواهد شد. Is must be pointed out, the other pictures in the future perpetrators of insecurity and disruptive will be published.
In light of this intense government censorship, some tech savvy Iranians figured out safer ways to share and access information. They started accessing Twitter and other sites through the use of proxy servers. Proxy's remove all identifying information and allow users to access blocked websites. These proxy servers are set up outside of Iran by professionals and concerned citizens alike. Here is a website that gives tips for helping the Iranian opposition movement.
Putting It All Together:
Before the Internet became an accessible technology, governments could easily close off their countries from the rest of the world by simply restricting access in and out of the country or by cutting phone lines. Technologies of the 21st century such as Twitter and proxy servers have made it impossible to keep all or even the majority of information hidden from outsiders. The case of Twitter and its role in sharing information about the Iran election protests is a perfect example of this.
In the early stages of protest coverage, foreign news media's focus was on how Iranians were using Twitter to communicate with each other and organize the protests. Studies have shown that this really wasn't Twitters most important role, in fact Cameran Ashraf, who studied the role social and digital media played in the Iran election protests, estimates that only 12-50 Tweeters are actually tweeting from inside Tehran, Iran. Not only that but only a small minority of people have Internet access in Iran. Twitter's real role in all this is to share information with those outside Iran in order to bring light to the Iranian government's clear disregard for human rights. Twitter users are able to use technology to let the rest of the world know what is going on and just how bad it is.
This isn't say that Internet technology=democracy. As you have seen above from www.gerdab.ir, technology can be used to aid in censorship. What Internet technology has done, however, is given highly censored countries a way to communicate and share their experiences with others. We can see how news/information gathering is changing as journalist turn to Twitter and YouTube to find out what's happening in Iran. The Student Day protests that happened today were on the foreign media's radar because information and discussion about the planned rally has been going on for weeks on Twitter, Facebook and other sites.
I will end by encouraging everyone to take a look into the Iranian election protests, as they are still going on to this day. I have given a lot of credit to the Internet and technology for leading the way to less state censorship in Iran, however without the courage of the Iranian citizen journalists, the progress would be far less.
You mentioned that the due date was coincidental, because it fell on a day where in 1953 three Iranian protestors were killed. You know what else is odd? 1953 was the year our CIA overthrew Mohamed Mossadegh, a populist leader in Iran, because he wanted to nationalize the oil industry. My paper has to do with that same phenomenon--foreign leaders being deposed, etc. Do you know what the students were protesting at the time? Was it the re-installation of the Shah?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think the Iranian crackdown/Twitter issue is an interesting one. There was a lot of coverage here in the US over the summer, and if I remember correctly, there was a left-wing and right-wing consensus on the matter. Both sides thought that it was egregious because it was assumed that Ahmadenijad won only by rigged election. I'm glad you pointed out however, that "some studies suggest the election results were not rigged, rather pre-election polls were inaccurate because of poll center bias and poor polling procedures." Let's say, for instance, that the Iranian elections weren't rigged, and that the protestors are a definite minority. I'm not defending Ahmadenijad and the erosion of civil liberties, but rather providing a thought experiment. Let's say he won legitimately: would that change the world's perspective on Iran at all? Wouldn't that shed whole new light on what's going on there? It would remove that whole dimension of Ahmadenijad being both duplicitous AND an illegitimate leader. The protestors would just be protesting a fair election. I guess I'm just wondering if you were going to address that more in your paper.
2. One thing I've learned in JMC 700, is that if you study something that has an opposite, like female gender roles, it's important that you at least take the opposite into account. So, if you were doing the gender study and say something about females, you'd have to look at male roles too. With that in mind, are you going to look at a different country--even briefly--that enjoys internet freedom and see how they use it?
I think that you may be doing this in a different way by taking into consideration that the internet can be used for revolution, BUT it can still be used for repression--as those protest photos testify. I think you are on the right track if you look into that too.
Hey Rachel! Coming into this presentation I knew nothing about this topic. I knew that there were protests regarding the election but never delved deeper into the topic. I was wondering why you think the United States may have been the ones to support the idea of election fraud. Does the US have a connection to Mousavi in any way that they would be disappointed that he did not win?
ReplyDeleteI was also wondering if you think that the United States and other countries reporting on the use of Twitter may have resulted in creating more aggressive protests from the government/law enforcers? Or I was wondering if they used the use of these technologies as a way to justify their harsh actions?
I am not really sure about what proxy servers are or how they work, but do you think that the Iranian government will soon "attack" and try to find those behind them and put a stop to that? And how has the internet posts on the use of proxy servers within Iran effected things--in other words, have people writing about proxy servers "outed" Iranians?
Rachel, I have read a lot of media commentary from scholars and journalists who seem to downplay the impact of Twitter on the social upheaval that occurred in Tehran. I, like you, believe that social media platforms and technologies turned this issue on its head and encouraged world-wide sympathies and political actions. Did you get a sense during your research that perhaps journalists are somewhat jealous of the ability of common citizens to 'scoop them' even when doing so advancing a higher social purpose? Do you believe that social media has a place in international relations discourses at the local level? Meaning do you think these platforms allow the everyday citizen to become more involved in international affairs? Do you think the U.S. will eventually move away from its isolationist views (unless of course we want countries to help fight our wars) and embrace a more global personality someday due to our citizens' increased connection to global events?
ReplyDeleteDugan:
ReplyDeleteYes, i think you are right about the Shah.
To your second question, I think that the notion of election fraud has been huge in rendering support for the opposition movement. I think this is especialy true because news reports make the fraud seem blatant and without apology. If the election was proved to be legitimate or was never questioned, I don't think there would be as much outrage from the Iranians or people outside Iran. However I think the rallies and protests were a long time coming and even without election fraud would have gained a lot of support.
To your last question, no I did not look into another country's use of the Internet. My opposing side was showing that the voices coming out of Iran are limited and of a similar demographic. This is because the Internet is not accessible by all, only 40% according to one of my sources. So while the Internet is great blah blah blah...sometimes the opinions on it are limited to a very small group. Most of Ahmadinejad's supports were located in rural areas and were a bit older.
Jillian:
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read the U.S. doesn't have a close relationship with Iran. I know that there isn't a U.S. Embassy there. So maybe they are not as worried about stepping on toes and ruining the foreign relationship.
I think one reason the mainstream news supported the idea of election fraud was because of strong ideologies about democracy and freedom of speech. Ahmadinejad is not for these things and I think the bias starts there...he is evil, therefore election fraud makes sense. After researching the topic extensively, I honestly can't say I believe one side or the other. There is very convincing evidence for both sides.
I do think that the authorities in Iran have cracked down even harder because of the extensive coverage the protests are receiving. I also believe the coverage and online support the oppisition movement has recieved has really encouraged them to keep pushing back against the censorship.
As far as the proxy servers go, yes the Iranian government is constantly finding proxy IP's and shutting them down. Some of the efforts to set up proxys in the U.S. are on an individual level (joe shmoe who heard about the protests and wanted to help) and others are large organized groups who have volunteered their services and computer knowledge. I know people behind the proxy's have received threats but i do know of any circumstances that have gone beyond that.
To your last question, YES. I have read a lot of material about how outsiders have gotten involved and really hurt the opposition efforts more than they have helped. In some cases people would post proxy IP numbers or addresses on Twitter pages and blogs for anyone to see. This has made the job of Iranian censors much easier.
John,
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about your first question. I read a ton of articles that as you said downplayed Twitters impact on the actual protests (organizing, giving information to other protesters, ect.) and I agree with them. I don't think Twitter is to credit for the protests and political movement. So in this case yes, it really seemed like journalists were not having any of this "Twitter Revolution" stuff.
On the other hand, many sources that I found blatantly said we cannot be there so Twitter, YouTube, blogs ect. are all we have. I felt like in this particular case the angst against social media in the news room eased up.
One case that seemed to pick on the use of social media reporting was The Daily Show. They did a report called, The Daily Show Goes to Iran, where they sent reporters to Iran. The commentary really picked at other news companies who were using social media to report the events and were like how about you just go there.
I do think that social media allows regular people to get involved in international affairs. I think there is potential to make an impact but these cases seem to be few. I think the main function is getting people more informed and not just through traditional news sources.
Jon to your last question, i think its hard to say. I know the US gov got a little involved when they asked that Twitter postpone their planned maintenance one the site, which would have made the site unusable during an important time in the protest. This is a baby step sort of , so maybe.