Twitter to the Rescue!

OK, so most people have heard now about the crap going on in Iran, what with the so-called "landslide" victory of Ah-nutty-nejad in the elections. Everyone from students to families with children all from differing social classes turned out to protest the sham elections. If you have a landslide victory, you rarely have mass protest afterward, you don't have to call out the military, you don't have to disable text messaging so people can't communicate with each other, etc. etc. Now, the Ayatollah has called for a review of the election in the polling places that are in dispute. But nobody seriously believes that by itself will produce any changes. I'm sure it would've come back that Ah-nutty-nejad still won, just by a smaller margin.

While the Iranian government shut down as much access to communication as it could, including websites, blogs, etc., there was one little engine that could that it simply couldn't: TWITTER. That's right, Twitter. Twitter's output is too small to block effectively, so the best the government can do is keep searching for internet connections and shutting them down as they find them. Twitter's owners are also putting off Twitter maintenance so that Iranians have access to one of the few methods of communication remaining open to them.

One brave Iranian twitterer is busy tweeting away in the heart of things. Here is the address, I hope you can access it without a Twitter account. persiankiwi. This person has over 24,000 followers right now, and that's just those with a Twitter account. The messages are amazing, because they are in real time. Messages like "unconfirmed - military has refused orders to shoot protesters" and "news from tuesday::: our march was big success!! militia are now frightened of us - they know world is watching" are a thrilling and horrifying insight into conditions in a place across the world from us. I am always impressed by the bravery of some people. And sure, it may not seem brave to send out tweets. But people have been tracked down via their internet connections, and to be the witness to the rest of the world is a very brave thing to me.

In this bold new fight for freedom, people have made use of whatever has been at their disposal to get the story out. People's bravery in the face of death always amazes me. I am awed by it. My heart goes out to the Iranian people, and I hope their lives are made easier after this struggle. And hats off to you, Persiankiwi. If you have a Twitter account, changing your time zone to GMT+3.30 hrs to help confuse the people doing the tracking.

On top of that, Twitter can never be mocked again!

-- DV