- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Last year, brave citizens of Iran decided they had enough. After a suspected rigged election, thousands of young Iranians started protesting against the elected government. The movement, called the Green Movement, arranged mass demonstrations, and clashed with security forces.
And while the government controlled the media, it couldn't control Twitter.
Protesters, Green Movement activists, and ordinary citizens, used Twitter to coordinate protest efforts, and tell the world what the government was trying to hide.
Blogs, magazines, and newspapers, were full of articles about the power of Twitter, and how important it is in such events.
Year later, the green movement is crushed. Iran's Basig, the ever faithful Republican Guard, crushed the resistance. Demonstrators were shot and killed. Some were jailed and tortured. The first anniversary of the biggest uprise against Ahmadinejad regime ended quietly.
Twitter is an amazing network. I use it every day.
But we should remember that it is just a website, a social network, a communication medium. At the end of the day, Twitter won't bring democracy to countries under dictatorship. It might prove a film distributor that it is worthwhile to bring the latest horror flick to the theater near you. It could help raise funds for nobel cause.
But at the end, as Iran case proves, the gun is mightier than the Tweet.
Related articles
- The Myth of the Iranian Twitter Revolution (subtraction.com)
- The Limits Of Twitter (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
- Iran 2009 protests: Where are the green Twitter avatars now? (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
3 Comments
Twitter nor any technological/media tool won't bring democracy to Iran — it's the people who will bring. In the case of Iran's uprisings, these tools served just as an amplifier and enabler. The protests would've started even if there was no Twitter or Internet, the only role Twitter and the media tools had was to amplify their efforts.
I'm quite certain that this is not the first time there are protests in Iran, but the reason you know about them and that they lasted as long as they lasted, is thanks to the Internet.
True. I wrote this post cause I felt that people are talking about Twitter more than about the uprising, and often forget that at the end of the day, the power of Twitter exists only when all sides are playing nice.
Yes, Twitter's power is only an amplifying power — without people to amplify, it has no power at all.
Just think about that: there were almost no killings as long as people around the world were monitoring the situation. It's only when it went off the headlines, the Basig started torturing and killing the protesters in masses.
It's not the Basig who killed the uprising it's our indifference…