As mentioned early this week, I have been anticipating the election in Iran to see the extent to which the new possibilities for peace emerge as the structure of global politics shifts in the face of the economic crisis and the election of President Obama.
So, this morning I was disappointed to learn that Ahmadinejad had been declared the winner in a supposed landslide. Since then, I have been following the story in a very interesting way: directly through Twitter and YouTube, I am being exposed to the views and experiences of individuals, unfiltered by the media, either here or in Iran.
Here are some of the links I have been following:
Twitter.com
- Search on the #iranelection tag people are using to send tweets about the aftermath of the election.
- Follow individuals like @mohamadreza, who are participating in protests in Iran.
- Follow Moussavi’s feed itself; see his flickr feed too.
YouTube
Check out the protests themselves from grassroots video like these:
- From Mashhad
- From Shiraz
- From Tehran, I think.
- Mousavi’s YouTube page has a lot of videos as well.
Blogs
Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic is doing a very nice job of keeping up on the story with these direct, social web resources:
- See his posts: “The Revolution Will be Twittered” and “This is Just the Beginning,” for example.
It is very powerful to be this directly connected to events happening half a world away to people with whom I have no real direct experience. Yet these media offer a more direct glimpse into the event. They cannot replace solid investigative journalism, but in the immediacy of the moment, they can give a real sense of what is happening.
