I generally don't like to get involved in, nor make any political statements, but what is going on in Iran for the past 5 days is truly amazing. Democracy and human rights aside, I think what stands out the most is the will of the human species to fight for something it feels so passionately about. To see millions of people resisting an oppresive regime like this, putting their beliefs before their lives, is nothing short of inspirational, and I think should be a lesson to the rest of the world.

History

Let's not forget that crises precipitate change. Here are some examples from the last century:

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, considered the founding father of the modern Turkish Republic, voiced his disbelief at the Ottoman Grand Vizier Damat Ferid Pasha's signing of the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920. This agreement would basically partition and sell all the land left in the wake of World War 1 to foreign powers. This led to the eventual rise of the people to support the newly created National Army and concluded in the founding of the Republic on 29 October, 1923. The republic was founded as a democratic, secular state - a western model of separation between church and state, the first time this had come to pass in any Islamic country. There was no television back then, but radio and newspapers spread the word fast enough that the country rallied behind Atatürk in a very short time.

In 1963, Thích Quảng Đức immolated himself which led to a series of protests and events that led to the fall of the oppressive Diệm regime in Vietnam. At the source of this dispute was the regime's complete opposition to Buddhism and its acts that brought about the deaths of countless Buddhists, and desecration of their temples and homes. Thanks to the famous pictures taken by Malcolm Browne and the articles written by David halberstam, the world became shockingly aware of the situation in Vietnam. This is one of the earliest examples of global media being instrumental in the increase of public awareness regarding human rights in foreign countries.

More recent events that come to mind are 1992 Los Angeles riots that followed the brutal beating of Rodney King. Once the footage aired on television and radio, people took the streets; the media was the ignition for a fire that was fueled by years of suppressed rage at issues ranging from unemployment and racism to police brutality and civil rights. The riots were destructive, and fueled with so much pent up anxiety and social distress that they lasted for more than 3 days straight and sparked riots in other cities across the country. The cumulative damages caused to property were over $1 billion, but more importantly, human lives were lost and though there names fade into the obscurity of history, the fact remains that people fought for what they believed in on their own streets.

The Web

First off, something funny: an article titled: Iran: The Boneheaded Coup. Great photoshop skills guys.. *sarcasm*

It is truly impressive how the internet has been so instrumental in increasing global awareness over the protests in Iran. Within 24 hours of the rallys beginning, Twitter, Flickr and a number of other online networking and content hosting sites literally blew up with updates from people both in and outside of the country of Iran.

Twitter was getting 221,744 updates an hour at its peak. That is an enourmous amount of information being given out live, especially for entries that are limited to 140 characters. I think this was the first time that a free online service as such was used by such a high concentration of users over the same cause. As opposed to the million+ entries daily regarding relationship breakups and reality shows.

A service set up to follow popular trends on Twitter,Twazzup made it clear that the global response to events in Iran was stupendous in quantity. The link is still live here.

The fact that the media could not cover the events in Tehran and other cities across Iran effectively was irrelevant in the face of first hand uploads from people participating in the protests. Here is an excellent stream of photos on Flickr (some images are very graphic).

That people can simply use their handheld mobile devices to upload images & videos from their cameras or even just snap an image with the mobile devices is changing the way the media is working. In a sense it is creating a less slanted view of events as the images and videos are being published and becoming available online, before the media can run a well-edited article that explains what happened.

Hearing and seeing the direct opinions and experiences of the people that are actually living through such intense events immediately makes the issue so much more real. Hearing about something on the news may cause a number of people to react to the issue, but being able to watch a steady stream of panic, anxiety, death, emotion, intensity and ultimately relief live, is changing global consciousness and awareness very rapidly today.

Let us hope that the awareness brought about by all these events and technologies yields peace and justice for everyone involved.