i realize now i do not fear death... i fear my daughter will not be free when i die
- From the Twitter of an Iranian medical student
"If it bothers you so much, then why don't you stop watching?" seems to be the question of the last few days from my friends and family who know how invested I have become in the cause of the Iranian people (as I have explained in great detail here) The answer is simple: one day of caring is not enough. We must be the voice for the people of Iran who would otherwise be silenced. They are without reliable news sources, they are without mobile phone calls, text messaging, facebook, twitter, youtube, AIM, Yahoo, Google, and pretty much every other useful outlet for information you can think of. Yet they persist on the streets and on the internet in any way they can. The least we can do, whether we are across continents, oceans, or time zones, is spread their words safely.
My death is irrelevant.Wht is important is that u do not forget my words.We want freedom.i will die 4that
- From the Twitter of a protester in Tehran
Right now, brave men and women in Iran, both young and old, are sacrificing their lives for their voices to be heard. They must fear not only the police, but also the Basij -a force of men loyal to the government who plant themselves among crowds in plain clothes in order to discretely attack protesters and incite chaos.The protesters are peaceful. They mass together in crowds that are reported to grow in size every day. At night they have very few, if any, safe places to stay. Houses with satelite dishes were attacked by the Basij tonight, and during the 50 minutes of Twitter's maintenance, another university was attacked.
140 characters is a novel when you're being shot at.
- From another Iranian Twitter
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
- The most obvious thing to do is stay informed. Keep an eye on reliable sources on Twitter, refresh blogs and news sites that are covering the stories.
- If you are on twitter, retweet information from reliable twitters, but REMOVE THE USERNAME if they are in Iran. People have died because of the lack of responsibility by fellow tweeters and the media in this front. They can be tracked down by the government of Iran.
- Spread the information elsewhere. Repost this article or write your own on Facebook, Myspace, Tumblr, or anywhere else you can think of. If you write your own, make sure you are concise and accurate. Link to your sources for people to learn more.
- Change your location on Twitter to Tehran or Iran, and your time zone to GMT +3:30.
- DO NOT auto-refresh and take down websites, even if you are asked. It slows down the internet for the rest of the people in Iran.
- If you make a proxy DO NOT post it publically, otherwise it is useless. Send it in a direct message to a trusted source.
- DO NOT spam the hash tag #IranElection with useless things to "confuse the government". This does not help at all.
USEFUL SITES TO FURTHER HELP
Cyber War Guide for Iran Elections
Green Revolution - How to Help
Anonymous - Why We Protest - Iran
STAY INFORMED!
Follow on Twitter: @ProtesterHelp and @StopAhmadi
(REMINDER: DO NOT REPOST PERSONAL TWITTERS OF THOSE INSIDE THE COUNTRY, EVEN IF THEY ARE RELIABLE!)
Live-blogging by Andrew Sullivan
General information from a poser on Fark.com
Live-blogging on HuffingtonPost
دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election
- original article by one_hoopy_frood on LJ
- Mood:
pissed off
If you are reading this right now, you have more luxury than someone in Iran could ever hope for right now. If you are watching TV or a video on youtube, updating your status on Facebook, Tweeting, or even texting your friend, you are lucky. If you are safe in your home, and were able to sleep last night without the sounds of screaming from the rooftops, you need to know and understand what is happening to people just like you in Iran right now.
They are not the enemy. They are a people whose election has been stolen. For the first time in a long time, a voice for change struck the youth of Iran, just as it did for many people in the United States only seven months ago. Hossein Mousavi gained the support of millions of people in Iran as a Presidential candidate. He stands for progressiveness. He supports good relations with the West, and the rest of the world. He is supported with fervor as he challenges the oppressive regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
On Friday, millions of people waited for hours in line to vote in Iran's Presidential election. Later that night, as votes came in, Mousavi was alerted that he was winning by a two-thirds margin. Then there was a change. Suddenly, it was Ahmadinejad who had 68% of the vote - in areas which have been firmly against his political party, he overwhelmingly won. Within three hours, millions of votes were supposedly counted - the victor was Ahmadinejad. Immediately fraud was suspected - there was no way he could have won by this great a margin with such oppposition. Since then, reports have been coming in of burned ballots, or in some cases numbers being given without any being counted at all. None of this is confirmed, but what happened next seems to do the trick.
The people of Iran took the streets and rooftops. They shout "Death to the dictator" and "Allah o akbar." They join together to protest. Peacefully. The police attack some, but they stay strong. Riots happen, and the shouting continues all night. Text messaging was disabled, as was satellite, and websites which can spread information such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and the BBC are blocked in the country. At five in the morning, Arabic speaking soldiers (the people of Iran speak Farsi) stormed a university in the capital city of Tehran. While sleeping in their dormitories, five students were killed. Others were wounded. These soldiers are thought to have been brought in by Ahmadinejad from Lebanon. Today, 192 of the university's faculty have resigned in protest.
Mousavi requested that the government allow a peaceful rally to occur this morning - the request was denied. Many thought that it would not happen. Nevertheless, first a few thousand people showed up in the streets of Tehran. At this point, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people were there. Mousavi spoke on the top of a car. The police stood by. For a few hours, everything was peaceful. Right now, the same cannot be said. Reports of injuries, shootings, and killings are flooding the internet. Twitter has been an invaluable source - those in Iran who still know how to access it are updating regularly with picture evidence. People are being brutally beaten. Tonight will be another night without rest for so many in Iran no older than I am. Tonight there is a Green Revolution.
For more information:
PICTURES:
here and here
NEW INFORMATION:
Here - near constant updates
Here - ONTD_political live post
ON TWITTER:
@StopAhmadi, @ProtesterHelp
دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election
- original post by
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
one_hoopy_frood- Mood: pissed off
I had been meaning to write a post about how pleasantly surprised I was when I saw that President Obama issued a proclamation recognizing Pride Month. The only other president to bestow the same kind of official recognition on the month was Clinton, and he waited until his last June in office.
Obama's proclamation is also more inclusive, referring to June as LGBT Pride Month; Clinton's 2000 proclamation only referred to the Gay and Lesbian community. It would be nice, of course, to see actual action for LGBT rights come from the White House as well (How's that reversal of DADT coming? Repeal of DOMA?). But, in and of itself, recognition of the month and what it means is still nice.
I often get frustrated by what I see as a lack of awareness of Pride, why we have it every year, what it's about, etc. I was talking to
notasthewolf last week and he thought that the Stonewall Riots and the White Night Riots were the same thing. It didn't make me annoyed with him specifically, but it bothers me that the history is still so marginalized. I get a lot of questioning -- from people of all kinds of orientations and identities-- why I bother protesting, why we need a movement, why things like marriage recognition and changing the laws are important. I don't think my answers to those questions necessarily should hinge on history -- things are bad enough right now with the lack of equal protection under the law, and with the assholishly phobic words and behaviors that are so accepted. But I think a lot of people don't have an understanding of just how much has changed in the last 40 years -- and 40 years isn't a long time at all; it's less time than my parents have been alive. 40 years ago, a person could be arrested (or worse) for holding the "wrong" person's hand or wearing the "wrong" clothes -- and very few people even talked about that. It was the status quo, it was just a part of reality people lived with every day. It took so much to get from there to here...if people understood that, I don't think they'd question Pride or the movement so much. - Mood:
pensive
First I felt like this:
Then I felt like this:
Then, finally I felt like this:
So then, I went and did this:
(I'm the one in the yellow shirt with the black scarf -- the girl and the guy to my left and y'all's right are my friends). We marched 7.7 MILES. That's right. And I saw George Takei. and Kathy Griffin. And the mayor. One of my friends had to go to the hospital with heart trouble after. "It's almost poetic," he said. Prop 8 literally broke his heart.
- Mood:
tired
Tweets! Get yer tweets here!
- 07:50 Getting ready for #mitm4e. 15 mile march. Wackiness. I'm just that crazy for equality y'all. #
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Tweets! Get yer tweets here!
- 22:14 I don't speak destiny. #
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So for those of you not keeping score at home: that's 5 down (the article doesn't count Vermont), 45 to go. If things work out in New Hampshire, there will be marriage equality in all of New England except Rhode Island. Wahoooooo!
- 15:10 'Laundry day is a very dangerous day.' #
- 17:11 @wilw I would so work there (and patronize the establishment) if you ever do open it. #
- 17:37 I predict that in less than three hours *someone* will be buying me a mojito. #
- 17:43 @ktjayne he might try to do that too. But I won't stand for it; I'm a lady! #
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- 12:44 I successfully parked and found the youth march! Yay! I believe the children are our future blah blah blah i don't really know that song #
- 12:58 The teenagers seem restless. Let's march! I'm secretly hoping we're done by 3 so i can get dim sum. #
- 13:20 We're on Broadway headed towards the chinatown gate w the dragons. rain is rolling in but the kids' spirits seem undampened #
- 13:29 Just turned onto main. City hall in sight! #
- 13:58 Rain rolled by and now we're having our finale at city hall. Wahoo! #
- 14:10 Robin Tyler! Squee! #
- 14:26 Speaker, 'straight allies must come out' word. #
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- 10:44 Oh, come on, UCLA, get it together! #
- 12:15 I'm properly caffeinated and ready to protest! I'm down at hollywood and vine for the anti war, anti DADT action. Wahoo! #
- 12:37 Vine already shut down. Crowd chanting ' occupation is a crime! From iraq to palestine! No justice, No peace! US out of the middle east!' #
- 13:44 Speeches all very inspiring...but can we has marching nao plz? #
- 13:57 And we are moving! #
- 14:14 Hey obama we say no! Occupations got to go! Almost to cnn building. Eek horse poo! #
- 14:32 Passing gay and lesbian center. Our civil rights are under attack! What do we do? Stand up, fight back! #
- 14:51 Passing pig n whistle and scientology bldg on a shut down hollywood blvd! Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation! #
- 14:58 Passed kodak and chinese theatres. Costumed characters waving and taking pictures! #
- 15:07 Having symbolic die in now. Everyone sitting or lying in street. #
- 00:12 How much marching can one girl do in one weekend? I guess we'll find out! #
- 00:26 I will be live tweeting again tomorrow from the Roots of Equality Youth March...this time from downtown. #
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- 15:36 Spent an hour providing 5 pages of info for a cafe. People seem more eager to trust me with their secret HR info than their soy lattes. #
- 19:08 I am watching High Fidelity for the first time and realizing why it is the Bible of every man I've ever been attracted to. UGH. #
- 19:32 Also, Jack Black in this movie IS everyone who's ever worked at Plan Nine in Richmond. #
- 19:46 Oh Jesus H Christ! John Cusack even scowls and sulks like all my boyfriends..... aghaghagh.....this is horrifying! #
- 20:48 If my boyfriend weren't so awesometacular this movie would make me abandon men FOREVER. #
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- 19:29 we are watching 'dances with wolves' and dylan is saying, 'aw, that's what america was back then.' #
- 19:32 heee heee being shot with arrows is a sucky way to die. #
- 19:53 @cerealwriter It keeps doing that to me too. Although I keep saying, "OKC, I have a boyfriend now!" #
- 23:20 @EATerrell Wahooo! Congrats! #
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- 21:16 I wanna work for the Dharma Initiative when I grow up. #
- 21:33 I also want to drive the van. Wait, hold the fuckin phone! What happened to my beloved Faraday?! #
- 21:38 Sun, you are so bad ass! I love you. #
- 09:35 c'mon, coffee....brew faster!!!! #
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- 15:39 Today's interview felt awkward. Boo. #
- 19:45 Does Irish cheese on my tacos make a proper St Patrick's day dinner? I think so. #
- 21:52 I'm watching The Real Housewives of New York City and it's making my brain shrivel. #
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- 18:07 Getting ready to PARTY DOWN. If you're in LA, you're invited! #
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- 21:54 Jazz plus giant martinis plus my sexy boyfriend makes for a very, very nice evening. #
- 23:26 @psephomant YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO. IT IS USELESS TO RESIST. #
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- Mood:
bouncy
- 10:33 @Kristen_Arnett I hear tell it is actually healthier to have a snack every couple of hours, rather than a big meal every 4 or 5 hours... #
- 12:29 Hanging in Mission Park. reading and eating turkey sandwich. it's a beautiful day. I heart Pasadena. #
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- 11:32 @levarburton I feel...unemployed and slightly less enthusiastic. But my boyfriend is getting me waffles so it's all good. #
- 14:04 @EATerrell Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? #
- 14:09 @EATerrell house buying??!!??!! Adopting??!!??!! Are you becoming a serious grown up on me? #
- 14:52 Stopping at bank on our way to sweet, buttery goodness at The Griddle! Jealous? #
- 15:08 Hungry, hungry flodhast! #
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