It’s tough keeping up with all the action that’s been unfolding in Iran since last weekend’s announcement that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been “re-elected.” Once you’re up to speed, here are six ways you can get involved.
Photo: .faramarz
When something significant is going down in another country and you’re halfway around the world, it’s hard to feel that you can take any action that will make a tangible difference in the lives of people who could benefit from your support. Here are six things you can do right now to help people in Iran who feel that the presidential election in their country was not carried out fairly.
1. Get the facts.
Before you take any action, make sure your facts are straight. With news coming out of Iran at head-spinning speed and from multiple sources–not all of which are reliable–it’s critical that you inform yourself about what’s been occurring in the country over the past week.
Read widely. Opinions, perspectives, and first-hand accounts from the country vary dramatically depending on the source. Some places to start? Al Jazeera, Andrew Sullivan’s “The Daily Dish” blog on The Atlantic’s website, Der Spiegel, the BBC, and National Public Radio.
2. Become part of a critical mass.
Don’t reinvent the wheel: there are already dozens of non-profits, NGOs, and activist groups that have mobilized organized actions that will only be effective if they achieve a critical mass of participants.
Avaaz is currently organizing an exit poll to phone Iranians, ask for whom they voted, and publicize the collected data to the international media. The organization has set a goal of raising $119,000 USD to conduct the poll, and is aiming to collect donations from more than 10,000 participants in the next 24 hours.
3. Take to the streets.
Protest in Tehran; Photo: .faramarz
Street protests CAN make a difference. You don’t have to be in Tehran to take to the streets, though. Marches, protests, and demonstrations of solidarity are being held all over the world, including Washington, D.C. and Portland. Google your city, “Iran” and “solidarity” to learn whether an event is planned for your area.
4. “Green” your online profiles.
It may seem silly, but changing the background color of your avatar is an outward sign of solidarity that’s visible to Iranians with Internet access. Imagine how you’d feel if you knew millions of people were thinking of you while you were struggling for your political rights, even if they couldn’t do much that would make a tangible difference in your circumstances.
The color that has been chosen to support Iranian activists is green. To “green” your profile, follow these instructions:
1. Go to http://www.picnik.com
2. Upload your photo.
3. Click “create.”
4. Click “effects.”
5. Click “night vision.”
6. Save and add to Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.
Alternately, you can download this icon, courtesy of dlayphoto.com, and use it as your temporary avatar.
5. Be a smart follower on Twitter and Facebook.
Just as Twitter and Facebook are being used by Iranian activists to organize action and disseminate information, the same platforms are being used by the opposition. Evaluate accounts related to Iran and the elections carefully.
One legitimate Twitter feed to follow is @IranSolidarity, who’s collecting and retweeting information and updates from multiple sources.
6. Start thinking about the bigger picture and the back story.
Photo: .faramarz
Don’t let your activism become a form of neo-imperialism.
As one American blogger noted, it’s easy to get riled up about injustice abroad, but easy to overlook more subtle forms of oppression in our own backyards.
Iran is more than the cause du jour.
Let Iran be your impetus to commit to action everywhere, especially at home. Make your activism part of your daily life.
Community Connection:
If you missed Ryan Van Lenning’s article about citizen diplomacy in Iran, be sure to take a few minutes to access it here.
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15 Comments... join the discussion!
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Tom-
Thanks for your comments. I actually don’t think you and I are coming from different angles at all. In fact, I agree 100% that the folks with access to technology are typically urban, educated, and of a higher socioeconomic class… and as such represent often a tiny segment of a much larger population. That’s why I advocated using Facebook and Twitter as information streams with a critical eye. Same for the news: multiple sources are necessary, but they only begin to scratch the surface of the depth and complexity of any issue, whether it be elections or Iran or how people feel about Fidel Castro in Cuba.
I don’t feel that Americans or other Westerners should “meddle” in other countries’ affairs. However, when a massive portion of a population rises up to express a grievance, I don’t think it’s at all out of place for us to take a stand and show some expression of solidarity. And then, as I mention in the last suggestion in the article, it’s most important that we take some time to look at ourselves and our own countries.
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I do agree in principle with what you’re saying. However, in reality I think that the West’s display of ’solidarity’ with the protestors will backfire. I’m engaged to an Iranian national and have spent many weeks in the country, so much of my opinion comes from that experience.
Iran’s clerical leadership contains some very clever politicians, and I won’t be surprised if, once any recounts fail to change the outcome, they use the media frenzy as ammunition to further alienate the large body of conservative supporters from the outside world, and thus from the chance for participation in the international community in the forseeable future.
If they do it well, they could even infuriate the reformists so much as to turn them against the West, blaming us for the failure of their protests.
I know it’s just conjecture, but it’s why I believe that anything other than neutral observation is going to end up doing more harm than good. We outsiders have to tread incredibly carefully, because principles aren’t the only thing at work here.
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Well thought out post, here, Julie. How many times has “Breaking News” turned out to be false? Too, many times for me !
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I’m still coming to terms with Twitter in regards to this situation. It has definitely been fundamental to the flow of information but, it is disconcerting to see a lot of people (with a green avatar) RT #IranElection tweets and then their next tweet is “Having cosmos at Swift!” or some other vapid comment. When does it turn from support to insult? How do you determine the true supporters from those who just want to go to a party and say “I helped to incite a revolution in Iran”?
Other than that, a very informative article that shows how to get out from behind the keyboard and get involved. It is very important to disseminate the information coming out of Iran.
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Scott-
Thanks for your comment. I definitely feel where you’re coming from. On the other hand, I’m all about developing a kind of advocacy and activism that fits into the slipstream of one’s normal life, taking into consideration all the complexities and relativities of our own societies. In fact, cocktails AND revolution might not be such a bad idea. :0
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Thanks, Julie. I read an interesting op-ed in the New York Times the other day, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/opinion/18kristof.html?_r=1, about how the e Global Internet Freedom Consortium is helping to keep those tweets and other information being disseminated from inside Iran.
If you read the article, you’ll note that the group might have to cut back on Iranian’s using the software because the servers are overloading. Getting a bill passed to get money for an Internet Freedom Initiative also seems like another way for us to do something at home.
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Christine-
Thanks for that link and information! One of the most interesting implications of the use of Twitter, etc. during this past week regarding the post-election response in Iran is how the rest of the world can mobilize to provide digital coverage for people with limited access–could have some seriously profound sociopolitical implications for other countries, too.
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The massed crowd in the large square is actually from Esfahan, not Tehran. I was there in October. Another source on the Flickr page says the same thing.
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You can also go to http://www.avatint.com to change any avatar to any color to show support or protest.
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Tom,
Whilst I appreciate that there are a significant number of conservatives in the rural areas who have benefited from some of Ahmadinejad’s populist measures over the past 4 years, the idea that the election was in anyway fair is totally incorrect.
I lived and worked in Iran for 3 years, learnt the language and married a local. I feel I speak from personal experience. It appears implausible that Ahmadinejad would win more votes in the province of Azerbaijan when Mousavi is a local Azeri, It is implausible that Ahmadinejad would win more votes in North Tehran where the middle classes despise everything about him.
My in laws went to vote only to find out that their local polling station had apparently run out of ballot papers by the mid afternoon. Other polling booths closed prior to the allocated time and results were announced in record time when turnout was exponentially higher than during other elections.
The youth of Iran are not asking for a change to the Islamic Republic of Iran,they simply want to have their voices heard. You do not see them protesting without their hijabs on. They don’t want a change to the system, they only want the system to be fair. It is the Supreme Leader who through his dogmatic stance has elevated the situation to being a dispute about the entire Islamic Republic of Iran.
Let the people have the freedoms that we in the west take for granted. Allow boys and girls to co-mingle, allow people to have access to satellite tv, allow newspapers to question the government and its policies. While Ahmadinejad is allowed to openly talk to students at Columbia Business School and on US tv, foreign leaders and journalists are NEVER allowed anything even remotely close to this type of open forum in Iran.
Desperate people do desperate things, hence the willingness to lay down lives in order to have a better future.
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Yes, the photo is Imam square (previously known as Shah square) in Isfahan, not Tehran.
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Thanks for this article, particularly point #6. Given how connected we are globally, it is crucial that such movements go beyond national borders. That said, I think that those in the West who want to support progressive movements abroad such as this one do need to step back and think about the responsibilities that we must take in this sort of collaboration, about learning to participate without having to act as the hegemonic intellectual force.
However, a few comments: First, I read the avaaz website and about their poll. It seemed like a good idea at first. However, after thinking about it and discussing it with a number of Iranian activists and intellectuals, we came to the conclusion that the idea of an exit poll is flawed. Between many problems with random-digit dialing in Iran and paranoia in this climate in particular, any result that would come of such a poll would be too skewed to be helpful. Honestly, I think that this is a waste of people’s money and that their efforts should be otherwise directed.
And, in response to Tom Allen’s comment–the Western media’s reports of this being an upper-middle class, Urban, intellectual movement are actually not entirely accurate. Certainly, this group is generally composed of reformists. However, it was noted even before the elections took place that in many rural areas, for example, Ahmadinejad was not widely supported. And, a more important empirical counterexample to your argument would be to simply watch the video footage of the protests taking place in Iran and listening to the people’s accents–a great many of them are obviously working class. The bottom line is, the divide between reformists and hardliners in Iran is not so clear cut in terms of geography, class, or education level as it is portrayed in our media sources. In any case, so long as we on the outside are not imposing our views on an entire people, I do not see a problem with even-handed collaboration with a movement that began organically within Iran.
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Right now for me this has gone beyond mere election results Tom! At first I was skeptical about the west’s media’s coverage of the elections… wondering if they were exaggerating the apparent rigging. But that doesnt even matter anymore. People are being killed because they dare to question the election results. From what I can see in the videos they didnt automatically take up arms. This became violent when they were refused the right to peacefully gather in protest! And for that I support them 100%. I don’t know what went on with the elections and I accept that! But I can see people’s lives being snatched because they want to be heard… minority or not!!!
This is what this is about for me! Its definitely not right. Thats what I want to show my solidarity for the unnecessary and unfair use of force! Which to me proves the caliber of the ruling government! Its just too much!
Im neither American nor Iranian. I’m Nigerian and British and I would like to know that if either of these two governments were to behave in a similar fashion towards its people… people outside of the country would be humane enough to feel the pain!
I don’t condone America going in at all either like some do. Its about a people self-actualizing. If its done for you or forced on you it just doesnt have the same meaning or take effect in the same way.
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