Voices from the streets of Tehran

Oh oh oh. The stalemate in Iran continues. And the promise of the conservative Guardian Council to recount disputed votes will only apply to certain districts, not to all the cast ballots. So it is very unclear what impact a partial recount could have.

Meanwhile the streets are divided. Pro-government forces have arranged large demonstrations in support of current president Ahmedinijad. According to the results as they stand now he does not have to vacate his office. The anti-Semitic hardliner with a nuclear dream will continue to haunt world politics it seems. But the opposition still feel that these elections were not free, fair, correct and honest. And thus they do not accept the results and thus they also go to the streets to let their disapproval know. So it’s a deadlock. Kind of deadlock. Situations like this either explode fast or turn into a bloody revolution. Or they fizzle out and the world moves on to the next crisis somewhere.

And the signs of a corned regime are all there to see. National TV labels the opposition supporters as hooligans. Foreign media are not allowed to cover the opposition demonstrations and the press passes of the international media have expired or have been revoked. When you start limiting media movements and media coverage then you have something to hide. Then the rot stinks. Then your claim to be a democracy is slaughtered on the altar of autocracy. It’s red lights flashing!

But the global village is very difficult to tame. People can still tune in to international radio services in Persi (the language there) by the likes of VOA or the BBC. You can’t isolate yourself of the outside voices. You can’t fully control the minds of the people anymore. The global village technology crosses boundaries of oppression, repression and media muzzling. Critical voices can no longer be kept outside the door as they come through the air.

And the internet has opened new waves of protest channels. The web can be limited to a degree but too often, if not always, government attempts to limit access to the web fail as the new generation of IT-savvy, political minded youngsters are always one step ahead of the cyber cops. And the Iranian youth seem to use Twitter to its full potential in releasing to the world images of the crackdown and eyewitness accounts of repression. Social network systems like twitter are a virus spreading fast and uncontrollable. In this case a positive virus as it allows the media and people outside Iran to know and see what is happening on the streets. Tehran can lock official journalists, local and international ones, in their offices and restrict their movements by restrictive passes and expiring accreditations. But the voices from the street cannot be silenced. Those so called citizen journalists cannot be tamed, nor found so easily. It’s amazing and as I said before in this case of a regime trying to hide the truth, a formidable tool to break the barriers of oppression and let freedom of speech reign.

But the success and impact of Twitter raises serious concerns at the same time. And I just feel we are not too far of from an international hype or hysteria based on Twitter messages crisscrossing the world but not always based on any truth or facts. It’s so easy to spread rumours about a swine-flu like virus or an attack or a hijacking or an earthquake or an advancing rebel movement and to cause a major chain reaction. All based on rumours, not on facts. And I am worried how such a social network tool can be used by terrorists or people with bad intentions. They can cause mass hysteria. Stampedes. Riots. Vigilantism. Suicide. Racism. Violence. It’s dangerous. It can turn into a whirlwind of madness. All just based on rumours and innuendo.

Just imagine. A group of people has evil intentions. And they tweet simultaneously to their ‘network friends’ that they have heard and seen cops running to a subway station because of a bomb threat. And it’s rush hour in a large metropolis. Just imagine the possible chain reaction. A very scary thought.

On a lighter note. Lighter but still pretty serious. It has a ridiculous, insulting touch to it in fact.

British Airways, the Queen’s national carrier, is in deep financial trouble. And BA’s not-loss-for-words manager emails his staff, thousands of them, that it would be great if they could work 1 month for free so that BA can have some financial breathing space. Not joking here! The manager of a super large company asks his staff to work for free for 1 month. For zero. Just like that. Going to work as normal but just out of the goodness of your heart without any financial compensation for your sweat. Ridiculous. Such a manager should be fired there and then.

And to make it more painful he proudly announces that he will work next month for free. But his salary is US$97.000 per month. Yes indeed! With that money on an annual basis I also could survive easily without 1 month’s pay and then loudly and proudly announce that I am helping to save the company. Maybe a 50% pay cut will help more! Human behaviour has reached new heights of stupidity.

Throw out (besides BA’s manager). Been listening to Olde York from New York. Newish band playing hard-edged punkrock from the late 80s when the NY underground scene (aka the hardcore scene) was exploding loudly and proudly. If you are into this, check out their “Empire State” debut album and you will be having flashbacks.

C-Ya

collateral – 2nd half June 2009