On June 12th, 2009, protests began in Iran, specifically in the major cities of Isfahan and Tehran. They didn’t end until February 11th, 2010. Understandably, any protest requires a reason for conflict. In this case, the people of Iran gained worldwide support and interest after the highly favoured Mir-Hossein Mousavi lost in the presidential election to current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. These two men had very different political agendas, as Mousavi was lobbying for a new progressive Iran with law, justice, and freedom at its core. On the other hand, Ahmadinejad was pushing for policies that were unfriendly to human rights activism. The voters were outraged when they heard the results of the election as they believed that the election was manipulated. Most citizens were convinced that their ballots were not counted nor included in the election.
With such a large controversial issue happening in our world, reporters jumped at the opportunity to report on this story. Unfortunately, international reporters were not allowed into Iran to take footage and conduct interviews about the protests and controversy. Therefore, Iranian people had to turn to social media, namely twitter, to update the world on the protests. Those angry at the presidential outcome in Iran went onto the streets to show their outrage at the lack of democracy being showcased in their country.
Although international reporters were restricted from reporting on the story in person, they aided the spread of information by using hashtags and IP addresses into their twitter posts to allow Iranians to read and keep updated with opinions and updates from the international community.
This movement was given the title, “The Twitter Revolution.” While it is clear why this movement was given a nickname with twitter in the title, I feel that it is important to describe how the Iranian protests would be considered a revolution. A revolution is defined as “a fundamental change in power or organizational structures.” We have witnessed these changes in world events such as the French Revolution in the 1980s, when political upheaval caused a societal change of thought. The government went from the philosophy of absolute monarchy to enlightenment, citizenship, and human rights. It is important to remember that the Twitter Revolution in Iran was put in the category of “revolution” for a reason; to demonstrate the historical importance of this event.
What is interesting is how the media focused on the movement’s use of twitter as a mode of dissemination of information instead of focusing on how there was a minimum of 2,500 arrests in Tehran, with more than 30 civilians dead. Society is sometimes so focused on the evolution of technology that we seem to forget why and how these social networks are needed. Technology is inarguably a powerful mode to communicate, but it should not overshadow the historical, political, and social impacts that these events are creating. This being said, journalism changed during these events as people were shown that networks such as twitter do have tremendous power to educate and update on important global events.
– Emily Chan