About one year ago on February 14th, 2011, millions of
Iranian citizens marched the streets of their country for protesting.
After the controversial election results of 2009, millions of Iranians
were outraged that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had defeated Mir-Houssein Mousavi in a
landslide victory. Mousavi had accused his rival of election fraud because the
real number of votes for each candidate were never actually shown to the
public.
The coordination of these protests were fueled by Iranians’
use of social media. A Facebook page was created for the protest and the page
spread exponentially. The page called for solidarity demonstrations by stating,
“we encourage you to join the thousands on the street right now.” Despite
government efforts to censor it, the page continued to gather millions of hits.
Other Facebook pages described the locations of various protests and even the
proper attire that protesters should wear.
Furthermore, many Iranians recorded the protests with mobile
devices and shared them on YouTube. Many videos show the brutality of police
(like the video below) which enrage citizens throughout Iran and gather more protesters.
Other videos showed the intensity and numbers of protesters
in Iran. Thousands of Iranians stopped traffic in Tehran. The more video of
thousands protesting showed the world how enraged Iranians were.
Women in Iran were suppressed due to Islamic law, so they
utilized social media to protest atrocious police practices. Many women were
tortured and were raped after post election protests. A 22 year old woman
recounted her horrible experience to The
Guardian (see video below).
After being kidnapped while walking on her college campus,
she was assaulted numerous times. She states that she was forced to sign a
confession statement of being a terrorist and danger to national security. Very
few post-election female arrestees have come forward to talk about their
experiences because they fear being arrested again, and there are also the Islamic
stigmas surrounding rape. Rape victims are often blamed for being raped in
Islamic countries. Sometimes rape victims are even killed because they are seen
as dirty and tarnished. However, as the video above shows, a woman has the power to tell her
story without risking her life. The video above garnered over 75,000 views and
has been shared numerous times through Facebook and Twitter. The International
Campaign for Human Rights in Iran fueled their campaign to hold Ahmedinejad
accountable for human rights violations after this video was released.
Finally, another instance of Iranians using social media to
protest can be seen in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani. Ashtiani was sentenced to death by way of stoning after being convicted of adultery. Ashtiani’s lawyer
blogged about his client and how she would die if the sentence was not
reprieved. This inhumane sentence was decried by thousands across the world
using Twitter. United States politicians denounced the sentence and celebrities
such as Lindsay Lohan even tweeted in defense of Ashtiani. After much outcry,
the Iranian government reprieved Ashtiani’s sentence thanks to thousands of
social media users.
The impact of social media can easily be seen through the developing
country of Iran. After Iranians shared their protesting experiences through
YouTube and Facebook, millions of people around the world recognized the
outrage of Iranians. President Obama even supported Iranian protests. Without
social media, the Iranian protests would be very difficult for the world to see and inhumane punishments would continue to be carried out.
