"Green Cyber Demonstration": World Solidarity with the Iranian Protestors

INTERNATIONAL CYBER-DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF THE IRANIAN PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT



One aim: unite the world’s citizens of all origins, nationalities and horizons who believe in democracy and Human Rights, and who wish to express their support for the pro-democracy movement in Iran.



This initiative is completely independent, non-political and non-religious.



How to participate

- Join our group on facebook, flickr, add us on twitter & myspace

- make our logo your profile image on these social websites

- write a message of support as your headline & on our page(s)

- inform & send links to your friends & contacts

- write about this event in your blogs & websites, feature our image & add a link to us

- contribute to our webpage with comments, slogans, photos/videos/songs etc.


Facebook group: WWIran Facebook group
On twitter: WWIran Twitter
Myspace page: WWIran Myspace
Downloadable images on flickr: WWIran Flickr profile
Flickr group: WWIran Flickr group
YouTube Channel: WWIran YouTube

How you can make a difference

The pro-democracy protestors in Iran are isolated and vulnerable. A strong turn-out here is a means for us to support them in their battle & remind governments & official international bodies around the world to act in the best interest of these freedom-fighters.Iran has ratified both the Declaration of Human Rights (signed 1948) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (signed 1968). Let us show the world that human dignity and Human Rights are values that transcend frontiers, and that our leaders should use as much energy in defending Human Rights as they do the nuclear issue.



“A dictatorship is more dangerous than a nuclear weapon.”



Context

As a result of the fraudulent Iranian presidential elections of the 12th of June 2009, millions of people took to the streets of Iran to protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; demanding a new and democratic election. These brave protestors, comprising all generations, demonstrated pacifically but faced harsh repression from government forces resulting in beatings, deaths, arrests, torture, forced confessions and mock show-trials. Despite this repression, the protest movement has continued to grow and is known as the ‘Green Movement’ (read below: ‘Why Green?’). In spite of this repression, the pro-democracy protestors in Iran have continued their mobilisation; taking to the streets, infiltrating official marches and finding new means to express themselves such as via the internet - despite the huge risks, including for their lives (two young men arrested before the elections, Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, were executed on the 28th January 2010, with more feared).



Why Green?

Green is the symbolic colour under which the pro-democracy protestors march in Iran - it is traditionally the colour of hope. Although the colour of the presidential candidate Mussavi in June’s fraudulent elections, the protestors have since made this colour their own and are commonly called the ‘Green Movement’, which has grown to become a spontaneous independent citizen’s movement demanding democracy for Iran. Green is now the colour of all those who march for democracy in Iran.

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Beware of the Regime's media manipulation: Marandi takes on the media

by HAMED ALEAZIZ from Tehran Bureau  10 FEB 2010

In the nearly eight months since the Iranian election, few in Iran have openly spoken to the western media. One exception has been Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Marandi who has become a regular on the international talk show circuit. He has appeared on CNN several times, hosted by Christiane Amanpour andFareed Zakaria, NBC, and mostly Al Jazeera English. Marandi has been quoted by Reuters, NPR, The Jerusalem Post, and co-authored an op-ed on the Politico Web site with Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett soon after the election in June. 

Marandi's positions supporting the government in articulate American English has helped earn him the title of "the biggest monster of the century," something he laughed off in a recent telephone interview. "There's nothing I can do about it," he said. In fact, he went on to say that he considered himself a critic of the Iranian government. "I believe Mr. Ahmadinejad is the popularly-elected president of Iran, but if I were one of his ministers I would advise him very differently on several matters," he said.




Marandi, 42, is a professor of North American Studies at the University of Tehran, where he conducts research on American culture, film and literature. Marandi was born in the United States and raised in an upscale neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio, in the 1970s. He was even a Dallas Cowboys fan. At 13, his family moved back to Iran. And three years later, he took up arms and fought in the Iran-Iraq war, during which he was injured four times, two as a result of chemical attacks.

A passionate Occidentalist, Marandi studies "American misrepresentation of Iran." In one recent conference in Lebanon, Dr. Marandi delivered a speech on the lack of fair coverage of Iranian history in American textbooks. He appeared on NBC with Matt Lauer to dispute the translation of a speech by President Ahmadinejad. Dr. Marandi even criticized President Obama's choice of location for his speech to the Middle East: "I think that he probably made the worst possible choice to choose Egypt as a place to make a speech," he said.

His father is a conservative member of parliament representing Tehran and also Head of the Medical Sciences Academy.




Tehran Bureau correspondent Hamed Aleaziz recently caught up with Dr. Marandi.

Continue reading this article by clicking on this link: Marandi takes on the media

Credits: Tehran Bureau ©

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