Hello everyone,
In this blog, I will make a little change and focus on the protests and the crisis that are facing the citizens of Iran. In this blog, I will focus on the technology, university students’ actions, and how gender plays a key part in the protests in Iran. I will also make a brief mention how technology, student actions, and gender plays a role in gay marriage.
Regarding the protests in Iran, technology has played a significant role. There is no way to describe how important it has played a role. Technology allows us know what is going on in the protests. I learned from the Fox News channel on TV that journalists are not allowed in Iran, or at least, not reporting from there. So the only source of information is from the video taken from the protestors and posting it on twitter and YouTube. Not only that, the internet is also being used to help the Iranians. In the web article, “Crisis in Iran Sparks Global Guerrilla Cyberwar” by Fox News website on June 16, 2009 at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526627,00.html, it says, “The election crisis in Iran has ignited a full-on guerrilla cyberwar, with Twitterers and techies across the globe pitching in to help protesters in that country access the Internet, and official Iranian government Web sites being knocked offline. The U.S. State Department even reportedly weighed in, with an unnamed official telling Reuters Tuesday that it had asked Twitter not to ‘shut down its system in Iran.’” (Fox news 1). The reasons why that these pages are being used is that it is our only source of information so we know what is going on in the country. It is also being used to show the injustices that are happening in Iran. The government is say that twitter or YouTube should not reject the material because they need to know what is going on and how to approach political and, possibly, diplomatic relations with Iran to fully resolve the issue.
On the student’s side of the issue, they are taking a stance with the issue. In Iran, many students are taking a proactive role in the protests. That is especially true considering many of the protesters belong to the younger generation. According to the article from Fox News’ website entitled, “Young Iranians Express Hope, Fear in Aftermath of Elections” by Adelle Nazarian, she says, “Samereh [an unidentified 27 year old women], who moved to Shomal from Tehran for work a few months ago, compared the Iranian government to the Taliban. She said people are fed up and willing to die for their country” (Nazarian 1) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526781,00.html. So many young people are taking such a proactive in making sure that they and their future are taking such a drastic approach in making social change. The younger generation is taking it to the extreme to voice their opinion, and to make sure that democracy truly works in Iran and not shown to be a fraud by a narcissistic hateful dictator.
In this protest there are some people in this protests are women. Now that is interesting because in that region of the world where women are treated like property and cannot do anything the women in United States take for granted such as having jobs or simply going out in public. In this case, they are drastically helping the protests in Iran. There is one woman in particular who is seen as martyr to the protesting. According to the article on Fox News’ website entitled, “Neda Soltan, Young Woman Hailed as Martyr in Iran, Becomes Face of Protests” by Melissa Tabatabai, she says, “‘Neda,’ whose identity could not be verified by FOXNews.com, was reportedly gunned down by paramilitary police Saturday during protests in the capital city. Videos posted on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter show her bleeding from the nose and mouth as a crowd tries unsuccessfully to stanch the flow and save her life” (Tabatabi 1) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528133,00.html. Despite the obvious sexism in the region, this girl is being raised high on a pedestal. In the article, it was mentioned that Neda did not support either candidate but the one thing that she wanted was “Freedom for all” according to her fiancé. When this event occurred, it showed the injustices of the region and the tyranny of the dictator. Since then, she became an icon of the movement.
Now I would like to apply some of these concepts to gay marriage. In the gay rights movement in the United States, technology does play a key role. In gay marriage, technology such as television and the internet are the primary ways in which activists gets the word out about the movement and to help create change. They use these tools to get in touch with the general public to create awareness and acceptance about the gay lifestyle. In this day and age, students are taking a role in the gay rights movement. Many students and younger people do not feel it matters what a person’s sexuality is and feels that no one should intrude on it. About once a year, there is a day of silence that many GBLTQ members and supporters do not speak and create awareness for the gay community members. Regarding gender and sex, I do not feel that it makes a big impact. There are many men and women involved with this movement that makes a huge significant difference.
Sincerely,
Steven Weingarten
Sources online from Foxnews.com:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526627,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526781,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528133,00.html
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Hey Steven-
ReplyDeleteGood Post! I definitely learned much more about the situation in Iran and some of the information that is coming from the region via technological means. It was also nice that you incorporated gay marriage movement into the discussion, that was a good idea and i think it worked well for your blog.