An Information Vacuum

Much is missing in Iran. Not only basic freedoms, but people, facts, information, justice and, importantly, the ability to distinguish truth from the confetti of information whirling around the social media circuit.

Communications disruption of phone, internet, mobile and SMS network, plus very often a language barrier, creates problems for international media coverage of Iran. It also make them vulnerable to propaganda. I was very concerned to hear the Anderson Cooper interview on CNN supposedly with a girl protester in iran. From her accent it was clear the girl was of East Asian descent. Assuming she was a genuine Iranian student protester, her ethinicity would make her that much easier for state security to identify inside Iran. People inside Iran are already taking massive risks by protesting, talking to each other, sharing information. Just because the media has cultivated audiences to expect certain types of coverage, does not excuse putting innocent lives at risk. And if it turns out that the girl was not actually a student protester inside Iran, CNN still does not get excused or absolved for their lack of probity, not even if they acted incomplete ignorance of the characteristics of very different regional accents.

Cutting off commmunications is one of the Iranian regime's favorite tactics for controlling the population. Suppressing information is another. There are no firm statistics on the number of people arrested during last week's protests across the country, and very few names of individuals are known. The same is true of the many thousands arrested since the election of June 2009. This makes it extremely difficult for families to find their missing loved ones, and they are frequently passed from one authority to another and back again in an endless game of cat and mouse, trying to find information. If and when they are finally able to locate their imprisoned relative, the game begins anew, with threats and intimidation, warning them against talking to anyone, especially foreign media. Local media know the rules: don't ask, don't tell.

In the vacuum created by the regime's tight control on the flow of information, rumors and conspiracies abound. One recurring theme harks back to the mass executions of dissidents in the 1980's, which was a tragic time in Iran's history when countless numbers of prisoners were summarily executed for membership of opposition groups. Because the regime uses the same rhetoric now as was used back then, and has been performing executions at an increased rate on political prisoners and others who they claim are convicted of drug related offences, there is a great deal of apprehension and fear that the same fate awaits today's prisoners.

Still on the subject of communications, we have a puzzling situation with Mir-Hossein  Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the two most prominent political opposition figures in Iran, and both aligned to the popular grassroots green movement. Both are said to be under virtual house arrest with all phone lines and internet cut off, and even family forbidden entrance to their homes, which are under siege by regime security forces.

Yet each of them has apparently been able to issue statements while under siege, which have been published on FaceBook, Deutsche Welle, kaleme.com and sahamnews.org. The latter was offline for a time, presumably due to an attack, and it was reported that kaleme.com was inaccessible briefly today. Both websites are functioning at the time of writing. This blatant disregard for the regime's efforts at censorship is a real symbol or hope and encouragement for activists inside Iran, and a clear signal to everyone outside that the opposition is alive and cannot be silenced so easily.

A statement was issued today by Mousavi's senior political advisor, Amir-Ali Arjomand, calling for Sunday 20th February 2011 to be marked by nationwide gatherings in Iran to mark the death of two young men who took part in opposition rallies on Saturday 12th February 2011. Karroubi also published a statement via his adviser Mojtaba Vahedi, challenging the regime to take him to court, stating "In the event that such trial takes place, Mr. Karroubi will prove that ths government was overthrown by its own leaders." It is widely understood that Karroubi has 'got the goods' on the regime and that they are terrified of him revealing the evidence he has against them. Even after a prolonged campaign which includedd breaking into his office, arresting and intimidating his staff, and last night breaking into son's home and ransacking it, the regime's security forces do not seem to have been able to find this evidence.

Will arrival of the second installment of the cash subsidy payment in Iran today impact upcoming weekend opposition protests? Liquidity can be a benefit or a risk. Mass protests need support from low income groups. Ready cash can pay for travel, petrol, SIM cards. But it can also buy drugs, silence, regime loyalty. We will no doubt experience much speculation between now and Sunday, but no one will know for certain until the day itself.

 

17 February 2011

 

 

Posted via email from lissping