Tool: Iranian Google bomb to support Gaza

Written by Hamid Tehrani on December 29, 2008 – 7:35 pm -

gaza-1Description: The Gaza crisis and Israeli attacks have been a top story around the world, and it seems the story will not be over soon. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak referred to the situation as “all-out war” and told lawmakers the country’s military was prepared for more intense action in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in order to weaken Hamas’ ability to fire rockets into Israeli territory. Iranian islamists demonstarted in Iran against Israel and Iranian leaders are calling on Muslims to support Palestinans in any way they can. Islamist bloggers are fighting a virtual struggle too.

Tools: Google bomb

How tool is used: Iranian islamists are hopeful that people who are googling Gaza find their page, Gaza.Ir, on the top of the list. The site reads:

You oppressed people of Gaza know that we Muslims in Iran and all over the world haven’t forgotten you and will not cease until complete cessation of the blockade of your city. Along the path to Gaza’s freedom and our common goal, which is the freedom of Palestine, we will not cease and we will go on.

Impact: Google bombs can attract a lot of attention if they are able to climb to the top of reserarch results. So far this has not the case of Islamist Google bomb.


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Posted in Blogs, Mid-East & N. Africa, Tools | No Comments »

Action Alert: Campaign to Free Jailed Doctors in Iran

Written by Hamid Tehrani on December 23, 2008 – 10:30 pm -

iranfreedocs1Description: Two sibling physicians, Kamira and Arash Alaie, have pioneered educational and harm reduction campaigns among drug users, prostitutes, and prison inmates in Iran and throughout the Middle East. They have been in jail in Iran for six months, and have had no legal representation. To date, no formal charges have been filed.

Tools: Facebook, blog, e-petition

How These Tools Are Being Used: Clint Trout, a friend of the Alaie siblings, who launched a Facebook campaign on their behalf asks supporters to:

  1. Make a sign that says “Treating AIDS Is Not a Crime: Free Kamiar and Arash Alaei and take a photo
  2. Sign the petition
  3. Get other people to do this action.

The IranFreeDocs site asked people to send an email to Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations.

Outcome: Many ex-prisoners say that the Islamic Republic of Iran is sensitive to international media pressure and the doctors will be treated with greater care if the are seen to have public supporters.


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Posted in Action Alerts, E-Petitions, Mid-East & N. Africa, Social Networks | 1 Comment »

Campaign: Supporting Jailed Afghan Student

Written by Hamid Tehrani on November 11, 2008 – 1:59 pm -

Description: Recently an Afghan appeals court overturned a death sentence for 24-year-old Parwez Kambakhsh, a journalism student accused of blasphemy for asking questions in class about women’s rights under Islam. But the judges still sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

The case against this student, whose brother has angered Afghan warlords with his own writing, has come to symbolize Afghanistan’s ultraconservative view on religious and individual freedoms. Some people started to mobolize opinion to support him.

Digital Tools Being Used:Blog and Petition

How these tools have been used: Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) has launched a petition to support Afghan student and jailed Iranian academics. SPME wants to collect 1,000 signatures before sending it to the governments of Afghanistan and Iran and the United Nations Council on Human Rights. Some Afghan bloggers such as Afghan Lord call court decision ‘unjust’ and try to remind people his case.

Impact: Mobilizing international opinion and media may have a positive impact for this jailed journalism student. Afghan government depends on international aid to ’survive’ and ‘persecuting’ this Afghan student won’t be helpful for it’s image.


Posted in Blogs, DigiActive News, E-Petitions, Mid-East & N. Africa | No Comments »

Campaign: Iran - Protesting Online Against the Canadian Embassy

Written by Hamid Tehrani on September 24, 2008 – 5:17 am -

Description: About 670 Iranian-Canadians have signed a petition to Ottawa’s political leaders protesting what they say is worsening discrimination against Iranians who want to visit Canada, some of them internationally known dissidents on the blacklist of the regime. Only a minority of several hundred Iranian artists and intellectuals invited to Toronto events this summer were granted visas.

Tools: Blog, Petition, Email

How these tools have been used:A Visa for Ordinary Iranians blog explains the situation and provides the addresses where people can sign the petition. It also informs how media covers this petition issue. People who can not post the petition or take it to six different locals, are asked to send an email to support this initiative.

Objective : Visa for Ordinary Iranians blog says that the goal is to collect 1000 signatures before 14th of October.

Impact: Lawmakers may pay attention to their requests as Iranian community is a large one in Canada but 1000 signatures are not that much. If this news finds itself through Canadian mainstream media, the impact of the petition will undoubtably grow.


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Posted in Blogs, Campaigns, E-Petitions, Mid-East & N. Africa, Regions, Toolkit | No Comments »

Campaign: Stop the war on Iran

Written by Hamid Tehrani on August 29, 2008 – 6:16 pm -

Description: Launched in 2006, Stop War on Iran is an international grasroots campaign of activists, scholars, clergy, veterans and other concerned individuals organized to oppose Washington’s alleged campaign of threats, sanctions, and demonization against the people of Iran.” Since the launch of the campaign, it has generated more than one million messages sent to President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, members of the House and Senate (from both parties), members of the press, and oil company executives.

Digital tools used for this campaign:Facebook and blog

What they are doing : The campaign supporters can read about recent and upcoming demonstrations, sign a e-petiton showing support against U.S. military action and send messages to several key political leaders on their blog.  In addition, donations can be made to the campaign and learn about campaign activities in other cities on its Facebook group.


Posted in Blogs, Campaigns, Mid-East & N. Africa | No Comments »

Campaign: Facebook used to help free jailed physicians

Written by Hamid Tehrani on July 29, 2008 – 9:29 pm -

Description:Physician brothers Kamira and Arash Alaie, who have been recognized internationally for their activities in the development of HIV/AIDS programs and services in Iran and throughout the Middle East, are being held in prison by the Iranian authorities. According to (reports) received from Teheran, the doctors were taken to an undisclosed location sometime in late June. The reason for their detention is unknown. While many Iranian bloggers have been silent so far on this case, Boston University doctoral candidate and Kamiar’s friend Clint Trout launched a campaign to inform the world about jailed duo.

Tools: Facebook

How the tool is used: Trout has created a support club for the brothers in Facebook, where nearly 300 people have became members. Viewers can find a list of news reports about the Alaie brothers and are asked to write to Iranian Health Minister and Iranian ambassadors in their own countries about their concerns.

Trout has also published a photo of two brothers, as can be seen above, on his Facebook page.

Outcome:If organizations, the general public and the media highlighted this case, the Iranian government would have no choice but to pay attention. In the past several former political prisoners and their supporters have gained the attention for their cases this way with positive results.


Posted in Mid-East & N. Africa, Regions, Social Networks | 7 Comments »

Campaign: Supporting a Leftist Student in Iran

Written by Hamid Tehrani on July 16, 2008 – 3:33 pm -

Description: Abed Tavancheh, an Iranian leftist student and blogger, was sentenced recently to eight months imprisonment for his political activities, with a chance to request an appeal. In recent months several students have been arrested and jailed. A blog has been created to support Tavancheh:SOS Tavancheh

Tools: Blog and Petition

How this tool has been used:Hundreds of Iranian students and academics both in Iran or abroad have already signed the petition condemning the court’s ruling. There are several Iranians and Germans from a Berlin-based committee for defending Iranian political prisoners who joined this campaign. It shows that the campaign goes outside Iran’s borders. The blog includes news from leftist students as well as interviews with Tavancheh and his lawyers.

Outcome: Creating blogs and petitions to support Iranian students have always been useful tools to inform the general public and the media.


Posted in Campaigns, Mid-East & N. Africa | No Comments »

Campaign: Iranians blog to save wetlands

Written by Hamid Tehrani on July 8, 2008 – 9:03 pm -

Description: Several news sites and blogs have reported that Iran’s wetlands are in a very critical situation, and a few of them could disappeared in the near future. Construction of roads and dams are considered two main reasons wetlands’ existence are in jeopardy. It seems the Iranian government has paid little attention to the warning signs from environmentalists. Several green bloggers have decided to inform people about the current situation of Iranian wetlands and the danger that threatens the ecosystem.

Tool: Blogs and participative site such as Balatarin.

How These Tools Are Being Used: : Green bloggers have published posts and photos to attract attention to the birds in danger. They are encouraging other bloggers to write at least one post about the wetlands between July 5 - 10.

What They Say: Mohmmad Darvish writes [In Persian] that the loss of wetland means the extinction of 52 percent of fish, 31 percent of birds and 13 percent mammals…next generations probably never forgive us if we destroy wetlands.

Jamshidi writes[in Persian] that Iranian nature faces different disasters and each day there is a piece of bad news that we hear…

Outcome: Green bloggers in last two years have organized several events to protest and to inform people about the environmental crisis. Several of the green bloggers are also journalists and write about the same topic in Iranian publications. Although it is difficult to know the impact of such a campaign on Iranian government right now, it is another step to at least mobilize the Iranian public.


Posted in Blogs, Campaigns, Mid-East & N. Africa, Regions | 3 Comments »

Tactic: Iranian Blog Declaration Against Filtering

Written by Hamid Tehrani on June 17, 2008 – 10:54 pm -

Description: Iran has always been a land of filtering, but in recent months pressure on sites and blogs has increased. Recently, about 100 bloggers signed a declaration that condemns filtering and call for freedom of speech. They also asked the end of filtering. The declaration says that freedom of media has become more restricted than before. In recent weeks, several blogs and sites, especially the ones that write about political and social issues, have been filtered [blocked]. Several women’s blogs that are filtered too. At the same time, pro-government blogs and sites continue their activity and enjoy freedom. The declaration also notes that filtering and censorship are against the Declaration of Universal Human Rights.

Organizer: The blog Boyehkhak published[fa] the declaration and other bloggers supported it and signed it.

Purpose of Action: To try to convince the Iranian government not to filter blogs.

Organizing Tools: a declaration published on a blog

Outcome:It is very difficult to imagine that Iranian blogs’ protest against filtering can have any practical effect on the Iranian government. But when 100 blogs sign a declaration together, it shows that the cyber world is not a divided space.

Ease of Replication: It is easy to post a declaration on your blog. The hard part is getting other people to sign it. This is a classic organizing task. You need to contact people and organizations who you think also care about the issue - using e-mail, listservs, social networking groups and any other mass communication tools at hand - to convince people to sign your declaration.

Read more »


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Posted in Blogs, Mid-East & N. Africa, Tactics | 4 Comments »

Campaign: Iranians oppose renaming Persian Gulf

Written by Hamid Tehrani on June 2, 2008 – 12:31 am -

Description: In recent years, Iranians have launched a relatively successful digital campaign against the renaming of the Persian Gulf as the Arabic Gulf. Several magazines and sites have covered the news of this digital protest, including the BBC. The Persian Gulf is one of the most important national symbols for Iranians and any attempt to rename it creates strong reactions in Iran, both online and off. Here are some of the tactics used in the digital campaign:

Google Bombing

Pendar, an Iranian designer and blogger, shares how he started his google bombing campaign to oppose the renaming of the gulf:

In November 2004, National Geographic published a new edition of their World Atlas. In it, they had used the bogus name of Arabian Gulf in addition to the correct name Persian Gulf. So I made a mock page (+), resembling a 404 error message which said ” the gulf you are looking for does not exist“. I asked other bloggers to link to that page. The response was simply overwhelming. Within a week, hundreds of blogs and websites had taken part and the google bomb exploded, creating a frenzy of media hype. It appeared on an AFP article and Yahoo! News, It also made the first page of BBC news page.

You can go and check your self on Google and type Arabic Gulf and then see what is the first result: “The Gulf You Are Looking For Does Not Exist. Try Persian Gulf.”

e-Petition

In 2008 many Iranians got irritated while they discover the “darling” of the Internet , Google Earth made the same mistake and used the term Arabic Gulf and Persian Gulf together. A petition was launched on Internet which read:

We, the undersigned, through this letter, protest your irresponsible, unscientific actions, and demand an immediate and unconditional deletion of “Arabian Gulf” from Google Earth. Arbitrarily designating the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf is an irresponsible violation of all historical and International standards and would undermine the integrity of Google Earth.

So far total signatures are 755,732.

Hackers

Iranians’ digital activity to protest against renaming of Persian Gulf recently entered a more dynamic phase of action: Hacking Arabic Sites that use Arabic Gulf term. Ashyaneh, a group of Iranian hackers, say that they attacked several Arab language sites that renamed Persian Gulf and call it Arabic Gulf. This group claims that they hacked around 100 different sites.

Blogs

Blogs also play an important role to write on this subject and inform about lastest development. Recently several hundred Iranians demonstrated in front of UAE ambassy in Tehran and bloggers covered it. Mojgan Jamshidi says it is pity that security forces repressed such a peaceful demonstration. She has published several photos of the demonstration. Read more »


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Posted in Blogs, Campaigns, E-Petitions, Mid-East & N. Africa | 2 Comments »