It's complicated!

My GV colleague Fred Petrossian posted an interesting article about Facebook campaign which genuinely made me cry out of happiness! Ronny, aka Pushpin Mehina is using Facebook to connect in messages of love Israel and Iran. Now, why am I so moved? Recently there have been few unpleasant developments in my life and I am thinking a lot about war so I was really moved to read genuine reactions from both countries in real time, just in front of our eyes. Make sure you read this page and all comments! 

Hamid Tehrani, Ars Electronica, Social Networking and Protest Movement in Iran

[slideshare id=1977708&doc=socialnetworkingsimpactontheiranianprot-090910074507-phpapp01]

Persepolis 2.0

Please spread the word - read it, tweet it, e-mail it, print it out and show to others!

Twitter does not deserve a Nobel Peace Prize!

Image by Newsphoto Amsterdam via Flickr

Once again I have been following a topic for a while and feel I need to speak up. Can we please, please, PLEASE stop glorifying Twitter in relation to events in Iran? Media is shouting about the importance of Twitter in revolution and we all seem to forget that it is actually Iranians who deserve the support and admiration!

I am saying it because I was shown this article today in which Mark Pfeifle puts forward Twitter for Nobel Peace Prize! And you know what, me - quite a heavy geek and social media addict - I find it unhealthy! It is a TOOL of communication used by actual people, and if Twitter were not there revolution would continue - we would simply have less insights into it. And I dare to say - some of us would care less.

Shall we awards tv broadcasting for the success of Solidarnosc movement and changes in Poland, followed by other Easter European countries beginning from '89? Should we award Facebook for spreading the word about 'cc  all/one of your e-mails to Jaqui Smith' action? Or maybe we should think of people who understood the nature of those tools and used them to support their cause?

Yes, I agree, Twitter and other social media increase the transparency of events and deliver the news quicker. Those venues very often enhance the off-line networking. But they have nothing, but nothing to do with the decision making, the attitude, and willingness to fight and risk your lives for basic human rights!

When traditional journalists were forced to leave the country, Twitter became a window for the world to view hope, heroism, and horror. It became the assignment desk, the reporter, and the producer. And, because of this, Twitter and its creators are worthy of being considered for the Nobel Peace Prize.

-states the post I am referring to.

OK, I agree with the first part, however I see no connection between reporting on the news and actually deserving the gratitude for making the change? News has little to do with standing on the street and fighting for peace. News is there as an observer, not an active participant! News is there to witness the events and it's people writing it who deserve more focus than the tool itself- does the channel of communication really deserve the Peace Prize? Did it ever before?

Although we don't know how the uprising in Iran will end, or where the symbols of freedom and liberty will again be given power by people who require an unfettered means of communicating with the rest of us, Twitter and other social media outlets have become the soft weapons of democracy. Twitter told us the story of Neda's supreme sacrifice. It is telling the story of the Iranian people yearning to breathe free. For those reasons, Twitter deserves consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Again, why is telling the story worth Peace Prize? I will tell you why. Because we have a Twitter bug. We are suddenly discovering, at least most of the global population, how different communication and networking on Twitter and other social media platform is. But for some reason - and I really do not know the answer to this one - we tend to think it's a miracle! It's new. It's magical. So it must be...the best?

Twitter, blogging, image sharing has, is and will be changing the ways we report on news. But it will not change the way we react to events, nor anything else related to our every day activities, place in society, political situation. Yes, in some cases it gives us voice, but we still need to speak up and the decision to do so has nothing to do with the medium.

And in case of this particular article, I find it unfair on Iranians. And somehow posted by the person who received 'the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Award for “dramatically improved communication planning and strategies...in support of the Global War on Terror.” rather twisted, simply because I do not trust anyone involved in the American War with terrorism so strongly advocated by Bush administration.

Internet, including social media becomes a part of our live. Few years ago we used to post letters, later we would e-mail them, today we might tweet them. The message stays the same. I hate to think that the channel of communication could ever become more important then those whom it serves.

Twitter should be happy as it is - thanks to the simple fact that Iranian elections and revolution did and still happen on Twitter too, already popular platform gained more users. I see how suddenly in last few weeks the amount of Polish users increased there.

As for awards and appraisals let's turn to the Iranians themselves, who are wonderful in fighting censorship with the usage of new media; who have a wonderfully developed blogosphere but most of all - who are brave to stand up for their freedom of speech and other basic human rights. Respect to them all!

OR318 - 'let the first blogger to die in prison be the last'

'The March 18 Movement was born out of a tragedy. On this day in 2009, Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger and journalist, died in Evin Prison in Tehran. The December before his death, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Omid Reza was the first blogger to die in prison and his death reveals that getting censored is far from the worst thing that can happen to a blogger.'

It's there, waiting to pick it it up and spread the word. When I was in Cairo recently - and I do apologise, but I will refer to it a lot - I met brave people who support blogging under their own name in regions, where freedom of speech is not a granted right. It terrifies me to think you go to prison for what you write, even though I faced echoes of similar situations in Poland and Hungary when I was a kid, and even at the university... I see, talk to and spend time with people who do it regardless of the danger of imprisonment. I am impressed and I have no words on how small I feel next to them.

At least whatI can do is support projects like OR318! (on FB too) Join me!