Fark has an ongoing thread that has a lot of on-the-ground information from Tehran. Twitter is being used to get information out. The Iranian government is trying to crack down so it's been suggested to switch your location to Tehran and time to GMT +0330. I'm not sure how they're looking for users (since I think twitter is blocked, so it might be accessed through proxies, but don't know the technical details) so I suggest doing the same in case it helps.
Twitter also rescheduled downtime due to the Iranian protests. The downtime was initially scheduled for tonight US time, but was moved to 1-2pm PST which is 130am Tehran time. The situation is supposed to escalate Tuesday (so already today in Tehran).
2009-06-15
mass protests erupt in Iran over election results
Mass protests have broken out after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the Iranian presidential election with more than 62 percent of the vote. Ahmadinejad needed over 50 percent of the vote to prevent a runoff election between him and top contender, reformist candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed the results despite many claims of election fraud. There were expectations of neither candidate acquiring the required 50 percent of the vote and a runoff election taking place. It is estimated that over 100,000 anti-Ahmadinejad protesters have claimed the streets of Tehran, sometimes sparking violence in confrontations with police. The media has been blocked from leaving Iran so size of protests outside Tehran is unknown. Internet websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube along with pro-Mousavi sites have been blocked by the government. An AP photographer has reported that at least one person was killed as the militia fired on a rally. More than 130 prominent Mousavi supporters have been rounded up by police including Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of former President Mahmoud Khatami, a former speaker of the parliament, and the son-in-law of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leader of the 1979 Islamist revolution.
The protests can be seen not just as a challenge to Ahmadinejad but also to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Moderate youth in Iran see a disconnect between their lives and ideas and the Ayatollah's hard-lined religious views. Ahmadinejad was elected as a populist, with policies helping the poor. But constant inflation, harsh penalties against unions, and rollbacks of government subsidies on staples has alienated the working class and poor. Mousavi has called for greater women's rights and political freedom strengthening his support among students and the middle class, but has made no outreach to the working class and poor living the group open to Ahmadinejad.
Even though neither candidate is truly the best choice, mainly due to required approval from the Supreme Leader to run, Mousavi's election would give Iranian people greater freedom to organize and have more control over their country. More importantly, this mass rising is a great opportunity for organization to be formed among the people for sustained grassroots control to not just elect a leader but hold them accountable, something I wish would happen with Obama's presidency. It is unknown if Khamenei will compromise with Mousavi some way or just wait for the protests to die down or crush them if they don't.
UPDATE: James sent me a link with some really good photos from Tehran.
The protests can be seen not just as a challenge to Ahmadinejad but also to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Moderate youth in Iran see a disconnect between their lives and ideas and the Ayatollah's hard-lined religious views. Ahmadinejad was elected as a populist, with policies helping the poor. But constant inflation, harsh penalties against unions, and rollbacks of government subsidies on staples has alienated the working class and poor. Mousavi has called for greater women's rights and political freedom strengthening his support among students and the middle class, but has made no outreach to the working class and poor living the group open to Ahmadinejad.
Even though neither candidate is truly the best choice, mainly due to required approval from the Supreme Leader to run, Mousavi's election would give Iranian people greater freedom to organize and have more control over their country. More importantly, this mass rising is a great opportunity for organization to be formed among the people for sustained grassroots control to not just elect a leader but hold them accountable, something I wish would happen with Obama's presidency. It is unknown if Khamenei will compromise with Mousavi some way or just wait for the protests to die down or crush them if they don't.
UPDATE: James sent me a link with some really good photos from Tehran.
2009-05-29
flickr
I decided to reactivate my Flikr and use it as a place to put my best photos.
Check it out here. You can always find the link on the right hand menu, too.
Check it out here. You can always find the link on the right hand menu, too.
2009-05-28
photos from day of decision
Here are photos I took from the protests on the Day of Decision, when the California Supreme Court ruled to uphold Proposition 8.
2009-05-27
prop 8 upheld, ca to cut welfare
The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8 yesterday, outlawing gay marriage in the state. Hundreds of protesters marched into the street after the 10am ruling and 175 were arrested for blocking the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street. The civil disobedience was organized by One Struggle, One Fight. Two litigators who argued against each other in the Bush v. Gore case filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court hoping to bring it to the Supreme Court.
Update: Just found a recent Gallup poll on same-sex marriage. Even though majority of Americans continue to oppose gay marriage, the following graph can simply be called inevitability.
In response to the failed propositions of last weeks special election, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released a budget plan that would "eliminate welfare, drop 1 million poor children from health insurance, cut off new grants for college students and shut down 80 percent of state parks."
Update: Just found a recent Gallup poll on same-sex marriage. Even though majority of Americans continue to oppose gay marriage, the following graph can simply be called inevitability.
In response to the failed propositions of last weeks special election, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released a budget plan that would "eliminate welfare, drop 1 million poor children from health insurance, cut off new grants for college students and shut down 80 percent of state parks."
2009-05-22
tuesday may 26th
I just got the announcement that the decision will be made on TUESDAY MAY 26th at 10am. Spread the word! Meet at 10am at the California Supreme Court at 350 McAllister St at Civic Center Park. There will be a rally at San Francisco City Hall at 5pm. If you can't make it to San Francisco that day, there are events all over the state and country so check the Day of Decision website. For info on civil disobedience that may be going on check out One Struggle, One Fight.
some interesting statistics on wealth
Just picked up a new book and found this in the intro. This brings me up to 5 books I'm currently reading. I should start prioritizing because I've barely started all 5. The book was printed in 2006.
-The assets of the world's top three billionaires are greater than those of the poorest 600 million people on the planet.
-Globally, there are seventy thousand people who possess more than $30 million in financial assets. Half of the world's 587 billionaires are Americans, whose wealth increased collectively by $500 billion in 2003 alone. They posses the same amount of wealth as the combined gross domestic product of the world's poorest 170 countries combined.
-More than a third of the world's people, 2.8 billion, live on less than two dollars a day.
-1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar a day.
And some stats for the U.S.
-The average compensation in 2004 for the CEOs of the top 367 U.S. companies was $11.8 million, up from $8.1 million in 2003. On average, CEOs in 2004 made 431 times what a production worker made, up from a 107:1 ratio in 1990 and a 42:1 ratio in 1982.
-CEO pay has increased by 300 percent over the last fifteen years, whereas wages have increased in the same period by only 5 percent (and minimum wage workers have seen their pay fall by 6 percent). If wages had kept up with the percentage increase in CEO pay, in 2004 the average pay for production workers would have been $110,136, instead of $27,460.
-The top 20 perfect of American households control 83 percent of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 80 percent of Americans control only about 17 percent of the nation's wealth.
-A total of 34.6 million Americans in 2002, 12.1 percent of the population, lived below the official poverty line, and 8.5 million of them had jobs. Overall, black poverty is double that of whites.
-The assets of the world's top three billionaires are greater than those of the poorest 600 million people on the planet.
-Globally, there are seventy thousand people who possess more than $30 million in financial assets. Half of the world's 587 billionaires are Americans, whose wealth increased collectively by $500 billion in 2003 alone. They posses the same amount of wealth as the combined gross domestic product of the world's poorest 170 countries combined.
-More than a third of the world's people, 2.8 billion, live on less than two dollars a day.
-1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar a day.
And some stats for the U.S.
-The average compensation in 2004 for the CEOs of the top 367 U.S. companies was $11.8 million, up from $8.1 million in 2003. On average, CEOs in 2004 made 431 times what a production worker made, up from a 107:1 ratio in 1990 and a 42:1 ratio in 1982.
-CEO pay has increased by 300 percent over the last fifteen years, whereas wages have increased in the same period by only 5 percent (and minimum wage workers have seen their pay fall by 6 percent). If wages had kept up with the percentage increase in CEO pay, in 2004 the average pay for production workers would have been $110,136, instead of $27,460.
-The top 20 perfect of American households control 83 percent of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 80 percent of Americans control only about 17 percent of the nation's wealth.
-A total of 34.6 million Americans in 2002, 12.1 percent of the population, lived below the official poverty line, and 8.5 million of them had jobs. Overall, black poverty is double that of whites.
2009-05-21
election results
Here are the results of the California Special Election
Proposition 1A: Rainy Day Fund - Yes: 34.2%; No: 65.8%
Proposition 1B: Education Funding - Yes: 37.5%; No: 62.5%
Proposition 1C: Modernize Lottery - Yes: 35.4%; No: 64.6%
Proposition 1D: Child Services Funding - Yes: 34.3%; No: 65.7%
Proposition 1E: Mental Health Budget - Yes: 33.6%; No: 66.4%
Proposition 1F: Elected Official Salaries - Yes: 73.9%; No: 26.1%
[source]
Good thing California voters didn't pass these budget cuts.
Proposition 1A: Rainy Day Fund - Yes: 34.2%; No: 65.8%
Proposition 1B: Education Funding - Yes: 37.5%; No: 62.5%
Proposition 1C: Modernize Lottery - Yes: 35.4%; No: 64.6%
Proposition 1D: Child Services Funding - Yes: 34.3%; No: 65.7%
Proposition 1E: Mental Health Budget - Yes: 33.6%; No: 66.4%
Proposition 1F: Elected Official Salaries - Yes: 73.9%; No: 26.1%
[source]
Good thing California voters didn't pass these budget cuts.
2009-05-20
Day of Decision
Sometime in the next two weeks the California Supreme Court will rule on the challenge to Proposition 8. The decision will be either next Monday or Thursday, or Tuesday or Thursday of the following week. You can sign up for a mobile alert here, which we will get 24 hours prior to the ruling. If the ruling upholds Prop 8 there will be civil disobedience organized by One Struggle, One Fight. Otherwise there will be a celebration. Come show your support! For more information visit the Day of Decision website.
2009-05-15
torture used to tie 9/11 to Iraq
According to Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, the Bush administration used torture to link Al Qaeda to Iraq. Wilerson states, "The detainee had not revealed any al-Qa’ida-Baghdad contacts yet. This ceased only after Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under waterboarding in Egypt, “revealed” such contacts. Of course later we learned that al-Libi revealed these contacts only to get the torture to stop." As we now know there was no Iraq/Al Qaeda link. Could the Iraq war been started without this link? Either way, this was one of the main arguments to start the war in Iraq. This man was tortured until he gave the information the administration needed to start an unjust war. With all the information coming out I hope Obama has no choice but to start a criminal investigation about torture and Iraq. Certain people should be punished for war crimes but I doubt anyone of importance ever will. More on what can be summed up as this week in torture.
First the "War on Terror" ended, now it may be the "War on Drugs." In an interview White House Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske said, "Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them." The Obama administration has spoken of more sensible drug policies, we'll just have to wait to see how they're implemented. Will this be a drastic change or just a different choice of words? Operations in Afghanistan didn't change with the end of the "War on Terror."
An activist from Texas was sentenced 24 months in prison for preparing Molotov cocktails that were intended to be used for the 2008 Republican National Convention. I don't know what the guy's intention was, but it's people like this that really hurt progressive movements. This is fodder for the main stream media just so they can focus on the few violent people of any movement in an attempt to discredit it. Just like people who mindlessly start riots and protests, why can't these idiots realize they're doing more bad than good for the cause they claim to be supporting?
First the "War on Terror" ended, now it may be the "War on Drugs." In an interview White House Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske said, "Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them." The Obama administration has spoken of more sensible drug policies, we'll just have to wait to see how they're implemented. Will this be a drastic change or just a different choice of words? Operations in Afghanistan didn't change with the end of the "War on Terror."
An activist from Texas was sentenced 24 months in prison for preparing Molotov cocktails that were intended to be used for the 2008 Republican National Convention. I don't know what the guy's intention was, but it's people like this that really hurt progressive movements. This is fodder for the main stream media just so they can focus on the few violent people of any movement in an attempt to discredit it. Just like people who mindlessly start riots and protests, why can't these idiots realize they're doing more bad than good for the cause they claim to be supporting?
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