I first encountered Mehdi Saharkhiz as “onlymehdi” on Twitter last June. He has been one of the most important sources of information, especially photos and videos, for EA and many others on the post-election crisis.
From coffee shops in Ridgewood, his home in Wayne and anywhere there is cell service, a 28-year-old Iranian is broadcasting the ongoing uprising in his home country — one of a growing number of people intent on helping share with the world what happens on the streets of Tehran.
Mehdi Saharkhiz — known as “onlymehdi” on his blog, YouTube channel and Twitter feed — has been posting photographs and videos of opposition protests in Iran since the disputed Iranian presidential election last June sent thousands of protesters into the streets and triggered a brutal crackdown by the regime.
“For me, it’s about getting the word out there,” Saharkhiz said.
UPDATE 8 January: Will Heaven will not give up — he has made another attempt, informed only by anecdote, distortion, and speculation, to justify his campaign for silence on Twitter about #IranElection.
I will break my own vow of silence (see comments below), regarding any discussion of and thus further publicity for the thoughtless and indefensible in Mr Heaven’s “analysis”, to say this:
@WillHeaven: You insult those of us who use #Twitter wisely and, hopefully, effectively. You insult @persiankiwi, & you insult the people of #Iran. If you have any decency, stop.
(P.S. Maybe you can be of use writing about #uksnow.)
—
Josh Shahryar writes:
Waking up every day and being a journalist is a very conflicting job. Sometimes, you read the work of other journalists who’ve written responsibly and with full knowledge of the subject matter and you feel proud of who you are. Other times, people write things that make you want to just sit there and mourn the fact that he or she belongs to the same profession as you.
Last week, in the online edition of Britain’s Daily Telegraph, Will Heaven critiqued the people who have been active on Twitter for the cause of Iran — some now for almost 200 days — under the headline, “Iran and Twitter: the fatal folly of the online revolutionaries”. Read the rest of this entry »
2055 GMT: Associated Press now has the Rahim-Mashai story. It quotes Presidential assistant Hashemi via the Islamic Republic News Agency: “”After the announcement of the exalted supreme leader’s order, Mashai doesn’t consider himself first vice president.”
2030 GMT: Coincidence of the Day. When the news arrived at Enduring America, via a reader, that Vice President Rahim-Mashai had resigned, I was working on another entry. The title? “Iran: How the ‘New Media’ Tore Down the Gates of the ‘Mainstream’”.
The story arrived at EA at 1931 GMT. We verified and posted at 2000 GMT. As of now, no mainstream media outside Iran have noticed the story.
2010 GMT: From the Fars story on Rahim-Mashai resignation: The senior assistant to President Ahmadinejad, Seyed Mojtaba Hashemi Tamreh, answering a question from a Fars reporter over the Supreme Leader’s letter demanding the withdrawal of Rahim-Mashai’s appointment, said that the First Vice President had resigned.
2000 GMT: URGENT NEWS FLASH — Fars News Agency is reporting that First Vice President Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai has resigned.
1840 GMT: Now the “Conservative” Students Turn Against Ahmadinejad. The “Student Movement for Justice and Equality” has announced that, if First Vice President Rahim-Mashai is not removed by Sunday, they will have a protest sit-in in Pasteur Square. They will do so on behalf of the 24 million people who voted for the President and in defense of the rule of the Constitution and Velayet-e-Faqih (clerical authority).
1825 GMT: Another Air Tragedy. An Arbatour flight from Tehran crashed when trying to land at Mashaad in eastern Iran, apparently because of malfunctioning landing gear. The death toll is currently estimated at between 20 and 30 out of the 160 passengers and crew. The plane, like the one that crashed recently just outside Tehran killing 168 people, was Russian-made.
1800 GMT: Another “Conservative” Critic of the Government. The Mayor of Tehran, Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, has joined the chorus calling on the President to get rid of his First Vice President, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai. The statement is blunt: Rahim-Mashai and his wife are both “hypocrites”.
1700 GMT: Fars News has released the text of the Supreme Leader’s demand that President Ahmadinejad revoke the appointment of his First Vice President, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai. The two-sentence letter says that Rahim-Mashai has spoken “against the interests of the Government” and caused frustration and differences.
Dr Colette Mazzucelli, who has written for our partner website Libertas, joins Enduring America to offer her thoughts on the possibilities and challenges of new technology in the current political crisis in Iran:
The aftermath of the Islamic Republic’s national elections are a testament to the will of a people to protest in unprecedented ways against the results of the June 12 vote. The reform movement has gathered momentum to demonstrate the widespread use of new technologies, cell phones, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and video imaging uploaded to the Web, as it voices popular opposition to the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the last week, this mass revolt has evolved into a direct confrontation with the rule of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; the nationalist argument that dissent is fomented by the interference of foreign powers fails to impress the protesters. Although the state ban on reporting by the Western media continues, citizen reporting of a brutal crackdown by pro-government militia, the Baseej, and the police provides a moment to moment chronicle of events.
Thus, the world bears witness to a loss of legitimacy in a theocratic regime that is neither republican nor respectful of human life. Read the rest of this entry »
There has been a lot of ink spilled in recent days, particularly with “traditional” broadcasters unable to operate, over the significance of media like Twitter and Facebook for the demonstrations over the Iranian elections. Most of this, as we have noted, has been a fatuous, superficial “Twitter is fantastic” or “Twitter is overrated” reaction.
An American colleague, however, has pointed us to a thoughtful analysis by Professor Henry Giroux of Canada’s McMaster University, published originally in CounterPunch: “The uprising in Iran not only requires a new conception of politics, education, and society; it also raises significant questions about the new media and its centrality to democracy.”
The Iranian Uprisings and the Challenge of the New Media
As the uprisings in Iran illustrate, the new electronic technologies and social networks they have produced have transformed both the landscape of media production and reception, and the ability of state power to define the borders and boundaries of what constitutes the very nature of political engagement. Indeed, politics itself has been increasingly redefined by a screen culture and newly emergent public spaces of education and resistance embraced by students and other young people.1 Read the rest of this entry »
2115 GMT: We’re closing off our coverage for the night with news that Mousavi has called for the release of protesters arrested in the past days’ rallies. That news comes via CNN, who also have more on the Iranian football team’s green wrist bands.
1700 GMT: Al Jazeera says state-run media in Iran briefly showed this afternoon’s rally. SkyNews and CNN (albeit briefly) also are now showing images.
One of the banners from the Iran-South Korea World Cup football qualifier: “Go to Hell Dictator”.
1600 GMT: Al Jazeera English have obtained film of the rally from 7 Tir Square showing thousands of people, most silent, marching. The gathering is calm.
Thank goodness for these images because the Iranian Government is now trying to squeeze out any notion of legitimate protest. Press TV English is leading with the Foreign Ministry’s denunciation of “irresponsible meddling” by Western governments. The “American card” is now being played: amongst those summoned by the Ministry to hear the Government’s protests is the Swiss Minister, the representative of US interests, and the Intelligence Ministry is saying that opposition websites are funded by American and British companies.
1518 GMT: Reports that Presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi is at 7 Tir Square rally.
1510 GMT: Reports indicate that the demonstration in 7 Tir Square is so large that people are having problems getting off the underground and buses into the square.
If true, this may be one of the largest gatherings to be “non-covered” by the media. International journalists are effectively shut away, and state-run Press TV English is not saying a word about the rally. Read the rest of this entry »
I first encountered Mehdi Saharkhiz as “onlymehdi” on Twitter last June. He has been one of the most important sources of information, especially photos and videos, for EA and many others on the post-election crisis.
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UPDATE 8 January: Will Heaven will not give up — he has made 
Dr Colette Mazzucelli, who has written for our partner website Libertas, joins Enduring America to offer her thoughts on the possibilities and challenges of new technology in the current political crisis in Iran:
There has been a lot of ink spilled in recent days, particularly with “traditional” broadcasters unable to operate, over the significance of media like Twitter and Facebook for the demonstrations over the Iranian elections. Most of this, as we have noted, has been a fatuous, superficial “Twitter is fantastic” or “Twitter is overrated” reaction. 
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