Eclectica

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Following the uprisings in Iran via Twitter is a fascinating and vexing thing. Sifting through the mass of tweets to get the kernels of info, and trying to filter out the noise and deliberate misinformation is hard work. But it’s strangely visceral.

The authorities are tracking and arresting twitter users in an attempt to silence them. Brilliantly, a counter tactic has emerged – all users of Twitter are being asked to change their profile to list them as being in Tehran. This means the authorities are being deluged by posts ostensibly from Tehran, and have a much, much harder job to do rooting out the protestors.

Simply by changing my profile info in Twitter I can make a genuine, practical contribution to an uprising halfway across the world. How bizarre this all is.

My preferred source so far is persiankiwi.

If you want evidence of how this is all unfolding, this series of tweets from persiankiwi is stark – it’s like listening in to the radio broadcasts of SOE agents in wartime France:

our lives are in real danger now – we are the eyes – they need to stop us

RT all my posts as much as possble to help confuse censors

DO NOT RT any other tweeters posts unless u are 100% sure they are GENUINE

any proxy addss shown on twitter is possible trap – freedom twitters in Iran DO NOT follow – YOUR LOCATION IS VISIBLE

several arrests today after tracking thru twiter proxys

To top it all, tweets like this one are appearing:

hackers pls target vezarat ershad website – we know they jaming from that proxy

A virtual call to arms to hackers all over the world to take down government computers and prevent the protestors’ connections being jammed. And you bet geeks from Seattle to Dunedin are booting up their computers and joining the fight. Is the first worldwide geek cyber battle taking place right now? We won’t know til the post-game analysis, but chances seem high.

Rumours swirl madly, unconfirmed, and it’s hard to know what to believe.

Many sources in Iran claim that the army is refusing to open fire, and word is out that some generals have been arrested, presumably (my inference) for refusing to obey orders.

At the same time, there are lots of reports that arabic speaking non-Iranian riot police have just begun to appear. If true, this implies that TPTB know that they have are losing, or have already lost the support of the army and are importing foreign troops to help sustain order. If proven, this is very important.

The Baseej militia – a kind of radicalised free-form army, is towing the party line and trying to suppress the demos – they were the ones responsible for opening fire a few days ago – but feeling is that even with Baseej support and outside help, things look bad for the regime unless they can persude Tank Commander to open fire. And so far he appears to be saying no.

Even the national footie team has taken a united stand against the coup.

To top it all, the Majlis Khobregan may have called an emergency meeting. This is the council which appoints – and can dismiss – the Ayatollah. This raises all sorts of thoughts – if they’ve decided Ahmenijad is toast, they may wish to dump Khameini as well, as they are too closely allied. They may hope that a new Ayatollah would put distance between the clerics and the now doomed election rig. It would be a desperate move, but who knows what they’re contemplating.

Just speculation, mind.

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