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| [Interview] Students on Iran's Future |
| Students support reform and change |
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Weiai Xu (IWUMUYI)  |
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Published 2009-07-02 03:49 (KST) |
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I interviewed three Iranian students over Facebook. The talk was thought-provoking. It gives outsiders a rare change to see the Iranian unrest through the eyes of Iranian students. All three students are supporters of the opposition party, and two of them attend the University of Tehran. One student prefers to remain anonymous because the authorities are beefing up control on social media. So I used his nickname Behrang instead.
The whole world has been tweeting about Iran for the past couple of weeks. People call it the Twitter Revolution. What do you make of it?
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FROM THE SECTION |
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| Behrang: I am not easy with this expression. This revolution would happen even if there was no Facebook or Twitter. These media had real influence, but for me here in Iran, I see this as a strong need for reform that started many years ago with ex-president Mr. Khatami if not saying 100 years ago with the Constitution Revolution.
Sepehr: I think it's not revolution going on, it's changing in Iran. This change allow Iranian to have more freedom.
Do you think that social media (like Facebook and Twitter) create a PR game, and Ahmadinejad supporters who are less technically-equipped lost the game because the world is hearing the more Internet savvy voices in Mousavi's camp?
Behrang: It is true that Mousavi's supporters worked better with these social media, but the fact is his supporters have been much numerous in number and are much more motivated to do so.
Both parties are battling in social media, but Ahmadinejad seems to have lost the game. Why? Is it because Ahmadinejad is indeed very unpopular and his supporters are outnumbered by Mousavi's, or because Ahmadinejad's guys are less Internet savvy and are less capable of speaking to the West? What do you think?
Sepehr: The number of Mousavi's vote is larger than Ahmadinejad's vote. I found a document on Facebook, it showed Ahmadinejad losing the election.
Helyeh: Amadinejad has his own supporters who are in different groups of people but what you mentioned about being less Internet savvy is an acceptable reason. It is obvious that Ahmadinejad and his supporter are not those who care about IT. You can easily see the result of their disregard about the Internet.
How exactly widespread is social media during the protests? Do you know someone reporting actually on the scene as citizen reporters on Twitter or Facebook?
Behrang: Before and after the elections until now, I see people who share pictures and scenes from the gatherings and protests, even from the same day events.
Do you think the movement in Iran risks the future of social media in Iran? Because officials would probably say, "Wait a moment, this stuff is gonna ruin us, let's shut it down."
Sepehr: After the election all mobile operator limited their services (SMS not supported after election), and Internet speed is less than before the election. Actually all communication routes are blocked or access is difficult.
Helyeh: They had this policy for the past four years but what they hadn't predicted was the creative ways people use it. These days, no one can stop the flow of information. They had many media for themselves but I think not only they are liars but also they are bad liars who can't do it well.
Helyeh, let me ask you this. What do you mean by "what is shown about Iran are not all the things that are happening"? Do you think the talk about social media is exaggerating about what's happening in your country?
Helyeh: What is happening in our country is made up of people whom media don't know well. So some of the media can reflect the news but can't have a good interpretation of what is happening. After Iran’s revolution (30 years ago) many things changed and now people want to have their values back. As you see, it may be that many people don't want another regime. They just want to make it better and the current situation is not what they hoped for 30 years ago.
Is it fair to say that most intellectuals are for Mousavi? How about professors in University of Tehran, are they also in the demonstrations?
Sepehr: It's fair to say that most intellectuals are for Mousavi because Ahmadinejad's work during past four years showed that he's not capable of being a president. Most of the conservatives didn't support Ahmadinejad in this election. But Basij support Ahmadinejad to change the election results and repress the protesters.
Behrang: Yes, you can say that for sure. The professors are also mad about Ahmadinezhad's policies and many have resigned as protest to the election results and gave statements about this, but you can not find them in demonstrations in the streets.
Helyeh: It's fair. To be sure. In University of Tehran it was the same. Before the election many statements were published by professors of different universities including sociologists, politicians, among others. Actually some of them were not actively protesting after the election because they could lose their profession.
Conservatives do have supporters...Who are they? Are they truly the beneficiaries of Ahmadinejad's hardline policies or just someone brainwashed to believe that Ahmadinejad is doing good.
Behrang: Both of these groups and mostly of the second group.
Helyeh: We cannot judge them easily. They all have different reasons and come from different layers of the society. Some of them have their own motives and some are influenced by Ahmadinejad’s ads. He has power over the weak. For example he pretends to be sincere and belong to ordinary people while others came for their benefits.
What are the odds of this crisis? What could be the worst scenario? Apparently the ruling clerics are getting tough.
Sepehr: It's difficult to forecast this crisis. Most people want to change this situation. They want freedom and they are battling for it.
Behrang: They want ultimately to make their nuclear bomb. This is why they need someone like Ahmadinezhad and they will do everything to do that.
Helyeh: First of all in Iran, clerics have many different trends. Some of them are going to help this situation like Seyed Mohammad Khatami and Mehdi Karoubi. So you should distinguish between these two groups. For the second point: I'm sure that whatever happens will be good for Karoubi's and Mousavi’s supporters, because they are going to make an intellectual movement to a better modern life. So if they cannot do anything these years, they can do later. We had a perfect start to change…
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©2009 OhmyNews
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