91Èȱ¬

Press here much more ready to accept that there has been a fiddle than they were with eg US Bush/Gore

Because Iranians are BAD GUYS, whereas US is GOOD GUYS

Crude

Twitters like bloggers will only get any political movement so far, no dictatorial regime will get turned over by cyberspace alone.

You can not carve your way through a cordon of politically motivated riot police or stop the secret police from knocking on your door by blogging and twittering, in fact you probably expose yourself more to getting that knock on the door.

The internet gives the appearance of being a medium that can be liberating and safe at the same time. I rather think it is more likely to be the opposite of those two things in this particular case for those who try to use it in that way.

In fact now that i think of it can we apply the words 'liberating and Safe' to the internet in any context? Does it not encourage us to exchange real action with 'safe' pretend 'cyber action' that requires no interaction with the 'real world' in order to facilitate change. As for 'safe' well, it is certainly not safe in terms of an individuals privacy as we all know, rumour persists that supercomputers in the pentagon read and sift for 'significance' electronically every e-mail ever sent. the best hackers and back door infiltrators work for the governments for sure.

Perhaps the terms 'repressive and dangerous' may better apply to the net, a cyber wolf in sheeps clothing?


Jericoa

Paul,

I take it your recent silence on economic matters is because you've been busy reading the likes of Daly, Georgescu-Roegen and Soddy, and given that this means you may well be on to the real cause of the economic crisis, you have been re-assigned??

Come on Scoop, we're counting on you:

Newsnight viewers await if the looming confusion could be dispelled by finding answers to the following burning questions:
During Iran's previous presidentential elections, when were the results tabulated and announced? Did the results for previous presidentential elections give a province-wise breakdown for contenders?
How fool proof are the procedures for vote tallies from districts to provinces to centre in Iran? Are district and province votes tabulated locally and their tally sent for final accumulative calculations? What is the usual time lag between provinces sending their figures and total outcome tabulated and announced?

The 91Èȱ¬ is currently complaining that 91Èȱ¬ Persia is being jammed (on the Editors blog). Strangely the 91Èȱ¬ does not see the Irony in censoring so many of the perfectly reasonable (and non-abusive) comments that were posted.

One of them being mine, which posed the question "Will 91Èȱ¬ Persia be apologising to the Iranian people for it's role in the coup of 1953 which wrecked their democracy (the 91Èȱ¬ broadcast the "go code" which launched the coup).

At least there's some difference between their parties

Paul,

The link from the main newsnight site is well out of date, it still refers to 'seven days of labour crisis'.

I wish the Uk population would show a little more spirit akin to the Iranians, we recoil in horror at potential election rigging and cheer from the sidelines as millions risk their personal safety and take to the streets on a point of principle.

Yet when it comes to people power in the UK a solitary protestor kicks in the window of RBS surrounded by about 50 Journalists squabbling to get the best shot and under the watchful gaze of further inumerable CCTV cameras no doubt.

We tut tut at that individual for daring to rock the boat outside of the confines of democracy which..of course provides us with all the freedom we need, they are villified as a dangerous irresponsible person, fined and pursued by RBS for damages, and just think of the health and safety!!!.

We are as oppressed as the Iranians in our own way, the only difference is the morally corrupt elite who govern us have built a much more sophisticated control machine, clever enough to give the illusion of choice within a democratic framework.

In reality there is no alternative idealistic choice on offer other than the consumerism backed by high finance and long working hours we no longer need to work in an age of high technology and mechanisation. A system which keeps a few in an incredibly privilidged position off the back of the sweat of others, whilst offering little real value to society as a whole.

Shocking we all cry!!

yet we are so sucessfully repressed we dont even go out onto the streets, we sit at home 'existing' looking at the TV believing ourselves to be far better off than those protesting in the streets of Tehran to try and improve their lives. The truth is after our centuries long struggle against oppression we settled for TV, broadband internet, cheap lager and plastic gimmikery we dont need inported from China as the end result of that struggle. What would our ancestors be it in the peasants revolt, the English civil war or on the beaches or normandy make of that!!!

Who is the most sucessfully repressed exactly in this bigger picture Iran 2009 or BB UK 2009? Substitute Orwells nationalistic BB for a BB built on a foundation of consumerism and those it keeps in power, george is already right. Either noboddy sees it or noboddy cares to see it because it would involve extracting backside from couch or computer table and engaging with people in the real world to change something, an engagement which may go a tad against health and safety rules and involve the prospect of not being able to watch Coronation Street 3 times a week.

Shame on us, good on you protesting Iranians.

Jericoa

Seeinf as we're on the topic of twittering, blooging etc, it's interesting to see what's happened today to your recent competition for the Orwell prize NightJack, Paul. Pretty odd ruling, not quite sure how the public interest is being served by unmasking a blogger and preventing him from talking to the public about anything worth talking about.

Could this be how big media fights back and takes control away from bloggers? Can't really see why the Times would have bothered otherwise.