Title: Different Opinions on the Use of Social Media in the Iran Election Protests of 2009
Prepared for: Faiza Hirji, Professor of CMST 3K03, McMaster University
Introduction
Iran, 1997: Politicians discover the internet as a platform from which they can campaign.
Iran, 2003: Students discover rudimentary social tools online to organize and express their opinions, even if they be completely against the regime. (Rahimi, 2003)
Iran, 2009: Iran is ripe for a revolution where social media would be a major proponent. Iran has a population of about 70,000,000 people, where just over half of those people are below 25 years old. (Chiesa, Sukarya, Temes & Kageyama, 2008) Their generation has grown up with technology and the internet; they’re much more agile with it than ever before. Mozorov said it best: “The government’s tight control of the Internet has spawned a generation adept at circumventing cyber roadblocks,making the country ripe for a technology–driven protest movement.” (Mozorov, 2009).
June 6th, 2009. Merely 6 days before the fated presidential election in Iran, a government-sponsored poll was issued that showed the incumbent Ahmadinejad fighting a losing battle. 16 to 18 million Iranians stated that they were going to vote for Mir Hossein Mousavi, compared to the 6 to 8 million who sided with Ahmadinejad. The election seemed that it was going to be a landslide victory for Mir Hossein Mousavi. (Bahari, 2009)
On election day, however, Ahmadinejad came out on top with over 60% of the votes. The Iranian population cried foul, took to the streets, and began what would be a massive protest, and one that fully relied on the new technology.