This post has nothing to do with my normal postings about Long Beach Island. I only post it here because it is a place where I can publish something on the web.
It struck me today as I was reading this:
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has uncovered ‘terrorist’ plots targeting the country’s security and stability during the presidential election. “The ministry has dismantled the groups involved in such activities and has arrested almost all group-members in two stages,” IRNA quoted Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei on Wednesday. He said that the plots included bomb attacks on several sites in Iran, adding that those behind such activities were linked with “the Zionist and non-Zionist regimes outside the county.”
and all the stuff that is being said about Neda, with the latest being this:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/24/iran.neda.death/index.html
Could someone put together a site with information that was similar to:
fact check http://www.factcheck.org/
that would cover some of the events and misinformation the Iranian gov and their state controlled press is pushing?
I do not have the time nor resources to do this myself but I will add the following, with the hope that someone that is in a position to do this might be motivated to do so......
The Iranian government is mounting a war on its people, using both propaganda and oppressive violence. Only the Iranian government can call off the thugs and stop the violence. We cannot help with that.
I think one way to help the people of Iran would be to push back on the misinformation. Someone outside of Iran, who is not in danger and can more effectively marshal and find good resources, should mount a serious effort to refute the lies. This is obviously happening in a big way through many channels:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/24/iran-election-live-bloggi_n_220...
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/
with a lot of the news and reporting being done by Iranians sending things out via the web. One problem is this reporting is being done on the fly as events and news is received. It is a stream that has many sources and flows swiftly, making it difficult to keep up with what has been passed on yesterday and the day before. This leads to a bit of chaos.
I would imagine the government wants some forms of chaos, as it helps them. The threat of violence and misinformation leading to confusion are helpful. The chaos they do not want is people out in the streets.
The problem now, I think, is to have some collation of this information and summaries put together with an eye towards organizing the facts. This could and should be coupled with refuting government reports and official news. In some ways this might seem silly to us, sitting here outside Iran. It is obvious to know from what we have seen that a lot of what is being said by the government is wrong. It may not be so easy to know this if you are in living in the midst of the chaos occurring in Tehran.
Careful documentation - a well organized compendium of information - would be helpful. I would think it would provide a serious hand to those that are facing both the propaganda and the violence.
I think this resource would best be done with concise, clear factual content. Neatly organized, and easy to find information about specific events or statements. It would be great if all the information could be posted in English and in Farsi. More in depth and comprehensive stuff could be included but it should primarily have a strong focus on content that is easy to digest and disseminate.
It should not be hard to fact check and refute more than a few of the government's weakly constructed lies. Not all of it, but there is plenty of stuff that I think can be relatively easily refuted.
A problem for people in Iran is to get the truth. This can be helped along by by having a place where people can find organized written material that spells out the facts. At least from there it is possible that people can more easily spread these messages and help speak truth to power.
My prayers are with the Iranian people and my hope is the violence will end.
Don