Witnesses reported how Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called hundreds of riot police, Basij militiamen, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards to disrupt citizen marchers. According to a testimony obtained by New York activists, the government had recruited every man available, from 15- to 70-years-old, the largest enlistment of security forces in Tehran since the uprising after Iran's 2009 presidential election.
Activists described online how groups of militiamen, armed with batons and wearing anti-pollution masks, attacked protestors who shouted antigovernment slogans like "Death to the dictator!," and "Mubarak, Ben Ali, by the new year, Seyed Ali!," making reference to the deposed Egyptian and Tunisian dictators, as well as the supreme leader Seyed Ali Khamenei. Other witnesses reported how militiamen used paintball guns to identify the vehicles of drivers who honked in favor of the rally for other authorities, and the unlawful detention of men and women who were caught filming and photographing the protest.
More than tweets
While the Internet can intensify connections amongst dispersed populations, and become an efficient tool for organizing protests, labeling Iran's Green Movement as a technological revolution undermines networking that originated with human contact.
"People have been on the ground for years, educating the population to the point where you see mass numbers on the streets," said Bitta Mostofi, an Iranian immigration lawyer in New York who works with activists in Iran. "Iranian society as a whole knows what is happening internally, and to dismiss people's intellects because they don't have access to a computer is really demeaning."
Iranian-Americans have focused on building a transnational solidarity between activists in Iran and the United States since the Iranian presidential elections in 2009. Organizations like "Raha Iranian Feminist Collective" and "Where is My Vote New York" bought a group of Iranians together who had never organized before. "Nobody had a particular alignment with a party or an ideology," said Mostofi, and they made it a point to unite without any divisive flags or banners, offering a consistent image with protestors in Tehran.
The Iranian community in the Unites States is the largest concentration outside of the Middle East, with approximately 1.5 million people. Manhattan attracts many Iranian university students and professionals, but the biggest enclave of expats in New York State is located in Long Island. And while many Iranian-Americans have been nonpolitical in the past, the June 2009 election protests awoke them to a grassroots movement that is representative of different groups in Iran.
During the first days of the Green movement in June 2009, women wearing chadors – religious coverings – could be seen in Iran walking alongside students who defied any traditional dress code. The impetus for the movement was supported by women's rights activists, students and union members, as well as religious and ethnic minority groups in Iran. These organizations were not limited to the young population or the intellectually elite. Many came from poor and rural backgrounds. And together they formed a diverse network that educated itself against the government's oppression and the poor administration of the economy.
