“They sentenced us to thirty years of boredom, trying to change the system from within” (pace Leonard Cohen) Simple-minded Web 2.0 gurus latched on to the summer of discontent in Iran as the “Twitter revolution”. But such technological determinism belies … Continue reading “Thirty years on: The Iranian summer of discontent”
A rather peculiar reference to a prominent nineteenth century philosopher made Mir Hossein Mousavi’s letter to Ayatollah Montazeri of some urgent interest. More than three months into the post-electoral crisis of June 2009, the chief oppositional candidate, who had cried … Continue reading “Social Networking and the Making of a Civil Rights Movement”
During the events in Iran this summer (2009), I saw a young person wearing a T-shirt featuring the old Gil Scott-Heron line: “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” (1971). The couplet concludes: “the revolution will be live.” Or on … Continue reading “What We Saw: Politics in the Mirror of Neda Agha-Soltan”
We first met at Evil Genius camp where we came to pitch our tents, huddle around the campfire, and hatch secret plots to use technology for world liberation. The year was 2002, when global justice activism was still at a … Continue reading “The Price of Free”
