Causecast

by KAREN MURPHY, Contributing Writer

Widespread voter protests in Tehran since last Friday’s disputed election have led to a decision by Iran’s powerful 12-member Guardian Council to recount ballots in selected areas. The Council rejected out of hand a call to annul the election, which gave incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad another term by a 2-to-1 margin over popular reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi. Tens of thousands of protesters streamed into the streets of Tehran over the weekend in a massive and historical show of unity. Powerful, effective stuff.

Foreign-media journalists have been restricted from firsthand reporting on the streets, effectively preventing objective coverage of the protests and violence that has followed the disputed election. In addition, 11 Iranian journalists have been arrested and several news sites have been shuttered by the government.

Still, the power of protest is not without a worldwide voice. While President Obama is wisely keeping a distance from the situation (seriously — the Iranians are rocking this situation without the U.S. government getting all up in their business and mucking things up), social media has taken up the baton. It’s still possible to see videos on YouTube, for instance, even though rumors have floated that files have been yanked that show protesters beaten by police. (Google iran protest site:youtube.com)

An even stronger voice has emerged on Twitter, with thousands of profile avatars turning green in support of Iranian electoral freedom and the hashtag #iranelection is trending high. Anderson Cooper reports that the U.S. State Department is urging Twitter to further postpone planned maintenance in order to keep the channels open; the maintenance was already postponed once so that it would not occur during Iran’s daytime.

What can we do to support Iran?

•Understand that it’s a complicated situation. In the U.S. we see things as black or white and that denial of what we think of as freedom is bad. This is a HUGE step for Iran. There’s an interesting discussion at DailyKos (look for a comment by Goli Orod for insight on the disparity between rural Iranians — who voted overwhelmingly for President Ahmadinejad — and the urban Iranians who mostly supported reformist Mousavi but who nevertheless have a huge voice and legitimate grievances that must be heard. And if they are heard, well, that’s the historic part.

•Use Twitter. Boing Boing published some excellent tips on what to do (change your Twitter time zone and location to Tehran to deflect searches for dissident Iranian bloggers and tweeters), and what NOT to do (publish IP addresses and locations) to show support.

•The outcome is going to change the future of politics in the Muslim world. It’s our responsibility to hold the space for this to happen peacefully rather than bringing in our big Bulldozers of Democracy. We can blog and we can tweet and we can hope.

Photo by .faramarz, flickr. See more up-close photos from The Boston Globe.