The real face of the Iranian government

Alleged film this evening of a raid by Basij miliitia on university dormitories:

Tehran

As the Iranian authorities seem to be moving to block key internet sites such as Facebook and Twitter as well as jamming some satellite transmissions, I thought I would include links to a few of best blogs and internet sites related to the uprising in Iran.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans_disputed_election.html Very powerful collection of protest photographs


http://tehranlive.org/ Updating blog of photos and videos from Tehran


http://iran.twazzup.com/ Constantly updating twitter feed of information, photos and videos


http://niacblog.wordpress.com/ National Iranian American Council translation of Farsi twitter messages into English.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html Huffington Post - live blogging of the uprising

UPDATE:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arasmus/sets/72157619696163385/ A Flickr user is compiling a record of photos of the uprising as they are received via Twitter

http://www.daylife.com/search/photos/1/grid?q=Iran+rally Photos on Daylife site

A desire for freedom

From a country where barely 30 % turned out to vote in the recent Euro elections, the scenes from Tehran are a reminder of how those without real freedom will take enormous risks to try and gain it.

The Iranian election results are to say the least dubious. I found this clip which looks like it was shot on a mobile phone. The film-maker seems very brave. It is premature to talk of another revolution but 30 years after the Iranian Revolution, it is clear a desire for freedom remains amongst a significant proportion of the Iranian people.



UPDATE: Here a brief clip from the same youtube contributor:

Elections

There are elections for the London mayor and London assembly today.

For those unfamiliar, having a mayor in London is a modern creation as it has traditionally been a city comprised of strong boroughs (currently 33).

The mayor has limited power but a significant budget for transport and various pet projects.

The first and only London mayor to date, Ken Livingstone who is running again had his fair share of pet projects.

From my experience commuting to work today the sense of excitement was non-existent ! No one mentioned the elections at work and there was no real evidence apart from the signs outside polling stations.

I have voted and it wasn't for "Ken". Enough said....

Despite this sense of apathy I saw today, I suppose we should be thankful for the choice (if limited !) in free elections.