Where Is My Vote? Posters for the Green Movement in Iran

 

August 30 - September 25, 2010
Reception: Thursday, September 16, 6-8pm

 

Exhibition Statement

Steven Heller on "Where Is My Vote?"
DNAinfo profiles "Where Is My Vote?"

School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents "Where Is My Vote? Posters for the Green Movement in Iran," an exhibition of 150 political posters by graphic artists world wide created in support of the protests in Iran that followed the 2009 presidential election. The exhibition is the first public viewing of these posters in printed form and was organized by designers Anita Kunz and Woody Pirtle along with Francis Di Tommaso, director of the Visual Arts Gallery, and Steven Heller, author, design historian and co-chair of the MFA Design Department at SVA.

"Where Is My Vote?" highlights the unique role that socially responsible designers can play in rallying support for free speech, and the power of design to inspire political activism. The exhibition features posters by some of the most celebrated graphic artists working today, including R. O. Blechman, Cathie Bleck, Seymour Chwast, Ivan Chermayeff, Milton Glaser, Robert Grossman, Anita Kunz, Yossi Lemel, Jennifer Morla, István Orosz, Woody Pirtle, Andrea Rauch, Ralph Steadman, Gary Taxali, James Victore and Massimo Vignelli, among others.

Steven Heller Discusses "Where Is My Vote?" from School of Visual Arts on Vimeo.

Following the elections in Iran in the summer of 2009, an Iranian photographer who goes by the name of Green Bird urged graphic artists from all over the world to create posters in support the Green Movement in Iran. One of the artists he approached, Italian designer Andrea Rauch, volunteered to host all of the posters on the web site SocialDesignZine, the blog of the Association of Italian Graphic Designers, where Rauch serves as editor. Over 200 posters have been collected on the site and can be viewed here: http://sdz.aiap.it/gallerie/11538

"SocialDesignZine, which has an English language version, was visited by very many Iranians," commented Rauch, "Friends in Iran told us that many of our posters were 'self-printed' and used at the demonstrations. At the end of September 2009, when the number of posters submitted numbered more than 100, SocialDesignZine was  blocked in Iran."

In the fall of 2009, Green Bird asked Kunz if she knew of a venue that would be interested in exhibiting the posters collected on SocialDesignZine. Kunz then brought the works to the attention of SVA and soon the planning for "Where Is My Vote?" began.

More here: SVA > Exhibition > Where Is My Vote? Posters for the Green Movement in Iran

And here: Gallery

Cartoonist Nikahang Kowsar -- Looking Backward: 2009

 

by NIKAHANG KOWSAR

01 Jan 2010 21:56

and @thywillB1

As a political cartoonist forced to leave the country in 2003 after receiving a death threat, I should probably hate the rulers in Iran. Though I am not a big fan, I love them for all of their rich contributions to material for me and my colleagues. Truly, how can I hate the people who have kept my cartooning spirit alive?

Ten years ago, a crocodile drawing sent me directly to the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. It was a cartoon I had drawn in January 2000. The crocodile was depicted as strangling a reporter and shedding "Crocodile" tears, all while feigning his own victimization. We named him "Professor Crocodile," a name that rhymed with the title of a powerful Ayatollah who constantly attacked the press with spurious allegations. Ayatollah "Mesbah Yazdi" (from Yazd) was simply called "Ostad Mesbah" (professor Mesbah); the character in my cartoon was named "Ostad Temsah" (professor Crocodile)….

Read more

 

 

legions of supporters:

 

62.6%

 

At least one big fan

 

too soft?

Tiananmen square Iranian style:

FRONTLINE: Tehran Bureau: Looking Backward: 2009 | PBS

Related articles by Zemanta

• 2009 in review; Iran (guardian.co.uk)
• Fighting Iran's government -- online from Toronto (cnn.com)

Green Wave on Brooklyn Bridge

Aliyar Taravati's flicker stream

a brief history of #iran in HTML tags

 

<past>

</fardin pouran abgoosht><revolution> </shah> <islamic republic><war></war><all those lost years><ahmadinejad><green revolution></ahmadinejad></islamic republic>

</past></future>

Charlie Chaplin’s speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

How true it still holds today—and yet as faraway as it was then.

 

Iran: The worst is yet to come | The Call

 

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 5:04pm

By Eurasia Group analyst David Bender
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made it through his August 5 inauguration with the regime secure, but he faces a bumpy road ahead. The Iranian government won round one against the opposition through its willingness to use force in the streets, torture in the jails, and heavy propaganda in the media. Based on its apparent calculation that excessive repression will not provoke a revolution, but compromise might, the regime won't let up anytime soon on its crackdown. While this hard-line policy may keep the regime firmly in control for the short term, it leaves it few long-term options. The regime now has neither the legitimacy nor the political capital to effectively rule or institute needed economic reforms.
Iran is less politically stable than it has been at any time since the Islamic Revolution. The regime shows deep internal fractures, even between Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The two are hanging together for now, but if Ahmadinejad becomes too great a liability, Khamenei may have to dump him. Ahmadinejad faces serious challenges, including an increasingly reactionary support base dominated by the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a wide field of opponents, and wary clerics in Qom. Meanwhile, the parliament is gearing up to challenge the president on a number of technocratic matters. In other words, the impetuous president is under pressure from multiple angles, something that history suggests will push him to become more brash, outspoken, and antagonistic.
Beyond his inflammatory rhetoric, Ahmadinejad needs to bring…..

 

Read more

twt.fm / the clash [sandinista cd 1 track #9] "guns of brixton #iranelection"

 

twt.fm / the clash [sandinista cd 1 track #9] "guns of brixton #iranelection"

The Clash [Sandinista Cd 1 Track #9] "Guns Of Brixton #Iranelection"

twt.fm / nouvelle vague -- "guns of brixton #iranelection"

 

twt.fm / nouvelle vague -- "guns of brixton #iranelection"

Nouvelle Vague  "Guns Of Brixton #Iranelection"

IRAN: Fresh video shows mourners gathered near Neda's gravesite

A massive memorial in Tehran's Behesht Zahra cemetery is currently underway in Tehran, 40 days after the death of several protesters, including Neda Agha-Soltan, whose death at a protest was videotaped and seen around the world.

YouTube footage already has leaked out, showing thousands of mourners chanting the name of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the opposition leader who ran and lost against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in elections last month.

Another video shows protesters chanting, "God is great!"

As night approached, word came that more people were gathering in front of Tehran's Grand Mossala mosque for another round of protests.

-- Jahd Khalil in Beirut

Videos: Demonstrators gathering at Tehran's Behesht Zahra cemetery.

'Time for Freedom' by Mozane

A heartfelt song written by Iranian-American duo 'Mozane' as a homage for the brave people in Iran who risked and lost their lives during the recent protests. The song feat. Charlie Waymire on drums..

Lyrical voices hail Iranians from overseas - Los Angeles Times

Email Picture

Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

Partow Nooriala and Shahrzad Sepanlou left Iran after the revolution. “I have a vision of a colorful Tehran up to 1979,” Sepanlou says.

Watching the election protests in their homeland, an Iran-born mother and daughter -- a poet and a singer -- are part of a growing expatriate artistic movement.

By Teresa Watanabe
11:13 PM PDT, June 30, 2009

From the house we built
With blood and soil

To the road on which
The moonlight procession
Flies forth on their boat

Of shooting stars
It is a pity you did not wish
To stay here with us

The poet had crafted those words so long ago. Flush from the victory of a People's Revolution in Iran that ousted a repressive monarch for a bearded cleric who spouted promises of freedom and quality, Partow Nooriala all too soon came to believe that the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had deceived them.

Lyrical voices hail Iranians from overseas

Read more on LA Times

"Stand by Me" - Andy, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora & Friends

Akhare Bazi--Ahmad Shamlu (in his voice)

Iran Election Crisis: 10 Incredible YouTube Videos

From Mashable

 

---

1. Saturday, June 13th

---

This was one of the first Iran election protests videos to be spread around the web. Translate, the video’s title is “Saturday 23 June.” In actuality, this video was taken on Saturday, June 13th in what we believe to be Tehran.

---

2. June 13th: Riot in tehran streets after election day

---

This now well-known video has over 400,000 views. You can see the green masks of the Mousavi movement onn clear display.

---

3. June 13th: BBC – Protest against Iran election results

---

The BBC was on top of the Iran crisis. This popular video is an incredible on-the-ground report.

---

4. June 14th: Iranians protest against election results, police intervene

---

This is one of the first videos that shows the police getting involved in breaking up the crowds that formed not long after the elections. There are cries, screaming, running, burning wreckage, and many angry citizens.

---

5. June 14th: Iran Election Protest in Paris

---

The protests have not just been inside of Iran. There have been demonstrations in cities across the world in support of Mousavi’s Green Movement. This well-produced video comes out of Paris.

---

6. June 17: Protesting in Silence – Tehran

---

Silence.

---

7. June 19th: Poem for the Rooftops of Iran

---

From the video’s description: “A woman speaking about the state of her country while filming the rooftop shouting of “Allah-o Akbar” in Iran on Friday June 19th”

The poem and the background noise make this video evoke emotions that are unlike most of the other videos coming out of Iran.

---

8. June 20th: Basij Milita have opened fire into crowds

---

This unedited video from the BBC is a display of how the violence has escalated in all of Iran.

---

9. June 20: Wounded Girl Dying [GRAPHIC CONTENT]

---

WARNING: The following video is very graphic, disturbing, and involves the death of an Iranian woman.

DO NOT WATCH unless you feel capable AND are old enough.

Nevermind the crisis in Iran – this is one of the most brutal videos I have ever seen in my life. That is why I have provided multiple warnings about this one, but I feel that it is important to include it for several reasons:

- Social media is raw, and that YouTube allows you to get the uncensored version of things. We cannot be blind to that fact.

- This is, in my mind, the most incredible of all the videos coming out of Iran.

- Sometimes, you have to see everything to really understand what’s going on. Things are very, very bad in Iran, period.

With all of that said, this video is just gut-wrenching.

---

10. June 20th: Tehran Tazahorat

---

You can’t help but be amazed by the sheer number of people in the streets. THis video has been passed around a lot recently in social circles, and for good reason. It’s incredible, just like all of the videos here.

Enter the Real-time Genie

Iranian youth make their case for freedom and democracy to a worldwide audience and they find more than a sympathetic ear-they find a global avalanche of support- being a despot will never be easy again-Viva the courageous youth of Iran-Viva peace & freedom-Viva the new global opinion and consciousness-Viva the Real-time web.

The Green Brief - By NiteOwl

I'm Josh Shahryar AKA NiteOwl and I've been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources and have tried maximally to avoid listening to media banter. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my tweets to have happened in the past day and in the past week in Iran. Remember, this is all from tweets. There is NOTHING included here that is not from a reliable tweet. No news media outlets have been used in the compilation of this short brief as I would like to call it.

These are some of the happenings that I can positively confirm:

1. During the last protest in Tehran, several policemen have been spotted by protesters who were wearing green bands which is the color of the revolution. The policemen have told them candidly that they support them.

2. During the protests, on several occasions, Baseejis who have attacked peaceful protesters have been arrested on the spot by the police. This seems to have occured in several spots, yet it hasn't been a crackdown of sorts. A few cases only!

3. Several Baseeji militiamen have been spotted laying down their arms and going home after being asked to interfere with the protesters.

4. By far the biggest threat people are facing right now are plainclothesmen. They seem to be everywhere and are targetting people who are not in groups. These men have been mostly linked with Ansar e Hezbollah. They are responsible for beating people up, arresting people, threatening protesters, arresting reformists from their homes and such.

5. So far, it has been confirmed that 15 people in Tehran and 32 people around the country have been killed. Hundreds more have been injured and in excess of 800 people have been detained. Among these there are dozens of reformists. Most of these arrests have been made by the notorious plainclothesmen mentioned above.

6. During yesterday's protests, mullahs have been spotted joining rallies within Tehran and in several other cities. No one could confirm what the status of these Mullahs was or is within the clerical society, but their numbers have been very visible this time.

7. Protests have occured not just in Tehran yesterday, but in Ahvaz, Mashhad, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Shiraz, Tabriz and EVER Qom.

8. Pro-Ahmadinejad protesters' numbers have been greatly exaggerated by the state media in comparison to Mousavi's supporters' numbers. In reality, Pro-Ahmadinejad protesters were only a pocket full of people. Most of these people have been identified by other protesters as either people who work at government offices or people who were brought from the countryside.

9. After downplaying the protests for days, the state-run media has finally started to announce news of the events a little more accurately.

10. Text Messaging is still down in Iran and internet is extremely slow. People are unable to get sattelite channels on their televisions. At the same time, police and plainclothesmen are going door to door and taking away people's sattelite dish antenas.

11. Mohsen Rezayee, one of the candidates, is going to declare his support for a reelection tomorrow. The fourth candidate, Mahdi Karoubi openly joined yesterday's rally.

12. A group of prominent officials within the Ministry of Interior have written a letter to the Guardian Council declaring that they have witnessed widespread irregularities within the voting and counting processes during the election. They have asked this matter to be investigated fully.

13. As of today, not a single report of the military's intervention into the peaceful protests has been established. Not a single one.

14. Khatami and Mousavi have both asked the Ministry of Justice to investigate the involvement of the plainclothesmen in the violence that has been sparked during the protests.

15. Several eye-witnesses have seen non-Iranian Arabs waving Hamas/Hezbollah flags around the protests. These reports have been fully confirmed and are NOT a rumor spread by Israel.

16. Finally, the big news. It seems that the Green Revolution has garnered the support of Hashemi Rafsanjani, Nateq Noori, Tabatabayee and other prominent clerics and politicians. The Rohaniyone Mubarez organization that which has in its ranks pretty much most of the clerics except for the ones in power and includes Mr. Rafsanjani and Mr. Noori has declared their support for the annullment of the election and holding of new elections. Ayatollah Montazeri has yet to declare clear support.

 
Finally a few words to those who are reading this:

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but human error will always manifests itself in even the most flawless of non-mathematical things. However, this includes nothing from the Western media, including the BBC which I have been generously using to inform people and I laud them for their courageous journalism.

People Inside Iran: Don't believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

People Who Want to Send Me Tweet Links: You don't need to find me, I will find you. Don't hassle yourself. Your voice will be heard through millions of others like me.

People Who Want to Hunt Me Down: I'm an Afghan. If you ever tried to attack me, you'll see my back only after your back has met the ground.

P.S. Please post this around. I will be writing one brief of this kind everyday until this ends.

 

Link to the Night Owl

Mindblowing #IranElection Stats: 221,744 Tweets Per Hour at Peak

FROM: Mashable

The protests in Iran have only grown in size and in magnitude these last few days. Ever since the highly disputed “landslide victory” for incumbent Ahmadinejad and subsequent charges of voter fraud, Iranians have taken up their cameras, mobile phones, and computers to send Twitter updates, YouTube videos, and Flickr () photos of the riots.

While we knew that these social tools have been instrumental to the Iranian protests (so much so that the U.S. Government asked Twitter to reschedule downtime), we had no idea about the actual number of tweets sent or YouTube videos uploaded until now. Thanks to the social media trend tracker Trendrr, we can show you the sheer scale of the #IranElection crisis discussion.

Twitter: 221,744 “Iran” Tweets in One Hour

---

The use of Twitter () has been immense. #IranElection has been a top trending topic for days, as have terms like Iran, Tehran, Ahmadinejad, and Mousavi. But while there have been 10,000 to 50,000 tweets at any hour mentioning “Iran”, it peaked yesterday at 221,744. This seems extreme, but it makes sense when you realize that it corresponds with when Twitter’s downtime was rescheduled, which had major buzz the entire day.

Use of the #IranElection hashtag is extraordinary as well.

We’re approaching one million tweets on the situation, if we haven’t passed that number already. Heck, it’s been 1% of all Twitter chatter, according to Twist. Here it is compared to iPhone chatter:

---

The Blogosphere: 2,250,000 Blog Posts in 24 hours

---

The number of blog posts discussing Iran has been on a rapid rise as well. There are now over 19,000,000 blog posts that discuss Iran in some fashion, but in the last 24 hours, 2,250,000 posts were published.

That’s nearly 12% of all blog posts related to Iran. And while news stories within Google News have risen dramatically as well, they don’t hold a candle to the social media buzz:

---

YouTube: 184,500 Videos on Iran, 3000 in One Day

---

YouTube () has been a central social media tool for informing the world exactly what’s happening on the ground. In the last 24 hours, 3000 videos have been uploaded.

Even if every video were just two minutes, that would be over 6000 minutes of video related to the Iran situation. There are days worth of video on YouTube of what’s happening on the ground.

---

The Buzz Only Grows

---

While numbers can be off, these trends clearly demonstrate that social media has been front-and-center in the Iran election protests. The Iranian government has reportedly been trying to censor some of this communication, but clearly people are finding ways around it. While we know a great deal about what’s happening in Iran, we have almost no idea how it will affect the outcome. This may be the biggest question that remains to be answered.

In the meantime though, we keep refreshing Twitter Search and watching YouTube videos to keep up-to-date. Some are even using social media to help Iranians who are demonstrating in the streets. If you want to better track what’s happening in Iran via social channels, be sure to read our article HOW TO: Track Iran Election with Twitter and Social Media.