Sit-in Update: We're having an effect: Action in Solidarity with
Iranian Detain
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Gita Hashemi
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Jun 19, 2006 07:35 PDT
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Subject: Electronic Solidarity Action
Dates: June 16 - 19, 2006
Go to: http://opinionware.net/iran
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Action update, 19 June, 9 a.m. (EDT):
Thanks to everybody who's participated in this action, we're having
an effect. The website of the Presidency of Iran has been down a few
times over the past two days. If you get messages saying "Alert: The
document contains no data" most likely it is because their server is
having a hard time keeping up. If it gets annoying, just close the
action window and start again. But let's keep the pressure up. They
are receiving the message.
Please join us in an urgent action in solidarity with Iranian women's
movement and in support of the tens of people who were detained on
June 12, 2006 in Tehran. Some detainees are apparently scheduled to
attend court on Saturday, June 17th. This action is an electronic
sit-in on the website of the Presidency of the Islamic Republic of
Iran. Help send a strong message to Iran's President to demand the
immediate and unconditional release of all detainees.
How it works:
The action page in the electronic sit-in simply keeps reloading
multiple pages from the President's website. It send queries to the
site asking for pages like "democracy", "free speech", "justice",
"equality", "barabari", "azadi", etc. (stuff you can't find there),
thus creating a traffic load and at the same time sending messages
(queries) to their server. The longer you stay in the action page,
the larger the number of messages sent to the target website. If the
number of people in the electronic sit-in is large enough, the
traffic load can drastically slow-down their server and even grind it
to a halt. This is a legal form of action that has been used
effectively in other campaigns, most notably in support of the
Zapatista movement and against many unethical corporations.
Background:
On June 12, 2006, Iranian law enforcement forces violently attacked
and arrested peaceful demonstrators who had gathered in Haft-Tir
Square, Tehran, to demand equal rights for women. In an interview at
the Evin Prison 2 days later, the spokesperson for the Islamic
Republic (in)Justice Department stated that 70 people - 42 women and
28 men - were arrested and have been transferred to the Evin
Prison. Eye-witness accounts, published on several Farsi and English
blogs, report the number of detainees to be much higher, including
some who were arrested several hours before the demonstration was to
take place. A coalition of women's associations, other NGOs and
individuals had organized the demonstration - on the anniversary of a
peaceful action with similar goals held last year in front of Tehran
University - to demand changes to the discriminatory legal code in
Iran, specifically:
* The right to divorce by women
* Child custody rights for women
* Abolition of polygamy
* Equal rights in family law
* Increasing the minimum legal marriage age for girls to 18 (currently 15)
* Equal rights for women as witnesses in courts of law
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Action organized by Sirens of Solidarity in collaboration with
OpinionWare and Creative Response, aided by Electronic Disturbance
Theatre.
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More info about the events (in English):
Amnesty International
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130662006?open&of=ENG-2MD
Human Rights Watch
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/15/iran13548.htm
Reporters without Borders
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17983
More info about the events (in Farsi):
Majale-ye Zanestan
http://herlandmag.org/
Rooznameh-ye Shargh
http://www.sharghnewspaper.com/850324/html/iran.htm
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