Iranian Exiles Struggle to Stay Involved

The reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009 sparked some of the worst social unrest in Iran since the1979 Islamic Revolution. Using popular networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, protesters mobilized quickly on streets and university campuses. Swift government repression ensued causing some protesters to seek refuge abroad. Away from home, using internet tools, the exiles now follow the opposition, suggests this New York Times article, but flounder in directing its course. Other Iranians use caution so as not to feed government contentions that the opposition is a foreign plot. The diaspora, impatient for change in Iran, finds that criticism via the internet and television is no substitute for a physical presence. As a BBC World Service director put it, “Once out [of Iran] they might be effective for a year or two, then what they say will not have the same resonance.” – YaleGlobal