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Against a lot of advice as well as my own desire to make CelleCast a neutral media channel where different views can be presented, I want to speak up in open advocacy for the people of Iran in their struggle for liberty. And I want to relate it to the theme of the Fourth Speaker in our presentation of the power of mobile media. First of all, let me say that what I see going on is extraordinary. I am the kind of guy that gets all choked up when I read and hear stories relating to our own American revolution. The risk, the bravery, the principles at work in the character of our founding generation here in America stirs emotions like little else. Quite often I wonder and actively seek out modern manifestations of that same type of character playing out today. Unfortunately it is hard to find in our own country anymore. Most Americans today are under a spell of complacency/entitlement/fatalism, accepting a continually growing corporate state. Something our founders would not tolerate. That we would endure intense hardship to make the world a better place for future generations is a vanishing virtue here. But in Iran, the hardship of the people under the shadow of the clerics oppression has brought out that virtue. Back in June when the protests began, I expected the resistance to subside within two weeks. Like many, I turned my twitter icon green and in August turned it back. Then I kept hearing more reports. Resistance from a people with little resource, no weapons, and an unsympathetic US state department. What is this? What drives them? How can we help them? Could we not do for them what the French did for us 235 years ago? I heard amazing stories. I heard that Iranian people from all generations were hitting the streets at risk of arrest, property confiscation, and being cannon fodder for the Basij. Older Iranians would actually make themselves human shields to protect the younger ones from being shot (opposite of what terrorists do in FORCING others to shield them). The protests have continued into a near permanent state now, and I am getting emotional over this every time I think about it. Our twitter icon has been a permanent green for a while now, with our call-to-action number on it. But what else can we do?

One of our founding principles of CelleCast is to empower people with a way to speak out in situations where tyrants suppress the the voice of the people. What a perfect example we have in Iran. Iran has an educated population and a culture that predates muslim extremism, yet a completely ideological islamic government that controls the media and actively suppresses any and all dissent. Unless you have been completely asleep politically for the last year, you are aware that the people there are using social media to get around these barriers. This is critical. No dictatorial authority can stand without control of the media, and the new social media revolution is all about circumventing top down control and getting raw content out from the shadows where people can consume and process it themselves. Blogs are getting out written accounts, bypassing newspapers. Cell phones and digital cameras are getting out video accounts, bypassing television. AND cellecasting CAN get out audio accounts, bypassing radio.

Why CelleCasting?
The value of cellecasting for the people of Iran is that they create audio reports from any phone, which get published immediately and can be plugged into any site and copied by various bloggers and media outlets. Users simply need to be able to dial a phone number to publish what they witness. This empowers EVERYBODY. During peaks in the demonstrations, the regime blocks the internet, cell data channels and routinely confiscates recording equipment from people in the streets. With cellecasting, every last phone is a recording device! Creative workarounds have been deployed to protect protesters identities as they are exposed as active users of social media. What better protection could there be for the leaders than every last person being seen as equally dangerous? I am Spartacus!!! The biggest barrier we have right now in making this start to flow is awareness.

Talk Radio Opportunity
Just about any organization out there with a conscience (with the exception of the Obama administration) has at least started to openly condemn the violent, oppressive crackdowns in Iran. Once our own president finally gets involved, and starts working to bring more pressure on the government there, lots of play-it-safe people will start to come out of the woodwork and stand with us for the people. Please don’t wait til then. Please go on the air and help us promote the power of cellecasting to the people of Iran. Tell your listeners to send cellegrams to their families in Iran.. to email them our dedicated number, and record an episode for the effort that we can post on our audio tweet program.