the false face of the iranian 'revolt'

The use of social media in the promotion of  the western 'colour' revolutions has been written and talked about so much that  the use of  social media in promoting  overthrows of governments  is just taken for granted.  The attempt to use social media  in Iran and overthrow that  government in a Green Revolution  did  not work . Twitter was even asked to postpone a scheduled servicing break so that the 'street' in Iran could continue using it without a break.   In vain.

Photographs have played a major part in these revolts and "springs". They have been used and misused. Massively.

The one iconic image that failed  was the face of  the 'Green revolution', of Iran. The face of Neda Soltani, now turns out to be the false  face of a failed  regime change op.

 Photographs continue to be used and misused all through the Arab Spring  and the attempts to control it . Control it to suit the strategic needs of those who actually want status quo in the oil rich Gulf they control and regime change in states they don't control.


The BBC has had its own share of 'misused' propaganda photographs . But even the Beeb cannot ignore  reality. or keep covering it up , forever. Reality has a way of catching up.

The misuse of photographs of real people can have very real  reactions and effects. some of which you can see below.  

But knowing the Beeb, for the propaganda arm that it is, I would still take this story with a bit of salt - with questions about why they are carrying it now.

The international media was using a picture of me taken from my Facebook account to accompany the footage of Neda Agha-Soltan's death. 

I confirmed as friends everybody who had added me on Facebook - there were several international journalists and bloggers among them - and explained that this was a mistake, I was not the person who had been shot dead the day before.

Some bloggers posted updates, but the journalists who received my message did not react - my picture continued to be used.

By that time my photo had been well established and identified as the face of the martyr and of the whole opposition movement, and the media kept using it side-by-side with the images of the death of the real martyr, the real Neda.

It was just ridiculous to see how such a huge mistake had come out of a simple photo on Facebook.

But it was also very shocking to see my face side-by-side with the video of Agha-Soltan. When I saw people all over the world demonstrating with my photo, putting up shrines, lighting candles - it was just like sitting there and watching my own funeral.

Looking back, the people I am most angry with are the Western media. They kept using my photo even though they knew it was not a picture of the real victim in that tragic video. They knowingly exposed me to extreme danger.

I can never be the person that I was before these things happened. I'm still suffering from depression, I am still suffering from nightmares.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20267989