Can Satellite Dishes and DSL Encourage Democracy in Iran? June 15, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/03/04/Free_Press_and_Free_Speech_in_Iran

Maziar Bahari, international correspondent for Newsweek, discusses the importance of telecommunications in achieving political change in Iran. He argues that promoting Internet access is a relatively cheap method of encouraging dialogue with the rest of the world.

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This timely discussion covers the recent campaign of harassment and intimidation against Iranians and the Iranian diaspora.

The talk features cultural intellectual Hamid Dabashi and former political prisoner and Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari, who have been accused of undermining the regime. This event is presented in conjunction with the Free Library's One Book, One Philadelphia initiative. - National Constitution Center

Maziar Bahari is an award-winning Canadian-Iranian documentary filmmaker, playwright, editor, journalist and writer who was detained in Iran on June 21, 2009, and held in solitary confinement in Tehran's notorious Evin prison following Iran's disputed presidential elections. Iranian state press claimed that Bahari had "confessed" to unwittingly playing a role in a Western media effort to instigate unrest after the presidential elections. He was released on October 17, 2009, and is currently an international correspondent for Newsweek magazine.

Bahari's accomplishments were honored as a finalist for the prestigious 2009 Prince of Asturias Award for Concord. His nomination was supported, among others, by Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.