I’ve explained this in twitter, but here is the basics of how it works.

Telephone systems are designed to allow a fraction of people to communicate at any given time. When the system overloads, you get busy signals or system announcement that lines are temporarily busy.

To make a system busy YOU DON’T HAVE TO CALL ANYONE. All you have to do is get a dial tone.

Most well designed systems max out at 15% usage. Typical systems in Iran cap out at 3-4% usage. This means if 10% of people in a switch are lift their phone of the receiver and get a dial-tone, it brings down phone service in that part of town

HOW
• Agree on “OFF HOOK” time.
• Agree on “RESTORE” time

1) lift phone off the hook/receiver. If you get a dial tone, great, if not, it means others have begun to “OFF HOOK”. Just keep trying

2) When you get a dial tone, monitor it every few minutes. If your tone goes away, hang up and retry.

3) replace phone back on hook when protest is over -RESTORE.

WHY
This protest is especially effective as it brings down phone and fax and DSL. It should be targeted in neighborhoods near Majlis, vezarat-khaneh (ministries), police HQs, TV and Radio, etc.

Bringing land lines down forces everyone to go mobile. And there is insufficient capacity for that. Not to mention, when you fear that mobile service will be shut down, this is the best way to make sure they turn it back on.

By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If the Obama administration can’t persuade the Iranian government to end its nuclear program, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee warned on Wednesday he will move forward with legislation this fall that seeks to cut off gasoline exports to Iran.

“The legislation would force companies in the energy sector to choose between doing business with Iran, or doing business with the United States,” said Rep. Howard Berman, a California Democrat.

The United States and many of its allies are worried Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran claims it just wants to generate electricity by nuclear power.

The bill would impose sanctions on foreign companies that export refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, to Iran or help maintain the country’s domestic refining capacity. This would include companies that provide ships or shipping services to transport the fuel, underwrite the shipments and finance or broker the relevant gasoline cargoes.

“I view this bill as a ’sword of Damocles’ over the Iranians — a clear hint of what will happen if they do not engage seriously and move rapidly to suspend their uranium enrichment program,” Berman said. “If engagement does not work, then I’m prepared to mark up the bill in committee early this fall.”

Iran holds some of the world’s biggest oil reserves, but it imports 40 percent of its gasoline to meet growing demand. Government subsidies there also help keep gasoline in Iran much cheaper than in other countries at around 43 cents a gallon.

“So this legislation — if it becomes law — would significantly increase economic pressure on Iran and hopefully persuade the regime to change is current course,” Berman said.

Patrick Clawson, deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the committee that Iran’s economy will likely do poorly in the next few years and now “is a perfect moment” to impose additional sanctions on Iran.

“The sanctions will come at a time of looming economic hardship, and there is excellent reason to expect that Iranian public opinion will blame the economic problems on hardliners’ isolation of Iran from the international community,” he said.

However, moves to block Iran’s imports of gasoline will not likely have much impact, according to Suzanne Maloney, Middle East expert at The Brookings Institution.

“They will be mitigated by Iran’s porous borders and long history of smuggling petroleum products, and those with access to power are likely to retain access to fuel,” she told the panel.

The full House of Representatives has already taken some action to cut off Iran’s gasoline supplies.

Earlier this month, the chamber overwhelmingly included language in a spending bill that would prohibit the U.S. Export-Import Bank from providing credit, insurance or loan repayment guarantees to foreign companies that supply gasoline to Iran. The legislation has a good chance of also passing in the U.S. Senate, experts say.

(Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

From: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE56L58J20090722

More than one month has passed since the ruling faction of the Islamic Republic tried to silence all voices of dissent by rigging the election results and staging a semi coup-d’etat. By now it looks like a large portion of young Iranians have come to share the views that many intellectuals and progressive forces have had since before the elections: a regime which is founded on injustice and fear is not reformable; a view that reflects the realities of the streets of Iran today.

Meanwhile, the so-called reformists and their supporters outside Iran, who had received a severe blow on the night of the elections, saw their game of haggling within the system completely crushed and ruled out by the Supreme Leader. Completely dejected, their actions were limited to sending a few sarcastic messages here and there.

The people, on the other hand, did the undoable. The day after the Supreme Leader threatened the protesters with harsh consequences – namely bullets for those who dared to go out – they took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands, brushing aside the games of the two defeated candidates, and paid for it with their lives in order to change history.

Before the protest, the Moussavi camp was denying rumors of their participation in it, and instead went to the same authorities who had organized the coup, asking for an official permit for a rally.

To finish off the reformists, the Ahmadinejad-Khamenei gang had a new trick; they threatened the reformists with total elimination from the political scene, in order to have them step out of the arena voluntarily.

After Rafsanjani deviously thanked the Supreme Leader for his efforts, after the ridiculous show of ballot recount and result certification by the Guardian Council, and especially after their unsuccessful attempt that resulted in only recruiting 3 Ayatollahs to help their cause, the Association of the Combatant Clergy finally gave up and, in a statement to the people, called for calm, in order to salvage the game by getting back some of their detained members.

In a similar message, Moussavi called for calm and warned people not to be deceived by slogans targeting the fundamentals of the Regime, and to limit their demands for a redo of the elections. In an attempt to remain in the political scene, and to keep his positions in various political and cultural establishments, he even emphasized that this is a fight within the family, and outsiders that should not be allowed in.

Mehdi Karoubi, the other defeated candidate, also called for calm and asked people to return to their houses, but the “Sheikh of Reform”, as he is called, was naïve enough to blame himself for not listening to those intellectuals who had warned him about the futility of the elections and the will of the ruling faction to accept its results.
The people, however, came down to the streets on the 20th of June and selflessly fought the Basij, Revolutionary Guard, and all other security forces of the ruling regime. Along the way, they learned that what they can achieve on the street scenes could never be achieved with outdated political games.

Here are some of the most important characteristics of the June uprising:

1. The middle class, who has played a very important role in the protest and its organization, is one step from retreat, and one step to the revolution. The direction of its step will be determined by its success or defeat in bringing the more progressive parts of the bourgeoisie as well as the lower classes to its side.

Only if they silence all protest voices and successfully push the rival camp in the sidelines will Ahmadinejad and Khamenei’s lunatic curveball election results survive. Under these circumstances, any further dissent will trigger more lunatic plans on their part. This will, in turn, push the political tension beyond the brink in a society that is increasingly seeking its fate on the street scenes and not behind closed doors. By the time Khamenei has heard the voice of the revolution, even sacrificing some of his accomplices will not do him any good.

By taking the initiative into their own hands, and not allowing it to remain within the petty games of the two political factions, the people can disorient both factions and the regime’s repressive apparatus. This will unite their movement even further.

The repressive apparatus of the regime is dependant on human forces who break quickly under pressure. The continuation of the demonstrations, protest, strikes and all other new popular initiatives will break apart this machine regardless of its size and cruelty. After a while, we will witness the disobedience and desertion among their ranks. Unlike the people who are supporting each other, the police and the security forces of the regime are physically tired and emotionally consumed. Their motivation to confront people will diminish in time and the humane behavior of the brave young Iranians will accelerate their desertion.

The ruling faction took a risk that has put it in a lose-lose situation. If they can successfully suppress close to 40 million people, the movement will go underground. Sooner or later the generation who has experienced violent street protest and does not fear guns anymore will bring down the foundations of the regime. If, on the other hand, the large rallies and other forms of popular unrest go on and end up mobilizing all political classes, and finally a general strike happens, it will spell the speedy end of the regime.

The working classes will only enter the fight if they realize there is place for their radical demands in it. The upper classes will only directly confront the regime if they are assured if a speedy victory and are guaranteed of better economical and political interests. Therefore the middle class has no way but to remain in the streets.

the progressive and radical forces within the urban middle class has to chose between taking the leadership of the movement and its transition to a progressive revolution or like in 1979 wait for savior to take the lead. The 30 years of Khomeini has only brought about misery for people hence it will not be wise to wait for another savior to come along.

the progressive forces should draw a clear line between themselves and the all kinds of reactionary, religious or accidental dissidents. They should not allow the 1979 to repeat itself when the opportunistic clergy was preaching unity to defeat the shah but in the back room was plotting to eliminate all other forces.

Progressive forces must seriously spread information, deepen theoretical understanding and confront the pundits of both factions of the regime inside and outside Iran. They should use every opportunity to promote alternative ideas and put a leash on the common superficiality, lack of persistency, banality and constant need of a savior among the middle classes.

To my view the present uprising although radicalizing by day is still few steps away from becoming a revolution. The same distance it has from accepting the coup and going quiet for a while. The uprising has opened a new chapter in out fight for democracy and its transition to our final battle.
In his 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonapart, Marx argues that bourgeoisie tries to bring to its side every change and every force generating change. In the midst of chaotic and unplanned fights calling for calm, hero making and ??? has always been a reformist action plan.
Reformists by nature act always like the fifth wheel of car in a society that wants to move forward. Most of the times their absence is better than their presence.

The reality is that after 20th of June 2009 the time of hope in reform has come to an end.the only hope the fearful heads of the regime have now is the lack of revolutionary forces on the ground and the low level of public awareness which has been caused by years of repression and censorship. But the revolutionary conditions that we are witnessing are very innovative and resourceful. There is great possibility that an alternative will be born out the street battlegrounds and from inside the factories and universities. An alternative that could represent the progressive aspirations of people.

Many people believe we have entered a point of no return and those of us who are fighting the IR gunmen on the streets will open a new chapter in the Iranian history in a final battle.

Omid Habibinia (Iranian Media Researcher and Journalist)
e-mail: omidha@gmail.com
Homepage: http://2006omid.blogspot.com/

http://www.zandiq.com/pandiq/0000000004.shtml

http://www.mardomak.org/news/rahnavard_brother_arrest/

http://open.salon.com/blog/kathy_riordan/2009/07/21/grandson_of_ayatollah_khomeini_leaves_iran_in_protest

http://ow.ly/hRnj

http://links.chango.com/links/redirector?siteID=HFBuwyKFQCmkc27m643fRxMYM&brandingFrame=true&linkUID=0dd6d44b-63c2-4121-b5b2-22da73e4c1a6&short=bit.ly&href=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FPBVu5

http://united4iran.org/locations