Tel and I have some things in common. We both work by day, and play games by night . Both of our jobs involve using a computer, so we both end up spending most of our waking hours sat in front of a screen. Unlike me, however, Tel is living in a country in the midst of revolution.
This is just one symptom of a wider attack on online freedoms as a pushback against the protests. Connections have become unstable, and conventional access to the online world has been cut off. “We’ve always had censorship in Iran,” Tel explains. “Some games, websites, services, and apps were always censored. But since the protests began, they’ve restricted our use of the internet.
“We have three types of forces in Iran; Police, Legion, and Army. Legion is directly part of the Supreme Leader’s office. They are the strongest in Iran, they have the most authority. Police forces are the main force to deal with civil problems [...] when something big like these chain protests happen across the country, the Legion takes over.
Iran is a country poorly understood by much of the western world. In English-speaking media, if Iran or Iranians feature at all, it is often just as shallow caricatures of evil . The government is tyrannical, and the country’s citizens suffer for it. This manifests itself partly through international trade sanctions; and partly, I learn, through Iranian citizens who enjoy videogames being denied access to much of what players in the rest of the world can enjoy.
Playing games is the only thing left for people in Iran, for now.
For some reason, western people believe that punishing people in a state where they have no say in the government is useful and just. It's neither
Well.. treat your people better
First