The New Political Role of Internet and Mobile Phone

PROGRAMME

9:30 - 9:40 Welcome: Dany Cohn-Bendit
Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group, MEP France

9:40 - 9:50 Introduction: Barbara Lochbihler
President of the Iran Delegation, MEP Green/EFA Group, Germany

9:50 - 11:20 The Green Movement and the Media - Developmentsin Iran since the Presidential Elections June 2009

Moderator: Marietje Schaake Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Culture, Media and Education, MEP ALDE Group, Netherlands

Topics:

• New methods of communication (SMS, Twitter, Skype)
• Censorship of TV, Radio and Internet (Websites, Facebook)
• Surveillance of telephone and e-mails
• Variations in media use as to age, geography and social background

Panellists:

• Delbar Tavakoli, Journalist
• Reza Moini, Reporters without Borders, Desk officer Iran & Afghanistan, France
• Fred Petrossians, Online Editor in Chief of Radio Farda ,Czech Republic
• Ben Roome, Nokia Siemens Networks, Great Britain
• Omid Memarian, Journalist and Researcher, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, USA
• Seyyed Ebrahim Nabavi, Satirist, Writer, Diarist, and Researcher, Iran

11:30 - 13:00 Future chances and risks of advances in communication technology

Moderator: Eva Lichtenberger, Vice-President Green-EFA Group, MEP Green/EFA Group, Austria

Topics:

• Technological developments in preparation
• Freedom of the net versus state control
• Reactions internally and from the outside

Panellists:

• Aliakbar Mousavi Khoeini, Internet specialist, USA
• Mehdi Yahyanejad, Founder & Director of the website Balatarin, USA
• Reza Valizadeh, Journalist and blogger, France
• Christian Engström, MEP Pirate Party, Sweden
• Sebastian Müller, European Policy Manager, Google, Belgium
• Erich Möchel, Investigative journalist, Austria

15:00 - 16:30 How will developments in information technology influence politics towards Iran?

Moderator: Barbara Lochbihler President of the Iran Delegation, MEP Green/EFA Group, Germany

Topics:

• How to preserve the freedom of the internet while preventing its abuse
• How the modern information society influences methods to act against undemocratic governments
• Are sanctions and isolation still useful tools in the age of cyberspace?
• EU legislation and democratisation: part of the problems or the solutions?

Panellists:

• Rouzbeh Parsi, Research Fellow, EU Institute for Security Studies Paris
• Lucie Morillon, Reporters Without Borders, Head of the New Media Desk, USA
• Pooneh Ghoddoosi, BBC Persia, Presenter of Nowbat-e Shoma, GB
• Giuseppe Busini, DG RELEX, Iran Desk, European Commission

Conclusions: Barbara Lochbihler