Iranian's scathing video about the Islamic Republic's regime

ATTN: Mr. Democrat, a short film by Iranian director Farbod Khoshtinat, is competing online as a finalist in the Near East category of the Democracy Challenge co-sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of State. Winners will be decided by "thumbs up" votes cast by signed in YouTube users who view the video via youtube (dot) com/democracychallenge. One vote per video may be cast each day through June 15, 2010.

How to vote for ATTN: Mr. Democrat
Sign In to your YouTube account
Go to www (dot) youtube (dot) com/democracychallenge
Click on VOTE, search for ATTN: Mr. Democrat
Click on green thumbs up to vote
Please sign in and vote once a day through June 15, 2010

Thousands of Iranians have risked imprisonment, torture and death for demanding freedom and democracy, especially when they question the outcome that the Islamic Republic proclaimed regarding the June 12, 2009 Iranian presidential election. In a biographical statement submitted with his video, Khoshtinat wrote, "I am an artist, an Iranian film maker and a twenty one year old freedom fighter. I believe that one of the greatest things about art is that it gives us the ability to see, imagine and feel things in a certain way. This belief was the main reason I wanted to participate in this challenge, to give the opportunity to the people around the world to see how democracy is practiced in my country, so I visualized it through art; I wanted them to see it through my certain way of visualizing. As a young student who is studying abroad, this was the least thing I could do for my people since we all are in the quest for democracy."

YouTube Google analytics maps under the videos reflect the countries from which votes for the videos are cast. Countries grow greener as more votes are cast. The map for Khoshtinat's video (at www (dot) youtube (dot) com/watch?v=KI6oOgG-HRg ) shows far broader geographic support. Although some of the votes credited to the US and Canada could be due to proxy servers helping Iranians to access full internet despite the Iranian government's blockade against YouTube, voters in Russia, Scandinavia, Africa and Israel are also showing support for ATTN: Mr. Democrat. Wide support should come as no surprise because it is an exceptionally well written, highly artistic and beautifully scored short film--and because there are people all over the world who support freedom and fair elections.

If you ¨support freedom and fair elections¨ shouldn't everyone just vote once, for the one they like best?

No, the rules for this video competition are different than the rules for political elections. The official Democracy Video Challenge page on Facebook says:

www (dot) facebook (dot) com/home (dot) php?#!/democracychallenge?ref=ts

"Democracy Video Challenge Having trouble voting? Make sure you are signed into your YouTube account [at] YouTube - DemocracyChallenge's Channel[/url], then select the video you'd like to vote for. Once you click thumbs up or thumbs down, the other selection will change to gray! You can vote for as many videos as you like, but only once per day. Happy watching!

"YouTube - DemocracyChallenge's Channel
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"May 17 at 8:21am · Comment · Unlike · Share"

Apparently the votes are only counted when the voter signs in to their YouTube account. And apparently the software can detect whether you have already voted that day.