June 17, 2003

Webblogs: 9/11 and Student protests in Iran

People are gradually discovering the potential of weblogging in Iran. The recent unrests and brutal reaction of extremist-backed vigilantes has been remarkably covered in many Persian weblogs. The best examples are Par (Feather), Donya-ye Yek Irani (World of an Iranian), Vaght bekheir (Good time), Akhbar-e Khorasan (Khorasan News) and Zahra's blog, in which writers have frequently reported their first-hand experiences or gathered other the media reports.

Meanwhile, I've been encouraging students to start blogging about what they see or hear about the protests., both in Persian or in English. So there are also some weblogs about the protests in English, such as I believe (by two girls from Sharif university) and Plate (by someone from the city of Shiraz). I guess there would be more people blogging from inside Iran in English in the coming days. (Writer of Par has said that he is trying to start a weblog in English with help of a few friends soon.)

As we get closer to the anniversary of brutal attack by police and vigilantes to students in their dorms on July 8th 1999, the protests will eventually increase and there might be other violant clashes in many universities around the country. Persian weblogs have proven an releatively accurate and quick way for people to have their voices heard about the shocking events and they continue to function as the most reliable personal news feeds in the coming weeks of political struggle.

Whatever 9/11 was to weblogs in U.S, student protests are to Persian weblogs, or even more; because free press is only a dream in Iran right now.

Update:
I forgot a few weblogs from Iran, written in English:
- Iranian Girl
- The Tehran Chronicle

Posted by hoder at June 17, 2003 09:12 PM| TrackBack

Comments
Hi guys, here is a piece I just sent to BBC and I thought I could share it with you: I have personally met and known some of these people (vigilantes) and they mostly are the official members of the "Sepahe Pasdaran" They are extremist people with low level of education and no respect for others freedom. Main reason for their action is really beyond their religious beliefs and mostly comes from their jealousy toward intellectual and educated segment of the society whom they call "sosools". The truth is that the regime has always supported and financed them secretly and needs this people to press the voice of youth and intellectual Iranians. I hope my fellow countrymen who support this group do a little research before condoning such inhuman and criminals who their act is against basics of Islam, and humanity. Thank you Hossein and all of you for creating and supporting this Weblog. Alireza
- By: Alireza on June 24, 2003
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You forgot: http://iraniangirl.blogspot.com
- By: Pierce T. Wetter III on June 18, 2003
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Thank you so much for the pointers! It is important to me to follow what is going on in Iran now, this is so crucial a time, it seems. But the "mainstream press" speaks infrequently (save to tell what the politicians in Washington, D.C., or in Tehran, say), and I can't read Farsi. Forget Bush: actual American people want freedoms for Iranians. So. Thanks.
- By: Bruce on June 18, 2003
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Thanks . . . I'm starting a list in my bookmarks of Iranian blogs in English language. I've been very much following the happenings, and since the traditional media has either not been covering the protests or stating that the "protests seems to be declining", I've been depending blogs to give the real deal.
- By: Lola on June 18, 2003
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