October 5, 2002

12:17 PM

Iranian bloggersare being credited with being at the forefront of an underground movement which is undermining the fundamentalist hierarchy. Perhaps we should blog Iraq.
posted by Fat Buddha (7 comments total)

A great idea, except that Iraq has no Internet connection, presumably for exactly this reason.

As the link above notes, there are Iraqi opposition sites on the Web, but they are hosted and posted outside the country's borders, relying on word-of-mouth to create independent, "unbiased" news content about the happenings in the country.

Still, it's a moot point, since no one in Iraq will actually see these sites.
posted by dogmatic at 12:26 PM on October 5, 2002

Yeah.. Iraqi bloggers.

"Saddam, permission to shoot the bloggers?"

"Damnit Quasy, how many times do I have to tell you, You don't need my permission to kill peasants!"
posted by RobbieFal at 3:14 PM on October 5, 2002

Wel, Bagdad has an internetcafe, but it's heavily restricted.
posted by ginz at 3:37 PM on October 5, 2002

In a similar vein, one of blogland's very own, Eve Tushnet, has an article in the current Weekly Standard about the Iranian bloggers.
posted by davidmsc at 4:46 PM on October 5, 2002

dogmatic: That was 1998. Iraq opened access in 1999 for certain government agencies. Human Rights Watch also feels the lack of access hinders attempts to foster a more open society. By this spring internet cafes had opened, albeit with strict government supervision, and modems remain banned along with cell phones and satellite dishes. (In the old Soviet Union, you had to register manual typewriters.) {Note to certain MeFites: This is what an actual fascist regime looks like.}

Apparently in Kurdistan, which has a comparatively vibrant, free press, internet access is a reality.

Strategy-blogger Rev. Donald Sensing (a retired Army major) has given serious thought to the outline of a non-violent approach to regime change in Iraq; internet access is out of the question, of course, but he sees hearing the outside world as critical and proposes dropping half a million palm-sized radios.
posted by dhartung at 12:04 AM on October 6, 2002

Note to certain MeFites: This is what an actual fascist regime looks like.

Well, that's what it looked like half a century ago, sure. Tempus fugit, though, my friend.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:10 AM on October 6, 2002

I have a Kurdish friend in northern Iraq whom I've been talkign with about starting a weblog or any other kind of info site so that he can tell a larger audience about his experiences. However, there is a real danger from the Iraqi intelligence services, even in the "no-fly zones."

Most recently, I heard he was trying to smuggle himself out of the country, so when he gets in touch with me again, maybe he'll be safe enough to speak out. Even then he might have to be anonymous because he's leaving family behind.

One great thing about Internet primers in the mid '90s is that they were widely translated and I now have penpals all over the world. I was also able to watch countries come on line more or less. Usually, from the more repressive countries, the first wmail I'd get would be from some young child of a person in power.
posted by xian at 8:57 AM on October 9, 2002