Pictures of Iranian bloggers

November 30, 2003 10:27 PM

Pictures from the Bloggers' stand in the first Web festival of in Tehran, Iran, include some photos of Iranian female bloggers.
posted by hoder (7 comments total)

Hoder for Parliament!
posted by homunculus at 10:45 PM on November 30, 2003

Why are pictures of Iranian female bloggers significant to note? Is it the revealing clothing or they are doing something modern together equally with men or was there a crackdown on Iranian female bloggers and this is a sign of solidarity in the blogger world?
posted by stbalbach at 5:40 AM on December 1, 2003

I'd hit it.
posted by sharksandwich at 7:04 AM on December 1, 2003

You can tell, regardless of culture, the face of someone who spends a lot of time in front of a computer.
posted by mert at 9:39 AM on December 1, 2003

That is so interesting to see Iranian bloggers emerging as such a force in Iran, and particularly to see women so prominently involved - thanks for posting this hoder. But like stbalbach, I look for some additional context to understand the importance. Many of us have strong opinions about our own politicians and their actions, but few of us have context for understanding the complex realities of middle eastern daily life. It's wonderful to have someone here on MeFi that can perhaps educate us further. Also, we can keep an eye out for IranFilter.

Here is an interesting article I found on women in Iran:
Iran: The Liberation Won’t Come from America, but from Women.

Of the nine members of Islamshah’s city council, two are women. One, a lawyer, heads the legal committee. The law is the major battle for women everywhere in Iran, however thick or thin their chador. Women’s rights is the domain where Mahboobeh, the Islamic feminist, sees the revolution of tomorrow, a revolution that will inject new victorious energy into the anemic reform movement. Sixty-two percent of the young people who pass the dreaded university admissions exam, so hyper-selective that it’s nicknamed the Monster, are women. Bright futures that will no longer allow themselves to be eroded by the darkness of ignorance. The paradoxical triumph of a revolution issuing its own death sentence!
posted by madamjujujive at 6:48 PM on December 1, 2003

Wow, hoder, I went looking for more on Iranian women bloggers, and found out more about that topic and about you:

Web Gives a Voice to Iranian Women

Hossein [Hossein Derakhshan = hoder] created one of the first blogs in Persian last year.

"It was a good tool to get to know what is happening in Iran," he told the BBC programme Go Digital, "what the youth are talking about, what are their problems."

He had so much interest from Iran that he decided to write a simple guide in Persian, to help others set up their own blogs.

Seven months on, there are more than 1,200 Persian blogs, many of them written by women.

"For the first time in the contemporary history of Iran, women can express themselves freely, even if it is not in their real name," said Mr Derakhshan.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:15 PM on December 1, 2003

Yes, this is the way most of the middle-class young women now appear in public in Tehran and other big cities of Iran.

See more pictures from the Web festival.

The festival has a news blog in Persian too. (I wish they could add an English section.)

More pictures from Tehran:
- Steve Roden's "9 days in Tehran"
- Tehran City Choir
- Kargah.com (Photography students' profiles)
- Iranian.com's Photo essays
- Tehran24.com
posted by hoder at 10:36 PM on December 1, 2003