I was a guest on Ahmad Bahraloo's talk show on VOA TV the other day and for one hour I talked about a new strategy to counter internet censorshgip and the implications of Ahmadinjead's blog.
The entire show is now online and you can watch it with different formats and qualities form the show's website:
» Dial-up - Real Media format
» Broadband - Real Media format
or
» Dial-up - Windows Media format
» Broadband - WindowsMedia format
Two years ago I did not want Iran to produce nuclear energy for electricity, let alone for its military. Today I've changed my mind. Iran needs nuclear weapons to defend itself.
Read the rest in my blog at the Washington Post.
The police of Tehran is heavily cracking down on satellite dishes in populated areas such as Shahrak-e gahrb etc.
Holding warrants, they enter buildings and collect satellite dishes and LMBs (not sure about the digital receivers) from their rooftops. In some cases they've also also fined them for over a thousand dollars.
The perception is this time they are quite serious, although they've done this almost every summer. It's been part of the seasonal crack down on the 'Western' phenomenas, under the pressure from the influential radical religious groups.
But this time, I believe, it's different. It appears to be part of a larger policy to control all channels of information and establish a total monopoly on the emerging new media.
The internet censorship is intensified, newspapers are controlled using secret orders and requests, and now satellite dishes.
But I think it'd be extremely difficult to crack down on satellite access. Because it's a direct technology, unlike internet which needs mediators as ISPs; the equipment is relatively cheap and increasingly available through trafficking, and Iranian TV has yet to fully satisfy the young urban population.
But there's also something positive about this for the moderates: The disillusioned middle-class which either didn't take part in the last elections or voted for Ahmadinejad hoping for change, can now feel the change in their daily life.
The more people can feel the difference between the reformist government and the new one, the more it's likely they participate more in the upcoming elections.
Ahmadinejad is a populist rather than a fundamentalist. Yet, I can't really convince myself that he's really taken up blogging.
The website has only one post now and it's not clear if he's written it specifically for this 'blog.' We should wait and see how it goes and then decide to call it a blog.
But if he continues writing it and if it's become a real blog, then we should be happy that they're not going to shut down the blogging services as long as Ahmaedinejad is a populist.
As 'the blogfather of the Iranian blogs,' I have to confess, I'm quite happy that I the movement I started in November 2001 has become so mainstream that even someone like Ahmadinejad has embraced it. Even though I think he's been a disaster for Iran and I count the minutes until wish he leaves the office he's occupied.
Here are some more thoughts:
Quality
I think most Iranians would find it quite trendy and cool. But personally I think it has lots of usability issues.
But his style of writing is not 'bloggy' as they say it in Iran. Long posts with no links. But it's interesting that he accpets comments for his post. Although all the approved ones are positive towards him. But its perconal tone is quite remarkable.
It strikes me hie's very much influenced by Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the former vice-president's blog. In terms of visuals, and his personal tone. But Abtahi doesn't allow direct comments under each posts. However, he's almost written everyday since over two years ago.
Implications
It proves Ahmadinejad is a populist rather than a fundamentalist and he's quite keen to reach the young educated urban Iranians around the world. Also that he wants to communicate with outside world.
If he continues writing it and if it becomes a real blog, then we should be happy that they're not going to shut down the blogging services as long as Ahmaedinejad is a populist.
As 'the blogfather of the Iranian blogs,' I have to confess, I'm quite happy that I the movement I started in November 2001 has become so mainstream that even someone like Ahmadinejad has embraced it. Even though I think he's been a disaster for Iran and I count the minutes until wish he leaves the office he's occupied.
In other words, it's a guarantee that the governemnt, even under Ahmadinejad, is not going to crack down on Internet as a whole. Blogs are localised now and they've also localised Internet in Iran and safeguarded it.
Ahmadinejad's populaism is exactly what we should use to protect some other valuable achivements under Khatami. If it wasn't for the religious people's part in the blogosphere, this could have not happened. This should be the strategy for anyone who want to change something in Iran.
It alsoresembles Khomeini's approach to Cinema: Accept it as a whole, take out the undesired elements in it, and use it. That's the only way a blogger president and Internet censorship can live together.
Did you know that Reza Pahlavi had also supported Ganji's hunger strike by calling the organizing members in London?
Potkin Azarmehr, one of the organizers, writes in his blog:
Today there was also a pleasant surprise call from Reza Pahlavi. He spoke to most of the participants on hunger strike. Monarchists or Republicans, it didn't matter, they were more than happy to converse with Reza Pahlavi on the phone.
What they all admired was that Reza Pahlavi backed any unified action in support of all of Iran's political prisoners, irrespective of who had called for it. Unlike some others who made five minute appearances and were quickly interviewed by the BBC Persian Service outside the Bush House and then quickly left, Reza Pahlavi wasn't after scoring political points for himself. What mattered to Reza Pahlavi most, was that we were standing side by side for a common goal, helping to create an Iran where no one will be harmed for their views.
Azarmehr actually has been an active member of the Referendum movement in London. He also was an outspoken supporter of boycotting the last years presidential election which resulted in Ahamadinejad's surge to power.
A friend and strong defender of Amir Abbas Fakhravar, Azarmehr was a producer of the extremely inaccurate and biased documentary made by Channel 4 titled "Forbidden Iran."
This only strengthens my hypothesis that the people who organized Ganji's hunger strike were the same ones who were behind the Reza Pahlavi and Mohsen sazegara's Referendum movement. There was definitely something going here, beyond Ganji's naivity.
This is how factual Ghazal Omid's book, Living in Hell, on human rights abuses in Iran, endorsed by Michael Ledeen, is:
After receiving threatening mail for taking innocuous pictures of university classmates, Ghazal was publicly condemned as the "American Patriot" in national Friday prayers by the leader, the self-titled Ayatollah Khomeini.
Now let me explain:
a) Ayatollah Khomeini had never appeared in any Friday prayers.
b) Khomeini's real title was Grand Ayatollah since he was an undisputed Mojtahed with a huge following among Shias inside or outside Iran.
c) It's quite unlikely for a Friday prayer with an audience of millions (given that it's broadcast live on national radio) to talk about an individual who had taken a few pictures of some classmates.
I feel sorry for all these people whose undeniable suffering has become a tool in the hands of the American neo-cons and allies to prepare the public opinion for a Regime Change in Iran.
P.S: One reader refers me to a letter Ms. Omid has written, attacking the state department's new approach to Iran which includes boosting Radio Farda and Voice of America.