Those innocent and naive souls who are bought into the US State Department's propaganda through its disguised extensions (various international NGOs, such as the NED-funded Reporters Sans Frontier, etc.) can now see directly one of the best examples of free press in Iran: Shahrvand-e Emrooz, a weekly magazine published by close neo-liberal allies of Akbar Rafsanjani, which brags on top of its logo that it is the 'magazine of the private section', is now finally available for free online -- and it's actually quite a well-done website.
I'm reading a lot of Derrida and Spivak these days for my dissertation, which would be about voice and silence on the internet, based on my own personal experience in the past few years and the shift in my status in the Iranian diaspora blogosphere from the 'Blogfather' to the 'Public Enemy'. I also have this sketchy idea of defining the subaltern on the Internet.
But I haven't given up the temptation to wrote a separate essay with this very sketchy idea of internet subaltern, based on the case of Fatemeh Rajabi, who is a pious woman, a pro-Ahmadinejad commentator and a persistent blogger with an unusually sharp language. She who also happens to be the wife of Gholam-Hossein Elham, the current government's spokesperson and the minister of Justice.
My mains interest in her derives from the fact the because o f her sharp prose against Rafsanjani and Khatami, her blog has been filtered (her older filtered blog), her website attacked by 'hackers', and her Iranian web hosting provider has also kicked her out. She has also been the subject of terribly sexist and vicious personal attacks by the supporters of Rafsanjani in the from of serious or satirical comments, including the persistent erotic and sexist flow of bad jokes by Ebrahim (Ibrahim) Nabavi. All this, while she has totally been ignored by the loud advocates of free speech or even women's rights.
Mahnaz Afkhami, who happens to be a board member at the NED's international branch (called World Movement for Democracy, or ironically WMD), runs a women oriented organization, named Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP).
The following is all NED's grants to Afkhami's organization:
Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP)
$25,000
To strengthen and expand the International Women’s Democracy Network. As the secretariat of the Network, WLP will collaborate with regional coordinators to identify and invite into the Network new members, create regional listservs to provide a forum for members to share experiences, and encourage partnerships and initiatives among participants. The Network will also create an online resource center to disseminate information on democratic development and political participation for women.
Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP)
$599,888
To strengthen women’s leadership capacity in Muslim-majority countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa. WLP will continue to develop, translate, and publish culture-specific leadership learning materials; conduct extensive leadership training programs for women and girls; carry out capacity-building activities in conjunction with partner organizations; and engage in advocacy and networking to promote women’s rights.
Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development and Peace (WLP)
$599,800
To address obstacles to women's empowerment and participation in predominantly Muslim countries. WLP will continue to strengthen women's leadership capacity in selected countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Activities will include the publication of innovative training materials; organization of extensive leadership training programs for women and girls; and advocacy and networking to promote women's rights and participation.
Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development and Peace
$596,578*
To continue to strengthen women's leadership capacity in selected countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The leadership training program for women and girls in twelve Muslim majority countries will include the development of culture specific leadership learning materials, creation of a new prototype NGO capacity-building curriculum to enhance partner organizations' institutional capacity and the development of multimedia resources and communication tools.
Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development and Peace
$395,255
To continue the final phase of a three-phase project to strengthen women’s leadership capacity by creating multimedia, culture-specific educational tools for individuals and organizations that will cultivate and strengthen women’s participation and leadership in building civil society.
Women's Learning Partnership
$60,635
To support travel costs for participants in the first of five Regional Roaming Institute (RRI) training-of-trainer sessions in Amman, Jordan. RRI is a capacity-building multimedia institution. The training sessions will equip local facilitators to more effectively empower participants in their own local workshops to take leadership roles within their communities.
Women's Learning Partnership
$165,000
To create multimedia, culture-specific education tools for individuals and organizations in the Global South that will strengthen women's participation in building civil society. WLP will implement leadership-training programs for women and girls in twelve Muslim-majority countries and will collaborate with partner organizations to develop culture-specific training materials in ten languages.