Weblogistan: The Emergence of a New Public Sphere in Iran

Weblogistan: The Emergence of a New Public Sphere in Iran1 Masserat Amir-Ebrahimi Every day, Internet users around the world challenge, question and even dismantle diferent types of authorities, institutions and beliefs. Virtual actions can thus have an important impact in the physical world and are particularly signiicant in countries where people are living under political, religious, or socio-cultural constraints and repression. In democratic societies, people have almost the same rights of expression in virtual spaces as they do in physical spaces; thus, iltering and censorship by governments are generally not practiced, although there are always limits regarding issues deemed highly controversial and/or illegal, such as child pornography, criminality or terrorism. In countries where public spaces are controlled and monitored by conservative and restrictive cultural and/or political forces, cyberspace provides a means to circumvent the restrictions imposed on these spaces and may in turn become more “real” for users than physical public spaces. Due to the absence of the body and of face-to-face relationships, as well as the possibility of hiding one’s real identity, cyberspace becomes in many of these countries an important space for self-expression, communication and information— three aspects of life that are limited and monitored under authoritarian states. Of course, cyberspace—like physical space—can also be limited by governments or by customs, traditions and religion; but this censorship and control is neither absolute nor exhaustive because of the nature of the technology, the technological competence of youth, and the diverse possibilities speciic to the Internet. Amir-Ebrahimi 325 In Iran, ater the Iranian Revolution and the oicial project of the Islamization of society, people (especially women and youth) had to adapt their presence and their public representations according to the “must” and “must not” of the controlling Islamic forces. At the same time, intellectuals, journalists, and artists had to practice stronger self-censorship, especially until 1997, when the reformist president Mohammad Khatami came to power. With the arrival of the Internet in the lives of the urban middle class in the late 1990s, and particularly with its expansion ater 2001 when the Unicode system made typing in Persian possible, these individuals could compensate for some of their privations, needs and aspirations in the “free” space of the Internet. In early 2000, the irst Iranian news Web sites were created to circumvent state controls over traditional media sources, rendering the Internet an important information resource in Iran.2 For young people, their initial attraction to the Internet was to overcome the restrictions on cross-gender interactions in physical public spaces. Online, they could interact and ind new friends and communities through emails, instant messaging, chatrooms, and forums. Over time, the Internet became cheaper and easier to use, making it more popular and accessible for diferent strata of urban middle-class Iranians. With 32 million Internet users and 48 percent penetration as of September 2009, Iran constitutes 56 percent of all Internet users in the Middle East and has the fastest-growing concentration of Internet users in the region.3 Today, one of the most important environments in Iranian cyberspace (politically, socially, culturally and personally) is the Iranian blogosphere known as Weblogestan. he irst Persian-language weblog was created in September 2001 by Salman Jariri.4 Two months later, with the arrival of the Unicode system, Hossein Derakhshan,5 a young Iranian journalist, published the irst online weblog guide in Persian, which motivated other Iranians to blog. In less than a year, weblog writing exploded in Iran; in 2003, Persian was the fourth most used language in the world’s blogosphere ater English, French and Portuguese.6 With the expansion of weblog writing throughout the globe, Persian today no longer has the same rank in the world blogosphere. However, despite the Iranian government’s signiicant iltering, weblog writing remains one of the most important public spheres and popular environments in Iranian cyberspace; people can express themselves, interact, exchange opinions, and 326 Mediated Publics even sometimes create new social movements that can have signiicant consequences in the physical world. Internet and weblog writing became a tool of empowerment for youth and women, as well as for intellectuals, journalists, artists, ex-politicians and other marginalized social groups. For youth, this empowerment begins with a redeinition of the self through the consolidation of new identities and the exercise of self-expression because many of them believe that their “real/true” identities have been “lost/repressed/hidden” in Iran’s public spaces. Women use weblogs to voice their frustrations, needs and interests on a personal and social level. Intellectuals, journalists and artists see the opportunity to create a new public sphere where they express themselves, interacting and exchanging their points of view with their publics inside and outside Iran. hese new bodiless selves form new communities and contribute to the emergence of a new public sphere that had been absent in Iranian physical spaces. Appearance and performance in post-revolutionary Iran Until recently, self-narration in public (such as autobiography) was unheard of in Iranian culture. According to Michael Craig Hillman, “in 1980, the novelist and literary critic Reza Barahani reacted to a biographical sketch of himself by worrying that its review of political issues in his life might jeopardize his academic career, if not his political freedom . . . In other words, speciically Iranian concerns about the reaction of family, friends, neighbors, and society at large play a not insigniicant role in the attitude of writers when it comes to telling the story of a writer’s life.”7 his concern is especially acute for women, who have almost always been subject to the observation and judgment of others about their decency and their reputation. For centuries, women have hidden their lives and their inner selves [Baten] behind walls, veils, appearances [Zaher] and performances to stay safe according to ‘urf [conventions] and to shari’a [religious law].8 Ater the Islamic Revolution it was no longer suicient to hide the “inner self ”; people also had to learn how to perform their public selves in diferent situations and spaces according to newly imposed norms. Particularly during the irst two decades of the Islamic republic Amir-Ebrahimi 327 (before Khatami came to power), in reaction to the Western and modern culture promulgated under the Shah, public spaces were highly desexualized, de-Westernized, and regulated by religious and revolutionary norms. At irst, in the summer of 1980, the hijab was made obligatory only in government and public oices; then, three years later, in April 1983, veiling became compulsory for all women, including for non-Muslims, foreigners and tourists. Along with the mandatory hijab, a complex set of Islamic performances and new patterns of predetermined social roles based on Islamic and “traditional” values in terms of body language, speech, and codes of interaction, especially in relations with members of the opposite sex, were implemented by the moral police.9 Interactions with government institutions necessitated a speciic model of self-presentation. Men were required to wear three-day facial stubble and longsleeved shirts buttoned to the neck. Women had to appear without any makeup in a black chador or dark-colored manteau [long coat] and maqna’e [a headscarf] that covers the neck and shoulders.10 he newlyformed moral police appropriated patriarchal authority and became the guardians of the morality of Iranian families and especially of women and youth. Despite all these impositions, Iranian women and youth have been able to introduce major and irreversible changes in their situation, by afecting small and seemingly unimportant, yet continuous changes in their appearance, demeanor, and social presence. hese changes have ultimately changed dominant models of self-presentation and led to new and spontaneous forms. In the early 1990s ater the end of the Iran-Iraq war, diferent kinds of hijab gradually appeared, changing the dark image of urban public spaces. Although the chador remained the “better hijab” [hijab-e bartar] for most traditional, religious or government employees, other women opted for more colorful and relaxed scarves and the manteau. he presence of this new kind of hijab along with the traditional ones became a kind of social distinction and public expression for Iranian women from diferent milieus. Nilüfer Göle, discussing the new trend of veiling among young Turkish girls, notes how the Islamic dress code can inluence the way that the body occupies space: 328 Mediated Publics he veiling is not only just covering the head; it indicates a way of behavior, which is called to be more modest, more pure—Puritan maybe—which means you limit your presence in public life. For instance, the way you look at people. You have to cast down the eyes. he way your body occupies the space in public. hat means you shouldn’t be too loud—laughing, for instance. So it means a way of behaving, more modest behavior. It comes from hija, meaning being more cautious, being more modest. So I think it’s not only just a kind of dress code, but a dress code which indicates a set of manners, bodily manners, in relation to the other sex, but in relation also to public behavior.11 To move more freely in post-revolutionary Iran, youth and women have learned how to negotiate appropriate appearance and conduct in diverse public and private settings through the use of multiple behavioral strategies. New forms of expression have emerged alongside these strategies of appearance, and women and youth have become more outspoken in public spaces. Paradoxically, the desexualization of public spaces has liberated many women from the prohibitions imposed by their families and provided them with the opportunity to enter public spaces, university or work. Azadeh Kian-hiébaut argues that the emergence of a new form of individualization among women and youth, their resistance to forced Islamization, their aspiration to modernity and their demands for social, political and cultural rights may indicate the weakening of patriarchal order in both public and private spheres.12 At the same time, the need to use a set of complex and multiple performance strategies to move freely in post-revolutionary Iran has provoked a gradual identity crisis, especially among Iranian youth. Furthermore, middle class youth in the mid-1990s had access to opportunities for wider contact with the world, especially through satellite TV and then the Internet. hrough these new technologies, and broader relationships with the world (through the Iranian diaspora in contact with family in Iran), new models of self-presentation were created that were in complete contradiction with the Islamic and docile models presented by the Islamic republic. Amir-Ebrahimi 329 In light of these contradictions, for many youth the main questions became: Who am I? What do I want? If I were somewhere else, how would I live? How would I dress? With whom would I associate? In the spaces of my daily life, to what extent am I “myself ”? The permanence of a “transient” public space and the emergence of Iranian cyberspace he election of the reformist president Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005) occurred almost simultaneously with the arrival of the new technology into the lives of Iranians. Both events provided new horizons for an emerging civil society that surfaced gradually ater the Iran-Iraq war with the creation of new public spaces and public spheres. he political dictatorship of the Shah before the Islamic Revolution, and the monitored public spaces ater the revolution, did not allow for the emergence of a permanent public sphere in Iran. Furthermore, under both regimes, radio, television, and the leading newspapers were under the complete control of the state. During the Shah’s rule, religious and traditional networks and “small media,” such as photocopied lealets and audiocassettes of the Ayatollah Khomeini’s speeches played a role in popular mobilization.13 Ater the revolution, and especially during the Iran-Iraq war, religious networks lost their “democratic” characteristics and became part of the voice of the revolutionary authority. Many public spaces, including cinemas, theaters, cafés and restaurants, and art galleries, were closed down. Public life, leisure and cultural activities were transferred into the private spaces of homes.14 With the end of the Iran-Iraq war, and the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the situation has changed slightly. he arrival of HashemiRafsanjani to power and especially the new socio-cultural and urban policies of the mayor of Tehran, Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi (1990–1998), encouraged citizens to come out from behind closed doors. he most important goals of the new municipal leadership were, irst, to bring people back into public spaces, making them more visible and controllable, and second, to diminish the socio-cultural and urban gap between the North (rich and modern) and South (poor and traditional), despite widening 330 Mediated Publics economic inequality between rich and poor. An activist socio-cultural and physical policy was thus implemented to homogenize the capital, with signiicant investment in the construction of new highways, urban infrastructure, cultural centers, parks and other public spaces, especially in southern and central Tehran (Amir-Ebrahimi 2004). From these new public spaces/public spheres, new social actors gradually emerged who would later become the main agents of change in the political sphere, stimulating the reform movement that culminated in Khatami’s presidency in 1997. Furthermore, the open policy of Mohammad Khatami as Minister of Guidance (1989–1992) allowed the publication of several alternative and critical newspapers and magazines, such as Salam, Hamshahri, Kian or Gardoon, some of which became the most important platforms for critics and later came into conlict with the state. By 1992, the number of Iranian newspapers had risen by about ity percent, reaching 274.15 Even though these new public spheres and spaces remained transient due to the political pressure and limitations of conservative forces, it seems that the experience of “homeopathic” doses of relative freedom could not be eradicated from the everyday life of people who found new ways of expression and interactions. With the election of Mohammad Khatami to the presidency in 1997, public spaces became more stable. Tensions visibly decreased, and the moral police relaxed their control of streets and public spaces. Cultural and artistic centers became important places for gathering and discussing many issues. Critical reformist newspapers emerged by the hundreds; and if conservatives found a pretext one day to ban some of them, they were republished the next day under a diferent name. NGOs also emerged during this period, which represented a time of new and exciting possibilities for forming a public sphere where diferent groups could express their opinions. None of these spaces and groups could last long, as they were constantly threatened and conined by conservatives and Islamist forces, but they did not disappear from the public scene, and they constantly reemerged at new opportunities. As Hossein Shahidi writes: Iran’s history has been characterized by repeated political convulsions that have led to the creation of a “short-term society,” without the opportunity to accumulate suicient material and moral wealth for the well-being of all its citizens. As far as Amir-Ebrahimi 331 journalism is concerned, the past quarter century could at irst sight be seen as a continuation of the same pattern, with two short periods of rapid growth, in 1979–1980 and 1997–2000, each described as a “Spring of Freedom,” and each followed by the closure of large numbers of newspapers by the state… Quantitatively, by the end of 2004, Iran had more than 1200 newspapers and more than 5000 men and women working as professional journalists.16 Even the “Spring of Freedom” under Khatami did not allow for the emergence of a real and permanent public sphere in Iran. Yet this period was long enough to give Iranians the taste of freedom of expression: some political borders were trespassed and taboos on criticism of presidents and other politicians (but still not religious authorities) were broken. Today, despite new types of repression and the support that Ahmadinejad receives from the Supreme Leader, he is the most criticized president in recent Iranian history. Indeed, despite greater control and heavier newspaper censorship, the expansion of satellite TV and new media technology has meant that this censorship has not had the same efect as it did during the irst years of the revolution or even during the period when reformists were in power. In fact, opposition inside the Islamic Republic is much stronger. For instance, one of the most critical newspapers in Iran today, Etemad, belongs to reformists and supporters of Khatami; Etemad-e Melli belongs to the Ayatollah Karubi, Ahmadinejad’s rival for the presidency in 200517; the news Web site Tabnak (formerly Baztab), belongs to Mohsen Rezai,18 the former commander of the army. And recently, the news Web site “Alef,” which belongs to a fundamentalist deputy in the Eighth Parliament, Ahmad Tavakoli, was the irst to denounce Interior Minister Ali Kordan’s fake academic degree.19 In 2006, the Web site Baztab, which belongs to the former commander of the Guardian Islamic Revolution’s Army (Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelqb-e Eslami) and is critical of Ahmadinejad’s policies, was blocked, but later it was republished under the new name Tabnak due to Rezai’s inluence and also to the solidarity displayed by some Iranian Web sites and weblogs, which do not miss any opportunity to protest state iltering of cyberspace. 332 Mediated Publics he public sphere in Iran is therefore expanding in a non-Habermasian way, within a controlling Islamic state, in physical and virtual spaces. Public space in Iran is transient; or a “short-term society,” in Shahidi’s words. he new public sphere in Iran could be described as what Negt and Kluge call “new public spheres”; decentralized and multiple, they open “a path of critique and possibly a new politics.”20 Nilüfer Göle’s deinition of the non-Western public sphere ofers another approach. Arguing that public spheres are altered by the cultural meanings and social practices in each culture, Göle suggests that we analyze the “public sphere as a social imaginary” to illustrate the circulation of a universal code of modernity as well as particular cultural signiications and practices: he public sphere in a non-Western context is neither identical with its counterparts in the West nor totally diferent, but manifests asymmetrical diferences as it is continuously altered by a ield of cultural meanings and social practices… Social imaginaries are embedded in the habitus of a population or carried in implicit understandings that underlie and make possible common practices … As a social imaginary, the public sphere works in a social ield and penetrates and blends into cultural signiications.21 Drawing on Mark Poster, who argues that “the age of the public sphere as face-to-face talk is clearly over,”22 I argue that Weblogistan ofers a new social imaginary that allows for the formation of a virtual public sphere. his virtual connectedness enables new networks and communities where people with common socio-cultural tastes, interests and backgrounds can gather, talk, and act together. As the next section demonstrates, these new communities can become even more powerful than traditional ones.23 Today, three decades ater the revolution, “small media” such as weblogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube again play an important role in the lives of middle class Iranians and social changes on the horizon.24 Amir-Ebrahimi 333 Weblogistan: Virtual new networks of Iranian community he Iranian blogosphere is a fast-growing public sphere formed by individuals and diferent networks and communities. It is almost impossible to give exact igures for the population in Weblogistan or to estimate, for instance, the percentage of women versus men (because many use pseudonyms), average age, social class or level of education of bloggers. he only information we have comes from case study surveys and documented observations. According to studies presented in the seminar “Internet and Women in the hird Millenium,” held in Tehran in 2006, women constitute about 47 percent of Internet users in Iran,25 while according to Jordan Halevi’s 2006 study based on a sample of 325 blogs, 33.5 percent of bloggers are women.26 his information changes constantly depending on the case study, as well as with the entrance of new bloggers into Weblogistan. In my focus groups, many participants said that it “is easy to guess the gender of bloggers, especially when you are used to reading diferent blogs every day. You can distinguish easily who is a woman and who is a man.” In general, women write more about personal and social issues, while men have more speciic blogs about politics, technology, journalism, religion and so on. In Iran, as elsewhere, the irst bloggers were mostly youth; today, however, many middle-aged bloggers are part of the mainstream Iranian blogosphere. According to Halevi’s survey, 90 percent of Iranian bloggers were between 20 and 32 years old, but this percentage can change with diferent networks, where sometimes the average age is higher. In fact, it was not long before many journalists, intellectuals (writers, philosophers, university professors, and artists), social activists (feminists, environmentalists, NGO workers), former politicians (especially reformists and Khatami’s colleagues, such as his adviser, Mohammad Ali Abtahi)27 and religious and conservative personalities joined Weblogistan and created their own networks in the blogosphere. Student populations, too, are diverse, including many female and male students of theology known as Talabeh bloggers.28 Weblogistan is vitally diverse, not only in terms of the social position of members, but also their geographic location: hundreds of thousands of Iranian bloggers are scattered throughout many cities in Iran or countries throughout the world. he Iranian blogger diaspora resides 334 Mediated Publics in the U.S., Canada, France, England, Japan, Holland, Germany and Australia. Many of these bloggers play an important role in demystifying the “West” and life outside Iran for Iranians inside the country. Togetherness and the birth of a new social movement he interconnectedness of bloggers from around the world and from diferent social positions can have an important impact on events in the physical world. On several occasions, Iranian bloggers have shown solidarity and acted together to inluence events on the national or international scene. Of course, with the immense variety in Weblogistan this togetherness happens only in some networks, but depending on the issue it can become more resonant in the corpus of the blogosphere. Perhaps the most widespread and permanent actions of bloggers have been undertaken against iltering and censorship. In Iran, censorship in cyberspace is very much like that of general media regulation: it is based on religion, morals, libel, national security, and anti-revolutionary activity.29 In 2006, the Ahmadinejad government ordered bloggers to register their blogs. Two months later, ater the deadline, only about one hundred bloggers had registered. Most did not pay any attention to the order; some even posted a banner on their blog that read, “I Will Not Register My Website.” Faced with obvious failure, the government abandoned the project. Bloggers claimed cyberspace as their own, and demanded the freedom to write whatever they want. Although this “freedom” is not transparent in Iran and continually requires a degree of self-censorship, in the virtual world, censorship is much more diicult. Following the example of the “Spring of Freedom” and the publication of newspapers, a weblog that is blocked is soon replaced by another with a diferent address, which with the help of other bloggers is introduced to Weblogistan. Creating blog-mirrors (where the same text is copied onto several blogs with diferent addresses) is another way to escape iltering. A third way to circumvent iltering is to use anonymizers and anti-iltering sotware, which are exchanged among Internet users by email or are published on weblogs that specialize in Internet sotware. Even though every day many of Amir-Ebrahimi 335 these anti-ilters are blocked, it seems to be a never-ending confrontation between Internet users and the government. Despite the absence of economic and social criteria such as wealth and social position in cyberspace, criteria of distinction are still efective, though in a milder way. For instance, when bloggers are known by their real names and have a high social rank (politician, university professor, well-known author or journalist), and when they are known as an authority in Weblogistan, interactions are generally more respectful, according to the norms of Iranian society, although there is more familiarity than in physical space. However, the real authority in Weblogistan is wielded according to diferent criteria than those used in physical space. In cyberspace, the length of time the blog has been published matters more than the age of the blogger. Factors such as discipline, content, style, length, originality of writing, regularity of posting, technical knowledge, and the aesthetic of the web page are of considerable importance, as is the quality and extent of interaction with other bloggers, the number of links to the site, sincerity and courage toward and respect for other bloggers; these factors all deine the social position of bloggers in cyberspace more than their “real” social status. A blogger could write under a pseudonym and reveal little about his/her personal life (profession, age, location) and become an important authority, while a well-known professor or politician who is arrogant, distant, writes only periodically, or is not acquainted with weblog writing style can simply be ignored. his reconception of authority allows some young bloggers to mobilize, organize a protest, or gather bloggers for a humanitarian issue in Weblogistan and through the international media to inluence events in the physical world. One example is the website “Change for Equality” launched by feminist activists in 2006.30 “Change for Equality” is related to the successful campaign, “One million signatures demanding changes to discriminatory law” in the physical world, where Iranian activists are collecting signatures door to door to later present to Parliament. “Women’s Field” is another Web site launched by feminist activists to promote the campaign, “Stop Stoning Forever,” and there is a campaign to allow women to attend public sports events.31 All these Web sites have been iltered by the government several times, and were later republished with a new address; they also send information about new issues by email to interested readers. 336 Mediated Publics here are other cases in which the actions of activist bloggers have had important impacts on events in the real world. Perhaps the most important was the protest organized against the sentencing of women condemned to death by Islamic law, oten because they have killed their aggressors or rapists. In Weblogistan bloggers copied a logo and information about these women onto their blog and organized petitions to send to international organizations. his common action raised national and international attention and pressure, helping some of these women escape the death penalty and secure freedom.32 he irst petition organized by Weblogistan that had a positive impact in the physical world was for the freedom of Sina Motalebi, whose weblog was banned in 2002. He was the irst blogger and journalist to be arrested.33 Many bloggers added a logo to their weblog, asking for his freedom, and organized a petition that was signed by many Internet users and bloggers. Following these actions, Sina Motalebi was freed and then migrated to Europe. Later, many petitions were signed for the freedom of Ahmad Batebi, and his picture was used as a logo in many weblogs; he became the symbol of jailed students under the Islamic Republic.34 In February and March 2007, some feminist bloggers and activists were arrested by the government because of their activity; many bloggers put a logo or their picture in their blog asking for their freedom, and published the latest information about them on their blogs each day. he majority of these activists were released ater a few days, some on a high bail paid by their families. Another form of collective action by bloggers is humanitarian assistance. Charity associations and activities are part of social life in Iran; these activities also have become popular in Weblogistan, where people act together to collect money or to ind aid for people in need. On some occasions bloggers have even gathered in physical spaces to provide help. For instance, in March 2003, a charity was organized by bloggers simultaneously in Tehran, Shiraz and Mashhad to assist orphanages by collecting money and spending time with the children. One of the most impressive acts of charity in Weblogistan was organizing help for the victims of the earthquake in Bam, in southeastern Iran, in January 2004. Bloggers organized diverse networks of assistance: some went directly to Bam and some collected goods and money. In this way, many bloggers from outside Iran participated and gathered a signiicant sum. Amir-Ebrahimi 337 Another massive protest by bloggers was against National Geographic magazine. In its November 2004 issue, the magazine published a map using the term “Arabian Gulf ” instead of “Persian Gulf.” A group of Internet users and bloggers began a protest movement, organizing a petition that was signed by tens of thousands of people. his protest was extensively reported on by Iranian newspapers, and ultimately forced the Iranian Parliament, the Ministry of Foreign Afairs and government spokespeople to protest publicly. In a related protest, the Iranian blogger and illustrator Pendar Yousei created a “Google bomb”: typing the words “Arabian Gulf ” into Google’s search engine elicited a spoof message: “he Gulf you are looking for does not exist. Try Persian Gulf.”35 Bloggers also show their concern for and solidarity with Weblogistan members and their personal problems. he case of Nooshi va Joojehash [Nooshi and her chicks] is an instance of bloggers showing support for a non-political cause. “Nooshi” (a pseudonym) started her weblog to bring attention to her problem: as a divorced woman, she is not allowed to have custody of her children under Islamic law. his was one of the irst Iranian “baby blogs” (also called “mother blogs”); there are now many others. Sometimes Nooshi wrote about her problems with her ex-husband and the Islamic judiciary, asking for legal advice and help from other bloggers. Her problem became poignant when the husband took her children and did not bring them back. his occurred simultaneously with a hunger strike by Akbar Ganji, a famous dissident journalist in Evin prison.36 Many political bloggers have organized national and international protests to save his life. But the attention that Nooshi received in non-political networks of Weblogistan was also very important. A few months later, in a telephone interview, Nooshi talked about this event and its impact on her life: Many political bloggers have protested, “Why, when Mr. Ganji is dying, are people in Weblogistan talking about this woman whose problem is so similar to that of any other woman in Iran?” I don’t know, maybe we are afraid to be involved in political issues. Mr. Ganji is a big name, a famous name in the political arena of Iran. Taking his defense was maybe dangerous for many bloggers. But I am nobody, I do not even have a real name here, just a pseudonym, but my problem is known by many others. Many other Iranian women have the same 338 Mediated Publics problem. You should see how many emails I have received, ofering me help: legal, inancial or personal help. Many attorneys ofered to take my defense free of charge. And of course I also received many insults, attacks and violent comments! But to explain everything to you, I can tell you about an email that said: “You are just like our neighbor, a poor woman who has the same problem as you have. I don’t care much about her, because I don’t know her. But I lived with you and your children for three years in Weblogistan; I know many things about you and your children. Now they are not just your children, but they are also ours, they are the children of Weblogistan, so we should help you.” (Nooshi va Joojehash—telephone interview 2005) http://www.nooshi.ir/ Some months later, Nooshi had to stop blogging, because her blog was used against her in court. She has claimed that one day she will restart it, because weblog writing has changed her life. Communal life in Weblogistan, like real life, is sometimes full of animosity, hostility, violence, or the revelation of private information that could be harmful and destructive. Yet nine years of living and acting together has also brought about ethical norms, a higher level of tolerance, and new kinds of “red lines” that must not be transgressed. According to my interviews and focus groups, many bloggers thought that when they started to write their blog, it would be a personal experience, like a diary. But as soon as they were discovered and their link was added to other blogs, and they began to have their own readers and to receive comments and emails, they could experience a new kind of presence in the virtual world, one that was related to the presence of the “others.” For many of them it was also a process of disclosure of the self in front of others. his experience brought about new consciousness about the self and more tolerance toward others. Who’s behind the blog? A weblog begins with a name and an address, sometimes based on the real name of the blogger and sometimes using a pseudonym. his name and Amir-Ebrahimi 339 address usually form the main identity of the blogger in the virtual space with which they are named, connected, referred, and linked. In many nonIranian weblogs, bloggers introduce themselves with their real identity. heir weblog is part of their social, cultural and even economic capital. In Iran, both because of the political situation and because of certain conventions and beliefs, there is an abundance of pseudonyms and fake identities, especially among women, youth and political and social bloggers. herefore, for many Iranian bloggers, weblog writing is not part of their cultural capital in the real world. In spite of this, some weblogs with fake identities and pseudonyms attain authority in the blogosphere. For instance, bloggers who in their real lives are ordinary employees, students, housewives, artists or journalists can become “famous” online, with many regular readers and links. he example of Zeitun (Olive) is relevant here. Zeitun, who has been writing her blog since 2002, is a presumably young woman living in a suburb of Tehran.37 She has a personal style of writing known in Weblogistan as the “Zeitun style” and consisting of multipart posts written in a casual but correct language. Despite the iltering of her blog in Iran, it has been classiied among the top forty best Iranian blogs for years.38 Nevertheless, she is one of the most “virtual” identities in Weblogistan, and has never agreed to participate in a focus group or even in a telephone interview. In one of my own focus groups, discussing the virtual identity of bloggers, I asked participants to provide their opinions about these unknown yet famous bloggers like Zeitun. he general feeling was more or less suspicious because none of these bloggers has even seen or talked to her. “She chats and sends email, she says that she was at this or that gathering, but nobody has ever heard her voice or seen her, so you don’t know who she is. Is she real? Is she a 25–26-year-old girl or a 40-year-old man? Nobody knows about her.” (Feminist-Activist bloggers in Focus group 2005) Despite this doubt cast on her identity, she remains one of the most serious and famous “authorities” of Weblogistan, with over a thousand readers per day. Typically, the identity of bloggers who use pseudonyms is not revealed publicly by others, as part of an accepted online ethic and due to the socio-cultural and political limitations in the Iranian blogosphere. hus, the pseudonym is generally accepted as an identity in Weblogistan and this is not by itself a source of mistrust, as long as there 340 Mediated Publics is some coherence in the blog and the constructed identity. However, over the past seven years of Weblogistan’s existence, the use of pseudonyms is rapidly decreasing, especially among some sociopolitical bloggers who seek to have more impact in the real world. But the trend of fake identities and pseudonyms remains, especially among youth and women who are writing about their personal life. The construction of self in the Iranian blogosphere In the process of the construction of the self in Weblogistan, three factors play an important role: daily writings, the existence of an archive, and permanent exposure to others’ opinions through the comment section. hese three factors can not only give individuals a broader conception of self but can also allow for the emergence of an entirely new self-narrative. he Italian writer Erri de Luca in his novel “Rez-de-Chaussée” gives an interesting perspective on the importance of writing in general and the process of self-discovery in particular: Every one of us has hidden multitudes within ourselves, even though, with the passage of time, we are drawn to transforming this multiplicity into a groundless individual. We are forced to remain individuals and have only one name to which we are accountable. herefore, we have habituated the diverse personalities within ourselves to silence. Writing helps us to rediscover them.39 his insight can be usefully applied to bloggers who are writing regularly. hrough these daily and ongoing narratives, bloggers discover new angles of their lives and personalities that had been unknown even to themselves. Shabah (Specter) is a middle-aged educated male whose frequent and active presence in virtual space has garnered him a wide readership, especially among young bloggers. Even though given his gender and age, Shabah can enjoy more freedoms than women and more stability than youth, he believes that blogging has changed him and that continuous interaction with his readers has released an inner “me” of which he was previously unaware: Amir-Ebrahimi 341 Virtual life is not entirely fulilling but it is an enjoyable life. Part of the personality is given a chance to appear without the presence of the body … even though, ultimately, a big part of the self comes out through writings and thoughts. With the passage of time, the virtual personality conforms to the real personality. his virtual life has had a spectacular efect on my real life. In fact, this real “me” is no longer the same real “me” as before. I am pleased with this virtual “me” and with the efect it has had on the real “me,” and I have all of you to thank. I want to say that the opportunity to reveal this virtual personality was made possible by this space. I have learned and grown a great deal in these past two years…. I sometimes don’t recognize myself…. It’s as if somebody else was breathing inside me. he one who was imprisoned in this body for years has now, because of your kind sting, been released. (Spectral narcissism, January 24, 2004: http://www.shabah.ir/ archives/000985.php) his trend of discovering new layers of self is especially important for Iranian women. Sayeh, “Shadow,” (a 32-year-old woman) considers that four years of writing in virtual space has helped her to discover the hidden and repressed parts of herself and to reveal them in physical space: My weblog has changed as I have changed. Some bloggers know from their irst post what they want to do with their blog, but I did not know. I entered into this unknown world without knowing where I was going. Under a fake identity, I showed in my weblog the parts of me which I would not reveal in public, the parts which were nostalgic, frank and emotional. hen I discovered that I like very much this part of me and I decided to develop it in myself. his part becomes then all of me, I don’t hide it anymore, and now everybody knows that Sayeh is Katy, even if the consequences are not always easy for me. Being a woman blogger in Iran disturbs many people and writing about what is not considered decent in the common sense is even more disturbing. (www.sayeh.nevesht.com) 342 Mediated Publics he continual availability and access to written records and archives gives the blogger an awareness of the fact that whatever one writes in one’s weblog can be referenced by others. he archives contain the whole history of the weblog, posts and comments. his new narration can provide a new social context for the blogger that is diferent from that of “real” life. hrough this archive, bloggers have the possibility of recording the history of their presence and their interaction with others in the blogosphere and to review it when necessary. his capability provides the new generation with the possibility of auto-revision and the chance to have a common and written history. he archive also helps the blogger to crystallize a new persona. In fact, to maintain consistency and coherence of character, the blogger must have more vigorous discipline of thought and articulation than is required in real spaces. Sometimes the virtual persona becomes so acknowledged, powerful and famous in the blogosphere that it gradually afects the “oline” life of the blogger. Osyan “Rebellion,” a young male blogger writing since 2002, said in one of my focus groups: At irst, you build a weblog, but then it is the weblog which manipulates you. Sometimes I think that I must stick to the personality that I am showing in my weblog. Not that I should maintain appearances, but that I must make it consistent. For example if I make a claim in my weblog to feminism, then I must live up to it in my real life. (Focus Group 2003) Finally, the comments section also plays an important role in the construction of self for the blogger. his is the space of “others,” where readers can enter and interact with the blogger and his or her writings. hese comments show the relection of the self in the other’s opinion and establish the position of the blogger in the blogosphere. Allowing others to express themselves in a space that is considered personal and private, reading and refusing to delete their opinions, critiques and reactions, all produce a new kind of social negotiation that can empower bloggers to see diferent facets of themselves through the opinions and interactions of others. My focus groups included a word association test. For bloggers who participated, the idea of the weblog was most oten associated with the Amir-Ebrahimi 343 word “mirror.” For many of them the weblog was a mirror into their souls, a place where they could represent and deine themselves according to their preferences and desires. But it was also a mirror in which they could see how others perceived them. his mirror has a double and contradictory efect on bloggers: it can increase their self-conidence or become very critical and disturbing. For women who in Islamic society have to conceal themselves and perform identities constantly, this virtual self-representation takes on added signiicance. heir weblog becomes a mirror in which they can reveal their “inner selves,” the part of their personality that they always hide in a moralistic Iranian society: Sometimes I forget who I am. hen I read my weblog and ind myself there, it calms me and I feel better. (Sara dar Ayeneh— Sara in the Mirror—female blogger http://www.ayene.org/ 2003) For men the meaning of “mirror” is diferent. As discussed above, Iranians in general do not reveal their private and personal lives in public, and ater the revolution they also learned to perform certain roles according to the situation. But in general, Iranian men do not have to perform as much as women in the Islamic context of decency; they have many rights that women do not have. Still, in their blogs they too can discover facets that have been hidden: For me “mirror” is the best description of the weblog. Because there, we look at our “self,” as we look in a mirror, seeing different angles, we can mime or perform as we want, we can see facets that we are not used to seeing. (Alpar—male blogger http://alpr.30morgh.org/) (Focus group 2003) Here lies the main diference between Iranian female and male bloggers. In the majority of interviews, male bloggers believed that the self-image presented in their weblogs was very similar to that of their real selves because they are less obliged to play predetermined roles in real life. For women, their virtual image is closer to their “inner self,” hidden mostly in public life under the pressure of Islamic conventions. he absence of the body and of face-to-face contact allows women more freedom to express themselves in virtual space, especially when they remain 344 Mediated Publics unknown and anonymous using a pseudonym. However, even writing with a pseudonym does not mean total freedom from the constraints of the judgment of a moral society. Sometimes the blogger’s identity is revealed publicly or among family, friends or colleagues. his can produce new sources of self-censorship and limitations that parallel the limitations of real physical space. Censorship and self-censorship in weblogs: A gender perspective Millions of people now disclose aspects of themselves, their personal lives and their intimate details in front of others each day via blogging, Facebook or YouTube. Iranians are not exempt from this trend. Cyberspace has diminished the oddity of personal narration in public, and people are now more used to reading about the lives of individuals in cyberspace, with all their transgressions from conventional images in Iran. his is why many young female bloggers, despite diverse attacks and pressure in both virtual and physical space from government, other bloggers, family or colleagues, choose to talk about themselves with greater transparency and to discuss controversial issues, such as sexuality, that are still considered taboo in Iranian society. Ater the years of Weblogistan’s existence, these revelations have brought about more tolerance online regarding female bloggers. However, this is not the same in “oline” society. To live safely in virtual and physical spaces in Iran and to be at the same time visible and outspoken, to dare to speak about their personal experiences, their sexual lives, or simply about their everyday lives as women in Iranian society, female bloggers must write indirectly and give little personal information that could be used against them, which allows them to trespass some of the moral boundaries of Iranian society.40 Emshaspandan (Farnaz Seii—http://farnaaz.org/) is a young feminist activist who has blogged since 2003 under her real name. She refuses to write anonymously because she believes that writing under a pseudonym adds another layer to her personality. She also believes that Iranian women should write more about themselves, arguing that virtual space is the only place where women can break down taboos and talk about their Amir-Ebrahimi 345 desires, their body and their femininity. However, even if this position is accepted as a new social trend in cyberspace, it can become very disturbing on a personal level: For me the weblog was a place to search for my “inner woman.” In Iran you should have many layers, just like an onion. I needed to rediscover what is inside me. I began my blog under my real name. At that time I had few readers and I could say what I wanted to say. hen when my readers increased and my blog became famous, it became diicult to talk about everything, especially because everybody at the oice and in my family knew my weblog and read it regularly. hus I had to stop talking about my personal life, and to eliminate an important part of “me” from my weblog. Since then my weblog has become more social and less personal. My “inner woman” became silenced again, a little bit like my “outer woman,” prisoner of rules and gossip in society. Now I have to choose between a pseudonym and rebellion. My choice would be the second one. I don’t want to censor myself anymore. (http://farnaaz.org/ focus group-2005) For Farnaz, her family and colleagues represent an intrusion into her virtual life, because she considers this a unilateral relationship: they learn information about her and use it in their relationships with her. She does not harbor these feelings toward other bloggers with whom she shares her secrets or toward other online readers who she does not know or see in everyday life. In Iran, the absence of body and identity are not suicient to completely avoid self-censorship. In fact, the spirit of gossip (what “others” can say) has a very powerful impact on the lives of Iranians. Many bloggers (male and female) who participated in this study recognized this as one of the most disturbing issues in cyberspace. For women, the permanent worry about what others can think or say, of how their public image as decent women could be destroyed in physical space because of their writing, appearances or behaviors online, keep women from freely expressing themselves. For Sayeh, this was a cause of self-censorship in her blog: 346 Mediated Publics When you know that other bloggers are reading your weblog, that’s ine, but when other people, for instance your colleagues or even your boss, read your weblog this is diferent. Because then the whole company knows everything about you and they comment on that. hat’s an unfair situation and it is really unfortunate. I have learned also that my aunts are reading my weblog, just to know more about me and what I am doing. hen they started to comment to others about my private life. So ater a while I chose to exclude important parts of my personal life from my weblog and to write mostly about social and public issues. (Sayeh http://sayeh.nevesht.org/—Focus group—2005) Danah Boyd argues that physical reality always afects the digital environment, even in democratic countries: “Cyberspace is not our utopian fantasy; many of the social constraints that frame physical reality are quickly seeping into the digital realm.”41 In Iran, ultimately, cultural, conventional and political repression produces almost the same type of limitations in virtual space. People are forced to respect political and conventional rules in cyberspace, especially when they are writing with their real names. In fact, there is an important cultural and gender bias in terms of what individuals can write in their blog that duplicates more or less the conventional redlines and the political ones. For instance, male bloggers tend to practice self-censorship in political matters, while women apply self-censorship in the areas of sex and sexuality (and even some social conventions) as well as in political matters. Since women are under more pressure to fulill their social roles in physical public spaces, in virtual space they are also more self-conscious about their roles as women than as citizens. hus, they tend to remain anonymous in order to freely express themselves. he ones who use their real names must accept some risks or contend with almost the same type of limitations and restrictions that they face in everyday real life. his situation is somewhat diferent in the Iranian diaspora, where female bloggers feel more freedom to express themselves without censorship and conventional limitations. For many female bloggers, the possibility of free expression is invaluable, and they are unwilling to abandon it easily. Honesty with oneself is an irreversible experience, even if there is a heavy price to pay. For Amir-Ebrahimi 347 some female bloggers who have experienced free expression and interaction, a return to the limitations of the real world is far more diicult than accepting the consequences of “being oneself ” in virtual space. Confronted with the pressures of family, colleagues or the government, some female bloggers have to abandon their primary weblog and start a new one with a pseudonym or a new address. Others accept the situation and consequences of their blogging and continue to write as before, because their experience in virtual space is too important to let it go. his weblog was supposed to be a window for unspoken words, for those things that I couldn’t or wouldn’t say, to write those unspoken words that can’t be uttered in front of “elders” because they judge against their own standards. Initially, when the writer of Carpe Diem was just a name, everything was really good. However, it gradually became more diicult. he temptation to see the rest of the names resulted in Ayda’s name slowly acquiring a particular face…. For a while, I didn’t like this. I didn’t want to have to censor myself in my own little world. However, I slowly got used to it. Not to censorship, no. But to being myself and to not think of people who judge me based on my writings when I write. (carpe diem—Ayda, February 24, 2004, translated by www.Badjens.com. his weblog does not exist anymore.) his was the last post by Ayda, one of the editors of the book, Weblogistan: he Crystal City, and a participant in my focus groups. Ater this post, written a year ater the focus group, she closed down her blog. I have heard she now has another blog, with another pseudonym and new readers. She still writes about “freedom”; but ater her previous experience, she has chosen to no longer reveal her identity on her blog. Conclusion With the end of the Iran–Iraq war in 1988, a transient public sphere has gradually emerged in Iran, which has paradoxically become permanent in its provisory aspect. his new public sphere that emerged with the new 348 Mediated Publics wave of newspaper publication and the expansion of new public spaces has been constantly subject to cycles of disappearance and reappearance due to the permanent confrontation between civil society and the Islamic state. Over the years, Iranians have learned how to live with this provisory situation. Since 2001, this transient public sphere has been partly transferred to and partly duplicated by cyberspace. Weblogistan has become a new public space for a middle-class urban population to practice selfexpression, to discuss issues and to form new ideas with a higher level of tolerance. In the virtual space of Weblogistan, new identities are formed, sometimes anonymously and sometimes under real names, creating new and diverse networks and communities. From these networks social actions have taken place that have had impacts on physical space. In the context of a fast-growing network in Weblogistan, which attracts new members from diverse backgrounds and situations daily, the Iranian government has increased its control and applies more and more sophisticated iltering to limit the expansion and power of Iranian cyberspace. Despite this control, cyberspace remains much less controllable than physical space. In Weblogistan, the government is challenged every day by talented youth and Internet users whose authority is maintained by their vast technological knowledge. Iranian youth have shown that they can defend themselves in this arena better than the government. Ater the contested reelection of Mahmood Ahmadinejad, despite very powerful iltering and censorship, and in the absence of independent journalists, Iranian protesters organized themselves for rallies through diverse virtual networks and through Weblogistan via anonymyzers and anti-ilters. hey immediately posted their videos on the Internet and news for the world to see. he number of Internet videos and news posts from the Iranian Green Movement made this movement one of the strongest virtual social movements in the world.42 he experience of many years of presence in cyberspace, blogging and inding new and diverse ways of self-expression, dialogue and constructing virtual communities, despite the state’s heavy iltering, prepared Iranian youth to circumvent new limitations on the Internet and to construct a new public and political sphere where “each Iranian is a media / each Iranian is a leader,”43 thinking about and deciding the future of the Green Movement. Amir-Ebrahimi 349 In its short life, Weblogistan has acquired various functions for Iranians and become a useful tool in the process of self-expression, the rediscovery of self, interactions with others, and the formation of new identities, communities and new social movements. Weblogistan has become the voice of women, youth, homosexuals, marginalized intellectuals, journalists, artists, politicians and even the expression of a new form of religiosity among religious youth that is much more personal and diferent from the state religion. Weblogistan has ofered them the best tools to question and to dismantle diverse political, religious and patriarchal authorities. Mild but permanent transgression of religious or sociocultural boundaries in Iranian society has opened up new perspectives for bloggers who can now experience another aspect of their being. Weblogistan is also one of the only public spaces in Iran where there is the possibility of hearing the discourses of women and youth, as well as cross-gender discussions. hese narratives reveal aspects of a society that were until now hidden under conventional appearances and revolutionary images and performances. Finally, Weblogistan is also a mirror for Iranian middle-class society to see itself in a “freer” public space, where diverse individuals, networks and communities can coexist, express themselves, debate and challenge diverse authorities. In Weblogistan, as in Iran, the majority of the population is under 30 years old. But in Weblogistan, younger bloggers can challenge their professors, parents, clerics and society; politicians and intellectuals are in direct contact with their public; educated women can work hard not only to change discriminatory Islamic laws, but also to challenge the patriarchal spirit and patterns of behavior in conventional society. Weblogistan in Iran is a laboratory for practicing democracy and for one day creating a permanent public sphere. 350 Mediated Publics Notes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. his study was part of a larger research project, “Authority and Public Spaces in Iran,” supported by the International Collaborative Research Grants Program (ICRG) of the Social Science Research Council’s Program on the Middle East & North Africa (2002–2004). Other members of the project working on diferent topics were: Guity Etemad (Iran), Azam Khatam (Iran), Modjtaba Sadria (Japan), and Uğur Komecoğlu (Turkey). My study on Iranian cyberspace is based on regular consultation of Iranian weblogs, personal interviews, and eight focus groups that I conducted with bloggers in Tehran between 2003 and 2006. Focus groups were conducted with diferent groups of youth between 20 and 30 years old. Two of the focus groups were preliminary, one was with editors and publishers of the book, “Weblogistan, the Crystal City” (Weblogistan, shahr-e shishehi 2003), which gathered posts from various weblogs, another focus group was organized with feminist bloggers, and four others were with ordinary bloggers. Focus groups were mostly organized around topics such as perception about self-expression, life in physical and virtual environments, questions of identity, interaction and relationship between two sexes, public and private lives, and freedom and censorship. his paper was initially written before the post-election events of 2009, therefore I did not refer to this very important period, which drastically changed the role of the Internet in Iran and made it much more political. Country Study: Internet Filtering in Iran 2004–2005, 5. Available at <www. opennetinitiative.net/iran>. “Internet Usage in the Middle East,” http://www.internetworldstats.com/ stats5.htm. (accessed 15 February 2010) Ministry of I.C.T. (Information and Communications Technology), Iran, 86, Salee par dastavaard” (2007/08: A year full of beneits), http://ict.gov.ir/newsdetail-fa-2536.html (accessed 15 November 2008). See http://www.globalpersian.com/salman/weblog.html. See <i.hoder.com>. See Performance in Everyday Life and the Rediscovery of the “Self ” in Iranian Weblogs. Bad Jens 7 (September 2004). http://www.badjens.com/ rediscovery.html. Also published in Medien & Zeit, Kommunikation in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, Jahrgang 21, Vienna, 4 / 2006 (23–31). Amir-Ebrahimi 351 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 352 Michael Craig Hillman, “An Autobiographical Voice: Forugh Farrokhzad,” in Women’s Autobiographies in Contemporary Iran, edited by Afsaneh Najmabadi (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990), 33–34. See Masserat Amir-Ebrahimi, “Transgression in Narration, the lives of Iranian women in cyberspace” in he Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies (JMEWS), special issue, sub-edited by Nikki R. Keddie, UCLA, Volume 4, No. 3, Fall 2008, 89–118. In the irst decades following the Islamic Revolution, the primary monitors of public spaces were the Islamic Guard Corps [Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami]. he youth branch of the Pasdaran [Basij] and their hardliner arms, such as Ansar-e Sarollah, also may intervene in public spaces. During the years of Khatami’s presidency (1997–2005), Pasdaran were combined with the police; and women entered the police corps in 1998. During this period, the street controls were reduced to a minimum. However, with the election of the conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to power (2005), Islamic regulation and street control have been widely reinstated, with a new name: “Guidance Patrol.” Nonetheless, today they have to bring the nature of their interventions up to date with youth’s and women’s new appearances and behavior in public spaces, which remain much more relaxed than they were at the beginning of the revolution. Chador is a long outer garment, open down the front, draped over a woman’s head and extending to her feet. he loose fabric is folded so as to conceal the woman’s body while keeping her face and hands exposed. Manteau is a loose-itting coat varying in length and thickness. Maqna’e is a fabric that is worn over a woman’s head to conceal her hair and that extends to her chest. Fitted around the hairline to frame the face, the fabric falls loosely from beneath the chin to the chest for the concealment of the neck and chest as well. “Muslims, Women and Islam: An Interview with Nilüfer Göle.” Public Broadcasting Service: Frontline. Original Airdate: 9 May 2002. Transcript available at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/ interviews/gole.html. See also Nilüfer Göle, “Islam in Public: New Visibilities and New Imaginaries,” Public Culture 14 (2002), 173–190. Azadeh Kian-hiébaut, “From Motherhood to Equal Rights Advocates: he Weakening of Patriarchal Order,” Iranian Studies 38 no. 1 (March 2005), Mediated Publics 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 46; and Jaleh Shaditalab, “Iranian Women: Rising Expectations,” Critique, Critical Middle Eastern Studies 14 no. 1 (Spring 2005), 35–55. Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi and Ali Mohammadi, Small Media, Big Revolution: Communication, Culture and the Iranian Revolution (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994). Amir-Ebrahimi “Conquering Enclosed Public Spaces,” in Cities: the International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, Elsevier, volume 23:6, (12, 2006), 455–461. Shahidi Hossein, “From Mission to Profession: Journalism in Iran, 1979– 2004,” Iranian Studies 39 no. 1 (March 2006), 3–4. Ibid. Etemaad Melli, like many other critical newspapers, was shut down a few weeks ater the contested reelection of Mahmood Ahmadinejad. Mohsen Rezai, like Ayatollah Mehdi Karubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi were rivals of Ahmadi Nejad in the 2009 presidential election. Ali Kordan, Ahmadinejad’s Interior Minister, pretended to have an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford. Further investigations have shown that he did not even have a bachelor’s degree. Ahmadinejad resisted discharging him until inally, Kordan was impeached by Parliament in November 2008. See also http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/ world/la-fg-iran5-2008nov05,0,1268397.story. See Mark Poster, “CyberDemocracy: Internet and the Public Sphere,” unpublished, 1995. Available at www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/writings/democ.html. Göle, “Islam in Public,” 176. Poster, “CyberDemocracy.” See Howard Rheingold, he Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier (Harper Perennial, 1993). Electronic edition accessed online at <www.rheingold.com/vc/book/intro.html>. In the post-election events of 2009, virtual communities such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, weblogs, and email list serves have played a very important role in informing, gathering and organizing protesters inside and outside Iran. Additionally, in the absence of independent or foreign journalists, young protesters posted hundreds of thousands of ilms and information sources on the Internet, creating what is known today as the Citizen-journalist. Amir-Ebrahimi 353 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. See http://www.iritn.com/?action=show&type=news&id=12187 or http:// www.wit.ir/hamayesh/detailnews.asp?id=915. Jordan Halevi (pen name), “he Iranian Weblog Research Project: Survey Results,” unpublished, 2006. Available at <persianimpediment.org>.NO; http://globalvoicesonline.org/2006/11/07/interview-with-jordan-halevi-acanadian-researcher-on-iranian-blogs. Hojjat ol Eslam Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Khatami’s vice president, has been blogging since 2003. He is known as one of the irst clerics and politicians to enter this sphere. Since that time, he has become one of the most famous and serious bloggers in Weblogistan. His blog is at <www.webneveshteha. com ok. See Masserat Amir-Ebrahimi, “Blogging from Qom, behind walls and veils” in he Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, 28.2–2008, 235–249. “Internet Filtering in Iran 2004–2005, 6. See <http://we-change.org> also see website “feminist school” madresehye feministi http://www.femschool.net/. See <www.meydaan.com>. For example, Afsaneh Norouzi, Kobra Rahmanpour and Nazanine Fathi were accused of the murder of their rapists; and a young mentally retarded girl, Leila Nekai, the victim of several rapes since she was eight years old, was arrested and condemned to death for prostitution. All these sentences have been suspended and the women have been released. Nazanine Fathi was assisted by Nazanin Afshar Jam (Miss World Canada 2003, a woman of Iranian origin) who collected, with the aid of Weblogistan, 350,000 signatures to call for her release. Sina Motalebi’s blog “Webgard” was erased ater his arrest. Ahmad Batebi (born 1977 in Shiraz, Iran) is an Iranian student who has been imprisoned since the Iranian student rally in July 1999. During the protests in the areas surrounding Tehran University, Batebi held up a bloodied shirt belonging to a fellow student who had been beaten by the Basij paramilitaries. he image spread quickly and ended up on the cover of he Economist magazine. Ater the publication in he Economist, Batebi was detained and sentenced to death on charges relating to “endangering national security” following a closed-door trial by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran. His death sentence was later commuted to a iteen-year prison 354 Mediated Publics 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. term by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. In 2007, while temporarily released from prison to receive medical attention, Batebi, assisted by his lawyer, escaped and led Iran for the United States where he was granted asylum. <http://www.kosoof.com/archive/363.php> and http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Batebi. To read more see: (http://www.legoish.com/google/003945.html). Akbar Ganji was a revolutionary guard at the beginning of the Islamic revolution, later he became an eminent pro-democracy journalist. He was jailed from 2001 to 2006 ater publishing a series of articles and books on the murder of dissident authors known as the Chain Murders of Iran. In 2005 he started a forty-day hunger strike, seeking unconditional release— a call backed by the U.S., the European Union and international human rights organizations. He was released from prison in March 2006 and now lives in the US. (For more information see http://www.pen.org/page.php/ prmID/423, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akbar_Ganji, http://news.bbc. co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4715439.stm). http://z8un.com/. http://webstats.motigo.com/catalogue/top1000?id=3789665&country=IR. (According to this Web site, on 25 November 2008, Zeitun was in 38th place among personal Web sites and weblogs.) Erri de Luca, Rez de chaussée, 1996—Quoted in Dariush Shayegan, Ex Occidente lux , F. Valiani (Persian trans.) (Tehran, Farzan, 2001), 133. [English translation by Bad Jens: he Iranian Feminist Newsletter (<www. badjens.com>). Masserat Amir-Ebrahimi,“Transgression in Narration, the Lives of Iranian Women in cyberspace,” in he Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies (JMEWS), special issue, sub-edited by Nikki R. Keddie, UCLA, Volume 4, No. 3, Fall 2008, 89–118. Danah Boyd, “Faceted Id/entity: Managing Representation in a Digital World,” MIT Media Lab, Master’s thesis, <http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/danah/thesis/thesis/introduction.html>. Date unknown. Just a few weeks ater these contestations began, BBC Persian and VOA Persian reported that they received over one million videos from rallies. Mir Hossein Moussavi’s slogan for his campaign. Amir-Ebrahimi 355 Resisting Publics