We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs

[democratic]

http://softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-933368-05-5

In September 2001, a young Iranian journalist named Hossein Derakhshan, created one of the very first weblogs in his native language of Farsi. In response to a request from a reader, he created a simple how-to-blog guide in Farsi. With the modest aim of giving other Iranians a voice, he wound up unleashing a torrent of opinion, the likes of which had never before been seen in the Islamic world.
There are now 64,000 blogs in Farsi, and Nasrin Alavi has been painstakingly reviewing them all. In so doing she has created a remarkable document of the efflorescence of dissent in Iran, a book that not only functions as an archive of what Iranians think of their country, their religion, their culture and the world around them, but also as an alternative recent history of Iran.

Theirs is not the Iran of bearded ayatollahs and thuggish militias, but a country that has educated itself to the point where it finds the Islamist fundamentalists antiquated and laughable, where adult literacy (and computer literacy) is higher than in many European states, and where 70% of the population is under 30 and keen to usher in a new Iran.

[Mythsaje]

1. I've been saying this for a long time...

There needs to be a thick line drawn between the people of Iran and the policies of their government. The one thing we cannot afford is to allow this administration to blind us to the end result of any military action against this nation--that thousands, if not millions, of innocent human beings will die unnecessarily because of the insane nuclear brinkmanship of ruling powers.

This kind of crap needs to stop.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. The government is getting worried about these folks

Sufis in Iran are being persecuted and called non-Muslims because the different Sufi orders around the world are in touch with one another. Mark my words, the violent reaction to the non-violent meeting of Sufis in Qom in support of their teacher was done by Iranian authorities because Sufis are tolerant and open to ideas.

[george_hurley]

3. ***SIGN MY PETITION: NO WAR WITH IRAN!****

Ok on the first posting of this I recieved far more signings from Freepers than anyone on DU. I hope this second time proves to be a bit less depressing.

For the past year, the growing tensions mounting between the US, Israel, and Iran are reaching a point where military action against Iran is w/in months of becoming reality. The repercussions are terrifying as such military action could involve countries such as China and Russia as they share massive energy/economic interests w/ Iran. The most likely scenario we would face would be the collapse of the US economy as the combination of a massive rise in oil prices and a run on the US dollar would surely be the weapon many countries would use to fight back against a preemptive US or Israeli strike.

For a collection of articles and resources on this subject you can visit this link: http://reseaudesign.com/research/iran/iran_summery.html

I'm starting up a petition which I will be sending out to as many members of Congress as possible. I'm asking for help to get this signed by as many people, possible in the next month. Send it to as many people you can.

http://www.petitiononline.com/n0war1rn /

Thanks for your time