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 Two days ago we dealt with censorship around the world and we concentrated our analysis on those countries that, according to a report by OpenNet Initiative, turned out to be particularly harsh when applying Internet filtering programs.
Specifically, as stated by official –but also unofficial- sources, Iran seems to be the highest-ranking country for suppression of cyber-dissidents, thanks to one of the most technologically sophisticated censorship systems in the world..
That’s why we couldn’t do without being surprised when we read about the Iranian President Ahmadinejad who has opened his own blog .
But even more surprised should have been all the Iranian government dissenters who tried –unsuccessfully- to spread out political communications via the Internet.
Ahmadinejad.ir is a colourful website, available in Farsi, Arabic, English and French. It is structured in various sections where it is possible to read President’s biography, view his photo-gallery, submit votes to polls, and write him e-mails.
The launch of the presidential blog was reported on state TV, which urged users to send in messages to the president and invited them to express their opinion by voting yes or no to the poll "Do you think that the US and Israeli intention and goal by attacking Lebanon is pulling the trigger for another world war?"
(Still while writing this article, ”No” got 72%, and “Yes” got just 28%).  
The main section, however, is the one where President Ahmadinejad deals with his memories : there, the son of "a hard-bitten toiler blacksmith" -as he defines himself- describes the origins of his aversion against the "Great Satan USA", and looking back at recent history, he gives his personal interpretation of Iranian past, starting from the clumsiness of the Shah - a “puppet, named Mohammad Reza”- and getting to the admirable leader of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and to the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, seen as an "aggressor, intoxicated with power".
The political message conveyed in the blog is undoubtedly part of a wider strategy implemented by Iranian government that aims to reach the whole electorate by exploiting any communication mean. Indeed, after the Islamic revolution, a huge percentage of young people got keen on the Internet.
But according to Iranian bloggers, this cyber-oriented approach doesn’t seem to be given by an enlightened plan for a new Iranian openness toward the rest of the world: it is just one more step in government’s political program.
Actually, the publication of Ahmadinejad.ir could represent further more than a desire for publicity: in a country where each form of communication –online and offline- is under government’s control, this initiative could sound as a provocation, a nonsense.
Indeed we cannot forget that this catchy propaganda through the Internet, which is the symbol of free information, has been set up by a restrictive government that usually represses any form of political opposition.
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 |   woow Written by Guest on 2006-08-25 17:21:43
 Re: woow Written by Guest on 2006-08-28 22:28:22
Iran Written by Guest on 2006-08-29 20:41:26
Re: Iran Written by Guest on 2006-09-05 22:56:13
Re: woow Written by Guest on 2007-12-24 10:46:17 |
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