Who's the "we" in We are Iran?

• Author: Javanshir, Maryam
• Position: We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs - Book review

We are Iran: The Persian Blogs Nasrin Alavi (Brooklyn, New York: Skull Press, 2005), 365 pages.

Up until the recent enactment of a law in Iran which requires Iranians to register their personal websites and weblogs with the authorities, weblogs had given Iranian internet users the ability to write freely and anonymously on various topics including forbidden or taboo issues in Iran. (1) Waves of press crackdowns had galvanized many journalists into turning to alternative platforms for their opinions. Since Mohammed Khatami's election as president of the Islamic Republic in 1997, over a hundred publications have been closed down in the midst of a public confrontation between the reformist and conservative camps. (2) Likewise, ordinary people have filled websites and weblogs about their personal lives with various matters such as art, culture, music, photography and sports.

Whereas weblogs went largely unnoticed and their influence underestimated by the government for some years in their infant phase, the authorities seem to devote a good portion of their time now to the analysis and restriction of weblogs and to the intimidation of bloggers. Journalist Sina Motallebi, for instance, was arrested for "undermining national security" through cultural activities and the content of his blogs. (3) At the same time, the case of Motallebi demonstrates the massive influence of weblogs, as the Iranian "blogosphere" united to gain publicity and to collect signatures for an online petition soon after his arrest. According to journalist Mark Glaser, the blogger was released after only twenty-three days in prison. (4) Some analysts such as Glaser claim that it was at this moment that the Iranian government woke up to the movement of bloggers in Iran.

It is this cyberspace to which Nasrin Alavi addresses her book We Are Iran. For her, "the virtual meeting place" is the only realm that provides a unique environment for Iranians "to bypass many of the strict social codes imposed on them by the theocratic regime." (5) With weblogs as one of the main sources of reference, Alavi attempts to march through the dynamic and sparkling history of Iran in 365 pages, with emphasis on the last quarter of the 20th century. In eight chapters, the author engages the reader through covering issues such as the revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, women's movements and the media. Alavi correctly recognizes that for a comprehensive and accurate understanding of today's Iran, it is necessary to dig deep to the roots of events.

For instance, female activists such as Shirin Ebadi, Azam Teleghani or Fatemeh Haghighatjou--who fight for human rights, women's rights and struggle to change the system from within--are, according to Alavi, neither unique nor unprecedented in the history of the women's movement in Iran. Alavi cites a writing by William Morgan Shuster--an American lawyer who was best-known as the "Treasurer-General of Persia" and was appointed by the Iranian parliament in early 20th century to help manage its country's finances--about his exposure to the then vivid women's movement in Iran: "The Persian women since 1907 had become almost at a bound the most progressive, not to say radical, in the world.... In Tehran alone, twelve women's associations were involved in different...