Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Becoming Intellectual: The Blogestan and Public Political Space in the Islamic Republic

2007; Routledge; Volume: 34; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13530190701388291

1469-3542

Annabelle Sreberny, Gholam Khiabany,

Political theory and Gramsci

Abstract This chapter seeks to interrogate the possibility that the blogosphere is a significant space for a range of intellectual voices inside the Islamic Republic of Iran. The paper critiques naïve arguments that the blogosphere is totally oppositional by examining some of the religious discourses of ‘embedded intellectuals’. But it also critiques the idea that Iranian intellectual life must be examined solely through the prism of Islam. We explore how more critical voices have gravitated to the web in the absence of other sites for engagement with the regime. Using Gramsci's notion of oppositional intellectuals, coupled with Mouffe's argument about political space, we explore the emergent voices of women as well as the range of mundane economic issues being articulated through blogs and websites. Hence we suggest that Iranian virtual politics is quite robust, for the moment, even while under the censor's gaze. All men (sic) are intellectuals but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals (A. Gramsci, Prison Notebooks, 1971) Notes 1 Borujerdi, M. Iranian Intellectuals and the West: The Tormented Triumph of Nativism (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996); Dabashi, H. Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundation of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publisher, 2006); Gheissari, A. Iranian Intellectuals in the 20th Century (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998); Mirsepassi, A. Intellectual Discourse and the Politics of Modernization: Negotiating Modernity in Iran (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000); Tavakoli-Targhi, M. Refashioning Iran: Orientalism, Occidentalism and Historiography (New York: Palgrave, 2001); Vahdat, F. God and Juggernaut: Iran's Intellectual Encounter with Modernity (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2002). 2 Kamrava, M. The New Voices of Islam: Reforming Politics and Modernity (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006); Khosrokhavar, F. ‘The New Intellectuals in Iran’, Social Compass, 51(2) (2004a), pp. 191-202; Khosrokhavar, F. ‘The Islamic Revolution in Iran: Retrospect After a Quarter of a Century’, Thesis Eleven, 76 (2004b), pp. 70-84; Kurzman, C. ‘Critics Within: Islamic Scholars’ Protests Against the Islamic State in Iran', International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 15(2) (2001), pp. 341-359; Tabari, K. ‘The Rule of Law and the Politics of Reform in Post-Revolutionary Iran’, International Sociology, 18(1) (2003), pp. 96-113; Sadri, A. ‘The Varieties of Religious Reform: Public Intelligentsia in Iran’, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 15(2) (2001), pp. 271-282. 3 Ghamari-Tabrizi, B. Islam and Dissent in Post-revolutionary Iran: The Religious Politics of Abdolkarim Soroush (London: I.B.Tauris, 2000); Mir-Hosseini, Z, and R, Tapper, Islam and Democracy in Iran: Eshkevari and the Quest for Reform (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006). 4 Gramsci, A. Selections from the Prison Notebooks (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1971), p. 10. 5 Garnham, N, ‘The Media and Narratives of the Intellectual’, Media, Culture and Society, 17 (1995), p. 360. 6 Alavi, N. We are Iran (Washington: Soft Skull Press, 2005). 7 Jacoby, R. The Last Intellectuals (New York: Basic Books, 1989). 8 Castells, M. The Rise of the Network Society (Second Edition). (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 2000). 9 Kellner, D. ‘Intellectuals and New Technologies’, Media, Culture and Society, 17 (1995), pp. 427-448. 10 Eisenstein, E. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979). 11 Benjamin, W. Illuminations (New York: Schocken Books, 1968). 12 Brecht, B. ‘Radio as a Means of Communication: A Talk on the Function of Radio’, Screen, 20(3/4) (1979), p. 25. 13 Alizadeh, P. Iran's Economy: Dilemma of an Islamic State (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003); Karshenas, M. Oil, State, and Industrialization in Iran (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990); Foran, J. and Goodwin, J. ‘Revolutionary outcomes in Iran and Nicaragua: Coalition Fragmentation, War, and the Limits of Social Transformation’, Theory and Society, 22(2) (1993), pp. 209-247. 14 Bayat, A. Workers & Revolution in Iran (London: Zed, 1987). 15 Bayat, A. Workers & Revolution in Iran (London: Zed, 1987) 16 This is rather in contrast to US/UK where the ‘democracy deficit’ means less than half the population participating in the formal politics of elections. 17 Garnham, N. ‘The Media and Narratives of the Intellectual’, Media, Culture and Society, 17 (1995), p. 376. 18 Mouffe, C. On the Political (London: Routledge, 2005), p. 18. 19 See Middle East Internet Users, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm#me 20 http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2007/02/070209_oh_internet_itc.shtml 21 Opennet Initiative, Internet Filtering in Iran 2004-2005 (www.opennetinitiative.net.iran,2005). 22 http://www.globalpersian.com/salman/weblog.html 23 http://www.blogherald.com/2005/10/10/the-blog-herald-blog-count-october-2005/ 24 Undoubtedly this is a remarkable figure but it is not clear (as is the case with all remarkable figures about online media) how the numbers are calculated. The figures refer to total blog numbers and not active blog numbers, which are estimated to be between 40,000 and 110,000. 25 Khiabany, G. and Sreberny, A. ‘Internet in Iran: The Battle over an Emerging Public Sphere’, in M. Mclelland and G. Goggin (eds) Internationalising Internet Studies: Beyond Anglophone Paradigms (New York: Routledge, Forthcoming). 26 Khiabany, G. and Sreberny, A. ‘The Iranian Press and Continuing Struggle over Civil Society 1998-2000’, Gazette, 63(2/3) (2001), pp. 203-223. 27 Lerner, D, (1958) The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East (New York: Free Press, 1958), p.363. 28 http://www.radiozamaneh.org/nilgoon/2007/02/post_39.html 29 http://www.nilgoon.org/pdfs/dustdar_roshanfekri_piramooni.pdf 30 http://www.radiozamaneh.org/nilgoon/2007/02/post_38.html 31 Dirlik, A,‘Global Modernity? Modernity in an age of Global Capitalism’, European Journal of Social Theory , 6(3) (2003), pp. 275-292. 32 The article is entitled ‘Public Intellectuals and Persian Language’ and posted on http://www.radiozamaneh.org/nilgoon/2007/02/post_41.html 33 See http://www.samandehi.ir/help.php for the Ministry's Guide to how to register only in Persian 34 A blogger from Iran who after his release from prison moved to the United States and continues blogging in his weblog Iran Prospect: http://omidmemarian.blogspot.com/ 35 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/6252737.stm 36 http://weblog.parastood.ir/ In March 2006 She launched her blog in English calling it Remains of the Day: ‘I just want to give it a try and write a weblog in English; that is, after 4 years of keeping one in Persian—and feeling great about it. Here you can find my notes on almost everything: daily life, movies, books, as well as my views on social and political issues. The name of the blog comes from a book written by Kazuo Ishiguro, a well-known British–Japanese author. It's simply what I'd be doing: writing every night about what remains of the day. I love the book and its great translation into Persian by Najaf Daryabandari. By the way I gotta work more on my writing. Do encourage me please! 37 http://kamangir.wordpress.com/2007/01/01/a-law-not-even-obeyed-by-the-president/ 38 http://www.khorshidkhanoom.com/archives/2007_01.php 39 http://femirani.com/weblog/?p = 138 40 See Khiabany and Sreberny, 2007, CCESSME 41 http://cobraweblog.blogspot.com/ 42 http://www.osyan.net/2007/01/post_900.php 43 http://etravelog.blogfa.com/post-227.aspx 44 http://www.manionline.org/1385/10/14/yalda-and-censorship/ 45 http://rozmaregi.blogfa.com/post-130.aspx 46 http://www.cloob.com/ 47 http://www.persianpetition.com/sign.aspx?id = dd937e14-aebf-4ee5-9335-6f6af724282d 48 http://eistgah.blogfa.com/post-172.aspx 49 For a full responses to new law see http://www.iranianpep.com/2007/01/samandehi_links.html 50 http://nikick.blogspot.com/ We would like to thank Nikahang Kowsar for permission to print this cartoon. 51 Khiabany, G. and Sreberny, A. ‘The Politics of/in Blogging in Iran’, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 27(3) (2007). 52 Khiabany, G. and Sreberny, A. ‘The Women's Press in Contemporary Iran: Engendering the Public Sphere’, in Naomi Sakr (ed.) Women and Media in the Middle East (London: I.B. Tauris, 2004), pp. 15–38. 53 http://herlandmag.com/weblog/06/03/ 54 http://www.meydaan.com/aboutus.aspx 55 Notably depicted in Jafar Panahi's film Offside. 56 http://www.meydaan.com/campaign.aspx?cid = 45&pid = 0 57 http://www.iftribune.com/ 58 http://www.womeniniran.com/ 59 http://irwomen.net/ 60 www.herlandmag.com 61 http://sibestaan.malakut.org/archives/2004/09/post_166.shtml 62 http://www.womeniniran.net/ 63 http://ashouri.malakut.org/ archives/2004/10/post_3.shtml 64 Alavi, N. We are Iran . 65 http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2005/08/050802_mj-mkhalaji-internet-qom.shtml 66 Ahmadinejad has also joined the long list of officials with their own blogs: http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/ 67 CNN, 1997, ‘Islam, Iran and the Internet’, www.cnn.com/WORLD/9705/22/iran.teh. 68 Rahimi, 2003, ‘Cyberdissent: the Internet in revolutionary Iran’, Middle East Review of International Affairs, 7(3), pp. 101–115. 69 Ayatollahs with their own sites include Ali Khamene'i, Javadi Amoli, Musavi Ardebili, Safi Golpayegani, Fazel Lankarani and Mesbah Yazdi. Among sites presenting seminaries and religious institutions there are http://www.hawza.net; http://www.balagh.net; http://www.j-alzahra.org. 70 http://www.diniblog.parsiblog.com/ 71 http://saeed623.persianblog.com/ 72 http://www.menbar.persianblog.com/ 73 http://www.quranblog.org/ 74 http://www.velayatefaghih.parsiblog.com/ 75 http://shiashenasi.parsiblog.com/ 76 http://hamedtalebi.blogfa.com/ 77 http://www.muslimbloggers.ir/ 78 http://www.webneveshteha.com/ 79 http://www.webneveshteha.com/media.asp?id = 2146308279 80 http://mohajerani.maktuob.net/ 81 http://kadivar.maktuob.net/ 82 http://www.drsoroush.com/index.htm 83 Afshin Matin-Asghari, ‘The Rise of Modern Subjectivity in Iran,’ Critique, 14.(3) (2005), pp. 333-337. 84 http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/10/31/hugo-chavez-in-the-iranian-left-wing-blogs/ 85 http://www.newleft.blogfa.com/post-56.aspx 86 http://naslefarda.blogfa.com/post-122.aspx 87 http://havari.blogfa.com/post-25.aspx 88 http://www.kaargar.blogfa.com/ 89 http://www.takravi.blogfa.com/post-26.aspx 90 http://khak82.blogfa.com/ 91 See for example Coordinating Committee To Form Workers’ Organisation (http://www.komiteyehamahangi.com/index.htm); Iranian Teacher Association-Tehran (http://www.ksmt.blogfa.com/); National Union of Sacked and Jobless Workers (http://www.ettehade.com/); Workers Action Committee (http://www.kargari.blogfa.com/); and Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed) (http://www.syndicavahed.com/) 92 http://www.kosoof.com/ 93 http://www.webneveshteha.com/media.asp?id = 2146308279