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We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs Paperback – Illustrated, November 28, 2005

by Nasrin Alavi (Author)

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In September 2001, a young Iranian journalist, Hossein Derakhshan, created one of the first weblogs in Farsi. When he also devised a simple how-to-blog guide for Iranians, it unleashed a torrent of hitherto unheard opinions. There are now 64,000 blogs in Farsi, and Nasrin Alavi has painstakingly reviewed them all, weaving the most powerful and provocative into a striking picture of the flowering of dissent in Iran. From one blogger’s blasting of the Supreme Leader as a “pimp” to another’s mourning for an identity crushed by the stifling protection of her male relatives, this collection functions not only as an archive of Iranians’ thoughts on their country, culture, religion, and the rest of the world, but also as an alternative recent history of Iran. Government crackdowns may soon still these voices — in February 2005, one blogger was sentenced to 14 years in jail — and We Are Iran may serve as the only serious record of their existence.

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Product details

Publisher : Soft Skull Press; Illustrated edition (November 28, 2005)
Language : English
Paperback : 384 pages
ISBN-10 : 1933368055
ISBN-13 : 978-1933368054
Item Weight : 1.17 pounds
Dimensions : 6 x 0.83 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,898,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,511 in Censorship & Politics

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21 ratings

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Lora F.

We Are Iran is Awesome

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2007

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This book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys getting the in-depth story from the actual people who are living it, rather than the politicized, over-simplified version that you get from the mainstream media. If you've ever asked yourself, "what is up with Iran?!" this is the book for you. Ms. Alavi risks her life in publishing it, as do the bloggers. It's a testimony to the extraordinary value of free speech that we who have it must never forget to appreciate. This book contains excerpts from blogs written by Iranians. Ms. Alavi intersperses the blogs with historical, cultural, and statistical information about Iran (and Persia). It's fascinating, easy to read, eye-opening, encouraging, and very well-written. It's the kind of book that students in Iranian studies classes should be reading.

13 people found this helpful

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Peyman ADL DOUSTI HAGH

In the Name of Iran

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2007

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It is a tale of youth in Iran how they are connecting with the outside of the world and the regime in Iran wanted them to follow Islamic doctrine and not to follow Western values but the youths were not interested in the regime's value but they want to be close to the West.

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Azadar Shah

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2016

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Where freedom of speech is a lifeline to hope and -G.d knows- a ladder to a desirable future

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Caesar Warrington

The Iranian Rarely Seen

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2007

I love this book's cover. The frontcover's bottom half features a photo of two young Iranian women, presumably out for the evening, meeting up with other friends. I like the photo because it presents (contrary to what certain elements in our government, our media, or our Israeli allies want Americans to believe) Iranians as people who share the same habits and activities as much as the rest of the world. It is an image of the smiling pretty faces of women, not the grim and bearded ones of clerics and fanatics, which too often come into our minds when we hear the name "Iran." It is an image most befitting a book about the thousands of young Iranians who've dedicated themselves to circulating news and information from throughout the world, as well as their own thoughts and opinions -- despite the constant pressures of harassment and punishment.

Nasrin Alavi begins with a brief look at journalist Hossein Derakhshan who started one of the very first Persian language blogs back in 2001. In response to a reader's request, he created a do-it-yourself guide to blogging. Derakhshan's simple guide would create a phenomenon. By 2003, there were over 64,000 Persian language blogs, with Persian now the fourth most common language on the internet!

While certainly some of the Persian blogs are in line with the Islamic Republic's ideology, the overwhelming majority were started in reponse to the regime's clampdown on print journalism. Most Iranian youth (70% of Iran's population is under 30 years old) have utilized the blog format not only to voice anger and frustration over their government and its philosophies, but also for the opportunity to discuss quite a variety of things: String Theory, Czech writer Milan Kundera, Iranian pre-Islamic history and religion, the latest in both western and Iranian film and music, etc. Actual blog transcripts and their addresses pepper the book and show an Iranian youth population which seems to be more mature, thoughtful and educated than many of their American counterparts.

WE ARE IRAN provides us with a momentary glimpse of the struggle of the Post-Revolution generation to democratize their country. The cost for them can be high. The Iranian government has made closing down blogs a major priority. Recently, a blogger was sentenced to prison for 14 years.
Technology helped bring about the Islamic Revolution, Khomeini's sermons and speeches were circulated amongst the people through cassette tapes. Hopefully, technology will also bring about it's demise.

7 people found this helpful

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Leila

Hopeful Iran

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2005

I bought this book last week to read over the holidays. I know it sounds like a cliché but I really could not put it down. The intimates poignant flowery Persian voices will make you laugh and cry. As you read you will come across a spectrum of views and a hopeful and promising Iran will come alive on the pages.

If you are not Iranian and you are interested in Iran it will be an eye opener about a society in flower. This is all I wanted to say, but I have come a across a review here that I am forced to respond to.

I know that the Iranian government is trying to close down these blogs and has imprisoned many bloggers. Just as it has closed down hundreds of newspapers and imprisoned many journalists. Even on Amazon some reviewer (who has evidently not read it) has referred to them as group living in "La-la land". Why are the supporters of the Iranian regime so scared of the truth? No, Iran's youth don't live in "La-la land" but in Iran so get used to that. I was so moved by some of the writing that I sent out several emails and they were real enough to respond. This book is also not about the affluent youth of North Tehran. Read it and you'll be taken aback as I was. Trust me the affluent kids like you or I have either left Iran or have other ways of occupying themselves. I am at least able to admit that I do not have the courage of these bloggers and fearful of reprisals will not be putting my real name on this Amazon review.

Just look at the bloggers like Mojtaba Saminejad recently arrested they are mostly educated kids from traditional working class families, whose mothers wear chadors. I'm sure while Mojtaba is in jail his mother brews tea on a traditional Samovar instead of sipping cappuccinos. Who would have guessed it 27 years ago that the children of radical revolutionaries, would have turned out to be the most educated and liberal youth in the Middle East today. These are the voices of the children of that revolution who have experienced the reality of living under such a regimes and now want reform and change. I hope that one day I will be able to look back at these blogs as a distant moving memory, as we do today at the diaries of Anne Frank.

10 people found this helpful

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Joseph Devine

Fantastic, dynamic, moving and informative

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2011

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This is a fantastic book. This is also the fifth Iran-related book I have read in the last six months and it is the hardest to put down. Its constant use of many different blogs, from so many different perspectives, with so many different stories of life through contemporary and recent Iranian history, make the book flow so freely and fluidly from one topic to the next, breaks up the deluge of cultural and political information into something that is almost conversational in tone, which certainly make it a lot easier to take in as there is a huge amount on offer here. It is so deep, mixing historical facts and reporting with poetic stories, family life anecdotes and cultural background.
I am usually a slow reader but found myself reading a hundred pages of this a day. Inspiring!

PS - It is a very good book to read after Michael Axworthy's 'Iran: Empire of the Mind' which lays out the foundation of Iran's wider history very well, right up to the point where this book goes into huge detail about more recent events in the country. I would also recommend the 'Fox and the Paradox' by Hamid Dabashi for further reading about The Green Movement.

4 people found this helpful

mrs s blackburn

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2017

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Eye opener

2 people found this helpful

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We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs Paperback – Illustrated, November 28, 2005

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