THE POWER OF BLOGS
Iran recently arrested 2 bloggers, Mr Motjaba Saminejad and Mr Arash Sigarchi for aiding countrer-revolutionaries and spying (basically they were criticising the regime).
In response, the Committe to Protect Bloggers (yes it does exist) called for a "day of action" by bloggers.
Oooh I bet the Iranian authorities were scared! The prospect of thousands of nerds across the world sitting in front of their computers and doing nothing except setting the heading for Tuesday as "Free Motjaba Saminejad and Arasha Sigarchi" must have terrified them.
Imagine the scene. It's a meeting of the Government. President Hojjat ol-Eslam val-Moslemin Hajj Seyyed Mohammad Khatami (crazy name, crazy guy) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are getting a run down of the days agenda. Iraq is imploding on their doorstep and at the same time setting a dangerous (for Iran) precedent of democracy in the Middle East. Europe and America are demanding Iran gives up its nuclear ambitions (Europe using bribery and America using not-very-thinly veiled threats of imminent invasion), Israel appears to be adging towards peace with the Palestinians, possibly creating a secure Israeli state, probably nuclear armed but certainly funded by the US, within striking distance of Iran. Then suddenly an aide run in...
"Hold everything! New agenda. Item 1. Bloggers are holding a day of action against us!"
Hmmmmm. Grow up fellow bloggers. We're just people writing drivel and rehashing other news stories. If i want real news and comment I'll read a paper. The only people who care about blogs are other bloggers.
My advice to you, if you live in a harsh and intolerant regime, is DON'T BLOG! You'll be arrested, possibly tortured and very likely imprisoned, and there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it.
To prove the point, Iran promptly sentenced Arash Sigarchi to 14 years in jail.
Clearly they were quaking in their boots!
If you're going to hold a day of action go and burn down a couple of Iranian embassies. They'll notice that. Holding a "cyber-protest" in the "blogosphere" isn't going to do a damn thing I'm afraid, no matter how many get involved.
