Global Voices Online

Amazing things are happening in Iranian blogs these days. Now I'm seeing what I was expecting in terms of my third metaphor, blogs as cafes, where a unique, interactive space for public political debate has been created.

First example is about the behind the scenes of the reformist candidate's campaign which is, for the first time, being somehow revealed in some blogs. Javad Rouh and Ali Seyedabadi have separately written about a session in which reforest journalists were invited to meet and talk with campaign officials. Its' fascinating to see how the journalists had openly criticized the campaign and the candidate himself and how the campaign managers reacted to them. (According to Rouh, Mostafa Tajzadeh has been more receptive to the criticism than Ali Mazrooie.)

Second example is how about a dozen of independent weblogs, either journalist or regular people, have reported and discussed the situation of Azadi stadium after the extremely crowded and emotionally charged soccer game between Japan and Iran, which unfortunately, led to the death of a few people.

I can imagine how all of you, who can't read Persian, wish you could have.

(Cross-posted on Editor: Myself)