Zeyad has a good-sized report on the recent anti-terrorism demonstrations in Iraq in this post - Yesterday’s anti-terrorism demonstrations in Baghdad - Omar has a first-nad report (he participated in the demonstration) in this post - I was there. It is hard not to be optimistic when you see these people so enthusiastically jump into the process of taking control of their lives back into their own hands and freely express what they want.
I have read in many places where people fight over which Iraqis are the real truth-tellers - optimistic ones like Zeyad, Omar, Ays and Alaa, or seemingly pessimistic ones like Riverbend. I am not going to get into the debate - it is also very true that depending on your ideology and what you want or expect to happen in Iraq, you are going to like one side better than the other. I admit as a supporter of the war, I like what the optimistic Iraqi bloggers have to say, since they seem to be validating my contentions that ultimately the war to remove Saddam would be good for Iraq.
What is more interesting to me is a look at the demographics and see how the viewpoints differ based on that. The skeptical ones, both Salam Pax and Riverbend are younger (in their 20s) and had a lot more privileges before the war than arguably most other Iraqis. The new Iraqi bloggers on the other hand are mostly middle-aged, well-educated (some are dentists and others doctors) - they seem to have seen a lot more happening around them than the reactionary and easily-enraged young ones. This is what makes me listen to them so much more, as they seem to be wiser and more cool-headed. The older bloggers also concentrate more on fixing the broken than rail that something is not being fixed as soon as they would like it.
Of course, this is not to say this somehow invalidates the viewpoint of the younger bloggers - as a young woman, I can see how Riverbend could be fearful for her safety in the current chaos reigning in Baghdad, which might not be that obvious to the men, Zeyad, Omar, etc. Ultimately, one is not neccessarily more right than the other, just because you like what they have to say. I think it is better to be able to see all the viewpoints and try to understand them, so you get a better overall picture of what is going on in Iraq.
Posted by shanti at November 30, 2003 9:53 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.realwomenonline.com/scgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/2971
I am interested in the difference you suggest between older and younger bloggers and wonder to what extent a similar difference of opinion may be observed elsewhere. That said, I think the question of lost privileges may be the bigger factor. I find it hard to believe anyone could have had internet access in Ba’athist Iraq without being implicated in that regime.
Posted by: Ghost of a flea at December 4, 2003 10:17 AM
Ghost of a flea, I haven’t seen that much of a difference among American bloggers demographic-wise, since I think society in the West in general doesn’t conform to the “older = wiser” precept you tend to see in the Middle Eastern countries. It is not OK for an older person to act like a child in those societies, whereas “finding the inner child” is prized here in the West.
As for the privileges, I agree that it is easy to be bitter for things you lose and not see how the overall picture is better for those who led a good life under Saddam. I agree that these privileges might have come with some complicity in the regime, but will give them the benefit of doubt for now and say they might have been just Saddam’s grunts keeping their heads down and being good, but not doing anything unsavory.
Posted by: Shanti at December 4, 2003 11:19 AM