Leading the way
: Iranian blogging pioneer Hossein Derakshan lists what he’s working on.
He plans to get mid-70s diaries of Iranians online so today’s generation can see that back then, Iranians had social freedom and economic well-being. Today, he says, “they have low expectations and as a result no will or effort to change the status quo, and thus, the political apathy.”
He wants to cross-translate American and Persian blogs to show how much we do have in common. I’m so eager to see this happen.
He wants to start an Iranian/Israeli project: “In an article in Persian, a few months ago, I explained why in the long-run Iran and Israel could — and perhaps should — be the best allies in the Arab-dominated region of middle east. Now to back it up, Given the total lack of information that the two side have about one another — especially Iranians about Israelis, I’ll to try to find some Iranian-Israelis who can blog in Persian from Israel about their ordinary lives and observations.”
He is putting together wiki-powered textbooks for Iranian high school students: “Those books can later be printed and used by parents, who do not agree with the content of the official ministry of education textbooks, as alternatives in a couple of sensitive subjects such as History, Social Studies, etc.”
And he wants to offer blogging awards to encourage the best of Iranian blogging and also promote photo blogs.
This is a man who brought weblogs to his country and they are helping to change his country. It’s just a beginning.
