sf.gate, J. Curiel from a few days ago... For Iran's youth, Web sites have filled the void. Dolatshahi talks excitedly about http://www.hoder.com, a site based in Toronto (started by former Iranian journalist Hossein Derakhshan) that supports Web logs in which people write about any subject, including the protests. Other sites that have a following include http://www.dialogueproject.sais-jhu.edu, which was started by Iranian exile Azar Nafisi, an author ("Reading Lolita in Tehran") and professor at Johns Hopkins University; and http://www.iranian.com, created by Jahanshah Javid, a former journalist in Iran who now lives in Albany.
Javid's site features diaries, fiction, cultural articles and people's opinions, which lately have centered on the reform movement. Nafisi's site essentially lets students in Iran take classes from her. She has been surprised by the reach of her Web site; former students in Iran can stay in touch and read her critically acclaimed new memoir about her years teaching literature there.
"It has opened up areas of hope that had not existed before," Nafisi said.
Iran's students have widespread access to the Internet at their universities and colleges, though the government has tried to control the flow of information. On Wednesday, Iran's judiciary banned the Internet publication of material considered anti-regime or of a "depraved" nature, according to wire service reports.
NEXT SHOW :: Iranian Students Demand Democracy :: Tuesday, 6/24/03 10amPT/1pmET on 91.7 KALW or http://www.workingassetsradio.com
A wave of student protests in Iran has drawn support from the country's dissidents, as well as President Bush. But what are the grievances and interests of the young people in Iran's universities? How do they define freedom? And fifty years after a CIA-sponsored coup put the Shah in power, what do they think of the US?