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Appendice Due Intervista ad Ahmed di Saudi Jeans |
APPENDICE 2 Intervista
ad Ahmed di
Saudi Jeans Nell’Ottobre 2006 ho contattato per e-mail il blogger saudita Ahmed, autore di Saudi Jeans, uno dei blog più conosciuti in Arabia Saudita e nel mondo arabo. L’intervista che segue fornisce una lettura del fenomeno dei blog in Medio Oriente attraverso lo sguardo di uno dei suoi protagonisti. D: I followed the debate on your
blog about the difference between Arab blogs written in Arabic and those
written in English. I also saw that in your Saudiblogs.org blog-aggregator
there are now many Arabic language blogs.
After almost two years are you still of the same opinion that Arabic
and English language blogs represent two separate and incommunicable
realities? R: The Arab blogosphere has grown and changed over
the last two years since I wrote that post. One of the benefits of this
growth is that users have become more blog-savvy and realized the importance
of linking and communicating with each other, regardless of the language they
are using. I won't say the divide has completely disappeared, but it has
surely diminished, little by little, day after day. The development of fully
Arabic blogging tools has something to do with this, as well as the rise of
blogging portals and aggregators such as itoot.net and saudiblogs.org.
However, I think one of my arguments still alive till today: blogs written in
Arabic have a more conservative theme, while those written in English are
almost strictly liberal. D: Since 2002 many countries in the
Arab and Muslim world have developed different blogospheres and several blog
communities have appeared, for example in your country or in Bahrain, where
the bloggers were united in their anti-censorship
and ‘Ali liberation’ campaigns. What do you think about contact between bloggers from different Arab countries? Do you think
there is working Arab-world communication beyond the single communities of
the different areas? If not, why do you think that is so? R: I think that 'social networking' is one of
the most important aspects of blogging, and Arab bloggers
from all over the region and different parts of the world use their blogs to
communicate and discuss issues of common interest, and this is something that
was never available in the past. It is true that there are many different
blogospheres in different parts of the Arab world, but these blogospheres are
not some kind of isolated islands. Arab bloggers
read, link to, and support each other in the times of crises, such as
censorship or the recent war in Lebanon. D: In countries like Iran or
Egypt, bloggers’ voices began to be heard, and
governments responded to this new means of expressing political dissent with
censorship, or worse, by putting bloggers into
jail, as in Iran. In Saudi Arabia the
government has also reacted with censorship and with other means of
controlling the spread of blogs. What kind of social, cultural or political
impact do you think blogs have had in your country? Can you tell me how much
the Saudi population knows about blogging and what they think about it? R: Before going into what effects blogs have
had in Saudi Arabia, we need to mention some facts: although Saudi Arabia has
largest number of internet users in the Arab World, only 10% of its
population (around 25mn) use the internet. Out of this 10%, I would be
optimistic to say only one-tenth of those know what a blog is. And since
blogging kicked off in this country only two years ago, I think it is still
early to talk about the impact of blogs on different issues here. However, if
blogging keep on growing in the same rate of today, I believe blogging could
play a role in changing the status quo in Saudi Arabia on many levels. D: What is your opinion about the
religious strand of blogs? Do you think blogs are written by both ‘moderate’
and ‘radical’ Muslims? Which type has more impact on the other bloggers? R: Just like any other kind of blogs: some of
them are good, some of them are not. They are written by all kinds Muslims:
extremists, progressive, and by those in the middle. It hard to detect which
type has more impact, but due to the fact that Arabs are emotional rather
than rational, extremists who play on the emotions of people tend to attract
more readership. This is a sad thing, but I believe it is true. D: Iranian blogs are today the
most known and discussed of all Middle Eastern blogs. With its 100.000 blogs
Iran can be considered the hugest and most active blogging phenomenon in the
area. Could you make a comparison between the Saudi or Gulf blogospheres and
the Iranian? Do you see many differences between them? Do you see any contact
or similarity between them? R: I don't read Persian, and therefore I don't
think any comparison I can make between Arab and Iranian blogs would be fair
and accurate. The major similarity between the two blogospheres is that they
are both flourishing in countries where freedom of _expression is very
limited of non-existent, and this is giving people a way to speak out in way
that is unprecedent. |
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