March 14, 2009
By Golnaz EsfandiariFarid Hashemi’s latest “status update” on his Facebook page says a lot about his state of mind.
“It’s better to be born as a dog in a democracy than to be a human in a dictatorship,” he writes.
Twenty-eight-year-old Hashemi is a senior member of Iran’s largest pro-reform student group, Daftar Tahkim Vahdat, which is a regular target of pressure from the state.
He is also one of the thousands of Iranians who use Facebook to stay in touch with friends, share photos, and exchange views and information.
Iranian authorities blocked the popular social networking site in 2006 as “illegal.”
But in February, officials in Tehran took the surprising step of unblocking Facebook. Since then, the site’s Iranian membership has been growing fast. Facebook is now the 10th most popular website in Iran.
Update: Farid Pouya reminds me that last month, YouTube was also suddenly unblocked.
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