yes ,its me - Face in the Iraqi youth -in Washington post

Tweet

The bloggers: Hayder Hamzoz & Dina Najem
Building a virtual revolution

By Dan Zak, Saturday, November 26


BAGHDAD — Blog by blog and tweet by tweet, tech-savvy Iraqis are trying to reproduce the revolutions of the Arab Spring on a subtler, more incremental level: by encouraging activism, reporting news, holding officials accountable and creating a broadband society that is not beholden to checkpoints, car bombs and other obstacles in the non-virtual world of Iraq.

"I believe Libya had success because they had social media to help their revolution - we didn't," said a 23-year-old blogger and activist who goes by the name Hayder Hamzoz. "We didn't have enough connectivity to the outside world in 2003."

Hayder Hamzoz is one of the forces behind the blog Iraqi Streets, which has 30 regular contributors and aims to promote activism and social media while teaching young people how to leverage both. Last month, he and a fellow blogger who goes by Dina Najem, 22, sat in a cafe in Baghdad, having just returned from a social-media conference in Beirut.

The U.S. invasion opened Iraq to the free societies of the outside world, Hamzoz and Najem said, but it also installed a hamstrung political system that has obstructed the path to emulating those societies.

The number of Facebook users in the country has more than doubled since February, according to the social media statistics portal Socialbakers, but the Iraqi parliament is considering an "Informatics Crimes Law" that would, according to the British human rights organization Article 19, "significantly undermine the right to freedom of expression and freedom of information in the country" and impose "severe custodial and financial penalties on 'whoever violates principles, religious, moral, family, or social values . . . through information networks or computers.' "

"The government of Iraq is following the same theories of the former regime but in different manners," said Najem, who trains women how to use the Internet and social media through the nonprofit Iraqi al-Amal Association.

Najem, Hamzoz and their fellow bloggers are focused on the basics right now: preparing a safety and privacy guide for activists, using Twitter to amplify dispatches from hard-to-reach protests, transmitting media from closed social sites (such as Facebook) to publicly searchable platforms (such as Google), and helping provincial council members start Facebook pages to engage with young constituents.

The next challenge is to "turn these online activities into action in the streets," Hamzoz said. "But we don't have a future yet, just the present. So we do what we can now, with these tools."

Attack aginst the Iraqi Activist Hayder Hamzoz

By: Mustafa Saad
Translation BY :- Wameeth Al-kassab

In a repeating case of attacks on civil activists ,journalists , reporters ,and press freedom in Iraq ,another attack took place today , freedom of speech is not protected by the press freedom law that had been issued by the Iraqi journalists league that received governmental support ,they along with several organizations in Iraq including the media protection center and the center to protect press freedom and anther many press and media protecting institute all who had no effective role in protecting the free voices in Iraq against the oppressive power of violence to silence the free voices of press and media
For the 2nd time the Iraqi civil activists hayder hamzoz was attack and beaten in tahrir square on the bab alsharqy distract in Baghdad, Iraq as he was covering civilian peaceful demonstrations each Friday
For those who donot know tahrir square it is a majore sequare and park in the center of Baghdad city where for the past few months Iraqi people gather there every Friday since last February to demonstrate for their legal rights for better life and services as electricity, water and fuel ,also many prisoners and détentes families came to ask for their relatives fats and rights ,they all call for reform of the governing system and clear the government from corruption

Hayder hamzoz is one of the activists who since the start of the demonstrations work to cover and post material to cover the activities of the demonstrators and the youth of the tahrir square ,he is a leading activists in calling for reform and stop corruption and activating human rights for the Iraqi people
On the 22 of April he was first attack by group of governmental thugs, they beat him and stole his touch mobile which he used to cover the gatherings and peaceful demonstrations, this happened in front of the Iraqi forces 11 platoon which is responsible to surrounded the demonstrators every Friday and oppress them with the help of a groups of civilians who beats and attack them, the spokesman for Baghdad army command operations described the attack as a normal fight among group of young people
The 2nd attack and the most recent took place on the 22 of July 2011 ,came after many threats send to hayder to close his facebook account and stop his blogs and work
Today demonstration suffered of infiltration of many thugs and governmental against in civilian cloths ,they stopped the protesters from burning the Iranian flag and started several anti-bath calls which lead to a conflict with the demonstrators , this lead to army forces to interfere and starts to shoot live ammunition randomly on the demonstrators ,hayder cover this shooting on his camera ,as soon as the forces notice that they attack him and a group of soldiers beats him and kick him with their boots ,also they stool his mobile and his camera and they handed it to the against in civilian cloths ,

To our frind hamzoz we say that your blood and tears worth more than anything they steal ,smile our brother as night must end and chains shall be broken as long as it takes ,and those who are attach to power and chairs should remember saddam 35 yrs end ,how his power was defeated in the end and fall and lead us to such stat
Smile ,we are used to take courage from your smile ,you and all the tahrir heroes

Iraq: Mediating Gender in the Digital Age (IREX Write my Story on their Website , after IREX helped to build my skills , this story speak about Gender and Digital media)

Tweet


By Namo Abdulla

Like many women hungry for better representation in the Middle East, 22-year-old Dina Najem is finding her voice through social media tools, which she is actively using to promote women rights in Iraq’s largely patriarchal and tribal society. She tweets, blogs, and updates her Facebook on a daily basis to challenge long-established norms and laws that discriminate against women, whether in specific matters such as employment or in other societal issues. Dina started her campaign last year after attending two IREX-organized workshops on social media and strategic planning skills.


“I have helped women use new media tools for freedom of speech and to protect women’s rights here in Iraq,” Dina said. “I also help them develop their skills to find a job.”
Dina’s activities, however, go far beyond merely posting opinions in cyber space. Like a real journalist, she reports from the field. She trains other women, and uses her language skills to inform the outside world by publishing her posts in French and English, as well as in Arabic. “I am also a trainer, teaching women [Microsoft] Office programs, how to use blogs and new media and how to write resumes and develop interview skills,” Despite constant discouraging threats, she proactively continues her campaign.
“This blog covers the demonstrations for reform in Iraq,” she said referring to the Iraqi Streets 4 Change blog that she co-manages with her colleague Haydar Hamzoz, another IREX trainee.  “When I go to Tahreer Square (where protests are centered) in Baghdad, I tweet from my phone what happens in the Tahreer Square, or translate what happened from my home.”
In post-Saddam Iraq, women are still subject to cultural, religious and political discriminations. Sexual abuse, polygamy, honor killing and female genital mutilation (FGM) remain widespread.
Change will not come easily or quickly. But attempts by people like Dina are offering hope that women in this corner of the world could ultimately enjoy their universal and inalienable rights.
IREX’s media, civil society, and technology projects in Iraq pay special attention to gender issues, including gender-based violence, legal protections for women, and access to education and training since women are still subject to cultural, religious and political discrimination in post-Saddam Iraq.
IREX implements three projects in Iraq: Media and Technology for Community Development and Media and Civil Society for Transparent Governance funded by the US Department of State, Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and labor and the Media Sustainability Index which has received funding from US Department of State, MEPI and UNESCO.


Source :
http://www.irex.org/news/iraq-mediating-gender-digital-age