Blogging from Baghdad
From the Archives
Posted on October 12, 2005
Topics: Women, Conflict and War
Countries: Iraq
Previously filed under: Europe and Middle East, Book and Film Reviews
Countries: Iraq
Previously filed under: Europe and Middle East, Book and Film Reviews
Baghdad Burning : Girl Blog from Iraq, by Riverbend
Published by The Feminist Press at CUNY (April 15, 2005). 304 pp.
On May 2, 2003, President Bush declared that hostilities between the US and Iraq had ended. In August of that year, a 24-year-old Iraqi woman began working on a weblog that allows readers across the world a detailed look at a country in turmoil, with little infrastructure and less civil order. Writing as \"Riverbend\" in order to keep her real identity secret, this now unemployed computer programmer posts entries to her "blog" every few days or weeks, when the unpredictable electricity supply allows. She writes from the home that she shares with her parents and brother in an upper middle class Baghdad neighborhood.
Her subject matter varies as much as her schedule. She writes about "her" Iraq, which is both mundane and dangerous. Afternoon tea and roadside searches for the remains of missing family members are a daily routine. It means that even when simply shopping for erasers and notebooks to send with a niece to school, the women of Riverbend's family must never leave the house without bringing along a male relative as a bodyguard.
When she hears gunshots in the distance, this middle-class self-described "nerd" writes that she can now tell \"how far away it is. I can tell you if it\'s a pistol or machine-gun, tank or armored vehicle, Apache or Chinook.... I can determine the distance and maybe even the target. That\'s my talent. It\'s something I\'ve gotten so good at, I frighten myself. What is worse is that almost everyone seems to have aquired this talent... young and old. And it\'s not something that anyone will appreciate on a resume.\"
The Baghdad Burning blog is an effort to inform the English-speaking world about Iraq, and Riverbend wants to give as many details as she can. Reading her blog helps to make sense of the daily news coming out of Iraq and put it into context. Her essays clarify the rational and the conditions behind the events that the international media covers, as well as their repercussions. She wants to be clear both about the Iraq she lives in now and the Iraq she remembers before the war. \"It feels like we\'ve gone back 50 years...I am female and Muslim,\" she writes in August of 2003. \"Before the occupation, I more or less dressed the way I wanted to....Now, I don\'t dare leave the house in pants...A girl wearing jeans risks being attacked, abducted, or insulted by fundamentalists who have been...liberated!\"
River's blog entries from between August of 2003 and September 2004 were recently collected by non-profit publishing house Feminist Press in a book entitled Baghdad Burning: girl blog from Iraq. Due to her need for anonymity, all proceeds from the book are being held for her in an account with a third party, and at any time Riverbend can request to have the money sent to Baghdad or donated to charity.
With a forward by Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif and an introduction by the American investigative journalist James Ridgeway (Washington correspondent for the Village Voice), the book chronicles the early days of the US occupation of the country with painful clarity and frustration. Riverbend's writing is powerful. In her earliest posts it is heavy with shock. As time passes her dry humor and the deep respect and empathy she has for the people in her life become more evident. River writes episodic accounts of her days, interspersed with journalistic essays.
Through her words, we learn how the Iraqi people struggle to wake up in the morning, to eat, to keep their families safe, to live in accordance with their beliefs, and to hope for a steadier future.
Excerpts of Baghdad Burning have been printed by The Guardian Weekend magazine, The Daily Mail, The Yorkshire Post, Marie Claire Australia, and YOU South Africa. The book has received considerable international attention and is shortlisted for the Lettre Ulysses Prize for Reportage 2005. In March of 2005, the Six Figures Theater Company of New York turned the blog into a captivating play.
This enthusiasm for Baghdad Burning reflects both the professionalism of Riverbend's work and the increasing esteem that blogs have garnered as sources for news and commentary. A blogger has the power to bring their words before the eyes of thousands of strangers from across the world -- the Baghdad Burning site receives up to six thousand hits each day. A unique aspect of a blog is that anyone with web access can reply to what they read. People are encouraged to comment, and this interaction between reader and writer makes blogging one of the most democratic and community-based forms of publishing. It is not unusual for River to receive two hundred emails on days that she posts her blogs. She often responds to comments and decides her subject matter based on questions and prompts from readers, although to some replies, all she will say is \"tanks and guns can break my bones, but e-mails can be deleted.\"
Her writing is continuous and exhaustive and the picture of life in Baghdad that she creates is detailed. The documentary work that this blogger is doing has a depth and power that research and reportage by outside sources cannot approach. As she and her family and friends fight to bring order to their lives in the ravaged city, River has found a powerful opportunity of her own. Articulate, informed, and opinionated, River has intimate knowledge of the Iraqi situation. She knows firsthand about the unemployment, looting, kidnappings, gangs, and armies, and the governments, as well as the ethnic and religious factions claiming the allegiance of a frightened people. Thanks to her computer, she has the ability to tell the world about it.
For the past two years, readers of her blog have had the good fortune to see Riverbend put Iraqi news in perspective. With the publication of this book, people who had never heard of Baghdad Burning will now have the chance to see for themselves what this remarkable woman has been up to.
Article written by Beth Reddy, a recent graduate of Reed College and Global Envision Intern.
Check out the Global Envision documentary film list made by Beth Reddy: Global Envision\'s Extracurricular Learning.
For more information on this topic:
The Blog: Baghdad Burning
The Book can be found at: The Feminist Press or Marion Boyars Publishers.
Another review of Baghdad Burning can be found at: Punk Planet Magazine.
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Published by The Feminist Press at CUNY (April 15, 2005). 304 pp.
![](\"/articleimages/_image/BBurning.jpg\") |
On May 2, 2003, President Bush declared that hostilities between the US and Iraq had ended. In August of that year, a 24-year-old Iraqi woman began working on a weblog that allows readers across the world a detailed look at a country in turmoil, with little infrastructure and less civil order. Writing as \"Riverbend\" in order to keep her real identity secret, this now unemployed computer programmer posts entries to her "blog" every few days or weeks, when the unpredictable electricity supply allows. She writes from the home that she shares with her parents and brother in an upper middle class Baghdad neighborhood.
Her subject matter varies as much as her schedule. She writes about "her" Iraq, which is both mundane and dangerous. Afternoon tea and roadside searches for the remains of missing family members are a daily routine. It means that even when simply shopping for erasers and notebooks to send with a niece to school, the women of Riverbend's family must never leave the house without bringing along a male relative as a bodyguard.
When she hears gunshots in the distance, this middle-class self-described "nerd" writes that she can now tell \"how far away it is. I can tell you if it\'s a pistol or machine-gun, tank or armored vehicle, Apache or Chinook.... I can determine the distance and maybe even the target. That\'s my talent. It\'s something I\'ve gotten so good at, I frighten myself. What is worse is that almost everyone seems to have aquired this talent... young and old. And it\'s not something that anyone will appreciate on a resume.\"
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The Baghdad Burning blog is an effort to inform the English-speaking world about Iraq, and Riverbend wants to give as many details as she can. Reading her blog helps to make sense of the daily news coming out of Iraq and put it into context. Her essays clarify the rational and the conditions behind the events that the international media covers, as well as their repercussions. She wants to be clear both about the Iraq she lives in now and the Iraq she remembers before the war. \"It feels like we\'ve gone back 50 years...I am female and Muslim,\" she writes in August of 2003. \"Before the occupation, I more or less dressed the way I wanted to....Now, I don\'t dare leave the house in pants...A girl wearing jeans risks being attacked, abducted, or insulted by fundamentalists who have been...liberated!\"
River's blog entries from between August of 2003 and September 2004 were recently collected by non-profit publishing house Feminist Press in a book entitled Baghdad Burning: girl blog from Iraq. Due to her need for anonymity, all proceeds from the book are being held for her in an account with a third party, and at any time Riverbend can request to have the money sent to Baghdad or donated to charity.
With a forward by Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif and an introduction by the American investigative journalist James Ridgeway (Washington correspondent for the Village Voice), the book chronicles the early days of the US occupation of the country with painful clarity and frustration. Riverbend's writing is powerful. In her earliest posts it is heavy with shock. As time passes her dry humor and the deep respect and empathy she has for the people in her life become more evident. River writes episodic accounts of her days, interspersed with journalistic essays.
Through her words, we learn how the Iraqi people struggle to wake up in the morning, to eat, to keep their families safe, to live in accordance with their beliefs, and to hope for a steadier future.
Excerpts of Baghdad Burning have been printed by The Guardian Weekend magazine, The Daily Mail, The Yorkshire Post, Marie Claire Australia, and YOU South Africa. The book has received considerable international attention and is shortlisted for the Lettre Ulysses Prize for Reportage 2005. In March of 2005, the Six Figures Theater Company of New York turned the blog into a captivating play.
This enthusiasm for Baghdad Burning reflects both the professionalism of Riverbend's work and the increasing esteem that blogs have garnered as sources for news and commentary. A blogger has the power to bring their words before the eyes of thousands of strangers from across the world -- the Baghdad Burning site receives up to six thousand hits each day. A unique aspect of a blog is that anyone with web access can reply to what they read. People are encouraged to comment, and this interaction between reader and writer makes blogging one of the most democratic and community-based forms of publishing. It is not unusual for River to receive two hundred emails on days that she posts her blogs. She often responds to comments and decides her subject matter based on questions and prompts from readers, although to some replies, all she will say is \"tanks and guns can break my bones, but e-mails can be deleted.\"
Her writing is continuous and exhaustive and the picture of life in Baghdad that she creates is detailed. The documentary work that this blogger is doing has a depth and power that research and reportage by outside sources cannot approach. As she and her family and friends fight to bring order to their lives in the ravaged city, River has found a powerful opportunity of her own. Articulate, informed, and opinionated, River has intimate knowledge of the Iraqi situation. She knows firsthand about the unemployment, looting, kidnappings, gangs, and armies, and the governments, as well as the ethnic and religious factions claiming the allegiance of a frightened people. Thanks to her computer, she has the ability to tell the world about it.
For the past two years, readers of her blog have had the good fortune to see Riverbend put Iraqi news in perspective. With the publication of this book, people who had never heard of Baghdad Burning will now have the chance to see for themselves what this remarkable woman has been up to.
Article written by Beth Reddy, a recent graduate of Reed College and Global Envision Intern.
Check out the Global Envision documentary film list made by Beth Reddy: Global Envision\'s Extracurricular Learning.
For more information on this topic:
The Blog: Baghdad Burning
The Book can be found at: The Feminist Press or Marion Boyars Publishers.
Another review of Baghdad Burning can be found at: Punk Planet Magazine.
Click the icon to buy this book from Amazon.com. A portion of your proceeds will go to support Global Envision. |
![](\"/articleimages/_image/amazon.gif\") |
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