The Girl Blogger from Iraq

By Lakshmi Chaudhry, AlterNet. Posted April 20, 2005.

On Aug. 17, 2003, Riverbend posted the first entry of her blog, where she introduced herself to her readers: "I'm female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That's all you need to know. It's all that matters these days anyway."

Nearly two years later, the readers of “Baghdad Burning” know a whole lot more – both about Riverbend and Iraq. We now know that she has not just survived the war, but prevailed over its horrors, emerging from its ruins as a passionate advocate for her people and an incisive critic of the occupation. Even the most casual visitor to her site cannot fail to be impressed by her insight into the tragic, onerous, and sometimes absurd reality of everyday life in Iraq. As Village Voice correspondent James Ridgeway notes in the introduction to her new book -- an eponymously named collection of her blog entries -- "this anonymous 'girl blog' has made the war and occupation real in terms that no professional journalist could hope to achieve."

She responded to AlterNet's questions via e-mail from her home in Baghdad.

Lakshmi Chaudhry: Let's start with the obvious: why did you start writing a blog?

The first person to encourage me to write a blog was Salam Pax of "Where is Raed?." After the war he suggested I should start my own blog as I could write in English and after thinking about it for a while, I eventually did. I liked the idea of blogging because I was very frustrated with the Western media for telling only half the story in Iraq. No one seemed to know what was going on inside of the country -- all the damage and horror Iraqis were facing on a daily basis.

In addition to this, blogging proved to be therapeutic. It was a way to vent fears and anger that I couldn't really express in front of family and friends because it was always necessary to stay strong and, to some extent, positive.

Reading your blog entries, it's obvious that a significant portion of your audience is not Iraqi. Was this your original intention or did it just turn out that way?

I don't think I wrote the blog for any particular audience. I simply wanted to express my emotions and thoughts and I wasn't sure who would read it. I never expected many Iraqis inside of Iraq to read it because Iraqis are far too busy coping with daily realities to read blogs or even write them. I liked blogging in English because it's a language people in many different countries understand. I would have been preaching to the choir if I blogged in Arabic.

What role does the blog play in your life today, especially given its immense success?

The blog for a while became a part of my daily life. I began seeing things from a blogging point of view in many situations and wondering what the readers would think if they could do or see what I was currently doing or seeing! My family is sometimes curious about it but more often than not, they worry about my safety. I try to make time for reading and answering emails and sometimes blogging, but it all depends on the electricity/phone situation.

One of the most powerful aspects of your writing is your ability to convey how much all that is horrifying in the human experience -- death, violence, terror -- has become a part of an Iraqi's everyday life. Could you talk about the ways the experience of war and occupation has changed you? First, as a human being, i.e. how you you see yourself, and secondly in terms of your politics, i.e. how you see the world.

I think the occupation and war has made me more aware of the world. I think the average Iraqi has begun to look differently at certain world situations -- for example the tsunami. Before, it would have been difficult to empathize with the thousands of people who were living in fear and without the basic necessities. Now, seeing them without homes and running water and schools, etc. reminds us of our own refugees who come from cities and villages being bombed or evacuated.

Personally, I think it has hardened me in some aspects. We're accustomed now to hearing explosions and sirens. It becomes less frightening and shocking with time.

Lakshmi Chaudhry is senior editor of AlterNet.

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