Transcript for Interview with Parvana Persiani

Onnik: Parvana, thanks very much for agreeing to be interviewed by Global Voices Online

We’re here in the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, Romania, for the World Blogging Forum

The first ever

You’re about to be part of a panel discussion on freedom of expression

And in particular the case of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli

Do you think that this forum is a good place to raise such issues?

Parvana: It is really fascinating to be here among these people

Bloggers from all over the world

because they are people dealing with these issues

With blogging and its impact on the development of society

and today being here I have a chance to deliver

the message that bloggers of Azerbaijan

two video bloggers

they are under threat and have serious troubles

So it’s good to deliver that message today here

and this forum, this gathering of bloggers together

they might show once more solidarity among bloggers

among information brokers in society

Onnik: As someone who’s based in the Caucasus

and as someone looking at the use of new media

especially civil society, especially youth activism

what’s happening in Azerbaijan has been really impressive

The use of social networking sites, the use of new media

such as blogs, now Twitter, now online television

through AN TV

Why and when did all this happen?

Parvana: After the independent media agencies were shut down by government

and after independent radio stations

like Radio Liberty, BBC, [and] Voice of America were shut down

people had no chance to […] express their opinion freely.

They didn’t have space in newspapers to express their complaints,

to express their doubts,

so people began to go to Facebook, to Twitter, people began to tweet,

to SMS each other about upcoming events, social events in society,

and gradually it turned out that more and more people began to use social networks.

The result of it was that when Adnan and Emin were arrested

we could spread the word [with] the help of social networks, new media,

by blogs, Twitter and Facebook.

Onnik: You were saying the other day that this idea of networking was an idea of Emin Milli

And Adnan was involved in using YouTube and video

And it did break that stranglehold, that control of information

Of course, it also got them arrested

Do you not think that many people might be more afraid of using these tools

Or do you think that it has achieved the opposite?

Parvana: The thing is that the Internet is a space which you cannot control,

which you cannot control completely.

It might be [that] people [are] more scared to [take] to the street

and participate in some protest action

which leads them to go to the virtual world and to express their opinion there.

This means that this participation in social networks is increasing more and more.