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| Protesters have used mobile phones to film against a backdrop of tear gas volleys and live rounds during demonstrations that have gripped Iraq since Tuesday (AFP Photo/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE) |
Baghdad (AFP) - With secret satellites, pricey messages abroad and clandestine file transfers, young Iraqis are circumventing an internet blackout aimed at stifling several days of bloody protests in the capital and beyond.
Authorities
restricted access to Facebook and Whatsapp after anti-government demonstrations
began on Tuesday, before ordering a total network shutdown on Wednesday.
The
termination of Wifi, 3G and 4G access left protestors with just regular phone
calls and mobile messages -- a few notable exceptions aside.
Ahmad, 29,
works at an internet service provider that helped implement the government's
shutdown, but still has internet access at its headquarters.
"I go
to the protests in the morning and shoot video on my phone, then use the
internet at work to upload them to Facebook or send them to media outside
Iraq," he said, using a fake name for fear of retribution or legal action
by the government.
Protesters
say the internet outage is an attempt to suppress reports of security forces
using indiscriminate force including tear gas, live rounds and water cannons.
Ahmad
showed AFP footage he planned to send to international media later that evening
-- shots could be heard fired across a mostly-empty street in Baghdad as he and
fellow protesters took cover behind a concrete barrier.
"Friends
are even giving me the footage they shoot on flash drives so everyone outside
Iraq can see what's happening here," he said.
 |
Iraqi
protesters take cover in Baghdad's central Khellani Square, while using their
mobile phones - devices that have been key to citizen efforts to record alleged
heavy
handed tactics by security forces (AFP Photo/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)
|
Before
Tuesday, many Iraqis had taken to Facebook and Instagram to call for initial
protests against a range of grievances: unemployment, mass government
corruption, nepotism, poor public services, and more.
Images of
young men and women marching towards the emblematic Tahrir Square flooded
social media the first day, using the hashtag #save_Iraqi_people.
When
restrictions on Facebook began, Iraqis acted quickly; many downloaded virtual
private network (VPN) applications.
Others even
began surreptitiously posting the details of the next protests in the comments
section of Cinemana, a popular streaming service in Iraq.
But those
avenues were shut off by the systemic shutdown.
Those that
could afford to therefore erected costly satellites on their rooftops to get a
window into the outside world.
'Follow
the gunfire'
Nearly 100
people have died in the demonstrations since Tuesday, most of them protesters
but also personnel from the security forces, according to authorities.
"They’re
trying to fight us not just with arms, but with this blackout," said
31-year-old protester Osama Mohammad.
"We
used to check the different neighbourhoods' Facebook pages to know where to go
for protests. Now we just follow the sound of gunfire," Mohammad told AFP.
 |
Live rounds
have allegedly repeatedly been fired during the protests, which have
evolved
into calls for fundamental government change (AFP Photo/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)
|
"If
they cut off regular phone lines, we'll be completely blind," he noted.
For
25-year-old women's rights activist Rasha, taking to the streets carries too
much risk, but she says she has found a different way to get involved.
Every day,
her male friends text her dozens of updates from protest squares across the
country, which she then texts and phones through to friends in the United Arab
Emirates and Europe.
"I'm
an intermediary. I can’t protest myself so this is the least I can do,"
she said, telling AFP the phone credit she buys has cost her around $100 (90
euros) per day for the last three days.
Rasha, who
comes from Baghdad, is also saving videos and other unpublished material from
one of the first protests that turned violent. She attended that initial
demonstration.
"They
think we'll forget they fired at us, they think people won't know. But I've got
the videos and I'll publish everything I saw that day the minute the internet
comes back," she said.
Jaafar
Raad, an unemployed 29-year-old Iraqi who has frequently protested, is also
storing dozens of images and videos to release once the blackout is lifted.
He even
records voice notes from the protests themselves in applications like Whatsapp
and Facebook, so that the audio messages will automatically send to friends
abroad and international media outlets as soon as the internet returns.
"People
must know what happened to us. This is so we can hold those behind the violence
accountable," he told AFP.
Related Article:
#UPDATE The United Nations urged an end to violence in Iraq, after five days of anti-government rallies marred by the killing of nearly 100 people, mainly protesters https://t.co/BwOOH1xgzN pic.twitter.com/M919mR4vcP— AFP news agency (@AFP) 5 oktober 2019
Related Article:
“The End of History”, Seattle, Washington, Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll
“… The Internet - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification
“… The Internet - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification
Now I give
you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all
about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one
another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all
see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the
country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together
a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's
here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are
leading the way.
I gave you
a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when
"everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no
conspiracy." For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something
hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is
happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go
against history? ... “
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