330 Mediated Publics
In light of these contradictions, for many youth the main questions
became: Who am I? What do I want? If I were somewhere else, how would
I live? How would I dress? With whom would I associate? In the spaces of
my daily life, to what extent am I “myself”?
The permanence of a “transient” public space and the emergence
of Iranian cyberspace
The election of the reformist president Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005)
occurred almost simultaneously with the arrival of the new technol-
ogy into the lives of Iranians. Both events provided new horizons for an
emerging civil society that surfaced gradually after the Iran-Iraq war with
the creation of new public spaces and public spheres.
The political dictatorship of the Shah before the Islamic Revolution,
and the monitored public spaces after the revolution, did not allow for
the emergence of a permanent public sphere in Iran. Furthermore, under
both regimes, radio, television, and the leading newspapers were under
the complete control of the state. During the Shah’s rule, religious and
traditional networks and “small media,” such as photocopied leaflets
and audiocassettes of the Ayatollah Khomeini’s speeches played a role in
popular mobilization.^13 After the revolution, and especially during the
Iran-Iraq war, religious networks lost their “democratic” characteristics
and became part of the voice of the revolutionary authority. Many pub-
lic spaces, including cinemas, theaters, cafés and restaurants, and art gal-
leries, were closed down. Public life, leisure and cultural activities were
transferred into the private spaces of homes.^14
ith the end of the Iran-Iraq war, and the death of Ayatollah W
Khomeini, the situation has changed slightly. The arrival of Hashemi-
Rafsanjani to power and especially the new socio-cultural and urban
policies of the mayor of Tehran, Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi (1990–1998),
encouraged citizens to come out from behind closed doors. The most
important goals of the new municipal leadership were, first, to bring people
back into public spaces, making them more visible and controllable, and
second, to diminish the socio-cultural and urban gap between the North
(rich and modern) and South (poor and traditional), despite widening