New York Times

August 8 2006

According to this news article, figures published in July 2006 indicate that there are now 7.1 million cellphone subscribers in Iraq, up from 1.4 million 2 years ago. The author of this article suggests that it is the violence in this country that seems to have spawned the growing use of this information and communication technology (ICT).

Damien Cave repors that insurgents are using phones to communicate with each other about such issues as detonation of bombs, while Iraqis of all sects are relying their phones to avoid danger and/or to communicate their safety (or lack thereof) to family members. In addition, human rights workers in Iraq often receive pictures of men tortured or killed by death squads, many of them taken with the cellphones of witnesses or the victims' relatives; at bombings, Iraqis are often seen recording the carnage in pictures or short videos. As a further example of this type of citizen journalism being fostered by the increased use of this communication medium, Brig. Gen. Jaleel Khalaf Shwayel of the Iraqi Army said that he gives cellphone number to people in the neighbourhoods, and receives calls every day. "In the el-Adil district, I received a call that people there had put mines in the road...I gave an order to investigate, and we discovered it was right."

In addition to use of this medium to exchange news and/or information, Iraqis - especially young people - are reportedly using text messages and images on their cellphones as a "safe" form of self-expression, and as a way to tap into a source of resilience and local sense of humour. This is meant to be a way of coping with the violence that pervades their everyday lives: "From all over the city, Baghdad cellphones practically shout commentary about Saddam Hussein, failed reconstruction and violence, always the violence. One of the most popular messages making the rounds appears onscreen with the image of a skeleton. 'Your call cannot be completed,' it says, 'because the subscriber has been bombed or kidnapped.'"

New York Times, August 8 2006.