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Help Save 1.800.SUICIDE

Is Riverbend Still Alive?

by Terri Emerick rcs1
Wed Oct 11, 2006 at 05:06:54 PM EST

Update [2006-10-19 14:56:47 by Cho]: River Bend posting again, see JimStaro's commentary ed.note. Terri asked that we keep this prominent until more information is discovered. slight formatting for space on the front page. originally posted Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 09:06:04 AM EST; bumped Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 07:41:52 PM EST, and Sat Oct 07, 2006 at 07:41:42 PM EST, bumped again -- cho

[Note: This was written by Steven D, of BooMan Tribune and x-posted in orange. This needs to be answered so I am re-posting it here. Anyone? Anything?]
background below the fold.


commentary :: :: :: buzz-it!
For those who have not yet come across her writing on the internet, Riverbend is a female blogger living in Iraq, perhaps its most prominent and certainly one of its most well respected. The entries she has posted to her blog, Baghdad Burning have won her praise for her intelligence, passion and eloquence. She posts about events in her daily life, politics and the consequences of the US led occupation in a clear and compelling prose that can be startling beautiful, even when its subject is as sorrowful as her grief for the death of a friend. Her blog entries have been collected into the book, Baghdad Burning, Girl Blog from Iraq, and have formed the basis for a theatrical production by the Six Figures Theatre Company in New York.

Riverbend has rarely, if ever, posted daily entries to her blog, often lamenting that the available electrical power in Baghdad made it difficult for her to do so on anything other than an intermittent basis. Still, it has been almost two months since her last post on August 5th, and the more time that passes without word from her, the more I fear for her life. With the ever increasing levels of violence in Baghdad, where thousands die each month at the hands of murderous death squads, car bombs and open gun battles between rival militias and gangs, my fear is that Riverbend may have become another Iraqi victim of George Bush's misbegotten Freedom Agenda.

We do know this:

That she has been outspoken in her condemnation of religious fanaticism in Iraq in a time when armed thugs roam Baghdad streets enforcing their restrictive vision of what is and is not appropriate regarding proper female behavior and dress. That she is a Sunni in a place where Shi'ite death squads and militias hold sway over large areas of Baghdad. And that her writings are well known and well regarded by her international readers, in large part because she tells the truth our own government tries so hard to keep from us. These are all factors which cause me to worry for her safety. The anonymity of the web is no shield against bullets, bombs or people determined to kill you based on your faith, ethnicity, gender or politics.

Let's hope we hear from her soon.

Display:
Is Riverbend Still Alive? | 16 comments (16 topical, 0 hidden)
Any info appreciated. (5.00 / 4) (#1)
Thanks.

by Terri Emerick on Mon Sep 25, 2006 at 09:09:52 PM EST
Comment from the orange cross-post. (5.00 / 3) (#2)
From this morning:

* [new] I heard from publisher (0 / 0)
I wrote to Dennis Franklin, publicist for Feminist Press at CUNY expressing our concern.  Here is his response.  It doesn't help alleviate our concern.

I've written Riverbend recently and received no response.  We are concerned,yes; but I can say that

She has lived in different spots in Iraq for extended periods and during those times she's gone silent.

On the otherhand, we've received no news, no bad news, about her condition.

by Mickeyd on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 10:14:52 AM CDT

I'll be checking for other updates.
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by wanderindiana on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 01:10:40 PM EST

Thanks, wander. (5.00 / 3) (#3)
I keep telling myself that old cliche--"No news is good news."   Intellectually--yeah. Emotionally--its not working.

by Terri Emerick on Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 02:41:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Another response in that thread, from London (5.00 / 4) (#5)
Riverbend's London publisher responded to another Kossack lizpolaris' email inquiry:

* [new] Got an answer but no news (0 / 0)
The folks at Marion Boyars said:

We have not heard from Riverbend and are hoping that she has gone up to the North of Iraq, as she did for a few months last year. We have not had any bad news either, so we can just hope she is allright.

Daily Bemusement

by lizpolaris on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 08:14:24 AM CDT


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by wanderindiana on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 02:16:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Got Here via Google News (5.00 / 4) (#4)
I just searched Google News for "Baghdad Burning" and this thread was the third result:  I thought you'd want to know that at least others with concerns or information can find you easily.

I too have been checking for new posts from Riverbend and am concerned by her silence.  The only other bit of good news is that she HAS done this at least once before:

http://www.liberalavenger.com/2005/06/baghdad-burning-riverbend-returns.html

She is also, obviously,  an extremely intelligent and practical survivor with a great support network in Baghdad.  She would, I trust, know precisely when/if the blog was risking too much, for example, or if her life were in jeopardy -- and lay low until the immiediate threat passed.

I don't know her, but I emailed her, asked her to just post a "peep" with a date,  and gave her the link to this thread as well.

We can all pray for her too.

by tonymoco on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 01:45:50 PM EST

Hi, Welcome and Thanks (5.00 / 4) (#6)
AS you noted, Riverbend has taken up periods of hiatus before...1 post in June 2005, 2 in July, none in August 2005 before picking up again with 4 posts in September last year.

I agree that this seems to be a saavy person not prone to exposure to unreasonable risk.  However, the tone of the last post does seem to have a certain sense of resignation to it...

I sometimes wonder if we'll ever know just how many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis left the country this bleak summer. I wonder how many of them will actually return. Where will they go? What will they do with themselves? Is it time to follow? Is it time to wash our hands of the country and try to find a stable life somewhere else?

as our very own rba posted in today's news, A quarter of a million Iraqis have fled their homes and registered as refugees in the past seven months, data released on Thursday showed, amid an upsurge in violence that has accompanied the Ramadan holy month".

The sentiment expressed in Riverbend's last post is justification for even the hardiest Iraqi to head for calmer pastures.

by polydactyl on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 02:23:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Thanks (5.00 / 1) (#8)
For everything.  

by Terri Emerick on Sun Oct 01, 2006 at 12:23:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I Wish... (5.00 / 3) (#7)
I could post up good news but I've been watching for a post from her even before Steve put up his questioning/searching Diaries!

Glad to see you're keeping this alive and also glad to see that so many are as wondering of our little voice of reality from the River Bend of Iraq!

Hopefully we'll all meet her again around that bend, still knowing little about her but her words from the Hell we have given her and her country!

by jimstaro on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 07:58:23 PM EST

Goodbye from Riverbend? (5.00 / 4) (#9)
She posts about every 4-6 weeks lately but she's way overdue.  Her last blog was so poignant and agonized, really questioning whether she should stay or go.  It felt like a 'goodbye' and I remember thinking that it may be the last we hear from her, at least for awhile.  I hope for her sake she has fled to Syria or some other, safer region.  God help her.


by Maezeppa on Sun Oct 01, 2006 at 06:39:36 PM EST
I trust your instinct... (5.00 / 2) (#10)
Hearing that you suspected back then that she might decide to leave actually makes me feel more hopeful that she is safe somewhere.

Until/unless I hear otherwise, I'm going to assume she's ok.

Thanks.

by tonymoco on Mon Oct 02, 2006 at 12:22:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Instincts. (5.00 / 1) (#11)
Bad thing about them is they are not definitive and, in a situation like this, there is nothing much anyone can do...

by Terri Emerick on Wed Oct 04, 2006 at 04:39:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
If outside the country (5.00 / 2) (#12)
If Riverbend is outside the country, presumably posting is a LOT easier than from inside Iraq. I'd expect to see a post saying "I'm out."

by silence on Sat Oct 07, 2006 at 07:51:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You're right. (5.00 / 1) (#13)
And you said what I was thinking..

by Terri Emerick on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 01:19:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Slightly o/t - commending two of our own. (5.00 / 2) (#14)
GreyHawk and RenaRF, who recently acted out of concern for the well-being of another individual: I think you both did the right thing, FWIW.
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by wanderindiana on Wed Oct 11, 2006 at 06:42:39 PM EST
Wander... (none / 0) (#15)
it was actually your comment earlier today that made me think of bumping this.  Hope we get some good news.

by Cho on Wed Oct 11, 2006 at 07:12:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Riverbend posts. (none / 0) (#16)
There's a new post up today, thank goodness:

There were several reasons for my disappearance the major one being the fact that every time I felt the urge to write about Iraq, about the situation, I'd be filled with a certain hopelessness that can't be put into words and that I suspect other Iraqis feel also.

No other explanations...
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by wanderindiana on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 06:00:13 PM EST

Is Riverbend Still Alive? | 16 comments (16 topical, 0 hidden)

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