Social activism in cyberspace(Case study of Kurdish activists in Iran and Iraq)

Social activists in the field have employed new communication technologies in order to change their surrounding environment. This article studies the social activism of the Kurds of Iraq in the cyberspace. This research was conducted by the combination of two methods cyber ethnography also known as virtual ethnography and In-deph interview. The results of this research have revealed that limitations such as pertaining to a part for media have caused Iraqi Kurd activists to not be able to utilize the main channels for achieving their objectives. These factors have led Iraqi Kurd activists to employ the alternative media which currently are the social networks for action. The main privileges of the social networks for Kurd activists of Iraq are promotion of citizen journalism, demolition of censorship and state control, the chance of resistance and political action, entanglement of online and offline dimensions and connecting with Kurd activists from other countries. The latter is the most significant characteristic of Iraqi Kurd activism in the communicative cyberspace is that they can find the Kurds of other countries and be able to execute joint actions related to their Kurdish identity.