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Salam Pax is the
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...
of Salam Abdulmunem ( ar, سلام عبد المنعم), aka Salam al-Janabi ( ar, سلام الجنابي), under which he became the "most famous
blogger A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
in the world" during and after the
2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...
. Along with a massive readership, his site "Where is Raed?" received notable
media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
attention. The pseudonym consists of the word for "
peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
" in Arabic ('' salām'') and in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
(''pax''). His was one of the first instances of an individual's blog having a wide audience and impact.


Bio

Salam Abdulmunem (the name he uses now, based on Abd al-Munim) was born to a well-to-do
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
family in Baghdad in 1973. His father Adnan Abd al-Munim al-Janabi, a
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a dis ...
, worked for
OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, ) is a cartel of countries. Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965, been headqua ...
, his mother was a
Shi'ite Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
, while Salam himself became skeptical of religion. He travelled to
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, Austria, with his parents when he was 5, the family returned to Baghdad five years later. At 16 years old Salam returned to Austria alone in order to study at the
Vienna International School Vienna International School (VIS) is a non-profit international school in Vienna, Austria. The school was built to accommodate the children of United Nations (UN) employees and diplomats when the UN decided to locate one of its offices in Vienna ...
where he became fluent in English in addition to
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
and his native
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
. When he went through his yearly allowance from back home in a month, his family brought him to Iraq in 1995, where Salam continued his study of architecture at the
University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...
. He described the first two years as the most difficult period in his life:
I felt lost somewhere between the East and the West. I did not know where I belonged for a long time.
After graduation, he worked for the Baghdad office of a
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...
, architectural consultancy and as an occasional interpreter for foreign journalists before and during the
invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
, when he became a successful English-language blogger under the name ''Salam Pax'' and a contributor to ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' beginning from 4 June 2003. He moved to London in 2007, where he took up journalism at
City University London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...
, and then lived in
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
. Salam Abdulmunem returned to Baghdad in 2009 and started working as Communications Officer for
UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...
in Iraq in 2010.


''Where is Raed?''

In his blog, Salam discussed his friends, disappearances of people under the government of
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
, the
2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...
, and his work as an interpreter for journalist
Peter Maass Peter Maass (born 1960) is an American journalist and author. Life and career Maass was born in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked for ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Wa ...
. The title of Salam's site referred to his friend
Raed Jarrar Raed Jarrar ( ar, رائد جرار) is an Arab-American architect, blogger, and political advocate based in the U.S. Capital Washington, DC. Life Jarrar was born in Iraq, and raised in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. He is half Iraqi and half Pal ...
, who was working on his master's degree in
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
at that time. Raed did not respond promptly to e-mails, so Salam set up the weblog for him to read. Salam continued to post updates to the site even after it was temporarily blocked in Iraq. During the war, he gave accounts of bombings and other attacks from his suburb of
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
until his
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
access (and the electrical grid) was interrupted. Salam remained offline for weeks, writing his diary entries on paper in order to post them later. Putting an end to earlier doubts and speculations about the blog's authenticity, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' newspaper tracked its author down in May 2003 and printed a story confirming that the person behind the pseudonym ''Salam Pax'' indeed lived in Iraq, that Salam was his real first (given) name, and that he was a 29-year-old architect. Subsequent entries discussed the chaotic postwar economy, and a June 1, 2003, post appeared to celebrate an anarchist effort, centered in the western Al-Adel Neighborhood of Baghdad, to provide free Internet access to all of Iraq. It turned out not to be instigated by political anarchists, but by Iraqis who ran the prewar Internet cafes in Baghdad for Uruknet, the former government ISP.


''The Baghdad Blog'' and other reporting

In 2003 Atlantic Books, in association with ''The Guardian'', published a book based on "Where is Raed?" under the title ''The Baghdad Blog'' (). It comprises Salam's blog entries from September 2002 to June 2003 with footnotes. In August 2004, after not having updated his previous blog for several months, Pax started a second blog titled "shut up you fat whiner!" He also worked as a journalist for ''The Guardian'', writing columns and featured articles. In October 2004 he was sent to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
by ''The Guardian'' to report on the American presidential race and current thought there on the subject of Iraq. In February 2005 a series of filmed reports by Salam Pax, produced by Guardian Films and transmitted by the BBC's ''
Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'' television programme, won the
Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
Award for Innovation. In his ''Newsnight'' report broadcast in October 2005, he interviewed Iraqi Member of Parliament Adnan al-Janabi, a
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a dis ...
moderate who served as vice-chair of the constitutional committee, about the proposed Iraqi constitution and revealed that al-Janabi was his father. Salam also mentioned that his mother was
Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...
, and described his family as being
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
in political orientation.


Quotes

* "23/3 8:30pm (day4) we start counting the hours from the moment one of the news channels report that the B52s have left their airfield. It takes them around 6 hours to get to Iraq. On the first day of the bombing it worked precisely. Yesterday we were a bit surprised that after 6 hours bombs didn't start falling. The attacks on Baghdad were much less than two days ago. We found out today in the news that the city of Tikrit got the hell bombed out of it. Today the B52s took off at 3pm, in half an hour we will know whether it is Baghdad tonight or another city." * "One day, like in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
, those journalists will get bored and go write about
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
or
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
; Iraq will be off your media
radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...
. Out of sight, out of mind. Lucky you, you have that option. I have to live it." * "There were days when the
Red Crescent The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
was begging for volunteers to help in taking the bodies of dead people off the city street and bury them properly. The hospital grounds have been turned to burial grounds.." * "You can follow the trail of the foreigners by how much things cost in a certain district." * "Anyway, all that doesn't matter now. Saddam is gone, thanks to you. Was it worth it? Be assured it was. We all know that it got to a point where we would have never been rid of Saddam without foreign intervention; I just wish it would have been a bit better planned."


Notes and references


See also

*
Riverbend (blogger) __NOTOC__ Riverbend is the pseudonymous author of the blog "Baghdad Burning", launched on August 17, 2003. Riverbend's existence and identity remain a mystery, but the weblog entries suggest that she is a young Iraqi woman from a mixed Shia and Sun ...


External links


Blogs


Where is Raed?
- Salam Pax's original blog, 12/2002-4/2004. * Photo
Where is Raed?
- Salam Pax's accompanying photoblog, 6-7/2003.
shut up you fat whiner!
- Salam Pax's blog, 8/2004-7/2006. * Mind the Globe (at mindtheglo.be, now defunct) - London news site launched by Salam Pax and other CUL students, 5-6/200


Salam Pax: the Baghdad Blogger
- 8/2004-4/2009, with archived "Where is Raed?" (12/2002-4/2004). * Raed Jarrar's blog
Raed in the Middle


Interviews

* Sarah Montague
How have the events of the past week affected daily life for Iraqis?
''Today,'' 25 February 2006, BBC Radio 4. - The interview begins 3' into the clip. * Andrew Denton

''
Enough Rope ''Enough Rope with Andrew Denton'' (often shortened to ''Enough Rope'') is a television interview show originally broadcast on ABC1 in Australia. The title of the show came from the phrase " give someone enough rope and they'll hang themselves ...
'', 17 May 2004,
ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...
, Australia. * Terry Gross
The Baghdad Blogger Salam Pax
''Fresh Air'', 18 September 2003,
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
. * (Webchat)
Baghdad War Diary
''Today'', 9 September 2003, BBC Radio 4. * Sarah Montague
The Most Famous Web Diarist in the World - Salam Pax.
''Today,'' 9 September 2003, BBC Radio 4.


Articles



- Baghdad Blogger Salam Pax: Part 2, 17 April 2007.

- Baghdad Blogger Salam Pax: Part 1, 11 April 2007. * Salam Pax,

" ''The Guardian'', 22 October 2004. * Salam Pax,
Baghdad Blogger
" ''The Guardian'', 4 June 2003. *
Peter Maass Peter Maass (born 1960) is an American journalist and author. Life and career Maass was born in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked for ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Wa ...
,
Salam Pax Is Real
" ''Slate'', 2 June 2003. * Rory McCarthy,

" ''The Guardian'', 30 May 2003. * Daniel Zalewski,
A Baghdad Blogger.
''The New Yorker'', 3 March 2003.


Videos

* Don Arbor
Salam Pax (Peace): A Peace Anthem for our Time
released February 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pax, Salam Civilians in war Living people Iraqi bloggers Iraqi journalists Writers from Baghdad 1973 births Anonymous bloggers Warblogs University of Baghdad alumni Alumni of City, University of London