The Maldives is a small archipelago country located just 500 miles south of India. To European tourists, it is a quaint, charming breath of fresh air that conjures up fantasies of sandy beaches, crystal clear waters, sun-filled days and moon-lit nights. The four star hotels are exquisite, the food likewise, and the locals sweeter than grandma’s homemade pie.

But travel guides leave out one essential detail that fails to stand out amid the romanticism: an island dictator that compares much better to Fidel Castro than to Tony Blair.

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who many natives conspicuously refer to as “the mullah,” has ruled the Maldives islands with an iron fist since 1978 when he first came to power under the promise of reform. His daily activities now include eating breakfast, consolidating his personal wealth, installing family members into political positions, imposing poverty, crushing all dissent, and taking a shower before bed time.

One year ago on August 12, a day which has since become known as “Black Friday,” everything changed.

A blacklisted reformist by the name of Mohamed Yoosuf was summoned and detained by the National Security Service. What started as a small vigil at Republican Square in the capital of Mal???? turned into thousands demonstrating for democratic reform. By the next morning, the people of the Maldives had gone from demanding Yoosuf’s release to demanding the outright resignation of their six-term president.

State-run media refused to cover the protests, but the government could not ignore them for long. To justify a crackdown, the government portrayed the demonstrators as a violent mob, at which point hundreds of people were attacked with the blunt end of a police truncheon. A state of emergency was then imposed.

International condemnation eventually followed as word got out, and President Gayoom was forced to undertake such cosmetic reforms that even Pamela Anderson would gawk. Despite the government itself having not changed fundamentally, the barrier of fear had been broken. The people were willing to stand up for their rights.

So it should come as no surprise that, on the first anniversary of Black Friday, the scenario repeated itself. On August 12, opposition Maldivian Democratic Party chairman Mohamed Nasheed planted himself in the middle of Republican Square, staring down a line of riot police while 600 supporters looked on. He was arrested “for his own safety” and remains in prison to this day on charges of terrorism. Pro-democracy protests began anew, but so did the state propaganda.

While the police detained hundreds of protestors, beat journalists, and closed the only opposition newspaper, the official story ran that a violent mob was roaming the streets. Since the world wasn’t paying attention, the regime was getting away with it. Reuters, being the only international news cartel to run anything at all, ran only two stories that borrowed heavily on quotes and statistics dished out by the state-run media. Hardly anyone else even noticed.

But this time, they didn’t have t, as the people of the Maldives found new ways to get their story out.

Government censorship is fueling a revolutionary leap from traditional reporting to citizens’ media. Tech-savvy Maldivian journalists are breaking the state monopoly on information by taking their message off the press and putting it onto the screen. Two English-language news sites in particular, Minivan News and the Dhivehi Observer, are harnessing the voices of people all over the Maldives in order to alert both the world and the Maldivian people themselves what is happening on the ground.

Both sites have set up Gmail addresses so that readers can submit news tips, photos, and video feeds easily from anywhere. Minivan News gives its readers the ability to upload to its FTP server, while the Dhivehi Observer can even be reached personally through MSN Messenger.

Photos and eye witness news accounts from all around the country flowed in steadily. One man captured Nasheed’s unwarranted arrest on video, sparking further rallies of outrage. Some used their cell phones to take snapshots, while others used them to send tips through text messaging. Both sites were making updates by the minute.

Another phenomenon has also occurred, with the sparked creation of a small but anti-government Maldivian blogosphere. Two in particular, Maldives Freeblog and Maldives Blog, give a perspective into events and sentiments on the ground no less lively than many American political bloggers.

However, only a handful of international NGOs have condemned the government’s suppression of pro-democracy supporters in light of the new unrest. The opposition is still waiting for a response from the European Union, which it plead to directly for help. Ten days later, the United Nations finally felt it necessary to issue a mild condemnation of the events. Since the world is turning a blind eye to the events that unfolded, pro-democracy opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed is being held on charges of terrorism, a charge that is blatantly false as the video illustrates.

A citizens’ media approach to journalism and the internet are giving the oppressed people of the Maldives an outlet for their story where one would otherwise not exist. Although word is getting out slowly but surely, the only problem is getting people to listen.