The internet situation is beyond bad. Calling it “the internet” hardly makes sense anymore. Nearly everything is cut off. A few VPNs, made available by free-internet activists, work sporadically and only for short periods. There is no real access to anything: no email, no international websites, nothing reliable. Verification SMS messages don’t arrive. All we hear from the regime are the same hollow promises about restoring access “today or tomorrow.”

Maybe one percent of people can connect to the global network, and even that connection usually collapses after a few hours. What’s happening to us goes far beyond the loss of internet access. It’s difficult to even put into words. Language fails to convey the true scale of this disaster.

I wish there were a rescuer.