|
Thursday * Repeating blunders Censorship always existed and still exists in the cinema industry, Hollywood's had it's blacklist during senetor McCarthy's time during the 50's and early 60's. Before that, the Hayes Law instered a set of regulations which forbade the showing of explicit sex scenes or the use of foul language. During the Shah's regime, certain films such as "Gav" directed by Dariush Mehrjui, were considered not politically correct, even though the film was shown in certain movie theaters and caught the attention of film festivals abroad. Today with Tahmineh Milani's arrest in connection with her latest film, "Hidden half", the Islamic government of Iran is repeating similar blunders which won't do any good to it's image abroad, or inside the country. Given the subject of Milani's latest film, which reportedly focuses on the "cultural revolution" following the 1979 revolution, I am not surprised that the she has been arrested. It is a shame. I wonder whether this news has reached the ears of film festival organizers abroad. I have not seen the film and I don't know whether the film is good or bad -- at least from a cinematographic point of view. However, If there's a petition to be signed for her liberation, I'm ready to sign it. Regards, * Why should I care? I was wondering why, as an Iranian, I should be interested in the pursuits of the Israelis and Palestinians? It seems to me we should engage our discussions more on the topics of poverty, social injustice, and the economic uncertainty of OUR OWN country, rather than a war that's outlasted all wars. Especially when it seems to have no end. I'm interested in seeing the responses of those who passionately talk about this subject. I don't want to seem indifferent. I'm just curious to know HOW and WHY this subject matter should concern me? Sincerely, * By the sword Dear Mr. Corr Chris, ["Do not denigrate us"] I am happy that you have taken your mask off and are quoting from "Shahid Motahhari" now! I guess next you will be quoting from "Shahid Lajevardi", the butcher of Evin. You have tried to change my word and make an argument, a very long and boring one too. All I said was simple, that Islam was propagated by the sword and hence physical and financial pressure was applied against the defeated nations. No one would have paid the Jazieh without the sword being over their heads! The fact that apostasy and blasphemy are punishable by death in Islam, and all the other harsh punishments, show how intolerant and insecure the Islamic rulers are. As soon as you take the sword off people's head they will convert in mass. If you don't believe me, just try it. And finally could you please explain to me that which one of the Taliban's actions are against the Holy Quran?! * Not just Australia Recently, two articles appeared in this magazine pointing out the mistreatment of refugees by the Australian government. I do not condone this act. In fact, I think it is very shameful. Howerver, I would like to point out that it is not just Australia that is mistreating refugess. About a year ago, Canadian television showed a documentary about Chinese refugees kept in jails in the northern part of Canada. Many were literally forced into airplanes by heavily armed police and sent back. In the United states, Haitian and Cuban refugees are kept in an American base in Guntanamo Bay. We never hear how they are treated but we know they are kept in camps. I don't necessarily like Australia or live in that country, but would like to point out that the problem of mistreating refugees is shared by many Western countries around the world. * We the problem In the past thirty years, since I started reading and listening to the news, all I have been hearing is blaming British, Russians, Arabs, Mongolians, and lately Americans and Israelis for our problems. I have not read or heard anyone saying that: "WE ARE THE PROBLEM". I have not heard anyone asking people to take responsibility and be the master of their own destiny. Enough already. When are we going to stop this childish attitude? When are we going to start concentrating on the root cause of our problems which is nothing but ourselves, the people? We are a corrupt nation. You don't believe me? Go to Iran. Pick a few institutions (public or private) such as a bank, an asnaad-e rasmi agency, hospital, police station, ministry of this or that, etc. Try to get a simple task done at any of these places. You will be amazed how much bribe you have to pay. Almost 90% of the personnel directly and with no shame will come up and ask you for "shirini" which is nothing but a bribe. If you don't do it you will never get your mission accomplished, simple. This is in lower level that ordinary people are involved with in their every day life. In higher levels, EVERY Iranian manager gets a kickback in his business dealings with the suppliers. Even the foreign firms who do business with Iran are aware of this fact, and go along with it. Try to import anything into Iran, and see what kind of mafia type organizations you must pay off to be able to do any business. I believe we need to be man enough and honest enough to face the fact and try to do something about it, rather than sitting back and blaming the world. The root cause of our problems is us, the people. We need to come out of this denial, understand the problem, discuss it, study it, collect data and come up with a corrective action plan. We need to treat this just like any epidemic disease. There is no difference. I know you are going to go back to Ferdosi, Molana and Koorosh. Fine, they were Iranians too, but they have nothing in common with us except the language and nationality. We have a long way to go to become the man Molana or Ferdosi talk about. If Ferdosi or Molana were alive today, they would be ashamed of us. Do something about it. * Why not Persica? In response to the recent letter ["No hard rules"], a few years ago, being ignorant of the subject of Persia vs Iran, I wrote to Dr.Yarshater. I asked , since he preferred "Persia" over "Iran", why had he not used Persica instead of Iranica for the name of the encyclopedia? In a polite letter, his answer to my question basically was that Iran implies to a larger cultural and geographic area beyond present day Iran , which includes Afghanistan , Tajikestan and other areas. Thus Encyclopedia Iranica covers all these areas with Iranian culture, language and/or history. Thank God Dr. Yarshater is alive and well and instead of interpreting his opinion on this matter, the writer is well advised to read Yarshater's writings first, and then render an iterpretation. "The learned writer" was not trying to romanticise his feelings and use "his own (mis)interpretation of the scholarly work of Ehsan Yarshater as extra amunition to prove his point". "The learned writer" was very humbly suggesting that EHTERAAME EMAAMZAADEH BE DASTE MOTAVALIST. If we do not call ourselves Persians any more, we should not expect our gulf to be called Persian either. And this was in line with Dr. Yarshater's teaching.That is all. Those interested, can benefit from reading the following articles. These are in Persian: -- Ehsan Yarshater: What should Iran be called in foreign languages.
Rahavard,Vol.V & VI, Nos.20/21, Summer and Fall 1988, pp.70-75
* Sharp eye What a beautifully written travelogue ["Riviera postcards"]. Cyrus Kadivar's delightful account of his honeymoon trip to the French Riviera was a much needed antidote to the messages of doom and gloom or hate and envy that often fill up these pages. With a sharp eye for details and in a most cultured prose his description of the people and places was refreshing, entertaining and educational. Wishing him and his wife a very happy future,
|
|
|
Web design by BTC Consultants
Internet server Global Publishing Group