Letters January 2005
I'll be damned if I keep silentIn response to Samira Mohyeddin "The Gulf wars": I just sent the following email to Samira. I forgot to complement her on her beautiful Arabic name. Perhaps others would be interested in reading my reply to her. JC Dear Samira, Thank you for having taken note of my work with the PGTF. I didn't know anyone outside of that group had even heard of me. I read your recent letter to the Iranian. You are of course entitled to your opinion on the matter. However, off the mark it may be. For the record, I am not xenophobic nor anti-Arab. Having said that, however, I am not going to sit by and let the Arabs (nor their apologists) steamroll over history as they attempt to destroy Iran's legacy and it's place in the world. What's in a name? A lot more than meets the eye. First they Arabs will attempt to rename the Persian Gulf and next they will lust more openly after the three islands that the UAE " disputes". Perhaps I should remind you that the Arabs (with the help of Britain) took Bahrain away from Iran and more recently invaded Iran proper. Have you seen Beheshte Zahra (the main veteran's cemetary in Tehran)? There is already an Arabian Sea, a Gulf of Aden, a Gulf of Oman (created by the Arabs in the 1960s), a Gulf of Aqaba and of course the Shatt-al Arab (which us Iranians refer to as the Ervand Rud; without asking anyone else to do the same). Is it right to let the Arabs have their way with geography? Should those of us who know better not say something on the matter? All I am saying is that the Arabs need to respect Iran. Short of that, I'll be damned if I keep silent while they distort history to suit their racist impulses. It is they after all who refer to Iranians as "magus" (literally Zoroastrian but in practice, " infidel" which is ironic since it was the pre-Islamic Arabs who were pagans while the Zoroastrians are monotheist) and "'ajam" (barbarian). Remember this as you sit in your office in Canada and pay lip service to brotherly love between Persian and Arab- Iran has not invaded any country since the eighteenth century (and no Arab territory since the seventeenth when the Safavid's captured Baghdad) while the Arabs have repeatedly attempted to invade, pillage, rape and loot the Persian heartland since they stormed out of the desert in the seventh century. I urge you not to forget your history and stop the flow of revisionism when you are faced with it. There is no shame is defending the truth. There is however, plenty of disgrace in pandering to the enemies of Iran and attacking those who seek to defend her. Sincerely,
We have to preserve anything PersianIn response to Samira Mohyeddin "The Gulf wars": Samira my Arab sister, Indeed, all the major religions including
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are derived from this old Persian
religion (pagan). We should be proud of our Persians
heritage, as the Pan-Arab nationalist are proud of being Arabs. We
want to rediscover our own identity, without being anti-any nationality!
Therefore, we have to start by preserving anything Persian, including
the culture, land, water, language, and yes the name of the Persian
Gulf! And this government would eventually be replace with
a Pro-Iranian culture government who indeed would be and should
be pro-human rights! We hope!
I feel and share your painIn response to J. Javid's "Besmellah-e Rahman-e Rahim... Dear Mom": Dear Jahanshah, Recently only, I have discovered Iranians.com
and I am starting to feel at home again. This feeling of distance
and detachment has been killing me in an invisible and mysterious
way, but I am healing. Knowing people like you, although very
distantly, makes me feel stronger and helps me fight the guilt
that I have
been hiding so painfully inside me for over 25 years.
Some truth about RevolutionIn response to Hassan Behgar's "Bazargan va existentialism?": Mr. Behgar's article is a must-read for any of us
who may inadvertently forget some of the truth about the so-called
Revolution and its elements. He made an excellent point that Sartre most
likey would have committed suicide if he had any idea who in
history would be attributed to his school of thought!
Confident strokesIn response to Anahita Vossoughi's paintings "Explaining maleness": I enjoyed your work. Bold, large scale work with confident strokes and interesting colors. With some minor exception (in this presentation, of course) you seem to have developed your signature. Good luck:
Finding friend after 24 yearsYou are not going to believe me if I told you: By publishing my short story "Mosaafer", you gave me back a family friend after 24 years! He lives in Japan and I had no idea where he was. He emailed me this:
Tel Aviv-on-the-Potomac is an enemyIn response to Faramarz Fateh's "Only Iranians can fix Iran": Mr. Fateh, Thank you for your essay in response to my earlier work. Your work has been the only one of substance that was sent to me. The others were hate-filled Jewish cussing sprees. I constantly told them that I would be willing to PUBLICLY debate them on Jews and neo-cons. Of course, no responses to my request. Anyway, on towards answering your ditty. I do not blame everything on Jews. On my blog page ("iranianforaryans.blogspot.com") I wrote an essay defending positive Jewish contributions to Western music. Indeed, Jews have been instrumental (haha! double entendre!) not only in Western music, but also in music of the Levant. The vacuum in Arabic music was filled by Jews. I give credit where credit is due. However, when it comes to politics, and other aspirations of the nations for self-betterment, the Jews are antipodal to every and all true forms of progress >>> Full text
Never associate IRI actions with IslamIn response to Arian's "Are you insane?": You claimed I'm either an agent of the IRI or an akhoond. You're right, I'm both. Wait, actually I'm an akhoond that's an agent of the English. Just lift up my non-existent beard, and you will find it says "Made in England" underneath. They stamped it themselves, so that I would always know who I serve. When will you all give up your conspiracy theories? I neither serve the IRI, nor the Shahees, the English, the Americans or the Israelis. I am my own person, "I think therefore I am". If you support the monarchy, does that mean you benefited from the Shah's time, or that you used to work directly for the Shah? Next, you should THOROUGHLY read my responses before you respond to them. You didn't even get anything right. I said that Islam was never FORCED on Iran, in the sense that no one was forced to become Muslim during the ARAB invasions 1,300 years ago. That was what the topic was about, not today. And yes, I agree with you, that they are forcing religion down the throats of our people these days. I never supported this government, nor do I claim to. No one should be flogged for not fasting, no one should have acid thrown in their eyes for not observing hijab, no one should be denied a post he can excel in because he doesn't pray 5 times a day. And my views are in no way un-Islamic. My views are straight from Imam Ali (a.s), the Commander of the Faithful. This government claims to follow Imam Ali, but obviously they have all failed to follow his exemplary lifestyle and rule. Read Imam Zayn ul-Abideen's (a.s) Rights of Leaders and Subjects. None have been implemented by the IRI. They claim they are Muslim, but they are Munafiqhs for faking Islam in order to gain earthly benefits (wealth, power, etc.) And I'm not against Bahais, why do you generalize people so much? I have plenty of Baha'i friends, and respect them as I would do my own brother. As Imam Ali (a.s) said, "You are either brothers in religion, or equals in creation". We are all equals. And never associate the actions of the Islamic Republic with Islam. Too many moft-khors in the goverment for it to even resemble anything Islamic. Khodah negahdar, P.S. I hope you know the statement that I'm an akhoond was just a joke. I don't ever plan on being an akhoond either.
PERSIAN, not FARSIDear Ms Azam Nemati, I regulary visit your pages in iranian.com. I noticed that you have used the word "Farsi" (instead of "Persian") as English name of our language in your. I would like to point out that FARSI (which is originally PARSI) is the native name of our language and PERSIAN is its English equivalent; as the native name of German language is 'Deutsch', but we never use 'Deutsch' in place of 'German' in English; or native term of Greek Language is "Ellinika" and always in English we say 'Greek' language, not 'Ellinika' language. If you notice the title of dictionaries that have been
written by several great Persian scholars (eg. Prof. Moein, Prof. Aryanpour,
Prof. Baateni, etc.) The title of all of them is "English-Persian
Dictionary" not "English-Farsi Dictionary": Meanwhile the official institution "Farhangestan; The Academy of Persian Language and Literature, in Tehran (www.PersianAcademy.ir) in an announcement has rejected the use of the word 'Farsi' instead of 'Persian' in English. (I have attached it). According to Dr. Hossein Sameie (visiting linguistics professor of Emory University in Atlanta), "PERSIAN, alongside the name of a language, may be used, as an adjective, for the other aspects of our history and culture. For example, we can speak about 'Persian Literature', 'Persian Gulf', 'Persian Carpet', 'Persian Food'; this way, 'Persian' may be a common concept and function as a link between all aspects of Iranian [Persian] life, including language. 'Farsi' does not have such a characteristic?" And finally, of course you are aware that all "Persian Service" not "Farsi Service": -- BBC: etc. If you want to have more information, please do not hesitate to contact me. If possible, please revise your English texts and please use the proper English name for our language; PERSIAN, not FARSI. Thank you so much for your attention. Best regards,
Nothing wrong with calling yourself PersianIn response to Roozbeh Shirazi's "Identity politics": I call myself Persian not because that was what the country was
called into middle of the last century. There is tons of material
written about our culture during the ages about Persian culture,
language and people. I call myself Persian and Iranian interchangbly to
preserve a culture. I do not do it because I am a racist or
anti-Turk or anti-Arab or becuase I am embarrassed being a moslem.
Thank you for sharingIn response to Music selections by Azam Nemati: Salaam, Once in a while I check the Iranian.com for photos, music, and some news from Iran. For a long time I wanted to write and thank you for sharing the music with other readers, and promoting the emotional well being of us all. I also read your two essays and have some recollection that your final trip to Iran did not resonate of a perfect cord, although you are still emotionally fully connected. I do consider myself half Abadani, half Tehrani, half Isfahani, and half American (remember Molavi's poem " goftam ze kojaii to, taskhar zad o goft ay jaan- nimeem ze torkestaan, nimeem ze forghaaneh : nimeem ze aab o gel, nimeem ze jaan o del -nimeem labe darya, baaghi hameh dordaaneh", since I graduated from AIT in 1962, and taught there from 1973 to 1979, and have fond memories of Abadan. With regards,
Trading musicIn response to Music selections by Azam Nemati: ba salam va arze adab, in jaaneb nabati bar hasbe etefaagh baa in site ashenaa shodam, az bakhshe muzik an be vigheh barnaameh golhaa va taknavaazaan lezat bordeh o mibaram. baayad be etelaae shomaa beresaanam keh man ham aarshive nesbatan mofasali az muzik iraani be khosous golhaa taknavaazaan golchin hafteh va hamintor mahali daaram khoshhaal khaaham shod agar betaavanim baa ham aanche ke dar ekhtyaar daarim mobaadeleh benamaaiim shad o pirouz bashid
Fantastic memoriesIn response to Music selections by Azam Nemati: Dear Azam, Salaam. Gosh it was wonderful to listen to all the lovely treasures
you have on the Iranian.com page. Simply splendid music and
has brought back fantastic memories especially the classical songs.
Wonderful work.. God bless you and all involved. However one
thing I noticed Hessameddin Seraj is missing... not a single
piece from him... hmmm.. please look harder I'm sure you would
be able to find something exceptional by him. Make me happy
....once
again my gratitude to you. God bless
Most creativeIn response to Bruce Bahmani's "My journey with the Shahnameh": Bruce Bahmani's Comic Strip project is certainly
one of the most creative and interesting artistic projects I've
encountered in
the Iranian American community. Bravo to Behrouz aka Bruce and
his friends for this smart intitiative and all the best for
future editions on the Shahnameh Characaters.
Turned Rostam into a WASPIn response to Bruce Bahmani's "My journey with the Shahnameh": Dear Behrouz (Bruce), I think the great Ferdowsi would've been really disappointed
at your 'Americanization' of his masterpiece epic and its central
hero, Rostam.
After all, it took him some 30 years to create the Shahnameh
in an effort to revitalize Farsi: "basi ranj bordam dar in
sal si, ajam zendeh kardam bedin parsi." Now, you and
your buddies, Jamie and Cameron, have turned Rostam into a WASP
looking green-eyed man who has no resemblance to a "Parsi" hero.
Who knows what you've done to the magnificent stories inside.
Frankly, I'm surprised you didn't call him "Rusty!"
Googoosh fell victim to their trapIn response to Farrokh A. Ashtiani's "Here we are": Dear Mr. Ashtiani; I have yet to see Googoosh since she came here in 1972 in San Francisco Hilton for Noruz party with then husband Mahmoud Ghorbani. I refuse to be taken by the charlatans, or so called "Concert GozArAn" also called the LA mafia. Unfortunately Googoosh
fell victim to their trap 3 years ago when she accepted to see
them in Canada. I could see these days then, and we will be witness to
more.
Ahang Ghoochani man donbal yek ahang
ghoochani be nam "aftab
labeh boom roo gardooneh" migardam. lotfan agar dar site shoma
in ahang mibashad man ra rahnamaii konid.
Akheh nokaretam, what's this junk?In response to Zafar Hashmi "The Shia Strategy": I woke up yesterday and came to work with a spring in my step as I do nowadays since discovering Iranian.com. I look forward every day to checking my new favourite website and cyber-bonding with my nation and people all over the world. Har rooz be havaye een website delam khosheh. But I just can't explain why on earth yesterday I was exposed to a very, very long, kinda scary and really passe political diatribe about Shias and Sunnis and bla bla bla. Maybe you woke up grumpy and wanted us to be grumpy too. Maybe you ate some bad ghormeh sabzy the night before and wanted to take it out on us, but really JJ, is it not enough that we live in a post Sept.11 CNN propaganda bubble that you have to bombard us with some kharejy loony tune spewing religious fervour of a very scary kind? I'm all for freedom of expression valy ghorboonet beram, if I were to write a 10 000 word piece on killer bees in Burkina Faso would you print it? At least Akhoond Abadi is Iranian and is good for a laugh. What happened to some good old Baniameri or even a nice little piece AGAIN on some outdated royal subject..Soraya perhaps? But TORO AMAT digeh az een aasghaalaa be maa naparoon avale soby. Other than that, thanks for a great website. Nokaretam.
I hate herIn response to Quiz on Shohreh Aghdashloo's birth name: Her family name was VAZIRI-TABAR. Aghdashloo is the name of her
first husband AYDIN AGHDASHLOO. If I won don't send me the prize
because
I hate her guts. For two reasons. First
she insulted my lovley Googoosh many times out of deep jealousy. Second she defamed
her country by playing as an Iranian lady killer.
Short of knowledgeIn response to Azar Majedi's "Is Canada next?": Azar Khanom, It is sad and unfortunate that people with little cultural knowledge begin to write and make statements which can only be referred to as diatribe. Your article in the iranian.com is short of knowledge and can not be considered as a worthy of comment except its total rejection.
In gaz heavenWow....... you folks are wonderful. Thanks a whole bunch for contacting Mr. Abbas Atrvash in Toronto regarding my quest for gaz. He went out of his way and found a store in the city that has it! I am astonished at this gesture of kindness on his part and equally amazed and astounded at your generous giving of attention to my enquiry. You have a devoted reader here forevermore and I will not fail to mention your publication and work to everyone in my orbit. In Greatest Gratitude,
How much to defame your country fellows?In response to Shohreh Aghdashloo's role in the Fox tv series "24": "I will not play a terrorist or a battered woman from the Middle East - and those were the kind of roles I would get auditions for" People who follow art news should remember these words. These sentences were uttered from the mouth of a lady who has just finished acting as a female terrorist from Iran. -- Shohreh Aghdashloo in and interview with Megan Lehmann, New York Post, December 17, 2003 Dear Ms. Aghdashloo, If you do not remember this interview or do not like to pay a visit to the numerous online websites who covered your pre-oscar activities (like here) you can have your interview with the BBC world (Oscar gala night ) and CNN (Larry King Live) revisited to see for yourself in both occasions you mentioned the same statements too. Now what happened that you suddenly decided to play a female terrorist from the middle east and of all countries from your home country, Iran? Although in the episode shown so far they never mention the nationality of the terrorist family but the name of your son, Behrooz, says it all. In fact you would like to play the terrorist and sell the dignity of your country if and only if good money is paid for it. Winston Churchil once was qouted as saying "Everybody can be bought, but the prices are different". I wonder how much you were paid to defame your country fellows while there is not one single instance of an Iranian bomber , be it male or female anywhere on the face of the earth. Just show me one example of an Iranian female bomber in the history of the world and i will apologize to you on this very same website. I am sorry for a nation who accepts good-for-nothings as their national icons and the showcase of their culture while the same person belittles and degrades the same people who gave her everything she has.
Ideas which create more hateIn response to Zafar Hashmi "The Shia Strategy": I can't believe your website publishing such articles / letters with such unintelligent ideas and reasoning. Ideas which will serve no good purpose or help any part of the community, but create more hate and misunderstandings. I can not reject nor wish to deny the brutality of the Al Qaedeh and their inhumane views and that of their allies, or what they have done to people at large, but yet find the article very gullible, naive, and unlawful. Suggesting to part with one party should be based on similarity and sharing of principals rather than short term interest. Perhaps the writer should review his approach and arguing techniques before he decides to again air his views.
She acts best when she has the least linesIn response to Shohreh Aghdashloo's role in the Fox tv series "24": Shohreh Aghadashloo is a great actress. She acts best when she has the least of lines to recite. She should be in a movie with that great actor Rocco Sifreddi. She would get an award for that.
Photoshop trickIn response to J. Javid's "Mamgia Mangia": Dear Jahamshah, Your New Year's Eve pictures shows that you guys had real good time. I love the way they were printed. How did you do that? Happy New Year, REPLY: Oh very easy... in Photoshop >>> Filter >>> Artistic >>> Sponge... and you're there! -- J. Javid
Iranians and only Iranians can and will fix Iran In response to "Jews/Necons":
More valuable than terrorist momIn response to J. Javid's comment on Shohreh Aghdashloo's role on Fox tv, "Killer mom": What is so glamorous playing a role as a terrorist
in a society that certain religion and nationalities are under
microscope? Type casting is a killer, is one of the biggest mistakes
as career move, in a time that they put you in jail for no reason
in the name
of national security, being nominated for an Emmy as terrorist
role is wishful thinking. Ms. Aghdashloo is one of our great actresses, I do not want
to see her in petty roles, not mentioning her talent to be reduced
to a terrorist mom. She is more valuable than that.
Highly suspicious positionsDear Editor, As a regular reader of your magazine, I would like to share with you my resentment of your decision to open your columns to Mr. Dariush Sajjadi. If I decided to put my resentment in writing it is because he seems to have become a regular contributor. That bothers me and I think it should bother you too. That this person and the current of thought he represents may have found a stable foothold in iranian.com, a magazine I had come to associate with the hope of a free and democratic Iran, is indeed troubling. Here is a person who, for the last couple of years, has been a consistent critic and denigrator of major anti-IRI initiatives (the latest being the call for a referendum). His positions are highly suspicious to the attentive reader: it seems that his only purpose is to criticize and destroy without giving much attention to the solution. Is this negativity a personal inclination of Mr Sajjadi or does he have other motives for his interventions? Should it not suffice to know that he is one of a handful of Iranian students in the US to benefit from an IRI scholarship? in other words he was SENT here by the regime (see also the article by Shadi Dana in Gooya News). Everyone knows how "selective" such scholarship programs are; especially if the person is going to North-America. If you choose not to modify your policy with regard to this person, I hope that you would at least enable me to share my worries with iranian.com's readership by publishing this in the letters section. Thanks,
Poetry is alive and kickingFew days ago I read two comments on the Letters section, which I totally agreed with. Like the two writers of these two letters after reading a few so called poetry on the site the sad feeling filled my heart as "what happened to our poetry and to our poets". Have we lost it all to nonesence, ugly words wrapped together and presented as poem". Today
having read peoms of
Please step out into the lightIn response to Zafar Hashmi "The Shia Strategy": Reading this piece of cry-wolf article was very amusing, the matter of fact is: what goes around, comes around. The people who have worn the label "Shia" have killed, pillaged, slaved, raped and you name it as much as those who have worn the other labels, particular to this article the Sunnis, try to make yourselves look as victims is too fake of an attempt. Iran as dominantly Shia country has done all that the Sunni's have done and worst to religious and ethnic minorities in that country, as the old Persian saying goes:" It's the same donkey but with a different riding cover". I can only imagine that writer wrote this article because he has been hiding in a cave in Afghanistan and been out of touch with reality. Please step out into the light, and I am sure it will not hurt the eyes as it should after being in dark for so long, for the logical and simple reason that you have already been blinded by the dogmas that thrives under prejudice and ignorance.
The people waving this flag don't represent IranIn response to Davood Rahni's "More than green, white, and red": The Savak-loving royalists can keep waving the old flag all they want but please stop waving it in the name of the rest of us. That flag doesn't represent Iran or Iranians, it represents an obsolete way of living. The people waving this flag don't represent Iran anymore than
Chalabi represented Iraq. But hey it's a free country, have your
parade just
don't complain when the "Iranian-American" community doesn't show up
Constructive musical sentimentsIn response to Music selections by Azam Nemati: Dear Azam, So, if this section were to have a much more complete collections of songs of Azeri, Baluchi, even Arab minority in Khoozestan, Afghani, Khorassani, Tajiki, Armenian, Zoroastrians, Assyrian, etc., it would with no doubt enhance the already appreciative stature of the website.
Ultimately a foreign power would come and shove itIn response to Ramin Kamran's "Jomhuri yaa saltanat?": Do you see the level of incompetent and confusion in a 2500+ year Iranian society? After all those past centuries and experiencing all sorts of political and social events, we are still lost, confused, and aimlessly heading in the back roads of life and behind every other society and civilization that we like to compare ourselves to and rub shoulders with. What are we and what are we looking for? After 2.5 millenniums, we can't decide in a simplest thing. We are incapable of establishing a popular and legitimate form of governing system that is created by the people and run by the people. It makes me sick to even think when ultimately a foreign power would come and shove it (how to create a democratic government) down our throats. Shame on us the great (in our minds only) Iranian people. We defiantly need help and lots of too.
Boro baba delet khoshehIn response to Ramin Kamran's "Jomhuri yaa saltanat?": I was this close to actually reading Ramin Kamran's latest propaganda piece... but then I thought, it's sort of like going to a Bond movie to ascertain whether or not old Jimmy will get some and will kick bad guy's ass... or not? One wonders. Let me guess, the best option for Iran according to Mr. Kamran is... Al-Jomhuriya wal Mossadeqiyya... boro baba delet khosheh... At a time when everyone is trying their best to defer such divisive matters, the national frontier men are seriously trying to tell us, yet again, what the antellectual thing to think would be...
May be seen as exploitationIn response to Bruce Bahmani's "My journey with the Shahnameh": Dear Mr. Bahmani: Most interesting! A friend's son had a similar idea a few years back--in fact I think he has patented it--but I'm not sure. (You may find out through Mahdavitoys.) From a literary point, I see Shahnameh in a whole different light. In particular, had hoped to someday enjoy Rostam and Sohrab in the lyric opera, but that remains a personal dream. My affiliation with Iranian over the past couple of years has brought me to many critical readers. Brace yourself, for they may see this as the exploitation of the Shahnameh. I'd be interested to know about the feedback. Nonetheless, I wish you and your friends much success. Sincerely,
Lost respect for AghdashlooIn response to Shohreh Aghdashloo's role in the Fox tv series "24": I have never called to any radio station nor sent email to any site to discuses any program, but this one made me so mad that for the first time I am doing this. Until now I had so much respect for this lady (Shohreh Aghdashloo), but I have lost it all by watching her on such a demeaning role. I think she has ruined her reputation by playing the role of a terrorist killing somebody, knowing where she is coming from and also knowing that this is a very sensitive subject these days. Now I know why people open their mouth any say things out of frustration, shame on her and shame on her by playing such a stupid role with that heavy ugly make up. From now on I will not be interested on watching her in any movies. I wish I had her email address to express not only my feeling but also all other people that I have talked to. I don't know whom is the person sending this comment that she needs to win a prize for this role, but I know you will change your mind talking to majority of good Persain people.
Converse with Italian student on 1979 revolutionDear Sir, My name is Carlo Simonetti, a Political Science student in Rome, at "Libera Università degli studi S.Pio V", departement of Political Philosophy. I am currently writing my thesis on the Islamization of the concept of revolution, in specific terms, how a concept born out of the West was adapted to its Iranian-Shi'i form. Reading the letters of your site, I have found it quite open to any argument. It would be of great interest for me to write to iranians/iranian origin or any student/expert of Iranian culture to ask and share questions on both the 1979 events, politics in present-day Iran and Iran in general. It would be of great help to my work and of course, to broaden my knowledge of Iranian culture and people. It would be of great interest if to share views with both you and other members of iranian.com. Best regards,
A car made in Italy is not called a Roman carIn response to Roozbeh Shirazi's "Identity politics": I read your article about being Persian. As an American Iranian I agree with you, we are Iranians and speak Farsi. Cats & carpets are Persians. People who say "Persians" are either afraid or ashamed of the "I" word and also want to remind that Iran was once a super power too. A person from Italy says "Italian" as oppose to Roman. Have you ever heard of a Roman Mafia! It's always Italian Mafia, A car made in Italy is not called a Roman car. S Nia :o)
IMPORTANT!Regarding the Bear character in Bijan Mofid's "Shahr-e Qesseh" musical: Anybody know where Khersseh's accent is from?
Lots of memoriesIn response to Esmael Ghadessy "Tehran-Babol road" photos: Dear Esmael, I Enjoyed the pictures very very much, they brought lots of memories from good old days. Haven/t been in Iran for 28 years. missed it a lot mind you, the cities not the people. Thanks again,
Enemy of my enemy not necessarily my friendIn response to Zafar Hashmi "The Shia Strategy": Dear Mr. Hashemi, Thank you for a most informative article. It certainly firmed up a lot of the loose ends about the Shia in the modern world. But be wary, the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. America under its current policy is more likely to be interested in America and not what happens to hundred or even thousands of Shia in the world.
Referundum via international channelsIn response to Abdol Sattar Doshoki "Arzyaabi-ye faaz-e avval": Dear Mr. Doshoki, Your artilce is thought provoking. I agree that there is no other inclusive alternative to serve all Iranian people but a referundum via international channels. Previous alternatives apparently have often been autocratic, destructive or at the servie of one fraction of the people. Referundum might include religious gropus, agnostics, atheists, monarchists, communists, socialists, liberals, minorities, mullas, kings, pasdars, savakis and inshort left and right and inbetween as long as they want peace, prosperity and justice for all! It is really up to people inside Iran to decide what they want. Although we might love those whom we left behind, as self-centered people outside Iran, we have no saying in telling those who are suffering what to do. Most likley they are desperately seeking one minute of freedom we are enjoying! Hopefully a referndum under international monitoring will help them to make a reasonable decision without fear!
Googoosh: Hallo from Polandhallo from poland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i found your email in the net. my name is ada. i am student persian language in poland. i would like to write my thesis (at my university) about Googoosh. i know that in net is so many information about Googoosh, but i thought that maybe you have got more information about her. i would like to write about her life in Iran and America, and about her childhood, about her music, films and husbends and son. just, about everything. i want translate her songs from persian to polish language. probably, i'll go to Iran but in September 2005, and now i would like collet more information about her. i know that maybe it's stupid and impossible, but i would like to contact with people who worked with her, and of course with her, Googoosh. it's very importent for me. this is my last year studing, so i don't have more time, but i hope you will help me. thank you for your (i hope) answer. regards
Persians have huge bright eyes (and small brains?)In response to Bruce Bahmani's "My journey with the Shahnameh": It seem like rostam is chines with those kind of eyes and as you know we persians have a huge bright eyes unlike chines the armor remind the chines carttons that we watched in larigany tv when were were kid if i reber the cartoon mae was sebrardaran or somthing like that and by the way rostam was from sistan and balochesatn he does not have a green eye thanks and goodluck
You can not fight terrorism with terrorIn response to Peter Kohanloo "Next four years": Peter, Please let me remind you that the last four year has been nothing but a total f*&kup on the account of this president G.W. He has brought nothing but total destruction to Iraq and has murdered more people on his watch then the Taliban and Regime of Iran put together. Please don't get me wrong, I am in no way, shape or form for the current regime in Iran and will be very happy when they are finally get their day in courts and justice has been brought to them, yet I will never believe that G.W. can offer us any thing better then the mullahs, unless if you think Iraq is a model for what Iran should be. You can not fight terrorism with terror, this is like raping
to save virginity, you know. As an Iranian saying goes, "Adam
bayad mokhe kar khorde bashe" (one got to be totally dumb)
to believe that the US will bring any thing good to Iran, not at
least G.W. He is too busy bringing destruction to all parts of
the world and making his family and friends richer. As far as I
am concern, G.W. is one of the biggest terrorist currently this
world is witnessing.
Persian Gulf? Don't be ridiculousIn response to Samira Mohyeddin "The Gulf wars": Samira, you are entirely right. I have refused to sign the ridiculous Internet petitions on the Persian Gulf. There is no rule of law in Iran, injustice is rampant, persons and property are not at security, individuals disappear for no good reason, and then some clowns pander to Iranians' addiction to slogans and theatricals. Where is the collective outrage at daily rights abuses (not to mention the pollution and destruction of the physical and natural landscape of Iran by Iranians) We're always fifty years behind, speaking the language of 1960s nationalism in 2004: please God, somebody help that country. Rgds and best of luck,
Are you kidding us honey?In response to "Iranian of the year" poll: Hellllo, anybody home?????? WHO are you to choose 10 top iranians of 2004? And please take a look at your list: Azar Nafisi, Shirin Ebadi, Hossein Derakhshan!!! Reza zadeh. Are you kidding us honey?
Farah tooIn response to "Iranian of the year" poll: EMPRESS FARAH IS NOT IN THE POLL: HER MEMOIRES WERE THE HIT
OF THE YEAR:
Just wanted to say the Empress' book was a hit in libraries in
France and worldwide and she deserves to be in the pole.
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