The Iranian Times

Thursday November 18, 1999 / Aban 27, 1378, No. 851


Sehaty Foreign Exchange

Iranian books


    Abu Saeed


Culture

The search
We are reexamining notions of what it means to be whatever

By Roozbeh Shirazi
November 18, 1999
The Iranian

Let me give you a vague introduction to who we have turned out to be: We like A Tribe Called Quest and ghormeh sabzi, we smoke pot (but don´t tell our parents) and we are bad at taarof but still understand it. We feel uncomortably American around Iranians, and defiantly Iranian around foreigners...

Are we Iranian? American? American-Iranian or vice versa blah blah blah ... GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

Baha'is have rights too

November 1999, (Iranian Human Rights Working Group) -- President Khatami's pronouncement, in his Paris press conference on Friday 29th October, on the plight of Baha'is in Iran is by far the most encouraging statement made by an Iranian high official of the Islamic Republic in this regard since the demise of the provisional government of Mehdi Bazargan in 1979. However, his statement fell far short of acknowledging the basic rights to religious freedom enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Iran is a state signatory ... FULL TEXT


    Anyway

BEFORE and AFTER
... you fall in LOVE

Before - You take my breath away.
After - I feel like I'm suffocating.

Before - Twice a night
After - Twice a month.

Before - Don't Stop.
After - Don't Start.

Before - It's like living a dream.
After - It's a nightmare ... FULL TEXT

Thanks to Leila Karimi Zand


More Letters

* Nature of the beast

Engscience writes: The Iranian Students"in the line of the Imam" were responsible for imprisonment and murder of thousands of students and opposition group members. Calling them democratic now, would be deceiving the people.

Two factions of the Islamic government are at each other's throats. The Islamic goeverment is in crisis, and now is the best chance for the people to voice their demands, but at the same time we should know the true nature of the beast, and avoid depending on either factions.

* Whine fest

Arash Salardini werites: Ms Darznik, I read some of your articles in The Iranian. I usually do not read the social commentaries on the site but my serendipitous and fortunate find provided ample interest and amusement. Your frankness is disarming and contrasts strongly with the attitudes of the older Iranians who are obsessed with keeping up appearances. (I exclude my parents from this simplification because they have been ahead of their time) ...

Your experience of being an outsider within a society of outsiders was incomprehensible to me. How could such a mixed race as ours have such a palpable discomfort with regards to differences. To call you half-anything I think is rude. Iranian racial purity is a myth. Being Iranian is a state of mind. An obsession, a pleasant mental disease akin to mania, a sweet pain and a worthwhile challenge. I think in this day and age, when being an Iranian is a serious disadvantage to one's career advancement, whosoever thinks they are Iranian could not possibly be anything but genuine ...

The ashamed Iranians appall me. You talked about the man who refuses to speak Persian. I know of someone who has the same attitude. First time I met him, I recognized his name as being Iranian and greeted him pleasantly. He said: "Sorry I do not speak Persian!" (To which my undiplomatic response was " You do not speak much English either. A regular Hellen Keller you are.") He recently rediscovered his Persian identity and decided to ask all to no longer call him by his previous preference. He has reverted to his real name now ... FULL TEXT


* Literature: Proverbs as bridges, Washington DC

Simin Habibian, author of "1001 Persian-English Proverbs" will give a talk on "building bridges across cultures & generations: an Iranian-American journey into the world of proverbs" on Sunday, 5 December, at 3 p.m. at George Washington University's Funger Hall. This event is sponsored by the Iranian Cultural Society of George Washington University, the Iranian Student Foundation at the University of Maryland, the House of Iran, and the Iranian American Cultural Association of Washington DC ... DETAILS HERE

SELL TICKETS ONLINE AT YOUR SITE


Books of the Week

* Ruzegaran (1999)
History of Iran up to the Pahlavi dynasty
By Abdol-Hossein Zarrinkoub

* Zanaan haramsaraa-ye Nasserdin Shah (1998)
Pictorial history
By Khosro Motazed and Abolghasem Tafazoli

* Baagh (1998)
Short stories
By Parviz Davaie

* Qand va namak (1998)
Tehrani proverbs
By Jafar Shahri

See more Iranian books for sale

THE IRANIAN
Bookstore


Video of the Week

Divorce Iranian Style

A new documentary that goes where Western camera s have never before gone: into an Iranian divorce court. The film is directed by award- winning independent filmmaker Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, an Iranian anthropologist and writer, based in London, whose specialty is women's rights and family law in the Mid-East.

THE IRANIAN
Video Store



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More news

Rival clerics hold meeting

TEHRAN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Iran's rival clerical factions held a reconciliation meeting under tight security on Thursday in an attempt to ease political tensions ahead of next year's parliamentary polls. The discussion at a downtown mosque, the second of its kind in recent weeks, was held at the initiative of the Society of Militant Clergy, the leading group of conservative clerics ... FULL TEXT

British MP voices concern over situation of Bahais in Iran

TEHRAN, Nov 18 (AFP) - A member of a visiting British parliamentary delegation has warned the situation of adherents of the Bahai faith in Iran could be an "obstacle" for improved Tehran-London ties, a press report said Thursday ... FULL TEXT

Moderate culture minister "not optimistic" over Nuri verdict

TEHRAN, Nov 18 (AFP) - Iran's moderate culture minister fears the outcome of the controversial trial of leading reformist Abdollah Nuri on charges of offending Islam, press reports said Thursday ... FULL TEXT

Khamenei Strongly Rejects Ties With U.S.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has strongly rejected ties with the United States, despite increasing calls by reformers for a review of Tehran's policy toward Washington, newspapers said Thursday ... FULL TEXT

Iran agrees to reopen border with Afghanistan: report

ISLAMABAD, Nov 18 (AFP) - Iran has agreed to reopen its border with Afghanistan after several days of talks between traders of the two countries, a Pakistan-based news agency said. No independent confirmation was immediately available ... FULL TEXT

Caspian pipeline accord reached

ISTANBUL, Turkey ­­ President Clinton said Thursday a deal to send Caspian Sea oil to world markets without going through Russia or Iran will help ensure that no country can choke off the global energy supply. As Clinton watched, the leaders of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed a series of agreements to build a 1,080-mile oil pipeline from the rich fields of Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan ... FULL TEXT

BG, Agip in running for next big Iran oil deal

TEHRAN, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has urged parliament to approve sharp energy price increases in order to cut heavy state subsidies and curb consumption ... FULL TEXT

Iran says two refineries vulnerable to Y2K problem

TEHRAN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Iran's two newest refineries face possible disruption from the millennium computer bug, largely for lack of key information from U.S. and other vendors, the head of the country's Y2K compliance programme said ... FULL TEXT

Iranian animation

Tehran (Hamshahri) - You didn't know that Iran also has a tradition in creating animated features, or cartoons. Well it does. And Nouredin Zarrin-kelk is one of the country's most famous animators. Here's an interview ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Kiarostami, the photographer

Tehran (Iran daily) - Abbas Kiarostami is going around the world showing his PHOTOGRAPHS. His next exhibtion is in Japan ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Red shirts in the red?

Tehran (Iran daily) - Persepolis has earned a nice some of money through trasferring players to foreign clubs. However, whole Persepolis organization is facing financial difficulties. Plus Ali Parvin is demanding shares in the club ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Hard loss in Kuwait

Tehran (Asre- Azadegan) - Persepolis General Manager Mahmoud Khordbin talks about the team's loss in Kuwait agains al-Arabi. "It was hard and a waste of time," ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


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Man's main task in life is give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.

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1900-1980


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