Letters
November 22-26, 1999 / Azar 1-5, 1378
Today
* Khomeini:
- Integrity
* Hejab:
- Questioning false beliefs
Previous
* Abadan:
- Strange experience
* Khomeini:
- Near irreproacheable life
* Prejudice:
- Was even willing to convert
* Politics:
- Nature of the beast
* Identity:
- What am I?
- Antipodean air!
- Essalat!
- Antipodean air!
- Essalat!
- Whine fest
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Wednesday
November 24, 1999
* Integrity
I wholeheartedly agree with K.
Magardie's letter rejecting the notion that Khomeini collaborated with
the SAVAK as portrayed in the article "Lunch
with Khomeini".
I know many things went wrong when the late ayatollah was Iran's leader
but it's totally irresponsible to label him a dishonest man. Overly orthodox,
ardently religious yes, but dishonest or dirty never.
Like it or not, millions of Muslims around the world revere Khomeini.
A large majority of Iranians, in spite of disagreements with him, still
acknowledge the man's integrity and modesty.
Mehrdad
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* Questioning false beliefs
The beauty of poetry is that you take what you want out of it. How
one interprets poetry has more to do with your own self, than what the
poet intended. So with that in mind, here is what I think.
I fully think it is a woman right to wear the hejab. And I understand
what rape is about. Rape is violence toward women. But Iraj
Mirza's poem is about questioning beliefs, the act of sex is a just
a small portion of the overall poem. And I didn't see the violence at
all.
I think this
poem talks about a person believing in something (in this case the
chador) and taking it out of context. In a way, controlling herself in
a manner that is opposite of its nature. Iraj Mirza is arguing for the
opposite, putting the wisdom of nature and human desires above a short-sited
belief system.
What is interesting is that when your lady friend interprets the incident
in this poem as rape, it shows that she understands the poem and rape as
much as the woman in the poem understood the concept of the hejab. I guess,
"we have NOT come a long way" from that time after all!
Daryoush Mehrtash
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Tuesday
November 23, 1999
* Strange experience
You can not do this to us! I was sitting here in front of the computer
trying to get some work done and then I received The Iranian Times with
all th Abadan
photos. I could not work after looking at the pictures. I don't think
any person who lived there could!
The pictures were so different from the last time I visited Abadan about
nine years ago. At the time most places were unrecognizable because of
the war damage.
No matter how it looked, the earth and the sky were there and the connection
to the past was as present as it could be. I also went to 110
Braim. At the time they were working on the house. When we arrived
nobody was there and the door was open. So I walked inside.
The walls had just been painted white. The rooms were all empty. I stood
there in the small hallway next to the entrance door. It took me just a
few seconds before I could see all the things that used to be there: the
paintings, like the one of Persepolis and another one that was my favorite
but I can't remember the name.
Needless to say, it was a strange experience being there. Even talking
about it now, I can still feel it all.
Yassaman Mottaghipour
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* What am I?
Apropos of the census
brief in The Iranian Times, I wonder if the magazine can ask
a question that surely a lot of Iranians want to know the answer to --
what racial/ethnic category are we?
It seems to me that "Iranian" does not qualify because it
encompasses a number of races and ethnicities. If I am not Kurdish or Turkish
or Arab, what am I?
There's probably some professor somewhere who knows the answer, but
I don't.
Gelareh Asayesh
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Monday
November 22, 1999
* Near irreproacheable life
I would like to voice my strongest disappointment at the article "Lunch with
Khomeini". Given this is not the opinion of The Iranian,
but how such drivel could be printed in an otherwise excellent magazine,
astonishes me.
First of all, the supporters of the Shah's regime, ex-SAVAK types inclusive,
would just love it if it appeared as though the Islamists were in fact
collaborators. Certainly, a great many were on the payroll. But this sensationalist
attempt to brand Ayatollah Khomeini as an opportunist smacks of pure, unadulterated
fabrication of history... FULL
TEXT
K. Magardie (Ms)
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* Was even willing to convert
Living in a multicultural society, (Toronto, Canada), people interact
with many other people from different backgrounds. I had the lovely experience
of dating a wonderful Iranian girl for four years. It was the greatest
experience of my life.
Even though I am from a Jewish background my parents had no problems
with me dating her, unfortunately I could not say the same for her family...
Throughout our four-year relationship we shared many wonderful experiences
but the thing that always came up was how her parents felt. I tried everything
I could to change that. I was even going to do whatever was the appropriate
thing to do in her culture. I was even ready to convert if that would have
made anything easier for her. Nothing seemed to work ... FULL
TEXT
Michael Pearlstein
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Friday,
November 19, 1999
* Antipodean air!
To listen to Roozbeh find his way and Iran and the United States in
Chile is wildly exhilarating ["The
search"]. He writes beautifully, expansively, with heart, and
the person and place that he paints are full, multi-dimensional, unexpected,
interesting and irreducible.
The kind of people who change the world start off like Roozbeh, not
accepting anything at face value. I say, breathe in some more Antipodean
air! It does you - and us - great good.
Laleh Khalili
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* Essalat!
Kudos to Mr. Shirazi ["The
search"]! This is another great article on this topic. I'm just
waiting for the cynics to blast him with their negative peanut-gallery-type
commentary on their "essalat" and hisr socio-cultural bankruptcy!
Banafsheh Zand
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Thursday
November 18, 1999
* Nature of the beast
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.
Engscience
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* Whine fest
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
Arash Salardini
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