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Rumi
Culture
Velvet
Czech respect for human life and passive resistance
Written & photographed by Rasool Nafisi
March 8, 2000
The Iranian
Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution was initiated with a demonstration
to commemorate the deaths of eight students killed by the Nazis in WWII;
a reference to the value of the individual in Czech society, and an act
which was possibly a take off of the Iranian revolution of 1979. We may
observe the same Czech appreciation of human rights in the continual commemoration
of the two students killed by Soviet forces in the Prague Spring of 1968.
This civility and the respect for life are in sharp contrast to our
governments' view of life. For example, after the recent savage murders
of scores of intellectuals by some out-of-control secret police members,
Iranian authorities maintained that the death of a few "unimportant"
figures did not deserve all the commotion and brouhaha created by the press
>>>
GO TO FEATURE
Novel
Conspiracy at Desert One
A novel
By Bernace Charles
The Iranian
Chapter Twenty-Nine >>>
GO TO FEATURE
Outlook
Revealed: role of a president in the murder of his
people
By Robert Fisk in Tehran
The Independent (London)
8 March 2000
In the wave of half-freedoms that have followed last month's pro-reformist
elections in Iran, the dark and sinister political role of ex-president
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani once the most powerful man in the Islamic
Republic is at last being revealed in Tehran.
Mr Rafsanjani, who first disclosed the Iran-Contra scandal, is being
linked to at least six senior Iranian government officials who, during
his presidency, ordered the secret execution of more than 80 dissidents,
intellectuals and criminals. The ex-president, it now transpires, also
appointed members of his own family to high positions in the lucrative
oil ministry in Iran. >>>
FULL TEXT
Thanks to Laleh Khalili
Beel meeram
Khadang writes to
The Iranian:
salam daei enshaalluh ke kefen yukhje olsun . man sanin ber hamshahrevam
ke sannan ertebut bargarur elamisham. javubemim yadennun chekhmusen.
More Letters
* Scientology
Ban Ban writes: You think the Anthony
Robbins thing is bad? I was working for a professional translation
company and those guys put me in touch with this F R E A K who calls me
asking me if I would translate L. Ron Hubbard's "Dianetics" --
the Scientology Bible -- into Persian!
I told the guy... Boro Aghaa khejaalat bekesh ... Irooniaa beh andaaze-ye
kaafee pedareshoon az dasteh deen dar oomadeh.
The guy then tells me that that is exactly the reason they need Scientology
back in Iran -- to free themselves of Islam. So I said, you know, sorry
I'm a heathen and don't believe in replacing one addiction with another.
* Broken promises
Mehrdad S. writes:
My coming to America was a dream. I once thought I was lucky to a country
with lots of hope. My mother didn't want me to leave. She had raised me
single-handedly for twelve years under harsh war-timeconditions. She raised
me without my father, without the help of a single family member or friends.
She dreamed that some day I would become somebody -- somebody who could
make her proud.
The sad part is that I was tempted -- tempted to see, to know, and to
experience what was happening on the other side of the world. I chose the
U.S. over my mother, my loved one, and the only person who could understand
me. I left her only because of money, greed, and lack of family.
God, I miss those days when I would wake up in the morning and ask my
mother to give me 10 tomans, so I could go to the noonvaii and by two barbaris.
God I miss the days I came back from school and there was always delicious
food waiting for me, and my mother was waiting for me at the door to greet
me and say " azizam chetory, madreseh chetor bood?"
Well, I made a choice. I left Iran to experience something new. However,
no matter how amazing those experiences were, to me the experience of being
with my mother was the best. I was just a victim of promises.
Art: Fifty Iranian artists in U.S.
Three Iranian art gallaries are bringing 150 works of art by 50 Iranian
masters to the U.S. "Evolving Perceptions" will host the shows
in the U.S. The art tour starts in New York with a show on March 9-13 at
the Art Expo in the Jacob Javitz Convention Center.
SELL
TICKETS ONLINE AT YOUR SITE
Books & Music from Iran
This week's new books from Iran include a fascinating history of the
Iranian students confederation from 1953 to 1979, Simin Behbahani collected
works,a critique of fascism in Iran by leading reform columnist Akbar Ganji
, and >>>
GO HERE
New music albums
* Taherzadeh, Manochehr: Aakharin
barg * Eyvazi, Mohammad Reza. : Rangin
kamaan * Banan.: Shaakh-e
gol (2) * Ta'rif, Sadiq: Maah
baanoo * Lachini, Fariborz: Paaeez-e
talaaee ... >>>
GO HERE
THE IRANIAN
Bookstore
Music store
Video
NEW: Champions:
Iranian national soccer team
Three hours of interviews, trainings, matches, Biographies, and fans
of Iranian National Soccer Team, covering Iran's soccer history from 1978-2000.
Premium quality. Produced by: Alireza AmirGhasemi & Behrouz Deravi.
THE IRANIAN
Video Store
Copyright © Abadan Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.
May not be duplicated or distributed in any form
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More
news
Iranians allowed to celebrate Chaarshanbeh
Soori
TEHRAN,
March 8 (AFP) - Iranians are being allowed to celebrate an age-old fire
festival, condemned by the clergy as irreligious, for the first time since
the Islamic revolution of 1979, the government daily Ettelaat reported Wednesday
>>> FULL TEXT
2,000 Iranian workers in fresh protest
over controversial labour law
TEHRAN,
March 8 (AFP) - Some 2,000 disgruntled Iranian workers rallied outside parliament
Wednesday in renewed protests against recent legislation enabling employers
with fewer than five staff to strip them of social security. The demonstrators,
gathered under the flag of workers' groups close to reformist President
Mohammad Khatami, accused parliament of having "humiliated the workforce
with its anti-worker law.">>> FULL TEXT
Tehran hails hints of ease in US sanctions
TEHRAN,
March 8 (AFP) - Iran's foreign ministry has welcomed hints of an easing
in US economic sanctions, official media reported Wednesday. "If the
American government has made such a decision we welcome that," an Iranian
foreign ministry official told the state news agency IRNA >>> FULL
TEXT
Second round of elections set for April
21
TEHRAN,
March 8 (AFP) - The second round of Iran's parliamentary elections will
take place on April 21, the interior ministry said Wednesday. Sixty-four
of the 290 seats in the parliament remain to be contested in the run-off
between two candidates for each seat >>> FULL TEXT
Iranian Jews pick lawyers ahead of spy
trial
TEHRAN,
March 8 (AFP) - At least ten out of 13 Iranian Jews facing trial on charges
of spying for Israel and the United States have selected their lawyers,
the daily Aftab e-Emruz said Wednesday >>> FULL TEXT
Czech lawmakers block export of nuclear
plant equipment to Iran
PRAGUE,
March 8 (AFP) - The Czech parliament's lower house voted on Wednesday to
block the export of ventilator systems and other equipment destined for
use in the Iranian nuclear power station at Bushehr. >>> FULL TEXT
Oil falls on signs Iran may agree to output
hike
NEW YORK,
March 8 (Reuters) - World oil markets went into a tailspin Wednesday, losing
nearly $3 a barrel, amid signs OPEC hardliner Iran may agree to a production
hike by the cartel to help ease soaring prices and rebuild depleted global
stocks. >>> FULL TEXT
Cannes
Tehran
(Mosharekat) - Jafar Panahi's "Daayereh" does not have a screening
permit. But there's talk of entering it in the Cannes film festival. Impossible?
>>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
Kimiaie
Tehran
(Mosharekat) - Masoud Kimiaie's latest film "Eteraz" has caused
quite a stirr. What's all the fuss about? >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
Caves
Tehran
(Mosharekat) - Jafar Panahi's "Daayereh" does not have a screening
permit. But there's talk of entering it in the Cannes film festival. Impossible?
>>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
Please, please?
Tehran
(Iran Varzeshi) - Persepolis club managers have begged Jalal Talebi NOT
to invite too many red shirts to the national team >>> FULL TEXT
IN PERSIAN
Mindread
Tehran
(Iran Varzeshi) - Reading Jalal Talebi's mind as he begings to put together
the national soccer team for its important matches in Syria >>>
FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
Suspension
Tehran
(Iran Varzeshi) - Reza Shahroudi and Alireza Emami have been penalized by
the soccer federation >>> FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
BBC
Persian Service
For the latest news,
interviews and features on Iranian current affairs ... LISTEN HERE
Exchange rate
Updated March 8
Buying: 807-812 tomans per dollar
Selling: 820 tomans per dollar
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Weed
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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