Iran

Simply waiting
There's not much left but hope
By Najmeh Fakhraie
March 1, 2001
The Iranian
When you sit in the taxi, people get on and off at different stops along
the way. You hardly notice them. You reach your destination, pay the driver
and after a few seconds the whole ride is forgotten. Nothing strange or
special. Nothing worth remembering. But that night as I was busy talking
to the person sitting next to me I saw a man get on and sit in the front
seat. Once he started speaking I knew that the voice and the words might
not be heard just anywhere >>>
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Freedom
Here & there
What if Ebrahim Nabavi was born in Detroit and Eminem in
Tehran?
By Ramin Tabib
March 1, 2001
The Iranian
While I was watching Eminem accept award after award at the Grammys,
the gesture took me back to a few months ago when Ebrahim Nabavi, an Iranian
satirist, stood in front of a judge in a court room in Tehran and apologized
for having written "subversive" and "foul" prose >>>
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Art
Happysad
Paintings by Saba Masoumian
March 1, 2001
The Iranian
These paintings by Saba Masoumian were originally featured on Elahe
Gallery's web site. Masoumian, 18, lives in Iran >>>
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More Letters
LETTERS ARE PUBLISHED AS RECEIVED.
THEY ARE NOT SELECTED
* Non-sensical utterances
Hushang Mansurian
writes: I was saddened and deeply sorry to read the letter by an unknown
face, AA,
accusing one of our finest poets outside Iran of stealing from Ahmad Shamlu
["Baar-e
digar, Bahman"]...
Now that you have printed Shamlu's poem as well, could someone come
out and tell us which part of it has been picked by Dr. Nooriala, apart
from the fact that both poems are written in Farsi and use a lot of plural
forms of words ending in "aan"? >>>
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* Old-fashioned jaahels
Annonnymouss writes:
I read the article written by our so-called compatriot, Mr.Siamak Baniameri
on"Art
of Kissing". I was tremendously shocked because all I found in
his article was an exaggeration about himself and other things that are
closely related to him, like his father, and on the other hand, beating
what can be considered as Iranian traditions.
I know that many foreigners who are interested in different things related
to Iranians, spouses of Iranians and tourists who like to travel to Iran
check your website in order to become more familiar with our rich culture,
but you have introduced Iranian men as old-fashioned JAAHELS >>>
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* Persia is dead
AA writes: Let's
settle this problem once & for all, the name of our country is IRAN
not "Persia", and we are "Iranians" not "Persians".
The reason is pure & simple: there is no country called "Persia"
in the year 2001. So please set your clocks & renew your calenders!
If any of you Persian lovers show me a map (not a 1910 map!) with a
country named Persia in it, I will take back all of my words. Persia was
a country consisting of Iran, Afghanistan, Bahrain, parts of Iraq , Pakistan
, Tajikestan & ....., so open your eyes & accept the reality --
there is no Persia any more. Persia is dead
* No poetic rite of passage
Noosham writes: I
am writing in response to the article, "Not
going back". I truly appreciate this author's opinion on what
Iran has become. I have read many of the letters sent to this website in
regards to Iran now. I feel that those letters have somehow romanticized
and "prettied-up" the Iran of today.
Has Iran really changed from what it was during the time of Khomeini?
We need to still maintain hope that we will all one day return. But to
what? The story "A man without a country" rings a disheartening
familiar melody >>>
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* You animals
H. M. Jalili
writes: Mr. Moniri is very correct and to the point in his
response to Ms. Amini ["Thy
father's sins"]. It seems that after 22 years, she has not grown
and still is the same "young and idealist" person!
You were animalistic. The violence that Iran has been subjected for
22 years was brought about by the violence you people committed in 1977-79.
You cheered when members of "ancient regime," Kurds and Baha'is
were murdered but you only cried foul when mollas turned against you >>>
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* Sorry for Reza Pahlavi
F. Amini writes: To
those who have misread the essence of my article ["Thy
father's sins"]: I am truly sorry for Reza Pahlavi to have followers
who are illiterate, live in the past, have not studied a single word of
Iranian and world history and -- yes -- they still wish to annihilate individuals
for their beliefs.
I do suggest to all of you to stay where you are because the Iranian
people do not want the likes of you to be part of their lives. And I hope
Reza Pahlavi will bring some sense to his followers although it might be
too late >>>
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