The Iranian Features
Jan 4-8, 1999 / Dey 14-18, 1377
Today
* Television: ... for
Christmas
Recent
* Justice:
Will law rule?
* Iran:
National crisis
* Fiction: Khuzestan in San Diego
* NEW column: Save
the Squirrels Society
* Cover story:
Immigrants or exiles?
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Friday,
January 8, 1998
Television
JAGged
Inaccurate but ratings-grabbing portrayal of Iran
By Armin Alaedini
A couple of months ago (November 25), I got home one night and turned
on the TV. On the bottom of the screen it said "Dasht-e Kavir, Iran"!
Could this be a documentary on Dasht-e Kavir? Well, not exactly.
I soon found out that what I thought to be a National Geographic
special is actually an episode of the TV series JAG, an adventure
drama on CBS about two officers trained as lawyers dealing mostly with
crimes in the military.
In that episode, a U.S. stealth plane had crashed into the Iranian desert.
The two stars of the series soon foud themselves involved in a mission
to rescue the plane and the pilot, who was now in the hands of the Iranian
government and was to be tried for espionage ... GO TO FEATURE
Thursday
January 7, 1998
Justice
Will law rule?
No principle is higher than the presumed innocence of the
accused
By Guive Mirfendereski
The reported apprehension of persons implicated in the slaying of various
political activists and literary figures in Iran in the past few months
will test the truth and strength of the Khatami administration's repeated
sloganeering about the "rule of law."
While many may rejoice as a matter of justice the arrest of the alleged
perpetrators of the slayings, the requirements of the rule of law. however.
will be satisfied only by the strictest observance of due process -- that
is, to allow the most rudimentary human rights principles of fair and speedy
trial to prevail over politically expedient course of action.
The indicting authority must be held to meeting its burden of establishing
probable cause to bind over the accused for trial. The burden of proof
rests on the state to produce the probative and admissible evidence necessary
to produce an indictment ... GO TO FEATURE
Iran
National crisis
From Khatami to Clinton
By Mansoureh Haqshenas & Koorosh Bayat
- So do you think Dorri will be sacked?
- Who's Dorri?
- Dorri-Najafabadi, the intelligence minister. There's talk that Khatami
has demanded his resignation or else he's going to fire him.
- Wow... exciting stuff ... GO TO FEATURE
Go to top
Wednesday
January 6, 1998
Fiction
Khuzestan in San Diego
Meeting a former "enemy" thousands of miles away
from home
January 6,1999
The Iranian
You pack your bags and leave Khuzestan. You've been through years of
war with Iraq; the battles, the bombs, the destruction, the refugees, the
revolution.
You settle, thousands of miles away, in San Diego, in southern California.
One day you meet an Iraqi. How would you react?
This is the setting in Ali Hosseini's Sayeh va Shen (Shadow and
Sand), one of the short stories in Ja be Ja (Dislocation; 1998 Passin
Publications, Cambridge, MA). Both characters remember the war years and
display emotions arising from separation from the land of their birth and
ending up in the United States.
Hosseini's sentences -- unlike so many works of Iranian writers these
days -- flow beautifully. This creates a certain intimacy with the reader,
who is already absorbed by Hosseini's powerful stories.
Some of the stories in this collection are re-writeen versions of those
published in "Barrasi-ye Ketab," "Pouyeshgaran," and
"Daftra-haaye Shanbeh" magazines. The following is an excerpt
from Sayeh va Shen (in Persian): ... GO TO PAGE ONE
Go to top
Tuesday
January 5, 1998
NEW column
Save the Squirrels Society
And other issues we really care about
By Mansoureh Haqshenas & Koorosh Bayat
- You know, I'm sick and tired of this whole Persian Gulf thing.
- What Persian Gulf thing?
- You know: this Persian
Gulf vs. The Gulf vs. the Arabian Gulf crap. Why is this the biggest
issue in the world for some people? Haven't we got more important things
to worry about? Enough already. We got the message. go home. Relax baabaa.
- It's the Persian Gulf, that's why. If we don't raise our voice,
it will be commonly known as the Arabian Gulf and before you know it, the
Persian Gulf will be history. Do you want that?
- Baabaa! I've heard that argument ten million times. No I don't want
the Persian Gulf to be called the Arabian Gulf. But what I'm worried about
right now are those poor writers who've been killed in Iran. And what about
Daryush and Parvaneh Foruhar? I don't see these Persian Gulf fanatics sending
emails and faxes all over the world in order to stop these murders from
happening again. Let's get our priorities straight.
- Some people care about some issues more than others. Beh to cheh
... GO TO FEATURE
Go to top
Monday
January 4, 1998
Cover story
Immigrants or exiles?
Identity and Influence among Iranian-Americans
By Haleh Vaziri
I draw the distinction between the experience of Iranians who arrived
in the U.S. before and after the revolution to answer the question: Do
Iranians reside in the U.S. as "immigrants" or "exiles"?
Arguably, Iranians who came to the U.S. prior to the revolution -- some
of whom have become naturalized U.S. citizens -- are "immigrants."
They left their first homeland -- Iran, the place of their births and childhoods
-- and have chosen, however reluctantly, to stay in the U.S., adopting
this as their second or new homeland. Although these immigrants feel nostalgia
for Iran, they harbor few if any desires to return to their first homeland.
Rather, they tend to adopt a bi-cultural perspective to life, espousing
what they regard as the best in both American and Iranian values. Although
sometimes they are admittedly stuck with the worst of both worlds ... GO TO FEATURE
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