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Baba Taher
Cover story
Who's next?
Bestseller blames society for Iran's serious political ills
It was already decided two weeks ago that Ali Reza-Qoli's Jaame-eh shenaasi-e
Nokhbeh-koshi ("The Sociology of Eliminating the Cream of the Crop")
would be this week's cover story. And now, by unhappy coincidence, the
November 23 gruesome murder of the nationalist opposition leader, Dariush
Forouhar, and his activist wife Parvaneh, will bring the book's message
more into focus.
Jaame-eh shenaasi-e
Nokhbeh-koshi is a 240-page indictment against those
who bare the greatest responsibility in the down fall of the country's
most progressive leaders in recent centuries. And who does this Iranian
sociologist blame the most? Foreign powers and their Iranian agents? No.
Ourselves.
It is this rare and unequivocal admission that has made Ali Reza-Qoli's
book a huge success. Less than a year since its publication, Jaame-eh shenaasi-e
Nokhbeh-koshi (Ney Publishers, Tehran, 1998) has been reprinted at
least eight times. Here are some excerpts in Persian:
* Introduction:
Foreign conspiracies?
* Why
are we repeating the same mistakes?
* Society
has failed in backing worthy leaders
* Mosaddeq's
views
* Political
immaturity
* Burdened
by "avaamzadegi"
Outlook
By Hossein Baqerzadeh
November 22, 1998
Iranian Human Rights Working Group
Mr. Forouhar was the first political leader inside the country to respond
positively to the call made ny Iranian
Human Rights Working Group for the abolition of the death penalty in
Iran. In
a letter and statement he issued on the Human Rights Day (December
10) last year, he declared his and his party's commitment to end the death
penalty in Iran. This makes the murder of Forouhar and his wife particularly
sad. On the other hand, the best way of showing him respect will be to respond
posoitively to the call for the abloition of the death penalty in Iran...
FULL TEXT
Anyway
First "classical jazz" concert in Iran since
1979
From Ettela'at newspaper (international edition) Friday November 20,
1998:... Click here
Thanks to Payman Arabshahi
More Letters
* Better alive than dead
Guive Mirfendereski writes: To oblige Aroosi-e-Khooban's
exhortation, the term "patriot" means "a person who loves
and loyally or zealously supports his own country." Nothing here about
getting one's child or oneself deliberately killed. In contrast, consider
Khooban's apparent synonym for patriot -- chauvinist -- whose distinguishing
traits include being militant, unreasoning and boastful, fanatical and
jingoistic. Of the two, the former contains the promise of life, the latter
is doomed to perdition; here Khooban is not necessarily "az ma behtaroon,"
simply abnormally fatalistic. If there is an Iran and an Iranian nation
left it is because of those who lived on, including Khooban and the character
in Ali Kalili's story... FULL
TEXT
* Film: Mehrjoui in Washington, DC
Dariush Mehrjoui will present his latest film "Golabi" ("The
Pear") at Washington DC's American Film institute (Kennedy Center)
on Tuesday, November 24.
Book of the Week
Deer Table Legs
Poems by Katayoon Zandvakili
The University of Georgia Press, 1998
Zandvakili lives in Piedmont, California, and writes for
Publishers Weekly. Her poems have appeared in The Massachusetts
Review, Five Fingers Review, Hawai'i Review, and the anthology
A World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans.
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Forouhar: Serious setback for Khatami
The murder of Dariush Forouhar has shocked Iranian people and especially
opposition activists. Forouhar was one of the most outspoken critics of
the religious leadership in Iran and was among very few well-known opposition
leaders who had not gone into exile and dared to condemn openly violations
of human rights in his country. Foruhar, who was 70, joined Iran Nation
Party, a small nationalist party, in 1951.
Iran vows to clear up murder of dissidents
TEHRAN, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Iranian authorities
vowed on Monday they would not rest until they had solved the brutal killings
of a veteran opposition leader and his wife in Tehran. ``The judiciary head
(Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi) expressed regret over the killing of Dariush
Forouhar and his wife and ordered the prompt identification and punishment
of the perpetrators,'' the official news agency IRNA reported. Police said
an elite task force had been set up to investigate the stabbing deaths of
Forouhar and his wife Parvaneh, outspoken critics of Iran's Islamic government,
whose bodies were found at their home on Sunday... FULL TEXT
Albright urges Iran's removal from drug
list
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, in a new move aimed at improving ties with Tehran, has
recommended that President Clinton remove Iran from the U.S. list of major
illicit drug-producing countries, a senior U.S. official said Monday. This
was the latest gesture by Washington in a hesitant, slow-moving diplomatic
dance of improving relations between the two bitter enemies that began after
a new moderate president, Mohammad Khatami, became Iran's president in 1997
... FULL TEXT
U.S. wants dialogue with Iran despite bus
attack
WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The United
States still wants to encourage contacts between Iranians and Americans,
despite an attack on a bus carrying 13 American tourists in Tehran, the
State Department said on Monday. But travelers to Iran should realise that
attacks of this kind are possible, spokesman James Rubin said. ``We do call
upon the government of Iran to adhere to the rule of law and protect visitors
to their country. But of course, we also continue to support President (Mohammad)
Khatami's call for a dialogue of civilisations and people-to-people exchanges
such as this,'' he added... FULL TEXT
Iran likely to accept U.S. invite-coach
DUBAI, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Iran are likely
to accept an invitation to play soccer friendlies in the United States in
June, Iranian head coach Mansour Pourheidari has said. ``From our side,
there are no problems. But we are still studying the invitation... and details
have to be worked out still, such as whether to send our Olympic team or
our national team,'' Pourheidari said... FULL TEXT
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Quote Unquote
No wonder
No wonder after some 2,500 years of statehood, the Iranian nation numbers
only a meager 60 million; that is so perhaps in part because of the Iranian's
insatiable appetite to die and then wanting to kill those who did not.
Guive Mirfendereski
Letter to The Iranian
November 23, 1998
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Farid
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Classic Iranian tunes played with a violin. Beautiful!
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