Friday, October 23, 1998 / Aban 1, 1377, No. 590
Baba Taher
Aryans It's all a myth By Asghar Massombagi The much beleaguered Shahnameh of course was one of the cultural icons that the Pahlavis sought out in their nationalistic propaganda. And they weren't the only ones who saw in Ferdosi's Wagnerian (oops, Freudian slip) myth regeneration of a fertile ground for their nationalistic imagination. Intellectuals as varied as Hedayat, Chubak, and Akhavan Saales (especially his book Aakhar-e Shahnameh) associated anything corrupt, medieval and reactionary with Islam and Arabism, and sought a sort of pure untouched Iranian identity predating the invasion of Iran by the Arabs. However as much as portions of Shahnameh may lend themselves to Farsi chauvinism, the idea of "we" not having forgiven Salm and Tur, but somehow seeing Alexander as a good conqueror doesn't quite work here. Alexander conquering Iran, in the larger context of Iran's history, was rather a passing affair and didn't really transform the country in any profound way. Arabs however brought Islam and stayed for several centuries. The Mongols and Turks ruled the land for hundreds of years and were deeply absorbed into the fabric of the Iranian society. The fact is that any nation as traumatized and conquered as Iran has been in the past 2000 years by invaders from all directions will engender mythology to exert its existence.... GO TO FEATURE Outlook Iran & Hizbollah: The Israeli view The Information Division, Israel Foreign Ministry April 22, 1998 Since Khomeini's rise to power in 1979, Iran has maintained aspirations to lead the radical Islamic camp and continues to deepen its ties to extremist states and terrorist groups throughout the Middle East (Hizbullah in Lebanon, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in the West Bank and Gaza). At the same time Iran has engaged in a public relations campaign aimed at convincing the West, as well as its neighboring Gulf States of its benign intentions and fitness to be fully integrated into the community of nations. The one realm where Iran has made no attempt to disguise its ideological fervor is with regard to its implacable hatred of Israel. Iran remains committed to the proposition that Israel has no right to exist and that its destruction is a desideratum. The following statements, coming from the highest levels of authority in Teheran, give evidence of the ideological obsession which Iran has with Israel's very existence... FULL TEXT Anyway Cigars & the Peace Process As Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the White House ceremony today marking the latest Israeli-Palestinain agreement, he made a light comment about the long, hard negotiations and thanked a member of the American delegation for being "the provider of cigars." He wasn't referring to President Clinton, but the audience sensed the bad timing and almost no one laughed. History
* Scholarship: Student scholarship, northern California
Book of the Week The Spiritual Wisdom of Hafez : Teachings of the Philosopher of Love Translated by Haleh Pourafzal, Roger Montgomery THE IRANIAN
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Khatami hits out at poll choices "Minimal" vote in key assembly Leftist on hunger strike in French prison Iran slams U.N. criticism on rights as ``political'' Esteqlal defeats Iraqi rival $ Rate The dollar now offered at up to 645-648 tomans Source: Sehaty Exchange (U.S.) Tel:602-595-0777 The Web The international edition of Ettela'at daily has been online for sometime. But the much more important domestic edition has just recently joined the growing number of Iranian media on the Web. In PDF format (need Acrobat Reader). More web sites... & the Web site of the day - beyond Iran Quote Unquote Irangeles This "we" is the Los Angeles crowd of cheesy videos and blue
contact lenses and phony blond hair. None of this of course makes them un-Iranian
but I do not think they can represent all Iranians now living abroad. Photo of the Day Musician of the Week Five songs from his greatest hits album. |
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