IRAN

To: Jamshid as usual the same

You continue to saber ratel the same b.s. over and over again. Not much thinking every takes place in any of your comments. You are simply a person who just loves to bash people. It's getting boring, grow up!

To: Setiz and to: Anonymous_wonderer

To: Seitz; What does one have to do with another? Is your mind one dimensional that you can only think about one subject, one country, or a single issue?

Thank God, I happen to care about the misery of people no matter from what country, what religion, or from what background. The fact that my own mother land comes first is a given; however this does not mean I am blind, dumb and deaf or ignorant about what is taking place around the world. Obviously, this does not seem to apply to you; to each their own!

Fortunately, as an Iranian who takes pride in my culture and roots I have learned much from our own great poets and philosophers:

As the great Sa’adi said:

“All human beings are limbs of each other, having been
Created from one essence
When time afflicts a limb with pain, the other limbs cannot at rest remain
If thou feel not for others’ misery, a human being is no name for thee”.

To: Anonymous_wonderer – My God, from what planet are you coming from!!

I didn’t know that getting to know one’s country and people would label one an MKO! What an ignorant, and stupid comment!!!!!!!!!!

Fortunately, I have great parents who love Iran and believe that it is shameful for their children to have traveled the world, but not know their own country and its people. Thanks to them, I have seen every inch of our wonderful land. .

No wonder some of you Shahis are so ignorant about Iran, and continue to make senseless comments.

More Arezu...

To be fair, you must ask your grandparents to help you understand the lives of the poor souls of iran during ghajar dynasty, through pahlavis, and then now in IRI.

During ghajars, most of the population were poor, even the middle class needed coupons to buy a limited amount of sugar cubes for their afternoon tea. Even the king of ghajar had to borrow from west to pay for his trips to europe.

During pahlavis, some of those poors turned middle class, the likes of you and me. The rising tide lifted all the boats, albeit not uniformly as in any other country (except for any socialist state that had only the ruling class and the rest -- or the rich and poor with no middle class). Then some of us became too arrogant and revolted.

Now during IRI, thugs of the poor class have become rich, the middle class has mostly disappeared, and the poor are resorting to selling their bodies on the streets to make a living.

So, please do not begin and end your humanist evaluation of history at a convenient time or a convenient place. Please be thorough.

As bad as pahlavis were, the poor and the middle class lived better under pahlavis than under either ghajar or IRI, and number of iranians living abroad (i.e., discontent), from all political tendencies, is now estimated to be more than 100 times larger than during shah.

To improve the lives of iranians (specially the poor), we need to understand the past with honesty and truth, and without personal emotion or influence of ideology.

Abarmard.....Seppas for sharing

My apologies for not thanking you sooner for sharing with us memories from your  past.

It has allowed others to share their past as well.

solh va doosti

Nadia

goodness or sins

Thanks for great article. The significants of life a child growing up during the shah reign were confidence, sure of future, relative comfort, safety and most importantly a family around you to rely on. Can’t say they exists here in the west or in Iran! Some still argue about goodness or sins of Shah. Aren’t these noteworthy livelihood professes goodness?

Re: Arezu

Most of your post was just a bunch of BS. The very "poor victims" you refered to in your post were still enjoying their lives in those days far far more than they are today.

But thanks to those who were similar to you in their thinking, we lost it all. maskhareh hast vali gham angiz, ke aan edeh mesle jenaabaali ke baraye fogharah va mostazafin "sineh chaak mikonand" hamisheh hamaanhaayi hastand ke bishtarin sadameh ra be in bichaarehaa mizanand.

to Arezu: Were your parents Mojahed?

Strange parents. Were they MKO? Or communists? Such terrible parenting style...and to end up with such a miserable result, a total failure!

Why they had to take you to see all those filthy places to brainwash you? To make anotehr loser/Mojahed out of you?

Look at you now! After all their efforts, you still chose to live here (like a coward), not over there...Why? Ask yourself my dear! Instead of writing an empty speech...

Dear Abarmard, Your

Dear Abarmard,
Your childhood memories and experiences are appreciated.
Thanks

Arezu

Cheraaghi keh beh khaaneh ravaast, beh masjed haraam ast.

If you are an iranian, fix your own country first then worry about the rest of humanity.

Distracting from miseries of people of iran by raising issues unrelated to a typical iranian who worries about his immediate needs is exactly what IRI is doing rather unsuccessfully. It will not help your country if you consider yourself iranian first.

Let me refresh your memory

For years, part of iranian society were criticizing shah and the west for supporting him. They were intellectuals, lefties, and religious people; but almost all lived in iran under shah's rule.

They were screaming before the revolution that "whatever replaces shah is better than shah" and that "shah must go."

Their wishes finally came true in 1979 and shah left.

Most of the same people who were living under the awful regime of shah could not even live in IRI anymore; they lined up behind western embassies' doors, begging to get visas from the same western countries that they were criticizing. It is interesting that even the hard-core lefties wanted to get to the western countries; none wanted to go to any left-leaning country, e.g., Soviet, N. Korea, or Cuba.

The opposition who reamined in IRI were mostly limited to those religious people who got a fat position or a profitable business under IRI.

So, isn't that so that the opposition really wanted a country with them in charge -- they left once that did not happen;

As bad as shah's regime was, it was preferred to living abroad, but as good as IRI is, living in the west is preferred even for a large portion of IRI hard-core supporters!

Remember the slogan: "shah must go, no matter what comes next!"

To:Javadagha - Thank you for posting the article

Dear Mr. Javadagha:

Thank you for this article. I had the opportunity of reading it just yesterday, and it really hit hard. I have been following the Palestinian crisis since I was 12 years old. Yes, 12 when many living in Iran or even here in the U.S. had no clue what the Palestinians were going through, nor did they care.

I was fortunate of having traveled to Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Jerusalem as a young child (six years old). The refugee camps and how the Palestinians were living never left my memory, and maybe this is why from the age of 12 with great interest and passion I have followed the Israeli/Palestinian issue.

Amazing how the West, especially the U.S. and Israel define “terrorism” isn’t it? Killing, murdering, destroying villages and homes of the Palestinians with F-15 fighter jets is not considered state sponsored terrorism, or using depleted uranium (DU) to inflict radiation on an entire society is not a crime against humanity. However, if a Palestinian who has nothing to fight the 4th largest army in the world – uses his own body as the only means for self-defense and retaliation, it is called “terrorism”.

No the world does not give the right for Palestinians, or the Lebanese to retaliate against the great army of Israel, funded and aided by the largest army in the world the U.S. This is the injustice of the world that we live in, and I could not express it any better that Paul Craig Roberts.

As with many others on this web-site, I too had a great life in Iran. But then why not, I was one of the fortunate (p.s. fortunate had nothing to do with the Shah). I attended a private American School in Iran; had all the benefits that one could enjoy far better than in any Western country; went to private sports clubs - selected for only a particular class and only after they checked out who your family was and how renowned they were in Iran. played my tennis, horse back riding, swimming; and enjoying the opulance like any brat New York private school kid. Of course I was no brat, because I understood far beyond my age how the other 90% lived, thanks to my parents!

We got together with all of my family members every Friday at my grandfathers house where we played in the garden and laughed until sunset with all my cousins. The sound of laughter and the family gatherings lives with me forever The perfume of the roses, the jasmine, the lilacs, in the garden still resonate with me. Yes, those were definitely the good old days, the most enjoyable days of my life.

However, what a dichotomy!!

When I came out of my school, it was a clash of cultures. Tehran (I should correct it – Iran) was a city of two separate and distinct cultures and classes; a very large poor, a tiny rich class which enjoyed the majority of the wealth of Iran; and a "tiny middle class" the government servants.

Tehran was separated into up-town and downtown and as one commentator said, down-town is not what we term the hub of business and commerce. Even more why not speak about the many people who lived in houses made out of tin (halabi-abad – Tin Village)

I wonder if anyone of you knew how those people felt.

The lower class would not dare come to up-town and share what some of us enjoyed, or even go to the same restaurants. If a family walked into Chattanooga, or Sorrento, and the wife was wearing a chador, the family would be humiliated by staring eyes, and then asked to leave! An old man would have to kiss up to a rich kid simply because they were not from the same class.

If you were a child of a butcher, or a tailor no matter how well educated you became, even if you turned out to be a doctor, they still considered you the son or daughter of a butcher, or a tailor; and you were still not welcomed to the upper echelon of the society! Extreme class differentiation perpetuated throughout Iran and specifically in Tehran the largest urban center.

I was fortunate to have grown up in a family who didn't make such distinctions and both of my parents wanted my sisters and I to see all of Iran. They made sure that we visited all parts of Tehran and travel throughout Iran and see the good, the bad, and the ugly. That's when your eyes really opened up and you would see the poverty, children who were bare foot, and not attending school, because there was no school for them to attend, houses which were lit by lamps, because families had no electricity, or clean water. Decrepit houses made out of the bare minimum material.

Anonymous23 said he/she felt tears when he/she went to a hospital in Babolsar (a city on the Caspian coast) after the Revolution and saw the dust and dirt. I wish he/she had made trips to other provinces and roostas (villages) in Iran prior to the Revolution to see how filthy they were, how people lived, and how in some provinces like Sistan and Baluchistan children were eating date seeds, yes seeds, and grass to feed their empty stomachs. If you bought bread, you would suddenly see 20 kids surrounding you begging for a piece!! We saw so many poor children with no shoes that I begged my mother if we could buy them shoes. When she bought them plastic shoes, it was as if she had given them the greatest present ever!! By the way this was not just in Sistan and Baluchistan but in many other provinces and villages.

However, regardless of their poverty, minimal livelihood these people were the kindest that you would find in the world. They would be so proud when you entered their home, and they would offer you whatever they had even if it was simply bread and yogurt. Yes, these are the dehatis (the peasants) that Anonymous23 is referring to as animals and still belittling them for having robbed Iran of what he/she enjoyed.

I wonder if he/she ever thought about what we were robbing them of? How we were humiliating them, and degrading them?

Thank God, I experienced Iran in its fullest. The best part of Iran was when you went to the provinces, the roostas (villages) and the tribal areas. It was there that you saw the true beauty of Iran; the nomadic tribes living in their tents, the humble people who would open their doors to any visitor with graciousness and generosity, They were not boastful nor arrogant or fakhr-foroosh despite their meager livelihood. They were descent, polite, compassionate, hospitable, and generous people.

So, if they have now become the new middle class in Iran – I am happy for them. They deserve it. God did not create anyone of us to be better than the other. In His eyes we are all equal.

The laughter of those children in the villages, playing around with their bare feet, their beautiful faces all smudged up from dirt with their colorful dahati clothing and their innocence is what I love the most about Iran and that is what pulls me back to my mother land.

And Now?

It is smart to so simply talk about your far past, but it is difficult to understand your linkup with IRI's supporters. I do not know what motivates you to defend an "Evolutionary Demoocracy" under the IRI? Do you concioussly know what you preach or you just smartly repeat a slogan? So tell us what is up now?

great memory

Abarmard that reminded me of where I grew up in Shahreziba. A neighberhood in tehran; we loved our friends and neighbers. we used to play layleh with the kids and was so fun. They were couple of kids that used to cheat, but now that I am older I have forgiven them!
I liked your article, because it made my past memories alive. Those days were sweet as sweet as gaz; they were almost unreal. we had it good and I think western were the one that enveing us.

MUSIC all the way from africa .... Algeria

Roots .....

I can tell you about my story but if
You want to understand people listen to the music

I love this song.... it is from Algeria

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3mCu4KHlW0&feature...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW3224W_BmY

But most of all I love IRAN

So moving.

Dear Abarmard,

Your writing is simple and still so heartfelt and moving. I especially liked the unwritten and untold emotions that you convey in your reader. You mainly talk about the happiness you felt as a kid, and I, your reader, could see the pain that you should have felt later, when you lost that happiness. And of course, you use the same technique to express your disappointment (and the same sense of loss) since you have moved to the West. 

I also liked the way you used the “repetition” of a few ideas/sentences to make your point. Excellent job!

Azarin

Ey-ranians are mooftkhor ... both under the Shah & under Mullahs

Hooshang khan;

You won't hear from those whose lives improved by the Shah's departure for many reasons. I know many of them. Let me share a few of these reasons:
,
(1) these individuals do not read iranian.com or as some say in Iran, non-iranian.com
(2) these individuals are not highly sophisticated to access forbidden sites including iranian.com in Iran.
(3) these individuals are busy making money and counting their wealth.
(4) these individuals like many Ey-ranians are greedy and cannot get enough of better things
(5) these individuals like many Ey-ranians do not give a hoot who is in power as long as they can fill up their pockets.
,
The regime can get a million into streets even in the cold snowy day(s) that Shah could not do it. The regime has figured out the moofthori nature of our culture and is taking advantage of it.
,
Donot sit in the West and expect things to improve in Iran while Western countries demonize us. Have some Irani ghayrat. We are not terrorists, the real terrorists are Western governments.

My years under the Shah...

I was born under the Shah's regime. I, too, have nothing but fond memories. The problem presents itself when one tries to picture life from their own eyes, and apply it to the whole country ( not that anyone has done it here):
"Everyone was poor",
"everyone hated the regime",
"people were miserable".
Some of us, honestly, shared our positive childhood experiences here, without claiming that's how it was for everyone. I am really interested to hear from those whose life improved by the Shah's departure. Let's welcome them, as long as they share with honesty.
Again, thanks for sharing everyone.

Ey-ranians are mooftkhoor

I read this article when it was posted and no one commented. I meant to share some experiences but got distracted.
,

Childhood memories are good because children are happy with simple things. My childhood memories were kind of tough because I took many things seriously and cared about the destruction of Iran before and after revolution. Simple things made me angry for example throwing a candy rap in the street. It happened during Shah’s time and still happens today.
,

Last week, in the snow, I passed by Behjatabad and from outside saw its market (Bazaar), still nothing is changed there and looks the same. Piroze Square also looks the same. In general, Iranians are mooftkhor and do not give a hoot about their heritage. Iranians line up in thousands to go to a concert, drive fancy cars, live in good houses (both in Iran and out of side of Iran), but would not pay a penny to support a worthy cause or a student to study in a University.
,

Ey-ranians would not mind to pay heavy taxes (both personal and property) in the Western countries but would not do a damn thing in Iran. Iranians in Iran are very rich now in comparison to Shah’s time. For example, take a shack in Iran costs several hundred thousands dollars mainly because of inflation. Many Ey-ranians sell or sold their shacks and purchased with cash decent homes in other countries.
,

Iran is surviving because there are some who care about it and will put their lives on the line to save it. Iran has survived many invasions from all sorts of people and countries, how can Ey-ranians SOB's sit quiet and let Western countries demonize us or call us terrorists? Do you want to know who is the real terrorists? Read the following article.
,

Bringing Death and Destruction

Paul Craig Roberts
January 17, 2008

After pandering to Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's right-wing government last week, US president George W. Bush carried the Israeli/neoconservative campaign against Iran to Arab countries. Sounding as authentic as the "Filipino Monkey," Bush told the Arab countries that "Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror," and that "Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere."
,

To no effect. Every country in the world, except America, knows by now that the US is the world's leading state sponsor of terror and that the
neoconservative drive for US hegemony over the world threatens the security of nations everywhere. But before we get into this, let's first see what Bush means by "terrorist" and Iran's sponsorship of terrorism.
,

Bush considers Iran to be the leading state sponsor of terror, because Iran is believed to fund Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian ghetto. Hezbollah and Hamas are two organizations that exist because of Israeli aggression against Palestine and Lebanon. The two organizations are branded "terrorist" because they resist Israel's theft of Palestine and Israel's designs on southern Lebanon. Both organizations are resistance organizations. They resist Israel's territorial expansion and this makes them "terrorist."
,

They are terrorists because they don't receive billions in US military aid and cannot put armies in the field with tanks, fighter jets and helicopter gunships, backed up by US spy satellites and Israel's nuclear weapons – although Hezbollah, a small militia, has twice defeated the Israeli army. However, Palestine is so thoroughly under the Israeli heel that Hamas can resist only with suicide bombers and obsolete rockets. It is dishonest to damn the terrorist response but not the policies that provoke the response.
,

The US is at war in Iraq, because the neoconservatives want to rid Israel of the Muslim governments – Iraq, Iran and Syria – that are not American surrogates and, therefore, are willing to fund Palestinian and Lebanese resistance to Israeli aggression. Israel, protected by the US, has disobeyed UN resolutions for four decades and has been methodically squeezing Palestinians out of Palestine.
,

Americans do not think of themselves or of Israel as terrorist states, but the evidence is complete and overwhelming. Thanks to the power of the
Israel Lobby, Americans only know the Israeli side of the story, which is that evil anti-semite Palestinians will not let blameless Israelis live in peace and persist in their unjustified terror attacks on an innocent Israeli state.
,

The facts differ remarkably from Israel Lobby propaganda. Israel illegally occupies Palestine. Israel sends bulldozers into Palestinian villages and knocks down Palestinian houses, occasionally killing an American protester in the process, and uproots Palestinian olive groves. Israel cuts Palestinian villages off from water, hospitals, farmlands, employment and schools. Israel builds special roads through Palestine on which only Israelis can travel. Israel establishes checkpoints everywhere to hinder Palestinian movement to hospitals, schools and from one enclave or ghetto to another. Many Palestinians die from the inability to get through checkpoints to medical care. Israel builds illegal settlements on Palestinian lands. Israeli Zionist "settlers" take it upon themselves to evict Palestinians from their villages and towns in order to convert them into Israeli settlements. A huge wall has been built to wall off the stolen Palestinian lands from the remaining isolated ghettoes. Israeli soldiers shoot down Palestinian children in the streets. So do Israeli Zionist "settlers."
,

All of this has been documented so many times by so many organizations that it is pathetic that Americans are so ignorant. For example, Israeli
peace groups such as Gush Shalom or Jeff Halper's Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions provide abundant documentation of Israel's theft of Palestine and persecution of Palestinians. Every time the UN passes a resolution condemning Israel for its crimes, the US vetoes it.
,

The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees' film, The Iron Wall, reveals the enormity of Israel's crimes against Palestine.
,

President Jimmy Carter, Israel's friend, tried to bring peace to the Middle East but was frustrated by Israel. Carter was demonized by the Israel Lobby for calling, truthfully, the situation that Israel has created "apartheid."
,

Historians, including Israel's finest, such as Ilan Pappe, have documented The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, the title of Pappe's book published in 2006.
,

Israelis, such as Uri Avnery, a former member of Israel's Knesset, are stronger critics of Israel's policies toward Palestine than can be found in America. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz is more outspoken in its criticism of Israeli policies than any newspaper would dare to be in North America or Europe.
,

But it is all to no avail in brainwashed America and Western countries.
,

The ignorance of Americans commits US foreign policy to the service of Israel. As Uri Avnery wrote recently, a visitor from another planet, attending the recent press conference in Jerusalem, would conclude that Olmert is the leader of the superpower and that Bush is his vassal.
,

Americans don't know what terror is. To know terror, you have to be a Palestinian, an Iraqi, or an Afghan.
,

Layla Anwar, an Iraqi Internet blogger, describes what terror is like.
Terror is families attending a wedding being blown to pieces by an American missile or bomb and the survivors being blown to pieces at the funeral of the newlyweds. Terror is troops breaking down your door in the middle of the night, putting guns to your heads, and carrying off brothers, sons, and husbands with bags over their heads and returning to rape the unprotected women. Terror is being waterboarded in one of America's torture dungeons. Terror is "when you run from hospital ward to hospital ward, from prison to prison, from militia to militia looking for your loved one only to recognize them from their teeth fillings in some morgue."
,

For people targeted by American hegemony, terror is realizing that Americans have no moral conscience. Terror is the lack of medicines from American embargoes that led to the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children. When asked by Lesley Stahl if the American policy was worth the children's deaths, Madeleine Albright, President Bill Clinton's secretary of state, said "we think the price is worth it."
,

In the feeble minds of the White House Moron and his immoral supporters, the massive deaths for which America is responsible, including those inflicted by Israel, have nothing to do with Muslim enmity toward America. Instead, Muslims hate us for our "freedom and democracy," the real threat to which comes from Bush's police state measures and stolen elections.
,

There is dispute over the number of Iraqis killed or murdered by Bush's illegal invasion, a war crime under the Nuremberg standard, but everyone agrees the number is very large. Many deaths result from American bombing of civilian populations as the Israelis did in Lebanon and do in Gaza. There is nothing new about these bombings. President Clinton bombed civilians in Serbia in order to dictate policy to Serbia. But when Americans and Israelis bomb other peoples, it is not terror. It is only terror when the US or Israel is attacked in retaliation.
,

The Israeli assault from the air on Beirut apartment houses is not terror.
But when a Palestinian puts on a suicide belt and blows himself up in an Israeli cafe, that's terror. When Clinton bombs a Serbian passenger train, that's not terror, but when a buried explosive takes out an American tank somewhere in Iraq, that's terror.
,

Aggressors always have excuses for their aggression.
,

There is no essential difference between the candidates or between the candidates and George W. Bush. Alabama Governor George Wallace,
a surprisingly successful third party candidate for the presidency, said as long ago as 1968, "There's not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrat and Republican Parties." Today, four decades later, there's not a penny's worth of difference, not an ounce of difference. Both parties have revealed themselves to be war monger police state parties. The US Constitution has few friends in the capital city.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* *******
Paul Craig Roberts wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was assistant secretary
of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was associate editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and contributing editor of National Review.
He is author or co-author of eight books, including The Supply-Side Revolution and The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon chair in political economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and senior research fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has contributed to numerous scholarly journals and testified before Congress on 30 occasions. He has been awarded the U.S. Treasury's Meritorious Service Award and the French Legion of Honor. He was a reviewer for the Journal of Political Economy under editor Robert Mundell.

That is exactly the way it was!!

That childhood dream is gone forever. We did not protect that precious jewel, we were stupid and naïve enough to let the demons to take it away from us, so cheaply, so easily, perhaps we were not worthy of it. Now we must suffer and perish as we wander the world like gypsies. No pride, no identity, no destination and no home to go back to. When will that resurrection day come, when will sons and daughters of kouroush, daryoush, shapur and babak rise again and free themselves of the chains of slavery and misery? Yar dabestani man, it’s up to you and me, no one else would fight for us, it’s up to you an me.

Interesting testimony Abarmard

Thanks for sharing this honest and sincere account on your youth and the country we all once knew.

Its good to be able to share different experiences and views because it allows to get a more clear picture of the past, without having to live in that Past. 

Lets Hope it serves as a lesson to construct a better future for the next generations.

Warm Regards,

DK 

Yeah, I sort of had the

Yeah, I sort of had the same middle class experience up until 1980. They also closed the private swiss school I went to in Tehran after first grade. First through 4th grade was spent in a segregated public school in Tehran. I was a straight 20 student, but not in Koran class(always got 14 or 15) must have been my Marxist upbringing(oh, F the shah by the way) or attachment to my native tongues of Azeri and Farsi.
My family used to make gallons of wine from Urumiyeh grapes from my grand mother's farm. One year, the pastaran came to our house to look at my dad's stereo antenna. We thought they were coming for the Carl Marx books and the wine. My mother flushed 35 bottles of wine down the drain and my father buried his books in the garden. My father worked for Kafsh e melli, i don't recall the name of the company during shah. we left in 1985 when things became unbearable with the war. Running to bomb shelters every night was not fun for anyone living in Tehran at the time, but we seemed to survive the sleepless nights. At one point it became so routine that most people would just hang outside and chat while Saddam tried to bomb the crap out of Tehran. I couldn't wait to get to the US. By 1984 my father was already here and was arranging for the rest of the family. I really thought everyone in the US was a millionaire. The millions of people that live in poverty here are a very well kept secret from the masses of the world. I love the US and all my friends and family, but.....I need to see Tehran as well as my grand parent's graves, which I've never seen.

Hmmmmm....maybe our experiences weren't so similar after all.

You state that we didnt mind

You state that we didnt mind the lack of political freedom because we were socially free. I think we will always be a political people. What we need is soical freedom and the IR has taken that away from us.

KavehP.......Seppas......I still have not learned

the Persian calendar. I will search out for Persian calendar. :o)

Thank you also for the explanation of demos.

A friend is teaching me a little on Iranian holidays...step by little step I am learning.

Seppas again for your kindness and patience in my learning process.

solh va doosti

Nadia

Thank you Abarmard for the memories

When I left Iran, to finish high school in England, I became an instant celebrity. All the kids in the neighborhood wanted to know what I knew about the West and England as if my imagination had grown stronger than theirs or may be they hoped I would have real information about the place I was going to. We drove through Europe to get to our destination and everything at first glance seemed new and exciting but I soon grew used to the new environment. England had a different feel; cars on the wrong side of the road, double decked busses, old Victorian architecture, but somehow, we fit in this civilized world. The regularity and punctuality of bus, train, and post services seemed unearthly and un-Iranian, but I could relate to the English kids who had very similar upbringings to mine. England did not seem that far out of reach, as they had seemed in my dreams and imagination. Walking on Oxford Street one day, we found Bargheh Laame’ towels on sale in a store. I cannot describe the feeling of pride I had, it was as if I had made the towels myself. We were in the middle of civilization and we had something to offer!

Years later, while in the US, a colleague of mine from Poland asked me what happened to Iran? He said that all throughout the Seventies there were documentaries shown on Iran, in Poland, made by Polish filmmakers on the dizzying pace pf progress in Iran and how envious they were, being a European nation and so backwards, viewing Iran, a Middle Eastern nation, appearing so European. He said he could not help by feel envious that Iran was assembling busses, making shoes and textiles, to export to Poland that the Poles could not do in their own country. He was amazed at how things have changed in both places.

I think Az Tajrish is absolutely right. We would not have appreciated those times, had the hardship and regression of the next 30 years not followed.

demos = demonstrations

solh va doosti

1358 in Persian calendar

I actually meant 1357 which is 1978-79

62 & 67 = 1982-83 & 1987-88

I'm confused....does KavehP mean....

1958 and not 1358? I'm not trying to be a smart aleck. I also, don't know what is meant with the demos.

solh va doosti

Nadia

Abarmard and Jamshid

your stories are my story. and our story is the story of millions.

I lived in chaharsad dastgah. it was a square near jaleh square. It was downtown Tehran. every body knew each other, helped each other. and it looks as though every body felt fortunate. well, I certainly did!! I had the happiest memories of my life there. and then suddenly during the autumn of 1358 everything changed. madness descended on everybody. kids would skip school and go and watch the demos. by doing that they swelled the numbers. they would even get caught up with the energy of the demos and start chanting "marg bar shah". fathers had stopped going to work. but they kept getting paid their salaries. they would also go and watch the demos. people who had never gone to the local mosque became everyday mosque goers. after a few weeks, it all became so routine. at night due to electricity cuts, there was nothing to do other than call friend and relatives and exaggerate the local demos. some would call their (ex)friends, relatives or neighbours who were in the army or were government officials, change their voice, and threaten them. it was time settle to old scores. friends became enemies. neighbours stopped talking to each other. some would go to the roof (poshteh-boom)and respond to a faint chant of "allah o akabar". some would even try to make out the face of the Khomeini on the moon. The only people who did not follow the crowd were the older generation(60+), who knew Iran before reza shah.

it was the end of innocence for me. 29 years later, out of the 30-40 kids in chaharsad dastgah at the time of the revolution, some have been killed or disabled(because of the war and the 62 & 67 massacres). some have become drug addicts. some have left Iran. and the rest want to leave Iran or want to send their children out.

In these 29 years I have never known the happiness and joy that I felt before the summer of 1358 as a 12 years old kid. I have never felt fortunate again. but I want to hope that one day despite everything............

Sorry for mis spelled words

I have published the original copy by mistake and this one has some spelling errors. Sorry about that.

from://nanazola2.blogspo

و بهجت آباد بودم که ناگهان فریادهای تا کنون نشنیده ای را شنیدم و به سرعت به کنار پنجره آمدم و دانشجویان دانشگاه پلی تکنیک را دیدم که با مشت های گره کرده و شعارهائی که مفهوم نبود تمامی چهار راه را قرق کرده بودند و مردم هم در پیاده روها با حیرت به آنان مینگریستند که گاردهای شاه رسیدند و بزن بزن و بچه ها فرار کردن اکنون دیگر به جرات میتوانم بگویم که اون روز خاص جرقه های انقلاب مردم ایران جدا جدا با عملکرد جدا گانه به دلیل تفک و تعلق به شهر و روستا در ایران حادث شد تا جائی که اطلاعات شخصی من به من دیکته میکند تنها نگاهی منصفانه به دو حرکت و نحوه کاملا متفاوت به شما نشان میدهد که ما از همان حتی قبل از مرگ پسر خمینی و بلوای قم ٬ دو گروه متفاوت بودیم دانشجویان ما شهروند ها شعار داده و اعتراض شهروندی میکردند آنان سپور فلک زده را که جزو دستور وظایف کاریش بوده گزارش تخلف دزدی آب و برق مثلنی به ((دار کشیدند ))

حال برایتان این دو خط را که هم ما و هم آنان رفتیم کمی میگویم ما شبهای شعر راه انداختیم و دانشگاه تهران شد از هاید پارک روزهای یکشنبه جالب تر آنان عزاداری های وحشیانه که هر بار موجب مرگ دو سه نفر میشد ما با فشار زندانیان سیاسی را آزاد کردیم آنان سینما رکس را برای ملتهب کردن کل ملت ایران با سیصد و خورده ای انسان فلک زده بخت برگشته به آتش کشیدند و درها را از بیرون قفل کردند که قطعا همه در جهنم واقعی بسوزند ما از افراد سرشناس سیاسی جهان به ایران دعوت به عمل آوردیم آنان عرق فروشی ها و بانکها را به آتش کشیدند شاه فلک زده برای هشدار به ما گفت - ارتجاع سرخ و سیاه راست میگفت او به ما شهروندان که عمدتا کارمندان دولت بودیم حقوق چند برابر را در ماه شهریور هدیه داد و کشتار میدان ژاله را به آنان او آنان را میشناخت و از حمایت آنان توسط شوروی کاملا مطمئن بود که نامشان را ارتجاع سرخ و سیاه نهاد و همانگونه که تاریخ نشان داد شاه کاملا حق داشت مانند وحشیانی فردای روز بیست و دوی بهمن به همه ادارت حمله فیزیکی کرده و اشغال کردند مانند وحشیانی دور خمینی بی سواد دهاتی را گرفته و هر شهروندی که اوی مادرجنده در پاریس دست به خایه هایشان شده بود را از دور او پراکندند و از او یک (((( امام )))) ساختند برای سرکوب ما شهروندان به تمامی نهادهای شهروندی تجاوز وحشیانه کردند نمونه و اولینش - وزارت آموزش و پرورش مدرسه را در ایران از کودکستان تا دانشگاه تبدیل به کلاس های عمدتا فقهی کردند به عقیده اینان خط موازی دو خطی است که بهم نمیرسد مگر به خواست خداوند !!!!!!!!!

من زمان شاه یک بار به مدرسه عالی بابلسر رفته بودم بسیار تمیز و زیبا بود قبل از خروج نهائی ام از ایران در سفری برای دیدن دوستی که آنجا کار میکرد نوک ترمزی زدم و باور کنید با دیدن ساختمان و محل بی اختیار اشک ریختم تمامی شیشه های ساختمان گرد و غبار و کثافت گرفته بود و معلوم بود از روز انقلاب تا کنون یک بار هم تمیز نشده همه چیز شلخته وار و فضائي بی نهایت افسردگی آور البته برای کسانی مثل من که قبل را دیده بودند

روی همه چیز در ایران لایه ای از دلمردگی و کثافت هوا و گرد و خاک و بدبختی و مرگ فرا پوشانید همه مردم در خیابانها درست مانند کسانی بودند که یک فصل کتک مفصل خورده اند و بعد از خانه ها بیرون آمده اند مردم در پیکان های خود با غمی به خیابان می نگریستند که نفس من گاها از این درد مردم میگرفت و مردم هم شروع کردند دسته دسته مانند اینان شدن یعنی شلخته و کثیف و خرافاتی و بدبخت و اسیر و تحقیر شده در همان حال حریص و طماع و بی گذشت و خودخواه و بگیر و برو اولین باری که بعد از هفت سال به ایران بازگشتم خیلی همه چیز برایم عجیب بود مردم دیگر غمگین نبودند ولی همه مانند چشمانی بودند که دو دو میزد یعنی همه در حال جوشش برای صنار سه شاهی بیشتر گیر آوردن و از خر تو خری و شلختگی و بازار آخوندی یک نمدی به جیب زدن مثلنی دبیر دبیرستانی که احتکار میکرد !!!!! و اجناس را در کمد اطاق خوابش جمع کرده بود گران شود بفروشد و با این تغییر من انحطاط اخلاقی را هم در مردم دیدم اغلب مانند موش هائی بودند که مدام در حال بوکشیدن برای نفعی مادی است هنوز تازه کار بودند و راه و رسم را خوب نیاموخته بودند زیرا بار بعد که بعد از ده سال آمدم دیگه همه کارکشته و ظالم و مادرجنده کامل

بخشی از ما شهروندان را به شکل استخوان ریختن جلویشان همگی اهلی کردند به شکلی که اکنون ملا رضا شود نوکرش رضایت نمیدهد خودفروشانی بودند که فرقی برایشان قطعا نمیکرد احتمالا قبلا به شاه خود را میفروختند و حالا به ملا مگه چه اشکالی داره ؟ اصل اون اسکناس است که میسازیمش

از اختلاط دهاتیان و لومپنان حاشیه شهر نشین و ملایان و طبقه متوسط تازه به نان و آبی رسیده ناگهان جانورانی در ایران به عنوان طبقه متوسط جدید ظاهر شدند که واویلا

همه حاج آقا ته ریش دارهای خداشناس تاجر که با ملایان راس حکومت چاق سلامتی دارند و شب های جمعه در باغات ورامین مشغول هر فسق و فجور غربی هستند و زنان و دختران سکینه دائی قزی شان که بهترین نمونه عکس های فشن شوی اسلامی است که بارها برایتان نهاده ام

اینان مسببان بدبختی کل ملت ایران هستند زیرا به قاتل مردم ما کمک کرده اند

نگاهی ساده به تاریخ زندگی شخصی خودتان تک تک و حتی نگاهی به عکس های ما شهروندان از اواخر دوره شاه تا اکنون و این حضیض ذلتی که همگی با هم فرو رفتیم صحت کل سخنان بالای مرا به شما ثابت میکند میخواهم فراموش نکنید که این بار همه چیز به گردن ما شهروندان است ما باید ارزش های لگد مال شده و گهی شده خود را باز یابیم ما باید حرمت انسانی شهروندان را که روستائیان ایران از بین برده اند باز یابیم و از این ((( باید ))) هیچ یک خلاصی نداریم جنگ شخصی خودمان اس