Iranian of the Day

Hold your horses Anon. Observer!

For someone who has worked with impoverished children, you are not as bright as I expected. Your efforts at working with the poor is quite noble, but that is the extent of your endeavor. You can only work with them. You cannot end their misery and poverty. You and Khar lack any sense of the structural inequalities that exist in the WORLD. Not just Iran or the US. And yes, it is directly linked to colonialism and imperialism. The reason you end the conversation here is because you have nothing else to say. These two words, and the one you conveniently chose to ignore (racism) are intertwined and linked to our present conditions. The reason you have Europe and North America as the most powerful regions in the world, IS a result of colonial exploitation. You can't detach the present from the past. There are no separate histories that we live. And its not about taking responsibility, it is about power, politics, and economic exploitation. Your liberal mindset leads you to ignore the disastrous effects of capitalism on a societal and global scale and instead focus the blame of either individuals or individual nations without understanding that it is a world systemic process of dispossession and accumulation.

Plus, i was only reminding you (someone who should know) that poverty is not simply a characteristic of colonized countries, but also of rich and powerful countries. Within the US, the effects of slavery and the racism that exists are directly linked to each other and the poverty of African Americans. Your claim that the US government puts much effort to "assist" the poor is somewhat of a rubbish. Plus, the reason these assistances that you refer to exist, are because someone else has paid for it. Usually brown people in the global south. But what help? when people lose their homes, when over two million poor people are rotting in prisons, when the life of a black person is criminalized, when poor kids join the army and get killed or deformed, when undocumented immigrants are exploited to no limits, when the police are constantly putting poor neighborhoods under siege, when they are killing young black men in cold blood, when racist judges send juvenile colored people to private prisons to make money, when slavery still persists in US prisons through prison labor or in poor countries, when more than 50 million poor americans have no healthcare, when gentrification is pushing more and more poor people into slums and the privileged classes behind gated communities, when schools in East LA, South Central LA etc are defunded by the state, when higher education is being privatized to push the poor out, and the health of the poor are deteriorating due to lack of quality food what kind of assistance are you referring to? Food stamps? Welfare? or funding non-profits? Well in case you have not comprehended this yet, these are simply means of maintaining a reserve army of laborers who can at anytime be exploited and expended. Ever thought of why there is always unemployment? The fact that you haven't comprehended these facts until now, say's much about your ignorance. The crap that you buy from the mall, walmart, target etc are either made by sweatshop slaves in china town NYC or Honduras, or Vietnam, or Bangladesh. So you see, capitalism hasn't ended colonialism and imperialism. It is a quintessential characteristic of colonialism. Slavery in the American south was not feudal, it was capitalist. Capitalism IS racism, It depends on inequalities to be able to accumulate capital. That is capitalism. Next time read a damn book instead of watching CNN FOX etc and regurgitating their BS. 

Wake up and smell the coffee. 

Payam S.

To the degree in which these kids exist in Iran is astronomical and mind boggling. In US and any other country who gives damn about their children and their future, the system is set up to elevate these kids from poverty (the social system in Iran is designed to elevate the pocket of the few) and that is the difference you are turning a blind eye toward.

The nonsense is to blame this condition in Iran on “Privilege, Imperialism and Colonialism” as you put it, for your information Iran is a wealthy country and is not under rule of “Colonialist and Imperialist” but is under rule of bunch of incompetent, back warded Islamic religious thieves who don’t give a shit about Iran and it's future.

Payam S

As someone who has worked with children in poverty and families in poverty in the U.S. and has seen the enormous effort that States put in place to assist these families, I was going to respond to your comment and demonstrate how flawed it is.  But then I decided not to do so when I saw the words "colonialism" and "imperialism".  Seeing and hearing those stale 1950's and 1960's Bolshevik slogans is usually a conversation ender for me.  One simply cannot have a productive discussion with someone who still cannot take responsibility for his  country's own failures and blames his own nation's societal ills on the "imperialist" bogeyman.  

These children exist even in "developed" countries!

It's nonsense to claim that in Europe or the US everyone is well fed and living a comfortable life, and no child is in need of performing in the streets to earn a living. 25% of children in the US are under the poverty line (mostly black and latinos). A lot of children perform in the streets to earn a living. And if you have visited Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco etc you would realize this fact. All these young black, puerto rican, latino kids dancing on the streets just so some tourists would throw some change at them. Its not just Iran or the "developing" countries. Plus, most of the poverty in the "developing" world is imposed by the "developed" countries such as US and the Europeans (lets not forget colonialism, imperialism, and racism). Privilege can distort reality. 

Sad

Like Khar said, in any other modern, developed nation (which the IRI so desperately tries to compare itself too) these kids would be in school.  BUT, Iran's money is better spent on repairing south Lebanon, building schools for their children and buying weapons for some nut job group in Yemen.

What a shame... 

To: darius

Dear darius:

There is no mention of anyone calling anyone a "begger"; that's why I asked. Apparently- thanks to benross' explanation- there was such a thing, in the title, and it has been corrected since.

Yours,

Ali P.

......

These 2 kids have talent, but no childhood! Childhood means going to school & play and not having any financial responsibility! The good thing is that some kind people gave them some money for their performance! It is so sad that little kids have to fend for themselves!

Delaram Banafsheh (Yolanda)

"Cactus in the Desert"

Dear Ali

No one should call a little kid working honorablya GEDA .How could ever any one  can call such honorable kid a Gedaye Khiabooni?I am not trying to be mean to ghorme sabzi but I doubt if a human with a little conscious call those two little guys beggars.Are you still confused?

poor in IRAN

I guess this Antari nejad just said we have no poor in Iran!! What is wrong with this guy. He denies every thing. LIKE SNL  " he fart under the sheet and blame it on Israel"

This while

Khamenei, Mojtaba his son and the rest of the IRR leaders are sending hundreds of millions of dollars into personal accounts outside of Iran.  I hope one day we have a government that is there to serve not to steal.  I am with Khar, someone should give a shit so that these kids be in school.  Everything is a shame in our country.

These kids will be in school...

in a country that cares and gives a shit about its children!

Ali

The title was corrected. All is good now.

To: darius

I am confused.

Who called whom " a begger"?

Dear GHorme Sabzi

Couldn't you give him a little respect?

He is young and in early age trying to feed himself and his family.If it was here we would call him an starving artist but since he is playing to 

earn a living , he is a begger.I think, you  owe him an apology,using him

and calling him a begger and then shame on IRI and they owe him  an apology.

ghormeh sabzi

You did it again! thanks for the post.