Misc

My Apologies

Dear Mehrnaz: I owe you an apology if the phrase “people like you” has offended you. In my previous comment, I addressed myself as “Iranians like me” to identify a particular group of Iranians who have set out to reclaim our non Islamic heritage. Consequently, I went on to identify another group of Iranians using the phrase “people like you.”

Regardless of what my intentions were, if my words have offended you in any form or shape, I owe you an apology. Please forgive my indiscretion.

Islam has been an integral part of our lives since the Muslim armies invaded our homeland. Since that invasion, Persians have fought Islam in many ways. Some have come to accept it only to turn around to influence it in any way they can. Others have converted due to the financial burden of Islamic taxes imposed on non-believers. Many were pressured by intimidating thugs and hence converted at the point of a sword. Yes, there are also those who have embraced it with total devotion on their own free will.

At the end, it will be up to Iranian people to decide what to do with Islam. Once we are truly free of oppression and its menacing pressures, each one of us will make that decision for himself. Meanwhile, Iranian activists such as me will continue our campaign against Muslim oppression.

Deep in my heart, I feel that Iranians such as you are our nation's conscious, the voices that temper our actions and call us to unity. However, when our struggle against Islamic oppression is equated to Nazi racism, we go back to our own corners, getting ready to fire back.

I have enjoyed our dialog and sincerely hope that we can find common grounds.

People like me?!

Dear Laleh? Who am I, do you think?! Do you know me when you say people such you raise the red flag .....? I don't belong to an imaginary camp and neither do I address you as such. I am saddened that an intelligent woman who evidently writes poetry, when it comes to discussing issues to do with our country, becomes so black and white and cannot distinguish between bigotry and cultural affinities. Laleh Jaan, let me remind you that Islam like other religions and like identities is not set in stone, it is continually constructed. If Muslim fanatics tell you otherwise, it is because they are fanatics and you don't have to be a Muslim to have the monopoly of that ... You are free to claim your non-Islamic heritage, but our discussion began when I took on this other person attacking Qoran and Islam claiming them to be irrelevant to Iran. That is a ridiculous lie whether or not we are Muslims or like aspects of that heritage or even dislike it. I am glad you are saying you are not 'advocating superiority over Islam'. I also hope you can distinguish between an ideology (which is fluid and context dependent) and the reality of many people practicing a religion which gives meaning to their lives and who are just as you and I subject to power politics. I don't consider myself a religious person but I appreciate our Islamic heritage (poetry, architecture, science, stories and the sense of moral and ethical responsibility) just as much as I am proud of the first 'charter of human rights' and our beautiful language and customs. What I object to is to fall into the colonial trap of denigration of self and idealisation of that which is used for creating voids and divisions. It is after all the question of constructing an identity from our heritage and from our actions and interactions now that could nourish and sustain us into the future.

جنگ هفتاد و دو ملت همه را عذر بنه
چون ندیدند حقیقت ره افسانه زدند

The Islamic Heritage

I do acknowledge that our history and heritage include what Islam has brought into our country. There is no denying of that.

However, where you and I part is this: Islam is a totalitarian ideology that has no tolerance for anything but its own. This intolerance has become abundantly evident during the last thirty years. Hence, Iranians such as me wish to resurrect our non Islamic heritage to combat the century-old oppression imposed on us.

When we attempt to do this, people such as you raise the red flag of “Aryan racism.” We are not advocating our superiority over Islam; we are reclaiming our non Islamic heritage.

Dear Laleh, I am not

Dear Laleh, I am not confusing "Nazi racism with Persian heritage" and I assure you I have studied these issues in depth as have studied Persian literature including Shahnameh! You are not talking neither to a novice nor to someone who does not appreciate our proud heritage. However, as part of that proud heritage is our Islamic heritage, though I am not religious. The emphasis on Persian and Aryan's glory at the expense of exclusion of 1300 years of Islamic culture to which Iranian have contributed and received, is meaningless and no matter how hard you try to cover it up by phrases such as 'diversity of cultures and races' it does not sell. I tell you why. That diversity you are rightly proud of includes who we are now including our Islamic heritage ... I also encourage you to read a bit of contemporary history and sociology to understand about modern racism and COLONISED psychology AND ITS VAGARIES.

“Rotten Ayran Myth”

You are confusing Nazi racism with Persian heritage. I don’t know whether the confusion is done purposefully or simply stems from lack of knowledge.

In any case, Persian benevolence towards the Hebrew slaves is historically documented. Our heritage has nothing to do with Aryan superiority. On the contrary, the richness of Persian heritage stems from its diversity, diversity of cultures and races. Take that diversity away and we are left with nothing.

As a matter of fact, glancing through our family trees, each one of us can attest to that diversity. There is nothing “pure-blood” about Iranians. What is “pure” about us is our Persian culture and its glory, the sum of our history, benevolence, literature, poetry, architecture, …

The rotten Ayran myth isn’t a Persian myth. Persian mythology is represented by Shahnameh e Ferdowsi… Please read it. You will understand the difference.

Laleh!!! did you read what I had written or just saw some words

and made up the rest?!! Look, It is pointless misrepresenting something that someone has said to make a political point!

I am not talking about nostalgia. I am not talking of what the ex-pat 'community' feels either. I am talking about Qoran reading and Azaan and yes, Ashura too, having importance in Iranian culture and resonances for many of us who may not even be religious because of the many sensuous associations these hold. As to the dark places, don't please turn my words round. If you wish to talk of dark places Ashura might have taken us, please write about that by all means. What I am talking about though, is the use of the rotten Aryan myth with its particular glorifications of race which was used as the ideological background to the Jewish Holocaust. It is now used by Islamophobes against Muslims. There is nothing progressive about it, Laleh jan, those ideas of race and purity are bankrupt, proven as unscientific and utter nonsense. So if you believe in progress, you may wish to hate Islam, but pleeeeease let go of those racist myths, they are dangerous and backward.

Mehrnaz: Too Much Nostalgia?

Nostalgia over Karbala is allowed and acceptable, but when it comes to our heritage, it will take us to “dark” places?

Surprisingly, I agree with your logic: All the nostalgia over Karbala has, indeed, taken the Shi'a faithful to dark places… How else can you explain Khavaran?

My apologies, Party Girl. I enjoyed the videos.

Beautiful, thank you ... Jaram the sound of Qoran

like the sound of Azaan is a sound many of us, religious or not, remember and love. There are associations which may not be accessible to someone who has not shared that culture intimately. What you say is jarring and alien to most Iranians, "Ariya" or otherwise. Ariyan root is part of our heritage but only a limited part, we are not stuck with the past and have developed beyond it .... Too much nostalgia about that sort of mythology can end up in very dark places, as it did not so long ago ... Ask Zion.

Very Poetic

This is one of the nicest pieces I have seen on this site.  It had been 40 years since I had heard some of these melodies.  Images came to my mind from my childhood which I did not know existed.  The production was also very nice, it had the right feel to it.  This piece gave me some ideas for retirement age!

sid sarshar

Very nice videos! this guy

Very nice videos!

this guy Naser Vahdati is also a singer in a band.
by the way for those who have facebook check out my group "save the gilaki language"

ای وای که این

ای وای که این فیلم چقدر زیباااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااست . Thank you

the sound of Quran is also

the sound of Quran is also part of our culture, whether you like it or not, can't you see how beautifully the grandmother prays for her family's well being and for the trees and for the goat and for all the nature around her? religion has deep roots in people's lives, just because some fundamentalists have misused it for their own agenda, it doesnt mean that it has lost its reall value....

Beautiful

Jast the part i here sound of [quran=arabic=desert]in hart land of Ariya Iran saddens me deeply.

love noorooz

hey party girl, you did it again (pedarmoo dar ovordi.), hehehe. Let me tell you, have you ever been in love? but I have/continue....when I seen videos or photos of Iran..woooo, in farsi (delam me rizeh pa in)..:). now I am getting addicted to this web site; I got to find a different love before I go insane......hehehe.

happy noorooz. :):)

Gilan Forever

Now have the thought of my childhood in mind: Used to go down to the river, watch dragonflies, catch fish, play with walnuts, throw rocks in the water and swim during eternal sunsets.

I wish the Russians could hold on to Gilan so we could have enjoyed our rich traditions and amazing landscape without Islamic crap.

salam

khayli ghashang bood,sometimes i think,why are we here out off our beautiful country,we have evrythink.with love!!!! me

Thanks Party Girl!!  This

Thanks Party Girl!!  This was my favorite of all your posts.  

Ey Party Girl !

Baaz daagh dele maa ro taazeh kardi ?

Thanks for these great videos. So nice.