Archive - Jan 2008 - Article

فرهنگ عدم تحمل

25 سال از جان باختن منوچهرهلیل رودی (ابراهیم شفیعی) گذشت. منوچهر,همچون خلیل ملکی, اسحاق اپریم و دهها انسان آزاد اندیش و آزادیخواه دیگر , ازقربانیان ترور شخصیت در جنبش چپ میهنمان است , و دریغ و درد که آخرین قربانی نیزنیست. در سالگشت در گذشت منوچهر نگاهی گذرا به زندگی , و چرایی و چگونگی ترور شخصیت او می اندازیم , به این امید که این دست روشنگری ها تلنگری شوند برای آغاز دور ریختن اندیشه و رفتار پلشت " ترور شخصیت". >>>

‫آشنا

چشمام رنگ درخته
رنگ خاکه
‫رنگ همون دیاره
‫که سایه هاش از کهربایه
‫من و تو
‫تو که چشمات رنگ آبه

>>>

Mazatlan redux

Mid-December was the time in Mazatlan when the locals told you that the cold weather was not “seasonal.” The longer the cold persisted, however, the more incredulous that claim became. From the corridor just outside of my hotel room, the little cove secluded by the silhouette of the nearby isles shone in the peculiar maroon sunset. The ospreys hovered over in the fading blue patch of the sky. The clouds made the ocean unappealing. The beach vendors appeared disoriented. Their favorite customers, the tourists from the United States and Canada, submerged themselves in Jacuzzis and margaritas. The better part of valor was to explore the land. >>>

مشارکت عمومی

سایت بالاترین این روزها روزنه هایی از امید را دارد به چشم می بیند. نوشته داور نبوی به عقیده من می تواند آغاز تغییر باشد. داور نبوی در این نوشته کاربران حذف شده هجرت کرده را داده است و در کنار کاربران بالاترین را به تحمل عقیده تشویق کرده است. من هم تصمیم دارم به این پروسه کمک کنم. خیلی از مواردی که کاربران ناامیدانه از آنها به عنوان غیر دمکرات بودن بالاترین یاد می کنند نه تنها ذات یک سایت آزاد هست، بلکه اساسا با دمکراسی هیچ نوع تناقضی ندارند. >>>

Iranian identity under fire

Unfortunately however, the word ‘Farsi’ is increasingly and incorrectly being used to describe the Persian language. This paper outlines the linguistic and cultural context of Persian, as well as exploring the potential motivations of those promoting the incorrect usage of the word ‘Farsi’. It explains clearly how the use of the word ‘Farsi’ instead of Persian voids important historical and cultural associations for the Iranian nation, with its long history of civilisation, and how it can therefore be seen as an insult to the heritage of Iran>>>

Splendour on the roof

Flushed in the spring sunbeams
on the flat roof of their house
three sisters call to each other
frisking, capering
dashing like mad
garlands of jasmine
around their necks.

>>>

چاپار آزاده

قهرمان سازی ایرانی همانا بمانند علم کیمیاگری است، که فقط معدودی از افراد نظر کرده، در پشت پرده های رنگین و با دستهای نامرئی، مطلا و آهن ناچیز را طلا کنند و جاه طلبان را قهرمان. سایرمردم موظفند به تعظیم و فرود آوردن سر و ضمن انتظار برای پلوی نذری، به سر دادن شعارهای حماسی بپردازند، به همان گونه ای که ماکیاولی تجویز کرده است. شعارهائی، که نویسندگان آن اکثرأ علمای اخوان المسلمین ساکن لندن و پاریس و شاهدوستان پراکنده در غرب و یا جانشینان ایشان در حکومت ایران امروزند.>>>

Hatred tree

Today I asked my mother why she named me Azarin. My name, Azarin, means a type of volcanic rock similar to granite. When volcanoes erupt, granite rocks are thrust into space, and when they first contact air, they lose their heat and turn worthless, items unusable for any kind of jewelry. Granite rocks are two-faced. One minute they are hot, and the next minute they turn cold. One minute they are red, and the next minute black. >>>

انحلال تبعيض

تلاش برای «رسيدن» به دموکراسی و گذاشتن قطار تحولات و تطورات اجتماعی بر روی ريلی که به دموکراسی منتهی می شود نوعی «مبارزهء سياسی و فرهنگی» است و در دل تاريخ و منظرهء مبارزات اجتماعی جای دارد. باز، از نظر من، خود اين مبارزه برای رسيدن به دموکراسی يکی از تجليات مبارزهء بزرگ تری است که شايد بتوان آن را موتور حرکت پيش روندهء تاريخ بشر دانست؛ و آن چيزی نيست جز مبارزه برای امحاء و برانداختن «تبعيض های اجتماعی». >>>

Young women...

Young vitalities
Making the incidents
Meeting the promises
Creating the opportunities
Avoiding disappointments
Through their young souls
Embracing the challenges
Resenting the old traditions >>>

YeeHa! for covert action

The film starring Tom Hanks as Charlie Wilson, portrays the brash action by a Senator who raised as a child frightened of imminent attack by the Soviet Union during the nuclear Cold War era (one of the damaging effects of "duck and cover" ad campaigns on this generation), takes it upon himself to push his counterpart buddy "idealists" in the CIA to covertly support the Afghan rebels to fight the Soviet Union with training and equipment. This is successfully spun as a heroic tale of Yankee ingenuity and dogged American determination. What bothers me about this kind of storytelling is that it tidily evades the real problems that this kind of illegal covert action leaves in it's wake>>>

Right time, right strategy

Vahdati: My contact with Iranian women activists goes back to 2003, when I started writing for Women in Iran. The website was founded by Shadi Sadr and a group of women journalists and activists (womeniniran.net). Although it started mainly as a women’s news site it had other sections such as “Tajrobeh haye zananeh” (Womanly Experiences) which was my favorite section and I started writing for it. At the time Faezeh Tabatabaei was in charge of the column and encouraged me to continue writing. Soon, I started writing articles for the site as well>>>

Ax the tax

I am going to pay some taxes in January about which I've been having nightmares for a couple of months already. Then I found out that Mike Huckabee proposes to abolish the IRS, in favour of CONSUMPTION TAX!! When I heard this I thought it was a joke, but it is actually true. And Mike Huckabee has just won the Republican elections in Iowa. Great news! I hope he wins'em all and becomes president. I'm not very sure about a FLAT consumption tax, but I am definitely in favour of abolishing income and all other similar taxes>>>

Mom, I have dreamt his Release

Dreams were my passion, my solitude
Passing of the day was precious as it brought me glorious black
Has it been too long I wonder,
Will I ever return to that far away land?
Would I remember how to step off a window and not fall
But soar, so softly, so crisply…
>>>

Donald Duck in Ancient Persia

Strangely "Donald Duck in Ancient Persia” grew out of interest in horror films. Though Disney illustrator Carl Barks was no great movie-goer, he saw several horror classics which contributed to the stories eerie atmosphere. A quest to raise the dead, spells muttered over a magic pool, a frustrated marriage, and honor slaked by death – these are all motifs from Boris Karloff’s classic Horror flick The Mummy (1933); and the spooky old mansion on the hill looks like The Old Dark House in another Karloff movie. Even the mad scientist, with his high forehead and deep-set eyes resembles that veteran horror actor. >>>