Archive - May 2011 - Article

Middle Eastern Makeover

While Iran has longed for the post-American era in the Middle East, this may paradoxically present a more arduous challenge than Tehran originally anticipated. Despite showing significant ideological flexibility in the past, Iran’s ability to adjust to new realities over the long term seems limited. In the short to medium term, however, regional unrest puts Iran’s adversaries – from the U.S. to Israel to Saudi Arabia – on the defensive, and plays to one of Iran’s demonstrated strengths: the ability to exploit instability and divisions>>>

Bin Ladinism Lives

The killing of Bin Laden sparked a wave of conflicting feelings and political and journalistic analysis. Undoubtedly, the death of such murderous creature, especially when he holds the top position within a reactionary and terrorist political-ideological network does not raise anybody’s compassion or sadness but his own supporters. Surely, the world is a safer and more humane place without the likes of Bin Laden, Khamenei, and all the leaders of the Islamic regime of Iran, the leaders of political Islamic movement and the leaders of state terrorism>>>

پنج دهه نهضت آزادی

اعضای نهضت آزادی سهمی قابل توجه در بر ساختن ايدئولوژی اسلامگرايی در ايران داشته‌اند، از طرح اسلامی کردن اقتصاد توسط محمود طالقانی تا اسلامی کردن تکامل توسط يدالله سحابی، و از اسلامی کردن علوم انسانی توسط علی شريعتی (از اعضای نهضت در خارج کشور) تا اسلامی کردن کار، ترموديناميک، پراگماتيسم، تعليم و تربيت، و باد و باران توسط مهدی بازرگان. بازرگان خود از سرآمدان ذکر نياز به توليد ايدئولوژی با استفاده از متن دين است (بعثت و ايدئولوژی)>>>

Happily Never After

When fairytales inform us that 'they all lived happily ever after', they never specify how happily - or for how long that 'ever after' lasted. If it really was for ever after, then it still must be happening now. Somewhere, in some hidden corner of our world, must be loads of ageing but blissful princes, princesses, frogs, dragons, kings and witches. Eternity is a tricky concept. We just don't have time to sit around long enough to figure out what it means. But 'happiness' is a much easier idea to understand>>>

ضیافت در رواق ِ بی‌ چراغی

شب بی‌ قرار هنوز و من بیدار
و در این بزم پُر ملال
همسرایی ِ دف‌‌ و گیتار
همچنان در کار >>>

Darkness vs Darkness

As I write at this very moment I am deeply disturbed by the thought that Ameneh Bahrami might be personally partaking in an act that is indeed making the whole world blind in it's most literal sense. In 2004 Ameneh suffered a very vicious acid attack in Iran by a suitor whom she had turned down multiple times. She lost both eyes, and much of her face as a result of this horrific attack and has spent the last 6 years of her life in hospitals where she has undergone 19 reconstructive surgeries>>>

Closed Kingdom

As night falls in villages around Bahrain’s capital Manama, candlelight flickers in the dusty streets. Small groups of locals hold peaceful protests. There is an air of fear given what has taken place. Sometimes, the vigils are targeted by police, dispersed with tear gas. But worse, the night time also brings security force raids where people are ripped out of their beds and dragged away in front of screaming wives and children. This is Bahrain since the Government imposed Martial Law on March 15>>>

Spaces of Resistance

We have seen in this article how three interwoven ideologies - patriarchal, technocratic and capitalist – have colonized the spaces of motherhood in the 21st century Western society. Given the sexual division of labour, it is predominantly men who design reproductive technologies aimed at women. These technologies have little connection with women’s actual needs and can be harmful to their health and independence>>>

چه بر سر مردان آمده است؟

چه چیزی مردها را از زندگی «بزرگسالانه» دور می‌کند و آنها را به مردان «نوجوان صفتی» تبدیل می‌کند که دوست دارند دنیای «بی‌بندو‌بار» خود را طولانی‌تر کنند؟ روزانه مردانی را می‌بینیم که اصرار بر حفظ سلیقه‌ها و رفتارهای سبکسرانه و غیر جدی دارند؛ با بازی‌های طولانی‌مدت کامپیوتری، تماشای تلویزیون و صرف وقت زیاد در سایت‌های مختلف اینترنتی. این رفتار آنها نیز توسط رسانه‌های سرگرم‌کننده تشویق می‌شود>>>

نیمه پنهان ماه

شناختن ایرانیها در هر جای دنیا کار سختی نیست. فرمول قدیم من هنوز ردخور ندارد. اگر صفحه ای از سر شانه های ایرانیها به موازات زمین عبور دهی در اغلب موارد سر ایرانیها بالاست. یعنی دقیق تر بگویم چانه آنها با افق زاویه ای حدود ده درجه میسازد. یعنی آنها سر به هوا هستند و بیشتر در نخ این و اون و اطرافیانند تا خودشان. چه زن و چه مردان ایرانی، حتی اگر عینک های ضخیم آفتابی هم زده باشند در حال سوکیدن این وآنند>>>

Let's Get Real

One of the great bluffs in the foreign policy community in the previous decade was that Israel would have no choice but to attack Iran's nuclear facilities unless Washington stepped up and took military action first. With predictable frequency since the mid-1990s, reports emerged claiming that Israel was months, if not weeks, away from bombing Iran. And every time a new dire warning was issued, a new rationale was presented to convince the world that the latest Israeli warning was more serious than the previous one. The Israeli threats, however, were bluffs all along>>>

سونامی سیاسی خاور میانه

به نظر می‌رسد این درک است که حماس را واداشته تا به رغم شعارهای تند خود به گروه رقیب یعنی فتح نزدیک شود و بینش و روش خود را تعدیل کند. این نزدیکی ظاهرا بدون مشورت و یا حتا اطلاع رژیم ایران صورت گرفته است. دلیل این امر را می‌توان از واکنش جمهوری اسلامی دریافت. وزارت خارجه ایران، البته، از این توافقنامه تحت عنوان «گام مثبت و مباركی در جهت تحقق اهداف تاریخی مردم مظلوم فلسطین» یاد نموده و از آن استقبال كرده است. ولی اظهارات رسمی مقامات نظام گویای موضع واقعی رژیم حاکم بر ایران نیست>>>

One Who is in Love Always Prays

The man was sitting on a wooden chair, wearing his wool jacket and drinking tea, much oblivious and relaxed. The teacup, however, was full of memories as if it was telling the story of the tea farm and its teenaged farmer girl, with her charming smile, the twinkle in her eyes, her tired hands and the flower patterns on her skirt. The tea was very tasty which means the farmer girl must have been in love when she picked the leaves>>>

کاسه مجنون

خلق  توئی  خالق و  مخلوق  تو
عشق توئی عاشق و معشوق تو

عشق تو گر در دل مجنون  نبود
از غم لیلی جگرش خون  نبود
>>>

بوتیمار

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آب دریا
تمام شود >>>