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So, can you take some criticism?

And as a polisci and communications major, it was also very cool to see Iranian American experts – not a decade older myself – on the air, explaining to Joe the Plumber and his Neanderthal clan as well as the more enlightened population in my beloved America the run down in Iran. Two of them are Trita Parsi and Karim Sadjadpour. I had never seen them on the same stage before, so it was pretty cool that they both were on PBS Newshour a few weeks ago. It was an awesome opportunity to compare their styles and analysis. I am a fan of both of them, so if they read this, I hope they don’t take this the wrong>>>

The Revolution Which At First, Was Not

As late as September 28, 1978, several months before one of the major revolutions of the twentieth century, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency reported that the shah "is expected to remain actively in power over the next ten years." The 1979 Iranian Revolution stunned the world dramatizing just how vast a change in government orientation could be imposed. The change seemed to move Iran from a Western-allied monarchy based on Persian nationalism to an Islamic revolutionary theocracy based on Shiite Moslem fundamentalism. Middle East revolutions are usually instigated by discontented religious, ethnic, and/or ideological forces>>>

یار هنرستانی

دوران دوران آپولو 11 بود و مسابقات بوکس محمد علی کلی روی صفحه سیاه و سفید تلویزیون مبله بلر. دوران رفتن به هنرستان شرکت نفت و عشق کارمند شدن و رویاهای دور و دراز نوجوانی. فصل راز و نیاز از راه دور با سوفیالورن بود و حسرت خوردن به مارچلو ماسترویانی و آلن دلون روی پرده سینما کارون اهواز. سالهای خرید قسطی «پیکان جوانان» و کشیدن سیگار وینستون پشت دو لیوان آبجوی مجیدیه. دورانی که اعلیحضرت هنوز دست توی جیب های جلیقه اش نکرده بود و لوله های نفت از گناوه به دل دریا فرو میرفت و از جزیره خارگ سر درمیآورد و نفتکشها، ایران را جزیره آرامش می دیدند. به عقل جن هم نمی رسید که عاقبت «دندانه هر قصری پندی دهدت نو نو». توی همین سالها بود که با اسماعیل فصیح آشنا شدم. مردی که سالهای بعد رمان نویس معروفی شد>>>

First Lesson in Freedom

I am a man
A man of yesterday and today
A man of today and tomorrow.
In my eyes, the stars fade away
And in my hands, the setting sun.
In my smile, a child is born
And from my heart, blood bubbles up >>>

گیج می رود سرم

سُر می خوری روی سَرم
دلم غنجه می رود در پاگرد و
زَهره ندارم که بگویم
که پله پیچید در خیابان و
خیابان سُر خورد توی سَرم و
سَرم هی گیج رفت از سیم های کابل
که می پیچید دور اسم تو >>>

We will never be silent

I am Mehdi Saharkhiz, Proud son of the journalist and political activist Isa Saharkhiz. He is in jail for speaking his mind in opposition to the dictators that hijacked the elections in Iran. He was kidnapped in a way that his ribs were broken, he is kept in solitary confinement in an undisclosed location. My dad dedicated his life in order to depose the Shah and help with the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran—a republic that was supposed to be free and respect peoples’ votes, voices, and opinions. My father spent years fighting Saddam whom had illegally entered Iran's sovereign land and imposed a war against the Iranian people. He fought alongside his brother, my uncle, Saeed who was eventually killed in the war, and millions of other brave Iranians>>>

Opposition's Two Heads

It is now clearer than ever that the opposition movement in Iran has two heads. One is the official loyal opposition within the regime, the reformists, and the other is the opposition movement of the people on the streets, which has its own diversity of lines of thinking. The opposition movement among the people is clearly more radical and is determined to go much farther than the Mousavi-Khatami-Karroubi faction and their cohorts will ever, EVER be willing to go. In all this, we must not forget that Rafsanjani is a third column within the regime, and has his own agenda>>>

از لابلای اخبار

اگر شما هم مثل من این روزها با نگرانی اخبار ایران را دنبال می کنید، حتما مثل من حالتان زیاد جا نیست. من فکر نمی کنم حتی طرفداران معدود احمدی نژاد هم از اینکه کوچولوی ریزه میزه شون پیروز شده لذت زیادی برده باشند. به هر حال خشونت ها و قتل و جنایت های اخیر خیلی از پرده ها را برای خیلی ها انداخت و چهرهء واقعی حکومت ایران را هویدا کرد. اختلاف نظرهای سیاسی به کنار، هیچ ایرانی با غیرتی نیست که از دیدن صحنه های اخیر دلش ریش نشده باشد و به روح و جد و آباد هرچی دیکتاتور قاتله (چه فول سایز، چه نیم سایز) صلوات بلند ختم نکرده باشه. خیلی دلم میخواسته برم دنبال دلمشغولی هام، باغچه ام، کتابهام، شعر و موسیقی، اما امسال تابستان ما فعلا که همه اش پشت کامپیوتر و با دلهره برای ایران گذشته>>>

The All-Seasons Man

Iran's Non-President Mamuti has said he is sorry that "some people do not know" his side-kick, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, the well-known "friend of the peoples of America and Israel". Most people, of course, would thank God they've never had to get to know a charlatan who can make Mamuti look honest and educated. Mamuti, who appointed Essi as his top adviser after Khamenei took extraordinary action to prevent him from becoming vice president, says he likes him "for one thousand reasons." People would normally say "one thousand and one reasons"; but of course Mamuti is not normal.>>>

Abraham's Journey

Abraham, walk me through the fire
Past fear, and desire

Lead me up into the mountain
Show me the eternal fountain
 
Teach me not to shudder
Introduce me to my brother >>>

Iranian You

I am part Iranian, part Danish. Mention of my Iranian blood stops people in their tracks these days. It used to be something that most outside our San Francisco bubble avoided. "Iranian". Not anymore. The world is watching, not enough, but the world is finally watching. So people want to know how I feel. What is this conflict about? How am I impacted as an Iranian woman? Yes, they hear the catch word of the day, "Iranian", and they want to know how I feel. Hm. I was on Facebook the moment the video of the now-well-known-then-unknown-and-nameless-woman Neda's death was released. I watched her die>>>

در باب نظام جمهوری یا اسلامی ایران

نظام در خود متناقض جمهوری اسلامی ایران دچار شدیدترین بحران هویتی خود در طول حیات سی‌ساله‌اش شده است. این نظام بر اساس تلفیق دو مفهوم متناقض «جمهوریت» مبتنی بر رأی و انتخاب جمهور مردم و «اسلامیت» كه حاكمیت را از آن خدا و «نمایندگان» او بر روی‌ زمین می‌داند شكل گرفته است. تناقض این مفاهیم در قانون اساسی این نظام جابجا متبلور است. علاوه بر این، تأكید بر این مفاهیم متناقض در مواضع و گفتارهای مراجع این نظام و به خصوص آیت‌الله خمینی فراوان دیده می‌شود. دو گفته مشهور او، یعنی «میزان، رأی ملت است»، و این كه اگر مصلحت نظام اقتضا كند می‌توان (نه فقط رأی مردم و بلكه) حتا اصول دین را هم تعطیل كرد، از نمونه‌های آشكار آن است. این تركیب متناقض البته پایدار نبود و روزی خواه ناخواه از درون ترك بر می‌داشت. و ترك امروز پیش آمده است. >>>

Point of no return

More than one month has passed since the ruling faction of the Islamic Republic tried to silence all voices of dissent by rigging the election results and staging a semi coup-d’etat. By now it looks like a large portion of young Iranians have come to share the views that many intellectuals and progressive forces have had since before the elections: a regime which is founded on injustice and fear is not reformable; a view that reflects the realities of the streets of Iran today. Meanwhile, the so-called reformists and their supporters outside Iran, who had received a severe blow on the night of the elections, saw their game of haggling within the system completely crushed and ruled out by the Supreme Leader>>>

انقلاب سبز چه میخواهد؟

بعد از چانه زدنها و بگیر و ببند های بی حساب و کتاب و فراوان که سالها در جمهوری اسلامی رواج داشته، و بعد از برگزاری انتخاباتهای کوچک و بزرگی که در آنها همیشه لیستهای منتخبین شامل نامهای مورد تائید از سوی امام زمان بوده که از صندوق بیرون میآمد، بالاخره در چند روز گذشته یک نفر پیدا شد وقضیه را برای همه روشن کرد که همه اینها زیر سر چه کسی است! حضرت آیت الله محمد یزدی که در طول سه دهه گذشته با مواضع و رفتار بسیار روشن خود در پشت حزب الله، کاملا روشن کرده بود که به هیچ چیزی کمتر از حکومت الله بر روی زمین رضایت نمیدهد و در این راه از صدور هیچگونه فتوا و پشتیبانی از انجام هیچگونه عمل خبیثانه مانند قتلهای زنجیره ای خودداری نخواهد کرد، بالاخره خیال همه را راحت کرد و گفت که حکومت اسلامی مشروعیتش از خداست و اصلا نیازی به "مقبولیت" از طرف خلق خدا ندارد>>>

One More Past Midnight

We're all innocent, yes we are
The soldier shooting at the innocent in fright
The woman riding in the back of a police car
The rapist that got his heart filled with envy, with filth
The heartless tycoons who built weapons to feed their greed
The little girl raped and left on the sidewalk
The children who play in the pool to cool off from the heat >>>