Anonymouse

Thank you!

Thank you for your interesting and thoughtful blog, Anonymouse.  Thank you for your participation in the series.

Yes Vozara is now Khaled Istanbuli = Saaddat's assassin!

Hamsade I used those street names for folks here because Cinema Shahre Ghesse/Farang rings a bell but Azadi doesn't.  It's actually a new Cinema like 2 or 3 years old.

Tehran's new street names are such a pain to pronounce.  One time at a bank this guy was giving me the address that you go to khaled istanbuli and then to shahid pishevari and then shahid gholam-hossein zarraghi and ...

There is actually a big picture billboard of Khaled Istanbuli behind jail bars with Koran in his hand in the old Vozara street, about 8 - 9 story high!

Everything is sacred.

park saei

i don't know when the last times you guys were on vozara.  but the place has changed.  big time.  it was really sad.  i didn't even make it to the park.  i wanted to remember the serene park just as it was in my memory. :(

Faramarz jaan yes Vozara & Abbas Abad, sorry

I always confuse Abbas Abad and Takht Tavoos because they're parallel to each other.  I also think they called Abbas Abad as Takht Jamshid, no?

Anyway, yes Park Saei and that area is really a patoogh!  I remember back in high school it suddenly became fashionable to study in Park Saei in the outdoors!  I was in 10th grade back then and went there few times to put to memory (tooti var ;-) some studying which I had to repeat few dozen times to tattoo them in my memory!

That area is sure a good area and by the way that area was also smack in the middle of the protests after the election day. In and around that area.

This new cineplex is good, I just wished they had kept the same shahre ghesse and share farang names.  

Everything is sacred.

پارك ساعى

Hamsade Khan

As you go north on Vozara Street Park e Saii was on your left

Here is Aref singing Booye Faryad, The Godfather

Cilck on the song on the player

از لبانم ميتراود بوى ِ فرياد

//www.backupflow.com/g.htm?id=9635

faramarz

you're right.  i was also thinking shahr farang was someplace else.  it was on the corner of vozara (park) street, just a few blocks south of my grandparents' house.  wasn't there a pizza place just a bit north of the cinema?  what was the name of the park on the street?  i used to walk there with my grandpa all the time.  it was a beautiful place.

Cinema Shahr e Farang

Anonymouse,

You are correct. The freedom of expression in Iran is a joke and it will not get any better until the education level and the standard of living are improved.

Also, Cinema Shahr e Farang/Gheseh were on the corner of Abbas Abad and Vozara Street. That was my hangout back in the mid 70's. I saw The Godfather there. What fun! Ladan pastry shop was just up the street.

.......

It will be great for people to be able to hold hands in public. I call it freedom to express affection!

//www.payvand.com/news/10/jan/1261.html

We have freedom of speech; we don't have "freedom" after speech!

Nazy jaan so true!  We have freedom for everything but jail awaits us after we exercise our god given freedoms!  Now some pay more than jail.

It is true that Iranian women are better off than other neighboring middle eastern countries but that isn't because Islamic Republic planned it.  Their slogan was roosary or toosary (hijab or be hit on the head). 

I also give a lot of credit to Khatami who started a movement among Iranian youth which culminated in today's green movement.  During his time cinema and other arts blossomed and censors were minimized.  Men and women saw new freedoms like sandal wearing women and holding hands in public.

I know many are still hot over Khatami that he is IRI and blah blah, but for me he accomplished something and just for that I give him credit.  There is a reason Ahmadi's dickhead supporters these days hate him so much and blast him to cheer Ahmadi's nukular rants. 

So whatever Iranian people have they owe it to themselves and kudos to them.  Islamic Republic has tried to stop them at every step of the way.  When green movement accomplishes more goals you can't credit Islamic Republic.  They tried to stop them at all costs.

Everything is sacred.

Dear Anonymouse:

Thank you for your thoughtful blog.

The prominent Iranian journalist, Mashallah Shams-ol-Vaezin, who has been in prison for the past several months, was once interviewed by a foreign reporter. The reporter asked him: "Do you have freedom of speech in Iran?" He replied: "In Iran we have freedom of speech; we don't have freedom after speech."

Yes, freedom of speech in Iran is a sad joke, increasingly proven so during the past eight months.  Only when there is free press in a society, that society can be hopeful for betterment in all aspects of life.  Iranians' search for freedom and a better life continues.

.....

Hi! XerXes.,

It seems to me you feel Iranian women have enough freedom....but I think they are oppressed, that is why they launched one million signature drive.....they don't even have the freedom to wear the clothes they like..... come on......they don't even have the freedom to take off the hijab!

Azad University is not free, you have to pay high tuition.

yolanda

it's actually daaneshgah azad eslami.  it's called azad for short.  therefore, it's sort of an oxymoron like democracy dini.  there was a variety show in the u.s. in 76 (also broadcasted in iran) called "love american style."  they should have a show in iran called "azadi iranian style."

btw, there's liberty university founded by jerry fallwell in lynchburg, va.

yolanda

Azad University means non government, you are free to attend. They are sets of universities that fall on that category. (Someone correct me if I am wrong).
After the revolution, it is common to have name change for things that people went under bullets for. Freedom is one thing. But we don't have too many freedom places, those two, Azadi square and tower are one and University means free not freedom.

About the women, I hate Islamic and religious teachings, all are anti women. But let's give credit where credit is due. The fact that most Iranian women were not able or willing to be educated during the Shah era (God bless his soul), was that population did not trust non religious institutions and forbid their daughters to attend. After the Islamic Revolution, the vast majority of religious people, who were the majority of Iran, allowed their daughters to attend schools and universities and higher education: Resulting in one of the most advance population in the region and beyond. Ahmadinejad brags about that.
See, he speaks for the population around the region, the Persian Gulf States, that many are still stuck in the past (Culturally and socially) and those religious people. He doesn't speak to you or German women. He knows that when he says women are free, for the traditional people who perceive higher education for women, allowing women to choose their own job, life and husband means freedom. Too narrow and backward? Welcome to ME.

Hope this helps.

....

We don't have Freedom University here....we have freedom fries (French fries)....I guess over there, they name everything after "Azadi".......they wanted to fool people to believe there is freedom....but talk is cheap......

Thank you for the Persian proverb! I wonder why it has to be 7 sets, not 8 sets...:O)

In Iran we have 7 sets of pots and pans but no lunch or dinner!

Yolanda there is a saying in Iran that says; 7 sets of pots and pans but no lunch or dinner! This is the case of places in Iran being named after freedom.  It is like buying a Mercedes but living in a one room basement with no furniture!

On a positive note this will keep the dream alive and make Iranians search and fight for this illusive basic right.  I remember in Roots when the adopted father of Kunta Kinte was talking to him about the cries of freedoms from white people.  He was eating an apple and saying jokingly that we now have this one more chore to worry about, white people's shortage of freedoms!

Everything is sacred.

........

 Thank you for your blog!

I noticed that there are a lot of "Azad" (freedom) related names in Iran: Azadi Tower, Azad universities, Azadi Street, Azadi Square. At the same time, there is very little real freedom! My calculus teacher told me that "Azad" in Iran means free to do anything (including executions) in the name of God!

AN said Iranian women enjoy the highest freedom in the world. What a compulsive liar!