Life

در انتظار ِظهور

ملاک کامیابی و موفقیت یک قوم کوچ یافته را نباید بر تعداد پزشکانش یا توانایی مالی اش بنا نهاد، کامیابی قومی کوچ یافته را باید از رشد و استقلال ذهنیش دانست. رشد ذهنی همان میانه روی است در زیستن و اندیشیدن میان دو فرهنگ، دو طرز فکر. رشد فکری زاده هوش است و هوش قدرت همگونی است با محیط، یعنی ایجاد توازن. امرسون نیز می آورد: "هوش یعنی باور داشتن در خود، باور داشتن در حقیقت خود، باور داشتن در درست بودن هر آنچه در ژرفای قلبمان شایسته خود می دانیم." >>>

شیرین عبادی در سرزمین عجایب

حالا به نظر من آدم باید خیلی ساده باشد که فکر کند جایزه‌ای که در میلان به شیرین عبادی داده‌اند هیچ ربطی به جایزه‌‌های قبلی این موسسه ندارد و شیرین خانم عبادی اصولا تافته‌ی جدابافته‌ای است. از این تیپ حمایت‌ها خیلی در این یکی دو سال از ابلهانی مانند گنجی و عبادی شده است که یا واقعا خودشان نمی‌دانند ماجرا چیست و معادلات قدرت پشت این حمایت‌ها را نمی‌بینند، یا اینکه من و شما را خر فرض کرده‌اند و نمی‌دانند که آدم به شک می‌افتد وقتی می‌بیند از یک طرف مرتب ضد بوش و جنگ روضه می‌خوانند، و از طرف دیگر مدام توسط کثیف‌ترین شبکه‌های قدرت دست راستی در آمریکا و اروپا حلوا حلوا می‌شوند. >>>

Slimming with Siamack

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The comfortable generation

My generation doesn’t understand social justice. Not in the same unified or practical way your generation did. We are scattered around the world and our daily acts of organized or individual charity doesn’t go any where. And for the most part, we don’t care, I’m being honest. It doesn’t bother us that giving some old clothes to Salvation Army doesn’t do much for anyone. We don’t mind what is going on in Iran (talk in mehmoonis, or blogs on Iranian.com don’t count). We do nothing practical. We don’t organize. We’re too busy with ourselves>>>

Model women

The Islamic Republic's first directive was to order women to wear the veil. It happened on 8 March 1979, one month after it came to power. This started a whole new women's movement, a movement that has increasingly become more vibrant, dynamic, expressive and resilient. The women's rights movement in Iran is very large and widespread. I believe it is at the moment the most active and strongest women's movement in the world. It has deep roots in the society and not only among women but men as well. I am certain that this movement will have a great impact on the situation of women in the Middle East. Its fight against political Islam will cross the borders and influence women's struggle in countries under the rule of Islam>>>

Modern maturity

We should be grateful to the publishers of this journal for providing this public forum so that fellow Iranians and others can express their opinions and post their comments. We should certainly be able to do that with outmost respect for each other and no verbal harassment. Those who responded to my article with their thoughtfully crafted comments, I appreciate your sincerity. Those who were agitated by my arguments and made hostile remarks merely revealed a lack of analytical capacity to engage the topic. I intentionally didn’t respond to individuals because I didn’t want to legitimize their ad hominem attacks>>>

Freedom to explore

"I ended up discovering how many things we all share - especially in music. I first thought about doing these beautiful songs in their original languages but I soon realized that I can express myself more openly and effectively in my native language, Farsi. So I married the work of some Persian master poets such as Rumi and Shamloo to the melodies. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use musicians from Iran as well as non-Iranian musicians and I am so thrilled with the combination of players on this album from folk traditions, contemporary world music and from the jazz scene">>>

یک اسرائیلی ویک ایرانی

در نوشته (من دلم فرار میخواهد)، درد دلهای مشکلات و مسائل خاورمیانه را با یاد راشل زرگریان، دوست یهودی دوران کودکی ام در میان گذاشتم. 35 سال پیش قبل از اینکه دست سرنوشت مارا ازهم جدا کند، ما یار ودوست و همکلاسی دوران کودکی هم بودیم. من فقط این را میدانستم که اواز ایران رفته واحتمالا در اسرائیل زندگی میکند. اما او بطور اتفاقی نوشته مرا در سایتی اینترنتی میخواند و بلافاصله در جستجوی من از اسرائیل با من تماس میگیرد و باهیجان و اشتیاق غیر قابل وصفی برای دیداری با من درلندن، بار سفر میبندد.>>>

Are we ready for democracy?

If we want to change policy, we have to change the present circumstances, the clichee iranian type. We can change that, by changing the medias attitude. It is us in the west, who have to draw the media´s attention to the, let us call it a fact, that Iranians are Democrats and deserve to be supported. But a fact is something, which needs evidence. Every Iranian can proove and contribute by taking time (5 minutes), just clicking in the survey... I will pass on the results to the media in Germany. Despite the survey naturally may not be representative, it could be seen as a very small step>>>

Back to the future?

Kianoosh Sanjari, a human rights activist and an ex-political prisoner himself, demonstrated against the human rights atrocities in Iran by showing his protest in a gathering together with Amnesty International in front of the Norwegian parliament in Oslo on January 12th. It is an alarming fact that the number of death sentences in Iran are on the rise, comparing 177 death sentences by hanging in 2006 to 298 in 2007. Not only is there a rise in the number of death penalties, there also seems to be more cases of “alternative penalties” like amputating limbs or pushing people off cliffs>>>

For your next president

As the California primary comes closer, it is incumbent that our Iranian-American community come show up at the election polls and vote for a candidate which takes a stance against military confrontation with Iran. Unfortunately, many of the Republican and some Democratic candidates have not taken this position and continue to leave the military option on the table. It is important for us as Iranian-Americans to vote in the California Primary, given that it is the state with the largest number of delegates and the state most likely to determine the next US President>>>

هشت قدم

همان گونه که داشتن معیارهای معتبرمی تواند موجب برگزیدن همسری دلخواه و برخورداری از یک زندگی آرامش بخش بشود، نداشتن معیار گزینش می تواند در مورد انتخاب همسر به حسرت و پشیمانی بیانجامد ، می دانیم که اگربرای بدست آوردن چیزی هزاران تلاش کنیم ولی ندانیم آن چیز چیست و چه مشخصاتی دارد، هرگز بدان دست نمی یابیم. حتی اگرهم بفرض محال پیدایش کنیم آن را نخواهیم شناخت. بنابراین باید دقیقا بدانیم چه می خواهیم تا دچار سرگردانی و اشتباه نشویم.>>>

Defying conventional wisdom

I just returned to the United Stats from an exciting short trip to Iran. One thing that grabs your attention more than anything else when you travel to the major cities in Iran is overcrowding, best displayed by chaotic traffic and the proliferation of residential high-rises. Almost everyone complains about this social evil and how the presence of others in big cities like Tehran has made his or her life miserable and how other people do not deserve to live in Tehran>>>

Offering for a cause

The reality is that the suicide bomber is taking part in an act of self-sacrifice. He is killing himself (and the mostly innocent around him) as an offering to the gods. The gods in this case are nothing but his cause or the cause of his people. He and his people live in a time of unprecedented calamity. Unlike the subjugated peoples of the past, the suicide bomber is aware of his predicament and also knows the perpetrators. Thanks to the Information Revolution, the oppressed are no longer blessed by ignorance. They are world-savvy and often educated. By offering himself the suicide bomber is attempting to convince the gods to change for the better the circumstances under which he lives>>>