Life

Sacrificing the innocent

After the coming to power Mohammad Reza Shah, intense criticism of his father's rule began. The clerical establishment, like ants, began to wreck the nation’s democratic foundation and every aspect of modern life, enlightened thought, progress and liberty, became a toy in the hand of repressive powers in Iran... After the 28 Mordad coup d'état in 1953, the mullas insisted on their significant share in the revolt, and this was only possible by suppression of the Tudeh Party and Baha’is. The furtive and renowned preacher, Hujjatu’l-Islam Muhammad-Taqi Falsafi, has stated in his memoirs that his sermons against the Baha’is took place with the prior consent of Ayatollah Borujerdi and Muhammad-Reza Shah>>>

Hollywood’s war on terror

Wouldn’t it be funny if one day, when all our current political concerns have vanished into the mist of time, we are brought back to life and judged by disheveled archaeologists whose faces are layered with dust? How would we fare if they used our filmography to divine our collective mind the way we use cuneiform tablets to guess at the zeitgeist of the ancient Sumerians? The answer to that question would depend on which shelf of footage is exposed in the dig. We would do quite well if our judges relied on Hollywood’s critique of the American posture at the outset of the 21st century >>>

Death & Revolution

A death-worshiper sees death as the only solution to all problems of life, and his permanent war cry is, "Kill or be killed." We find death worship not only in the desire of the people for martyrdom but also in the methods and slogans of their struggle and sources of their inspiration during the 1978-79 Revolution in Iran. Especially, when the clergy who officiate the ceremony of death become politically active and after the "outside the zone" movement in Summer 1978 and "the nights of poetry" in Fall of the same year, gradually take the leadership of the revolution>>>

In our face

Human mind, that wondrous grey matter housed perspicacity, given time, has the uncanny flexibility to acclimate to almost any horror it encounters. It is a defense mechanism that the mind through rationalization, beguiling trivialization, begrudging justification or an outright denial preserves some semblance of sanity and avoids what is loosely termed ”loosing it”. The operating factor for this innate mechanism is time. Ingrained value system need time to adjust and go though a series of steps. The fuse box of mind trips and reboots with a higher threshold for yet more horrendous events to be pacified- all along tweaking that which is the essence of what is generally labeled human values>>>

Mind it!

Although there are many reasons we should believe that Iranians are very bright, intelligent, and ambitious people as individuals, but based on my limited observation and in contrast to my usual way of thinking I respectfully have to admit that most of us are socially stupid. Forgive me! I try hard not to generalize since it is the generalization that is the root cause of our social stupidity. To know how I have reached to this conclusion I should go back and give you some background materials>>>

Leila and me

We talk about the Shah here all the time but we never talk about Leila. I wrote a poem about Leila once. It was exactly three years ago, at the time when I went under. I went under because of a Persian Male--one of those with eyes of Eternity and kohl, who oozed Hafez from every pore in veiled dank misty rivers. You know the type, but at the time I didn’t, and so I fell in love. And he fell out and I went under. Into a very dark place. And when I came back, I’d written this poem. Or this poem had written me>>>

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". >>>

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. >>>

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. >>>

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>>>

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. >>>

The enemy within

One would expect that if there is one country in the world in which women have become equal to men, that country is America. In fact, the number one question of twenty first century is, why does America remain the only industrial nation in which a woman has not been allowed to become president, or even vice president when even in many developing countries that has happened many times. Therefore, the anti-women factions mentioned above, with some of the big media at their service have managed to neutralize the women's struggle for more equality or place it on the back burner>>>

شبحی در خانه

کودک آزاری معقوله ای است که بحث در خصوص آن ، شنونده را منزجر می کند. کسانی که خود در طیف آزاردهندگان کودکان نیستند ، می اندیشند که چگونه ممکن است کسی بتواند نیاز جنسی خود را با کودک بر طرف سازد و از طرفی وحشت از همه گیر شدن و بر ملا شدن این موضوع باعث شده تا این مقوله در کشورهای نامترقی به تابو تبدیل شود. آنچه در این میان بسیار نفرت برانگیزتر است رشد و گسترش تجاوزهای خانگی است که بسیار کمتر از کمتر ، در مورد آن بحث و تحقیق می شود>>>

Love and the Revolution

Ezzat! January 7th is your anniversary. Fifteen years ago your heart stopped beating. I felt it in my heart and the earth stopped moving for me. It was late afternoon. Inside a booth I put some coins in the phone and heard your dad's voice, "She called us. First a man asked my name and then she talked." He did not remember what you had said. I took a deep breath full of trucks' exhaust in Darvazeh Qazvin Street and said, "I already know. She is gone forever. Her heart doesn't beat anymore." Where did I go? I don't know. 'Two days later, I met with your father in the park next to the railroad station. We walked together. The sidewalk was full of war refugees with their big bundles. He handed me your vasiet-nameh (will), and I cried. >>>