Life

ايرانيان در شوک

اين روزها، به نظر می آيد که سايه ی سرد و تلخی بر سر سرزمين مان، ايران، افتاده است؛ مثل سکوت وهم انگيزی که طبیعت پس از زلزله پيش می گيرد؛ سکوتی که در آن هم ترس هست و هم بی حالی. ديگر فرياد دلداری دهنده و شوق انگيز «نترسید! نترسيد ما همه با هم هستيم» شنيده نمی شود، ديگر از «با هم بودن» ها خبری نيست؛ ايميل ها ديگر رنگی از هيجان ندارد و تلفن ها زنگ اميدشان را گم کرده اند>>>

Killer candidate

The Islamic Republic of Iran, in a provocative act, has announced its candidacy for the United Nation Human Rights Council, a UN organization based in Geneva. The candidacy of Iran comes at a time that during the last 10 months, Iranians are experiencing one of the darkest periods of human rights violations since 1979 revolution. The candidacy of Iran for the UN Human Rights Council is comparable to electing apartheid South Africa to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination>>>

A trip to Italy

I woke up in the middle of the night by the slow sound of his purring. He was in my bed and I hardly knew him. Only for a few days. His chestnut hair and blonde beard were highlighted in the semi-dark room and the light hair on his massive chest was a little shiny, reflecting the light coming from the lampposts in the street. We were in a hotel in Venice and he was actually a total stranger. He introduced himself as Steve and he was American. That was all I knew about him>>>

Complete without men

Women, given enough time, get to a point where they realize they are complete even without men. On Friday night I went to see the LA premier of Women without Men by Shireen Neshat. The treat was that she was there with us, and at the end of the film took some questions from the audience. A diminutive and soft spoken woman, Shireen Neshat is incredibly articulate and unmistakably passionate about her beliefs, her art and her cause. Her art resonates as globally well as it does because it is a representation of what she firmly believes and has a burning desire to share with the world>>>

Moved by Malays

Upon entering Malaysia one would realize that the country is on the move. The infrastructure is first class and new developments are seen in all corners of the cities. The people are friendly and can communicate well in English. The ethnic mix in the country consist of 63% Malay, 24% Chinese, and 7% Indian. They all seem to get a long and be in line with the government policies to grow businesses and bring in more capital. The population appears to follow the “Separate but equal” concept, as one would notice the ethnic division in the country. It appears that the Chinese population runs most businesses and Indians are also taking parts in some areas such as finance and engineering>>>

Census Wrap Up

See you in 10 years! This census is done! All but a gleam in the eye of the 30+ community groups (see list below) that were involved in promoting it. Once the tallies have been made and the final numbers are out, the biggest surprise won't be that for once a decent total number of Iranians living in the US will have been counted, but that the community groups managed to put aside their own endeavors and pull together to push through the biggest coordinated community mobilization effort in the short history of Iranian-American community groups in the US>>>

Struggle fought in hearts

Whatever happens in the show-trial of seven Bahai leaders in Iran, the larger issue is the fate of the Iranian people. The question is: What kind of nation does Iran aspire to become? Will it remain a repressive society unable to overcome the effects of religious bigotry? Or will it live up to the ideals not only of international human rights but also Islamic standards of justice? Bahais have the greatest respect for all religions>>>

به حجاب اجباری نه می گویم

از حرف زدن در مورد حجاب خسته نمی شوم. در تمام سالهای کودکی و جوانی ام، «حجاب» بخشی از زندگی من بوده و سرنوشت مرا تعیین کرده است. با آن بزرگ شده ام. دو رو برم در خانواده تقریباً همه محجبه اند و مادرم هنوزهم مرا به خاطر، به قول خودش «اهمال و کوتاهی در حجاب» نبخشیده است. حجاب بزرگترین چالش فردی و سیاسی زندگی من بوده است. بعدها وقتی از کودکی درآمدم، به دانشگاه رفتم و خواندم و دیدم که بزرگترین چالش زندگی زنانی بوده است که من حتی با آنها در بسیاری جهات دیگر متفاوتم>>>

Why Do Some Iranians Hate “Soraya”?

When a Middle Eastern cultural center announced a special cast-and-crew screening of a film about stoning in Iran, coming up on April 15, 2010, local members in Los Angeles began a Facebook firestorm. “Crap propaganda!” screamed one irate Iranian FBer. “The film has zero artistic value!” wrote another. Some Iranians love to hate anything that can be reasonably criticized, and “The Stoning of Soraya M.” has plenty to hate. It’s anti-Iran propaganda, some say; others insist the stoning never happened—journalist Freidoune Sahehjam made it up, which is why he wouldn’t name names in his book of the same title>>>

Disney's Shahnameh

Persia is one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known, so it give me a sense of its vast history, the magnificence of its architecture and design, literary heritage and imagination... "Prince of Persia" is a fantasy based upon history, so we hired an amazing team of designers who did an enormous amount of cultural research into Persia and its vast empire at that time. But at the same time, we gave them the freedom to invent a world especially designed for the film>>>

زندان بدون اتهام

وضعیت جسمانی عیسی سحرخیز، از روزنامه نگار در پی اعتصاب غذا در روزهای آغاز سال نو رو به وخامت گذاشته است. مهدی سحرخیز فرزندوی درگفت وگو با کمپین بین المللی حقوق بشر در ایران گفت که او طی ماه های گذشته ۲۰ کیلوگرم وزن کم کرده است و زندان انفرادی و شرایط زندان سلامت وی را به صورت جدی تهدید می کند. این درحالی است که پس از هشت ماه بازداشت وی وضعیت حقوقی پرونده ی این روزنامه نگار همچنان بلاتکلیف باقی مانده است پیگیری های وکیل مدافع و نیزخانواده وی نیز در این زمینه بی نتیجه باقی مانده است>>>