The warrior in us

When referendums are held, and elections are stolen, when promises are broken, and a nation sits at awe of what could have been, a fist is slowly but undeniably formed and risen. When Khatamis, Ahmadinejads and Ghalibafs have come and gone, when non-violent avenues of political dissent have been exhausted, when the calls for peaceful transition of power fall on deaf ears, when the cries of hunger are unanswered, the Iranian national psyche reverts back to its roots, to the children of the blacksmith who crafted his apron into a banner of defiance and the bloodbaths that have since followed. Such will be the future>>>

عیب می جمله بگفتی، هنرش نیز بگوی

خوب بیاد می آورم که یکی از عمده ترین شکایت های روشنفکران ایران پیش از انقلاب ، عدم استقلال سیاسی ایران و وابستگی شدید آن کشور به امریکا بود. اگر در حال حاضر به سیاست خارجی ایران نگاه کنید می بینید که در حقیقت ایران نوعی سیاست موازنۀ منفی که در زمان حکومت دکتر مصدّق برقرار بود اتّخاذ کرده است. هیچکس نمی تواند هیچ نوع وابستگی نه تنها به آمریکا بلکه به هیچ کشور دیگری در حکومت ایران بیابد. شاید امروزه بتوان ایران را در آن قسمت از دنیا از زمرۀ مستقل ّترین کشور ها بشمار آورد. حتیّ مخالفان سرسخت جمهوری اسلامی هم نمی توانند - مگر غرض مندانه - منکر خودگردانی و استقلال ایران باشند. به این زودی خواسته های خود را فراموش کردیم!>>>

Feb. 11, 1979 - Feb. 11, 2009

When narcissist idealist
Takes over the moment,
However imperfect the moment’s truth,
When dust in the wind
Becomes vanishing motto,
Blasting this house apart, >>>

خمینی و امت گریه

انقلاب که شد من 9 سالم بود و کلاس پنجم دبستان بودم. سه سال بعدش وقتی کلاس سوم راهنمایی بودم بخشنامه‌ای آموزشی آمد که دانش آموزان باید برای حرفه و فن یک حرفه را انتخاب کنند و چند ساعتی از هفته را در این حرفه کارآموزی کنند. از آنجا که من، نه در آشپزی خوب بودم و نه در خیاطی یا گلدوزی و چون به تدریس علاقه داشتم، حرفه معلمی را انتخاب کردم. هفته‌ای یک روز در یک مدرسه ابتدایی کمک آموزگار شدم. وظیفه‌ی اصلی من این بود تا دیکته‌ها را که شامل کلمه و ترکیب هم می‌شد تصحیح کنم. روزی جزو سوالات بچه‌ها بود که مترادفی برای کلمه‌ی "رهبر" پیدا کنند. هنگام تصحیح با تعجب دیدم که اکثریت دانش‌آموزان مترادف رهبر را "خمینی" یا "امام خمینی" نوشته بودند. دفعه‌ی دیگری هم که باید مترادفی برای کلمه‌ی "امام" می‌نوشتند، باز جواب داده بودند: "خمینی">>>

Time to choose

The son of the late Shah exposes his vision of a different Iran which is democratic, secular and integrated in the international community. This includes a project to accomplish a society capable of answering to the aspirations of the Iranian people, the foundation of a democratic parliamentary regime in which the constitution is founded on the universal principles of human rights, the establishment of a nation guaranteeing the liberty of all, a national reconciliation like the model of South Africa, and finally the separation of state and religion>>>

Post-Bush World Order

The U.S. at the head of the western powers tries as much as possible to hold onto some aspects of the unipolar status that it gained after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In a period less than a decade, American ideologues head-mastered by groups of cold warriors angrily rejected any idea of a multi-polar world, declaring that no other country except the U.S. is qualified to be at the head of the “new world order.” This claim went unchallenged until the U.S. occupation of Iraq exposed the vulnerabilities of the U.S. as a single superpower on the world stage>>>

From Zahak to plastic prostitutes of Tehran

Here is a quiz question: - If I were to ask you to identify one single style of narrative that has consistently existed in our Iranian Art and literature for several millennium what would you say it is? OK, I’ll give you a clue, what do writers and Artists do under repression and censorship? The answer is they use allegory. More consistently for the last 1400 years, these allegories are signs of how as a nation we have taken bends and twists to comply, shape or live with Islamic law or live under tyranny of kings, sheikhs, Sultans and Khans and say what we want to say>>>

Cold Rain

Didn’t I stroll under its refreshing mist a thousand times? Didn’t it make me wet on the way to school? Didn’t it ruin my homework times and again? Didn’t the young palms of my hands endure the sting of punishment every time? Didn’t it give me the cold, the congested nose and the cough and the horrible taste of cough syrup afterward? Didn’t I drop the vitamin C tablet in a glass of water, dazzled with the fizzle and down it with a frown? Wasn’t it all because of rain?>>>

Him again?

With Khatami officially in the race, the Iranian presidential campaigns will begin in earnest. Never before has an incumbent Iranian president faced such a serious challenge. But in spite of Ahmadinejad's abysmal handling of the economy, he is far from defeated. The Iranian presidential elections will not be democratic by Western standards, but they won't lack excitement or fierce competitiveness. Khatami had earlier declared that he would only run if he was given guarantees by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, that his candidacy wouldn't be rejected by the Guardian Council, the body that vets candidates, and that he would be able to govern if elected>>>

No Holds Barred

It was decided. She felt no need to consult or ask permission from any other but her own conscience. Come to think of it she was not even nervous about making such a bold gesture to someone she barely knew yet felt she’d known all her life. What could be kinder than to invite him over to her home? Totally oblivious at the time to the connotations of that offer, she set out to make a romantic meal. She laid the table with great care, the first for two she had set in a decade. She concocted some sumptuous recipe from her old files; cooking lovingly and with abandon>>>

The House of Wisdom

ABU JAFAR AL-MANSUR was taking no chances with his new imperial capital, for this was to be a city like no other. The second Abbasid caliph of the Muslims turned for guidance to his trusted royal astrologers, the former Zoroastrian Nawbakht and Mashallah, a Jew turned Muslim from Basra and now ``the leading person for the science of judgments of the stars.'' The pair consulted the heavens and declared that July 30, 762, would certainly be the most auspicious day for work to begin. Still, al-Mansur hesitated. He ordered his architects to mark the layout of the walls of his proposed city – a perfect circle, in keeping with the geometric teachings of the caliph's beloved Euclid – on the ground, first in ashes and then again with cotton seeds soaked in naphtha>>>

He was Iran

It is dark and quiet in the plane. We are descending towards Philadelphia. Our sad journey began at nine this morning and probably will not end until eleven tonight. But, that is the easy part. The hard part is to enter the house on Rexford Rd. How can we step into your house Ezat Jon knowing that you will not be there to greet us with your cheerful, kind, and lively face, and your traditional three kisses on the cheek? How can we enter the house without your friendly smile and big welcome? My heart is aching for the good old days when the house was filled with life, warmth, laughter, and love>>>

ملانصرالدین و خبر رسانی!

می گویند روزی ملانصرالدین سوار بر الاغ از دهی عبور می کرد، مردم ساده ده که ناگهان ملایی دیدند بر وی آویختند که باید بالای منبر بروی و وعظ و خطابه بفرمایی. ملا که لابد شوخ طبعی ش گل کرده و از پذیرایی روستایان نیز بدش نمی آمد، سه روزی آنها را سر کار گذاشت؛ روز اول بر بالای منبر نزول اجلال فرمود و پرسید ای خلایق می دانید من می خواهم چه پند و اندرز و خطابه ای بکنم و شما را از عذاب الیم نجات دهم؟ مردم با تعجب و لابد کمی نگرانی یک صدا جواب دادند خیر ملا بفرما تا آگاه شویم، ملا گره در اخمهایش انداخت، از منبر پایین جست و گفت حال که نمی دانید و تا این حد جاهلید پس چه فایده که شما را اندرز دهم؟!>>>

ما و رسانه هایمان

شمار بالای رسانه های ایرانی قابل توجه است و گاه این تصور را ایجاد میكند كه در این فراوانی همه چیز میتوان یافت. این احساس نادرست نیست ولی چشم باختن به وسعت این مجموعه گاه باعث میشود تا تركیب اجزای آن از نظر ما پنهان بماند و سهم نسبی خانواده های مختلف سیاسی در آن به چشممان نخورد. آنچه در این میان جداً مایهٌ نگرانی است ضعف رسانه ای لیبرال هاست. چون این ضعف فقط در حكم بی بنیگی یك گروه معین سیاسی نیست بلكه بیانگر خطری است كه برقراری دمكراسی را در ایران آینده تهدید مینماید. هر بار روی سایتی میروید یا نشریه ای را ورق میزنید یا به رادیویی گوش میدهید یا به یكی از این تلویزیون های جدی و غیرجدی نگاه میكنید به همه جور گفتاری برمیخورید به غیر از گفتار لیبرال>>>