Salve Barack Caesar!

Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on August 28 as presidential candidate of his party has been described from inspirational to transformational plus in several other laudatory terms; certainly by those in his party and so-called independents as well. The speech had carefully crafted content, almost as comprehensive as that which Christ delivered at the Mount, and one would be on the mark saying the speech was eloquently delivered, with as much or more finesse than that usually exhibited by televangelist preachers throughout this God-blessed America, and probably with far more believable zeal. This speech, timely delivered on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s memorable “I have a dream” speech of 45 years ago, capped perfectly a four-day convention in which unity and change were the two themes>>>

In black and white

The two major American political forces, the Democratic and the Republican parties, have two types of images, a subconscious (or maybe unconscious) one, and another, an attempted one! The subconscious one for the Democratic Party is the party of Socialists and Liberals, who can rarely ally, unless (as usually is the case) in the face of a serious political or other 'calamity'. And the subconscious image of the Republican Party is the party of white Christians! White Christians, whether die-heart ones or moderate ones, can usually get along much better, though their absolute numbers are usually smaller than Socialists and Liberals put together. >>>

مشت نمونه خروار

در طول سالهای گذشته یکی از مشکلاتی که اپوزیسیون جمهوری اسلامی در ثبت و مستند کردن جنایات انجام گرفته از سوی مقامات رژیم با آن روبرو بوده، همنامی جنایتکاران است. تعدادی از این جنایتکاران دارای نام خانوادگی یکسان هستند و گاه افراد زندانی و یا کسانی که در مورد زندان‌ها می‌نویسند به علت مشابهت نام خانوادگی جنایتکاران، اشتباهاتی را مرتکب می‌شوند. از آن‌جایی که به دلایل گوناگون در فرهنگ غالب ما ایرانیان پذیرش مسئولیت اشتباه جایی ندارد، بسیاری از افراد و گروه‌ها پس از پی بردن به اشتباهشان نیز همچنان روی صحت آن پافشاری کرده و کوششی برای تصحیح آن به کار نمی‌برند. بسیاری از گروه‌ها و کوشندگان سیاسی با علم و آگاهی نسبت به اشتباهاتی که از سوی همراهان و یا هم‌خطان سیاسی‌شان انجام گرفته همچنان به اطلاعات غلط آن‌ها اشاره کرده و زمینه‌ی رشد و تکثیر این اشتباهات را فراهم می‌کنند. >>>

در ستايش بتکده ها!

«قائل شدن بوجود خدايان» نوعی روش ابتدائی علمی انسان اوليه برای تبيين جهان و تغييرات آن بوده است و او، با نسبت دادن خصوصيات خويش به عناصر طبيعت، به آنها جان و هويت می بخشيده تا حرکاتشان را درک و هضم کرده آنها را بصورتی معنی دار ببيند. آنگاه، وقتی عناصر طبيعت بصورت خدايان قاهر اما واجد صفاتی انسانی در آمدند آنگاه می توان با آنها به گفتگو، مذاکره و معامله نشست. با قربانی کردن آنچه برای ما عزيز است ـ حتی فرزند و همسر ـ آنها را خشنود ساخت، در نذر و نياز را گشود، دعاهای مختلفی را که دل اين قدرتمندان را نرم کنند آفريد و مشاغلی را بوجود آورد که برای آن تحصيل و تخصص ضرورت می يابد و متخصصان فن دلبری از خدايان در شولای جادوگران قبايل و رمال ها و دعانويسان بکار رفع مشکلات مردم بپردازند. اما چگونه شد که در ميان آن همه خدائی که هر جمعيتی برای خود تصور کرده بود يک باره يک خدا گردنکشی کرده و بقيه را از ميان برداشته و خود بجای همهء آنها نشسته است؟>>>

The Ambush of Mehrnoush

On the anniversary of your death
what should I call you, a gone guerrilla? The first female
Fedayee gun-downed to death in an ambush? A girl
in strife who left life for something better?
I simply remember you as mild-mannered Mehroush
my friend and classmate at Tehran U's Medical school
where we shared a corpse to dissect in the third year
and laughed our hearts out calling it Akbar Agha! >>>

Freedom for all

From the first hours of 27 July 2008, the results of the nationwide university entrance examination were available on the official website of the National Organization for Educational Assessment. However, after entering their personal data on the registration website, most of the Bahai applicants were confronted with the strange system response, “incomplete file”. At present there are no exact statistics on how many Bahai applicants have been rejected on the base of “incomplete file”; in light of the imprisonment of the leaders of the Bahai community in Iran, perhaps such statistics will never become available through official means>>>

Broken camera

Spring of 79. I hadn’t yet turned twenty. It was the day of the demonstration against the banning of the last liberal newspaper, Ayandegan, only a few months after the revolution. Before we left home, Arash - my cousin and Kian’s brother - promised my parents he would protect me by swearing on the Koran to impress them, even though my parents never cared about religion, even though they knew Arash was a converted Communist. It was a warm day. “Wear comfortable shoes and don’t carry anything heavy,” Arash said. Once we joined the line of protesters, Arash grabbed my hand and didn’t let it go>>>

The Iceman Cometh

For the past 6 months the improbable rumor that we might be able to see the infamous Mohsen Namjoo perform here in the US, (See Concert Tour Schedule) had me all but shuddering with delight. Little does anyone know how excited I became when rumor became fact, as it was finally announced and his Namjoo-ness appeared from the door of the airplane, fresh from Austria, at SFO a few weeks ago. He is here! Not many know Namjoo, and the impact he is sure to have on those souls lucky enough to be baptized and forgiven by his lyrics, while simultaneously being gloriously whipped into sublime ecstasy by his biting sound. Or vice versa depending on how your particular wind blows.>>>

حزب فراگیر!

میخوام یه حزب سیاسی درست کنم، قاسم!
چی میگی؟ برای کی؟
برای کی؟ برای همه!
خب این همه حزب و دسته هست، چرا دکون تازه باز می کنی؟
اینا به درد نمیخورن! هر کی سرش تو یه آخوری بنده. باید یک حزب فراگیر باشه ..
اوهوم، فراگیر! یعنی ...
آره دیگه، کاملن دموکراتیک و مردمی که همه توش جا بگیرن ..
یعنی مثلن سعید مرتضوی هم میتونه عضو بشه! >>>

فارسینامه

ایران هزار سال تمدن و تاریخ پارسی قبل از اسلام را نیز در خاطره اجتماعی خود محفوظ دارد، که حتی به موجودیت کشور بعد از سلطه اعراب هم رنگی جدا و طرحی سوا می بخشد. این گذشته باستانی با حفظ زبان فارسی در برابر عربی و با تثبیت مذهب تشیع در مقابل اسلام سُنی، ایران را پیوسته از جریانات غالب اسلامی و عربی جدا ساخته و حتی به رقابت و دشمنی کشانده است. در ارتباط با تمدن غرب نیز با وجود قرنها سلطه و تأثیر یونانی، نفوذ استعماری روس و انگلیس در قرن نوزدهم و روند غرب گرایی و اصلاح طلبی قرن بیستم، ایران تأثیر بسیار پذیرفته اما هویت رفتاری و فرهنگی خود را حفظ نموده است. سومین عامل تعیین کننده در حیات هزار ساله اخیر ایران، نقش اجتماعی و نظامی اقوام سلحشور و مهاجر ترک تبار است که با وجود تشکیل تنها یک چهارم جمعیت، اکثریت قریب به اتفاق حکومتهای ایرانی تا قرن بیستم را رهبری نموده اند. >>>

Diaries & Jallad

A big thank you to aunt Maryam for sending me this precious journal as a new year gift, eidee. She wants me to make a daily entry, long or short, even if it means only a sentence. She is confident I am going to thank her one day for encouraging me to do this. I should have begun with a self-introduction. My name is Zohreh. no Zahra. Actually it is both, not at the same time of course. I guess it depends on which school I happen to be going to. As long as I was at Mehrain, where religion is taken very seriously, I was Zahra my birth certificate name>>>

Bedroom Do’s and Don’ts

Male superiority was a sine qua non, also in sexual matters. Women were on the receiving end; they were dominated by their underlying position by the man, and this showed who was in charge. Because marriage gives the man the right to have sex with his wife, a woman can neither leave her husband’s bed when she has been invited nor refuse to come; she even has to cut her prayers short when he wants to sleep with her. Furthermore, because a man has paid for his wife, (although payment of the mahr usually takes place on divorce), only he has the right to decide when and how he wants to have sex, which he also might want for medical reasons. For only men are allowed to show sexual desire, also towards women with whom they are not married>>>