Ready For Take-off

Funny how simple words can present a complicated, even scary, meaning when used as a combination. For example, ‘police’ makes me feel safe whereas “Secret police” gives me the creeps. “Homeland Security” is doing the same, because before this expression became a household word, I didn’t worry so much about “homeland” or “security”. Long gone are the days when my fear of flying was confined to take-off, landing, and all the turbulences in between. I’ll admit, those were indeed some of the most spiritual moments of my life and I have no doubt that each and every time, it was my heartfelt prayers -- sometimes amid tears while kneeling in the isle – that brought the plane to its safe landing>>>

What we want

The One Million Signatures Campaign seeks to bring Iranian law addressing women’s status in line with international human rights standards, these demands are in no way in contradiction to Islam. Iranian law is based on interpretations of Sharia law, but these interpretations have been up for debate by religious scholars for some time, not only in Iran but around the Islamic world. Shiite Islam, on which the interpretations of Sharia rely with respect to Iranian law, claims to be dynamic and responsive to the specific needs of people and time. Iranian society has changed much since 1400 years ago, but the interpretations of Sharia on which the Iranian law is based remain rather conservative>>>

Keeping it Caribbean

If I close my eyes, I could still be there… Lying on a sun-lounger at the shores of the Caribbean Sea, sipping on colourful juice cocktail cleverly poured into a shelled-out coconut. The scorching sun beating down on me as the waves gently lap the silvery-white sand. Could this be heaven? Well not exactly, but it could be the next best thing. It’s the colourfully exotic Caribbean… Puerto Rico, to be precise. Was it really 6 years ago, I ask myself? Sadly yes. 6 years since I saw such beauty and felt such unequivocal peace, where my every whim was catered to and I felt immersed in a strange and new experience, like never before>>>

1951

Masjid Soleiman’s summer heat
Highlights sweaty strands
scattered on the wet mud ground
Long red hair
braided
Softly on each shoulder
Home — >>>

Being Afraid of Death

The premature death of one of my former students, reminded me of my own eventual mortality. Death is the most mysterious, certain event (not counting taxes, of course) in everybody’s life, albeit the most undesirable. Just as we utilize every conceivable scheme, legal and sometimes not, to minimize the payment of taxes, we also resort to numerous means, including unconventional ones, to postpone our physical demise. We follow a strict diet programs, exercise on a regular basis, take our daily vitamins and food supplements, avoid risky activities, and try not to miss preventive medical check-ups. When we get older, we do foolish things to pretend that we are still young, easygoing, and energetic>>>

What should we talk about?

The human rights situation in Iran is getting drastically worse. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report that executions in Iran - including instances of stoning - have sharply increased under in the last few years. In addition, using the Bush administration's Iran Democracy Fund as a pretext, Iranian authorities have clamped down on Iran's civil society with thousands of arrests. As Washington’s foreign policy elite is concluding that negotiations with Tehran lie in America’s strategic interest, it is also important to recognize that it lies in the US’s long-term interest to make any improvements in relations with Iran contingent upon Tehran’s adherence to the UN human rights deceleration.>>>

Money beats history

This is an article I found on Boeing’s monthly employee newsletter in praise of their presence in Saudi Arabia. In of itself it is no more than a propaganda piece to appease their minuscule investment in the Arabian Peninsula. But what struck me odd was the fact that the author had mentioned “Arabian Gulf” in place of the “Persian Gulf”. This is a clear violation of the UN charter and I protested this act in a letter to the editor, author and a senior VP of the Boeing Company. Needless to say I have not heard back from any one>>>

ترس آفرينی

انتخابات دورهء نهم رياست جمهوری را می توان آغاز دورانی دانست که حکومت اسلامی مستقر در ايران به انتهای ديگر «مدرج حقانيت» می رسد و ديگر چيزی از حقانيت آن باقی نمی ماند و، بنا بر قوانين خلل ناپذير علم، از آن پس چاره ای ندارد تا، برای باقی ماندن بر سرير قدرت، راه سرکوب تمام عيار را در پيش گيرد. البته، از همان ابتدای تشکيل حکومت اسلامی، سرکوب جرء ذاتی سياست های اجتماعی اين حکومت بود، اما اگر در ابتدا می توانست اين سرکوب را متوجه آنها که «طاغوتی» و «استکباری» و «ضد انقلاب» خوانده می شدند نمايد، در طی زمان دامنهء اين سرکوب گسترده تر شد و، پس از پايان دورهء موسوم به «اصلاحات»، همهء جامعه را فرا گرفت. اکنون روزی نيست که خبری از اعدام و سنگسار و دست و پا بريدن و از کوه پائين انداختن نباشد.>>>

Gates are Falling

Early morning calls are bad news for most
I have been there too, I HAVE been most
But today, you see I receive a call
Frantic and hurried, deserving a big toast
How do I tell you of my fluttering chest?
To be composed through this, to be at my best?
How do I let the world know I’m soaring?
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Transsexuals in Iran

If you are a Jewish Iranian, living in the U.S. from the age of 6, it is very likely you don't like Ahmadinejad. So of course you would like to show how you hate him and how he is such a liar and how evil the entire government he represents is, in any way you can. So you decide to attack one of the only positive angles Iran has been reported: Sex-change. And why not connect it to Ahmadinejad's speech in your city's university, Columbia, where he said in Iran homosexuality doesn't exist the same way it does in the U.S. (We all know the united Republican>>>

راه نجات

راه نجات، هيچ به جز انقلاب نيست
جز اين، هر آنچه هست به غير از سراب نيست

گفتند انتخاب کن از بين شيخ و شاه
اين هردُوان يکند، نه! اين، انتخاب نيست

چون شد که رفت او و به جايش نشست اين؟
فرزند من مپرس! که ما را جواب نيست

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Bad news

The newest and much-anticipated International Atomic Energy Agency report on safeguards activities in Iran was sent to the IAEA Member States on February 22, 2008 and almost immediately leaked to the press. As usual, no one was completely satisfied by it but everyone could find in it something that upholds his or her particular point of view. And as usual, the most important part of the report – that dealing with Iran's ongoing uranium enrichment program, with the potential to provide the material for a nuclear explosive device -- was relegated to the end of the report>>>

Obama's life in danger?

In eloquent speeches presidential candidate Obama has made copious promises, understandably to attract voters. He talks about “change,” without really spelling out change from what to what. It just sounds good: “change.” A great sound bite, indeed. Change is exciting, while status quo is viewed as stagnant and boring. It is all part of the political game of telling people what they want to hear, getting elected, and worrying about delivering later. The electorates are both short on memory and long on forgiving. So, the farce of empty high-sounding promises fills the air at campaign times. But there are instances that a promise during vote-gathering can later haunt the person>>>