POETRY
From not remembering when
To not noticing how
My brain is being infected
With viruses just like a computer.
But a computer has no soul
Suffer no scars
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YAZD
Photo essay: Hotel in traditional design
by Two Sisters
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TRAVELER
Photo essay: An Iranian's first U.S. trip
by
AR Bakhtiar >>>
REMINDER
ReOrient festival provides a much more nuanced image of the “Middle East”
It is not just the US politicians who are complicit with the State of Israel’s violence against the Palestinians. Sadly, those of us who read and contribute to Iranian.com and are often so opinionated on every matter and feel so compelled to write about everything that happens in the world, have been complicit with this violence by being silent about the recent Palestinian situation. Unfortunately, I think many of us have tuned Palestine out and frankly the Arab-hating sentiments that have filled our national imaginations do not let us see the pain and hear the voices of Palestinians who are being killed violently by the Israeli tanks or die softly behind the Israeli walls. We refuse to notice as we go on with our comfortable lives, pretending that Palestine does not exist.
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IRAN
Iranian economy suffers from serious systemic problems
U.S. economic pressure on Iran has been increasing steadily. The U.S. to a large degree has been successful in cutting Iran from normal international financial institutions. Many European and Asian banks have been forced to reduce or cut their financial ties to Iran. Even some Chinese banks have come under pressure to restrict their dealings with Iran, not to mention UAE and Bahraini banks. This coupled with two successive UN sanctions have been hurting the Iranian economy much more than the government has been willing to admit
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POLYGAMY
Freedom in love is one-sided
by Nafiseh Azad
"You mean you would be willing to allow your husband to take on a second or even a third wife while married to you, with the law supporting him in doing so?" I ask. "What’s the problem with that?" She responds abruptly and forcefully. "I am the second wife to my husband." All the women surrounding us on the Tehran metro car are now staring at me. There is something in their gaze, waiting for me to put this woman in her place with a strong and reproachful response. But the woman does not allow me to respond, she continues: "I fell in love with my husband. I am still in love with him. If it weren’t for the law, I would not be allowed to be with him. Even if it is for one day a week, it is legal. This law gives us greater freedom of choice, why should I oppose it?"
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POETRY
اولین مجموعه شعر شیدا محمدی منتشر شد
همه چیز از باسن بزرگ من شروع شد!
و طعنه باد به در
و عکس سینه بند صورتی
که افتاده بود در آبگون نگاه تو.
تختِ آشفته
ملافه واژگون
و عشقبازی نا تمام باران و برگ.
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POETRY
I heard the rumours, they were arresting colours
The red was accused of passion
The pink was told it lacked any sense of ration
The yellow had no self-respect and was cautioned
The purple, the poor, shameless purple was condemned to lashes
The colours screamed, pondered their claims
Asked for mercy, and bargained for a plea
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ETHNIC
Maybe some of the readers can bring more information about this issue, but I think (I don't remember it very well any more) we had a theory in our Iranian school textbooks during the Pahlavi regime saying that the inhabitants of Azerbaijan (the Iranian side) are Aryans (the racial word for describing Iranians, or that was the intended, or perceived, purpose of the usage) who have been "linguistically" Turkified, to use the exact term. I doubt they still have this in today's IRI textbooks (maybe they do), but I have been quite amazed to find it in many places on the Internet, also on Wikipedia, about issues relating to Iranians, where Iranian editors have been very actively pursuing, and trying to prove, this theory
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BEHAVE
Ethics and etiquettes on Internet
Despite being so useful, internet has created a breed of beasts who can hide behind the wall of anonymity and do whatever they want. Look at those people who bombard you with embarrassing emails trying to sell you something that supposedly help to enlarge certain part of your body! Look at some of these shrewd salesmen who try to spread the fear of unknown in an attempt to rip you off, or those who try to steal your vital financial information to commit financial crimes under your name. Don’t you wish there was an effective way to get rid of these people?
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TRAVELER
Photo essay: An Iranian's first U.S. trip
by
AR Bakhtiar >>>
RUMOR
دیکتاتورها , شایعه و "خودکشی قهرمان"
چهل سال از فاجعه ای که " خودکشی قهرمان" خوانده شد گذشت, هنوز اما " قهرمان" زنده است و پیرامون زندگی و مرگ اش سخن گفته می شود. بسیارند آنان که " خود کشی قهرمان " را باور ندارند و قهرمان را قربانی ستمگری ی استبداد می دانند , و انگشت اتهام شان همچنان به سوی دیکتاتور نشانه رفته است. برخی اما اختلاف های خانوادگی و طبقاتی , و بحران های عصبی و روانی ناشی از آن ها را علت خودکشی " جهان پهلوان "می پندارند. هر دو سو چهل سال است برای اثبات ادعای خود , بر انبوه شواهد و دلایل خود اضافه می کنند.
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IDEAS
تحول دو مرحله ای ايدئولوژی ها
تنها وسائل گرفتار نشدن در نکبت حکومت های ايدئولوژيک تبعيض گزار ـ و، به ناچار، سرکوبگر ـ، از يکسو جستن «راه حل هائی غير ايدئولوژيک» برای بحران های اجتماعی است و، از سوی ديگر، کوشيدن برای اينکه در مسير اجرائی کردن اينگونه «راه حل های غير ايدئولوژيک» ـ ايدئولوژی های موجود (هر چقدر هم عدالتخواه و انسانی) به حاکميت راه پيدا نکرده و به مرحلهء دوم تحقق خود نرسند. اين دو راه موازی، درواقع، دو روی يک سکه اند که «سعادت اجتماعی» نام دارد.
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HI-TECH
Photo essay: MacWorld expo
by
Omid Memarian >>>