Excerpted from “Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America”
One key factor that has altered campaign coverage comes from the corporate right in the form of “conservative” media. If there has been a vacuum created by the downsizing of newsrooms, conservative media have filled it with an insistent partisanship uns ... Continue reading »
Recent days were marked by incessant discussion of coalitions and agreements, as well as elders of one camp or the other supporting (let’s be honest, forcing) one or more candidates from either school to respectfully back-out of the running for presidency. At face value, this shows a “party’s” strategy or concern for the favor the opposing school ... Continue reading »
This article was originally published on Ajam Media Collective, an online space devoted to documenting and analyzing cultural, social, and political trends in the diverse Iranian, Central Asian, and Diaspora communities. Recently, the Cyrus Cylinder, an imperial decree that dates from the sixth century B.C., left its home in the British Museum to ... Continue reading »
For all the authoritarianism that has creeped into Iran’s political system, particularly since the protests and crackdowns after the 2009 election, Tehran politics still have more dissent and fewer taboos than many Americans might expect. Friday’s presidential debate, the third and final before an election later this month, had the candidates openl ... Continue reading »
Poster for My Name is Negahdar Jamali and I Make Westerns As the camera opens to reveal a cowboy’s stubbled face and ink-well eyes, the audience at once recognizes a familiar figure. This recognition is troubled by the cowboy’s lilting Persian, but the appearance of an Iranian cowboy is rare enough to force you to suspend disbelief. There are m ... Continue reading »
The ethos of communism is built on the premise of redistributing the fair chances and outcomes in the society as egalitarian as possible. Universally, we witness its flaws and inadaptability to practice. Therefore, its ethos is today overshadowed by the practice under its red banner of dictatorial regimes. In Iran, communism has been mainly stained ... Continue reading »
A Persian carpet decorated with swirling vines and vibrant flowers that lay in storage for decades at the Corcoran Gallery of Art sold Wednesday for more than $30 million. That sum, fetched at a Sotheby’s sale, shattered the previous record for rugs sold at auction. But it won’t help the struggling Washington gallery overcome its financial woes bec ... Continue reading »
Peace, from the Bottom of My Art – on first impression, the somewhat saccharine title invokes a slight sense of uncertainty, alluding more to a 90s boy band ballad rather than an exhibition of contemporary Iranian art. Putting my reservations aside, though, I was intrigued to see what Iran’s art scene had to offer. The universal concept of peace ... Continue reading »
A view of Sheikh Zayed Road - a major highway in Dubai that has been the site of rapid urban development. (Image credit: Al Miller) Passing remarks, it turns out, can make a lasting impression. I had come to appreciate such remarks while conducting my dissertation fieldwork in Dubai during the course of 2010. That year saw me regularly engage ... Continue reading »
It is a generally assumed that the Shah’s downfall led to the severing of ties between Israel and Iran, which up until that point resembled a love story. However, both Iran’s intellectual elite and the rest of the nation drastically changed their views of the Jewish State after 1967. Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, and his wife, Queen Far ... Continue reading »
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