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June 2004

June 27...............................To top

* Who cares anymore?

Heard from a relative who lives in the US and has just returned from Tehran. It was her first visit since she left Iran in 1978 -- a year or two before the hejab became mandatory under the Islamic Republic:

I was more strict about my hejab than ordinary Iranian women. I would hide my hair and face and body as much as I could. I wouldn't wear anything fancy in public. Nothing as loose as women who live there!

On more than one occasion I walked out of the house without covering my head. One time I walked to the corner grocer and I asked him the price for something. He was looking at me in a funny way... and I thought, what is his problem?

I went down the street and this couple walked by and gave me a strange look. Then I walked into a store and, again, got a strange look from the woman behind the counter. I was still in the dark until I bent over and my hair fell over my shoulder.

I cannot describe how frightened I was. This fear, I had not experienced anything like it before. I ran back to the house as fast as I could. I was so scared that I couldn't put the key into the lock.

I finally got inside and wondered... Why didn't anyone tell me I wasn't wearing a scarf? Jaakeshaa chizi behem nemeegoftan! (The bastards wouldn't tell me anything!)

So I wore my scarf and went to the grocery store. I asked the guy, "Why didn't you tell me I didn't have a scarf?" He said, "Beekheeyaal..." (Whatever...)

-- Jahanshah Javid

June 14...............................To top

* Distinguished -- and loved

Abadani’s all around the world lost one of their greatest fellows. Parviz Shahideh, the last general manager of Abadan oil refinery before the revolution passed away yesterday June 9th in London. Since shortly after the revolution the Iran-Iraq war halted the operation of the refinery, it is right to say that he was the real last manager of the largest refinery in the world. He was managing this huge operation until the revolution.

As one of the first AIT (Abadan Institute if Technology) graduates, he finished his engineering degree in UK. Since 1960s he was in different managerial position until he was promoted to the General Manager position. After the revolution he moved to England and started to work with leading oil companies. In his last position before retirement, he was VP of Bechtel operations in the Near East and one of the regional managers. He retired in 2000 but was active as always.

Whoever knew him was immediately impressed by his nice and kind character. I talked to lots of technicians, engineers and managers of Abadan refinery after the war, when most of them were working in other refineries. All of them were remembering him as a nice and kind, but at the same time a perfect leader. Parviz and his wife, Sisi, were always ready to help all Iranian, particularly Abadani fellows. I mean everyone! His home was open to everyone and his charming character was always there.

It is a big loss for Iranian professional community, particularly all Abadanis.

He will be remembered by his kind wife, Sisi and his son and our good friend Arash.

We are all going to miss him. May God bless his soul.

Babak Jafarian

To top

* Who should we blame?

June 8th is the day Kermit Roosevelt passed away. He is a key figure in our contemporary history. I hope God bless him - for he really needs our prayer - but our people can't forget his destructive influence on our history.

If we open our eyes a little wider we see our own people involved in the 1953 Anglo-American coup against Mossadeq. They sold their country a lot cheaper than Kermit expected -- he had to return the million dollars the Senate had set aside to direct the coup.

Who should we blamet? The CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt or our own countery men.

A. Saremi

To top

* The last resort

I sometimes check out the Zanan magazine online and read it's articles. They are mainly show how bad is the situation for women, something that is not really surprising but this week's article it was about self burning and broke my heart badly. Why do these poor women burn themselves to run a way from their problems?

In some cases they really can not find any solution to their problems and all the problems come from a chauvinist society. One women burns herself because her husband beats her, the other burns herself because her husband is leaving her for another women. Why does no one try to at least educate these women about what really happens to them after they burn themselves.

Maybe some liberal and pro-women activists like Ms. Ebadi could at least arrange some simple program on TV or Radio to educate women and try to convince them that by burning themselves they just hurt themselves while their husbands, fathers and brothers will just continue their lives and in most cases won't even feel guilty.

When I compare how women are free and have rights in modern countries like the U.S. I really want to cry for poor women in our country and women in that region. I know some people will oppose that and will say, "No, women in Iran have all sorts of rights" and this and that...

Yes maybe some wealthy women from north of Tehran or other big cites go skiing or get divorced and live freely -- but the rest are just like prisoners in a big prison!

The question is when this situation is going to end and who can help to end it? I am sure there are socities that fight for women's rights in Iran and other countries but they have lots of obstacles in their way, especially with the current situation, but at least there should be ways to educate women to use their minimum rights and not choose the worst and last option.

-- Ocean Sky

June 4...............................To top

* Charlatan cinema

I just saw Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Kandahar. It is a fine example of what might be called charlatan cinema. It indulges in oriental romanticism, it exploits the otherness of the burqa clad woman, it cajoles the white liberal audience while hardly making a case for the suffering of mine victims.

Its success lies in having been made at all -- contributing images and faces to a country that has little representation in the wider world. The mere lifting of the burqa to reveal someone underneath and applying lipstick is enough to tittilate the less tuned-in among western audiences.

But its story is implausible. A woman trying to get to Kandahar in three days would soon come across someone with a jeep and not need to walk the desert following a mad little boy to whom she gives ridiculous offers of cash (the power of the dollar to open doors in the third world is severly underestimated in this film).

The red cross camp in the middle of nowhere at once has people waiting "for a year" for artificial legs, then an air-drop sees all of it's patients do a para-Olympic race to see who gets one first. Limbs by parachute is an entertaining spectacle but this appears to be the extent of Makhmalbaf's intention throughout the film.

The American doctor who leaves the heroine in the middle of the desert to join a wedding party on its way to Kandahar (women beating a drum walking in the desert, wailing -- where are they coming from? Why would they be walking such a presposterous distance?) is invited by her to say something about "hope" for her sister, who she aims to reach to prevent her apprently scheduled suicide, into a tape recorder. The man talks nonsense, acknowledges it, then walks off with the tape recorder to, as we discover later, talk more nonsense about love or something.

The final shot is from the point of view of the woman wearing a burqa, she is a captive, but at least after an uninspiring 80-minutes, the audience is free.

-- Payvand Khorsandi

To top

* Kingdom (reminder)

Come to the “Kingdom” of Mokhtar Paki at 2632 Regent street #B, (between Parker and Derby. Behind Andronico’s store on Telegraph Ave.) Berkeley, on June 5, 6, 12, 13. From 12PM to 6PM. Regalia: Saturday June 5, at 1PM. www.mokhtarimage.com

To top

* Worst in 50 years

Here's the first paragraph of Amnesty International's annual report for 2004 as they declare human rights climate to be 'worst in 50 years':

Huge challenges confronted the international human rights movement in 2003. The UN faced a crisis of legitimacy and credibility because of the US-led war on Iraq and the organization's inability to hold states to account for gross human rights violations. International human rights standards continued to be flouted in the name of the "war on terror", resulting in thousands of women and men suffering unlawful detention, unfair trial and torture -- often solely because of their ethnic or religious background. Around the world, more than a billion people's lives were ruined by extreme poverty and social injustice while governments continued to spend freely on arms.

-- From Eyeranian.net, forwarded by Sourena

To top

* Not hurt beyond repair

Back in March of 2003 I attended a meeting of some Iranians in Dallas, Texas with two Iranian cyclists (Amir Ahmadi and Hassan ALizadeh) who were/are pedaling around the world. [See: Pedaling for peace]

After touring around the United States, Ahmadi and Alizadeh went on to South America and cycled through several countries. They have been through a lot and have had to jump numerous natural as well as manmade obstacles. A few days ago they flew from Brazil to South Africa to begin cycling the African leg of their adventure.

Attached is their latest email from South Africa [Down (but not out) in S. Africa]. The highlight of this last report, unfortunately, is that a few days ago while walking in one of Johannesburg's streets, they were attacked and rubbed in bright daylight! 

They are not hurt beyond repair and have decided to continue their journey through Africa and on their way to Europe!

Their website can be found at pedal4peace.com.

-- Ben Bagheri

To top

* For 200,000 dead motorists

-- Ehsan Shahinsefat

To top

* "Guernica" in 3D

Feel the emotion of seeing the works of great artists come alive. All of a sudden Pablo Picasso's masterpiece "Guernica" and Van Gogh's "Bedroom In Arles" paintings, Salvador Dali's "La Persistance de la Mémoire" and Escher's "Relativity" become living sceneries. The finale is absolutely surprising >>> Go here

-- Forwarded by Babak Khiavchi

June 3...............................To top

* Dadgar's open studio

Born and raised in Iran, visual and performing artist Ali Dadgar belongs to a growing group of international artists working across national, cultural and artistic traditions. Located two blocks from the West Oakland Bart Station at the corner of Henry and 7th street. (1556 7th Street Oakland, CA 94607).

two weekends
sat sun | june 5-6
sat sun | june 12-13
11 am to 7 pm

closing reception
sun | june 13 | 8 pm

For more info please contact
alidadgar@hotmail.com tel. 510 251 1636

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ALSO
Shorts
Archives

June 27
* Who cares anymore?
June 14
* Distinguished -- and loved
* Who should we blame?
* The last resort

June 4
* Charlatan cinema
* Kingdom (reminder)
* Worst in 50 years
* Not hurt beyond repair
* For 200,000 dead motorists
* "Guernica" in 3D
June 3
* Dadgar's open studio

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