The Iranian Features
April 5-April 9, 1999 / Farrvardin 16-20, 1378
Today
* Voices: Siaah Sookhteh
Recent
* History: Cool and confident
* Addiction:
Vertical horizons
* Opinion:
Kosovo
* Cover
story: 15 Bedar
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Friday,
April 9, 1999
Voices
Siaah Sookhteh
Prejudice towards Blacks and other non-Europeans
By Shalizeh Nadjmi
April 9, 1999
The Iranian
Boarding my first American subway in Northwest DC, I was warned by our
host - my mother's lovely cousin - to be wary of the Black Man. In fact,
my second cousin sternly objected to my mother and I sitting anywhere near
"them" for they were all armed and short tempered, and would
surely hurt us if we got too close.
Fourteen years later, under unforeseen circumstances, I find myself
back here in the great Western capital. Yet it seems that after all this
time, I have not heeded my cousin's warning. Indeed, like a good Persian
girl I did the very opposite: I tasted the forbidden fruit. In the twenty-two
years since leaving my mother's womb, I have experienced two significant
loves. Both of them have not only been Black, but they have been African,
with skin the color of midnight satin. And although both were born in the
U.S., each spent his life in his respective motherland, then migrated back
to North America. ... GO
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Thursday
April 8, 1999
History
The Shah and a group of air force personnel with their
wives.
Cool and confident
Iran's pre-revolution air force
Photos sent by Farhad M. and Pejvak
April 8, 1999
The Iranian
In this feature there are several photos of Iranian air force planes
from before the revolution (Imperial Iranian Air Force, IIAF). But in truth,
there's only one really interesting photo on this page.
It shows the late Mohammad Reza Shah with a group of air force families.
It's from 1955. The Shah looks confident and in control. Why shouldn't
he be? Mossadegh has been sent into exile; the opposition has been silenced;
the Americans are providing loans and military hardware; the Russians are
cooperative... everything seems to be going smoothly. And it shows: ...
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Wednesday
April 7, 1999
Addiction
Vertical horizons
"He was no kinder to himself than fate."
Alaleh Kamran
April 7, 1999
The Iranian
The solitude of evening has finally arrived. The staff has left for
the evening. The phones are switched over to the answering service. And,
for a while, my world has paused. The lights in my office are off. I am
staring at the lights that flicker from here to the end of the horizon.
Life seems at times suspended here, on the twenty second floor. As the
CD changer flips back and forth between Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Leonard
Cohen and Kitaro, I come back to reality only to drift away again. I am
tired and my soul hurts. Sometimes, I wish I could take an enormous brush
and paint the world with peace and calm.
You see, the life of a criminal defense attorney is saturated with unhappy
stories and frequently tragic endings. My client was just raped in a California
state prison. We both knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. We just
hoped it would be later. Fate wasn't kind to him. He was no kinder to himself
than fate ... GO
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Tuesday
April 6, 1999
Opinion
Why Kosovo?
Possibility of peaceful resolution tragically being lost
By Majid Tehranian
April 6, 1999
The Iranian
The NATO attack on Yugoslavia has lent itself to many conflicting interpretations.
Which of these interpretations is closest to the mark? Is the war essentially
a humanitarian operation, as NATO claims, to save Kosovo from ethnic cleansing
by the Serbs?
If yes, why doesn't NATO act to deter its own member, Turkey, from its
systematic oppression of its Kurdish population? Why were the genocides
in Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda-Burundi ignored?... GO
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Monday
April 5, 1999
Cover story
In every direction
Images of a society that is far from uniform
Photos by Nader Davoodi
March 29, 1999
The Iranian
The list of Nader Davoodi's international and Iranian photo awards is
a long one. Take a look at the photos from his third feature in The
Iranian and you'll see why: ... GO
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