The Iranian Times

Friday November 12, 1999 / Aban 21, 1378, No. 847


Sehaty Foreign Exchange

Iranian books


    Obayd Zakani


Hostage

Go Big Red!
"Ayatollah, why don't you go back where you belong?"

By Ali Hosseini
November 12, 1999
The Iranian

It was a week after the U.S. embassy was seized ... The wind blowing over the early snow cut into my bones as I left the engineering building. This Midwestern chill is going to be hard to get used to, I thought, walking into the school cafeteria. The kitchen heat warmed me as I put on an apron, wrapping its strings around my waist. I punched my time card and walked to the Big Red dining room, an exclusive cafeteria for Nebraska Cornhusker athletes. A group of football players were at their three-inch steak dinners. I cautiously walked through the dining room, feeling the gaze of one of the star football players at my back. It took only a few seconds before he shouted at me, his mouth full.

"Hey, what did you do to your beard, Ayatollah?" Then he turned to his friends, "Look at him," he said pointing at me. "Now he's trying to look like Stalin." ... GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

Protester into prisoner

The Economist
November 13, 1999 , U.S. Edition

Tehran - LAST summer, Tehran was rocked by students demonstrating for reform and democracy. The Economist, writing about these events, carried a photograph on its cover of a demonstrator holding up a bloodied T-shirt, which looked (though there is no proof of this) as if it might have belonged to a fellow-protester beaten by the police or vigilantes. Other newspapers, including Iranian ones, used the same dramatic photograph. The publicity did the student, Ahmad Batebi, no good. Last month, he was punished by a revolutionary court which sentenced him to ten years in prison. ... FULL TEXT


    Anyway

How dare you?

The conservative Tehran daily Kayhan blasts a modertate magazine for putting flowers in the hands of Imam Ali, instead of the traditional sword ... FULL IMAGE & TEXT

Thanks to p.m.


More Letters

* Think first

Pejman Asgarpour writes in response to Mr. Beeler's letter : I read your letter on "Thinking small" and I wonder is it Iranians who are thinking small or is it you that can not see the big picture. The scenes and the stories that you see and you hear from those who take actions against America in Iran or other countries should not be a reason for people like you to make any judgement toward a whole nation.

I am sure that you are not aware of the political situation that is currently taking place in Iran because you would have known why or who are those groups of people that are burning flags and yell "Death to America". My suggestion to you is that next time, before you make any decision with your educated mind, do a little research.

Should I call all Americans a bunch of racists when KKK members burn crosses and show hatred toward other human beings just because of their skin color?

* Shame on us

Bob Mani writes: I read the article "Curzon's last laugh" with sorrow and disgust. This is yet another example of wanting to blame things on others. Poor us - they did this to us and they did that. How much longer are we going to sit on our butts and blame all of our shortcomings on others? What is that going to solve or accomplish?

First, shame on us for letting foreigners take advantage of us. Here, the Ghajar dynasty is more to blame. Their fascination with sex and corruption and pleasures let them lose sight of things, letting foreigners come and take advantage of our poor country - the same country that was once powerful and did unto them (remember Nader Shah and his multiple invasions of India) what is being done to it!

Second, while we are sipping our tea and trying to find causes for our miseries, the progressive world is advancing at a very fast paste. Iran is at least 200 years behind in social standards of living, economy, technology, education, etc. The gap is widening at an exponential rate and soon there will be no hope of a decent future for our country and people.

You go ahead and dig into stuff hundreds or years old while others are envisioning and planning for the upcomming century!


* Literature: Gelareh Asayesh in DC

Gelareh Asayesh, author of "Saffron Sky, A Life Between Iran and America" will be speaking at 6:30 p.m. Thursday November 18th at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Rome Building, Room 806, 1619 Massachussetts Ave. NW, Washington D.C. ... DETAILS HERE

SELL TICKETS ONLINE AT YOUR SITE


Books of the Week

* Ruzegaran (1999)
History of Iran up to the Pahlavi dynasty
By Abdol-Hossein Zarrinkoub

* Zanaan haramsaraa-ye Nasserdin Shah (1998)
Pictorial history
By Khosro Motazed and Abolghasem Tafazoli

* Baagh (1998)
Short stories
By Parviz Davaie

* Qand va namak (1998)
Tehrani proverbs
By Jafar Shahri

See more Iranian books for sale

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Bookstore


Video of the Week

Divorce Iranian Style

A new documentary that goes where Western camera s have never before gone: into an Iranian divorce court. The film is directed by award- winning independent filmmaker Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, an Iranian anthropologist and writer, based in London, whose specialty is women's rights and family law in the Mid-East.

THE IRANIAN
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More news

ANALYSIS-Court deals blow to Iran reform movement

TEHRAN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The conviction of Abdollah Nouri by a hardline clerical jury has effectively deprived Iran's pro-reform movement of its leading light ahead of next year's parliamentary elections. The clerics, all from the hardline faction that dominates the judiciary, also ruled that there were no mitigating circumstances. However, the judge of the Special Court for Clergy must still issue a final verdict and pass sentence ... FULL TEXT

Rafsanjani calls for calm ahead of next year's key elections

TEHRAN, Nov 12 (AFP) - Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Friday called for calm between the country's feuding reformist and conservative factions ahead of key parliamentary elections next February. "We are getting close to important elections, we need calm, and we have to give our people the opportunity to think in peace," Rafsanjani told worshippers at the main weekly Muslim prayers at Tehran university ... FULL TEXT

Rafsanjani accuses U.S. of lying

TEHRAN, Nov 12 (AFP) - Iran's influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday accused the United States of lying following Washington's renewal of economic sanctions against Tehran. "Let's not think that the smiles of the global arrogance (the United States) are spreading security, they are showing their antagonism towards us every day," Rafsanjani told worshippers during the main weekly Muslim prayers at Tehran university ... FULL TEXT

Rafsanjani says rows stifle investment in Iran

TEHRAN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday that bitter political feuds between reformists and conservatives were scaring away potential investors. ``The atmosphere is not suitable for investments if we attend to our factional issues instead of dealing with the country's problems and if officials spend all their time fighting each other,'' Rafsanjani said in a sermon to thousands of worshippers at mass prayers at Tehran University ... FULL TEXT

Iran says 1.2 mln cattle smuggled out each year

TEHRAN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - More than 1.2 million cattle are smuggled each year from Iran, a major food importer, to neighbouring countries by traffickers seeking hard currency, an Iranian official said on Friday. Ahmad Seyfkaran, a senior official at the Construction Jihad Ministry, said the cattle smugglers earned $100 million a year, Iran's news agency IRNA reported ... FULL TEXT

Home for young film makers

Tehran (Hamshahri) - Young film makers now have their very own center in Tehran ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Second look

Tehran (Cinema) - A second look at Mahasti Badiee's film "Tale' sa'd" -- it's much better than originally thought and it could easily shine in international children's film festivals ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

al-Arabi 3 - Persepolis 2

Tehran (Asr-e Azadegan) - Kuwait's al-Arabi defeated Persepolis in a friendly (read ROUGH) match in Kuwait. Two Persepolis players were ejected ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Hejazi's sigh of relief

Tehran (Asr-e Azadegan) - After six defeats and three draws, Nasser Hejazi's Zob-e Ahan team finally tastes victory against a quality team ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


BBC

Persian Service

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The Web

Iran

Bahai texts

These primary Bahai books are in Persian and Arabic. Many of them are not easy to read or understand, but interesting.

Beyond Iran

Intimate Strangers

Microbes are everywhere, but we can't see them. They make us sick, but we can't live without them. Microbes are an integral ingredient in this planet's ecosystem, but we understand so little about them.

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Quote Unquote

Lies

The U.S., despite the pressure from their own and European companies, renewed the sanctions (against us) a few days ago. This cannot be very problematic for us, but is an important sign -- it shows that they lie.

-- Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
AFP
November 12, 1999


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