New in THE IRANIAN

* COVER STORY: The Gun and the Gaze
* IDENTITY: Islam in America
* POETRY: Dick Davis: Down to earth
* NOVEL: My strength hasn't changed despite old age
* MOLLA NASREDDIN: My strength hasn't changed despite old age
* HORRORSCOPE: Israeli lobby
* HUMAN RIGHTS: Forouhar's party against death penalty

COVER STORY

The Gun and the Gaze
"The history of Shirin Neshat's bodily portrayals
of the 'Islamic woman' is the unwritten chronicle of a
mute and concealed femininity. Her photographs show
and tell what has been forbidden to show and tell."
THE IRANIAN Cover Stories

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IDENTITY

Islam in America
One night, during the American embassy hostage crisis,
I saw an Indian Sikh at a bus stop get pelted by garbage
flung from the window of a passing car. "Go home you
god-damned Iranian" yelled the assailants. The incident
gave me pause. By Nasser Sagheb

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POETRY

* Down to earth -- Collection of epigrams from more than
60 Persian poets. By Dick Davis

"The anthology does, I believe, give a fair idea of the
atmosphere and variety of Persian epigrams, and it
also incidentally provides what I hope are fascinating
occasional glimpses into vanished and extraordinary
way of life, that of Persian medieval courts. How very
like us they were, and also how utterly unlike, are both
apparent in these poems."

* ...Dar chah vali sar-o-sedaeest

Four poems by Roham Shaikhani (In Persian)

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NOVEL

Adventures in old Persia
Bruce Bahmani
reviews Noah Gordon's
"The Physician". "if
you are an Iranian and
have had the slightest
desire to read one
contemporary novel,
this should be the one."

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MOLLA NASREDDIN

My strength hasn't changed despite old age (In Persian)

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HORRORSCOPE

Isareli lobby

You will venture out on Friday night to check out the new Steven Spielberg film. As you approach the ticket counter at the movie theater, you are stopped by two men wearing dark suits and dark sunglasses. They identify themselves only as "David and Shlomo of the Israeli lobby."

They calmly explain that under U.S. sanctions law, all business transactions, including selling a movie ticket to anyone that looks, acts, walks, talks, or smells Iranian, as well as anyone even remotely associated or attached, literally or metaphorically, with the country of Iran, is strictly prohibited.

(From: Sina Dadfarmay <zerangi@hotmail.com>)

THE IRANIAN Satire section

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HUMAN RIGHTS

* Forouhar's party against death penalty... Daryoush Forouhar's Mellat Iran (People of Iran) Party joins campaign against death penalty (in Persian)

* Human rights protest demonstration in Canada -- From: Mehran Sam <sam@mshri.on.caz>, Iranian Community, Canadian Raelian Movement: "To protest the savage practice of stoning, to demand the abolition of death penalty and the cancellation of all laws in Iran that contravene the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , we will gather in front of the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa on Wednesday, January 21, 1998 from 8 AM to 6 PM... "

* Human Rights Watch Report 1998 -- In... Iran, elections represented a major step forward... Mohammad Khatami, who had been opposed by the ruling clerical establishment, emerged the victor with a campaign that vowed to guarantee the rights of citizens and to institutionalize the rule of law... The Iranian government continued to tolerate or encourage violent religious zealots known as Partisans of the Party of God (Ansar-e Hezbollah) to assault and intimidate writers and intellectuals, disrupt gatherings of those critical of government policies, and carry out raids on the offices of independent magazines and newspapers. Baha'is and evangelical Christians faced widespread persecution..

* Human rights appeal -- From About Iran: <AboutIran@aol.com>: "Please help to protest the Islamic Republic's gross violations of human rights before and during the summit of the Islamic countries in Tehran."...

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