IRAN & SPAIN

Funny you should mention Iran and Spain....

I was a Hispanicist  when I was younger.  That was my professional training. I lived in Spain for a whlle in 1979 at exactly the time the Shah was overthrown.   It was a time of great excitement. Franco had recently died and the Socialist government of Felipe Gonazalez had been elected.  It was a very formative experience of my youth.

A quarter of a century later when I fell in love with Iran with a similar passion to which I had fallen in love with Spain so long ago, I saw my very first Iranian film.  And the very first thing that struck me was how simmilar the two countries were in so many ways.  This also struck me when I saw a photo of the Martyr's Fountain of Mashad during the Iran-Iraq war.

So I translated a poem by the great early 20th century Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, who became  an exile to France in his old age when Franco took power. This poem was extremely popular in '79 in the musical version of the amazing Catalan singer, Joan Manuel Serrat. I translated it when I first embarked on my Persian studies and I was thinking of Iran. It's very short:

And so there's a Spaniard who wants to live
and for him the day is dawning
between one Spain that is dying
and another that is yawning.

Little Spaniard coming into the world,
may you be protected by God.
One of the two Spains
is sure tofreeze your heart.

This is the original Spanish:

Ya hay un espa~nol que quiere
vivir y a vivir empieza
entre una Espa~na que muere
y otra Espa~na que bosteza.

Espa~nolito que vienes
al mundo te guarde Dios.
Una de las dos Espa~nas
ha de helarte el corazzon.

--Machado

I was hoping one day I'd be able to translate it into Persian, but...I got waylaid in my studies.  Maybe somebody wants to give it a shot here.

I was DYING, simply dying, to provide the youtube link to Machado singing this poem in the '70's.  But for some reason this damn computer is not giving me a  URL.

But if you go to youtube and key in serrat espanolito you'll find it. There's one silly video but there's another of him in performance.

I hope somebody bothers to go there to watch it.

Salud,

Rosa

why not talk about

the eight-year-war that Iran faced? Was Spain invaded by France with the help from Germany and USA?

Why not talk about the economic sanctions that have been imposed on Iran?

while Iran still has a long way to go but comparing it with an anti-Muslim,anti-Arab xenophobic nation like Spain is an insult to humanity.

btw,Spain is now facing economic recession and 65% of its population is living by paycheck to paycheck.

Spain is absolutely not a sucess story.

Thank you Bahar, and No thanks Javad Agha

Javad Agha;

You know why Spain repackaging Iranian goods and selling it successfully? because we are stamped as terrorist nation, thanks to Mullahs.

Are we terrorist? of course not, but our government is.
You know why UAE is flourishing and siphoning of all our money ? because we, Iranian want to have good life and have fun; since we cannot have it in our own country, we go there, we go to Turkey, to Malaysia, Indonesia, we go to any God damned places where there is no Visa requirement; and spent thousands and millions of dollar to stamp our God damned passport with a visa.

You know why Turkey without having any oil/gas money, enjoy ten times better GDP and better economy, better income per capita and people are living in much better condition that us ( just imagine if they had oil ?) because they have a semi secular regime.
I can go on and on, but same before, you keep saying the same thing for long time "Eyeranian Moft Khor", yes you are right we are "moft khor", because our entire regime is "moftkhor" ( it has been since the introduction of Sayyed and Mulla and Akhound), we are trained as "moftkhor" like or not ( but there are many poor people who work two or three jobs to make it happen) the entire system at the top is "bokhor bokhor and moft khor, be chop be chop) and out of 70 million, 55 - 60 million are in misery (except Basjis, Sepahs, Plain cloth, Lebas Palangi, Neghaabi, and of course Akhounds who have the best income, meat, rice and cooking oil delivered at their door steps)

You complained why we talk about it openly?.
If we talk about it or not the issue doesn't go away, does it? How long we can keep it inside because of our Aberoo? more than 30 years?
Remember, as long as we stick to religion, the Mehdi, Imam this, Imam that, Cham Karan, Marghad or magh-ad. superstitions, regardless what kind of religion, we stay as "bad-bakhat" as we are today. Europe, and to certain degree, Japan and N. Korea faced it once an got rid of it, I hope we can get rid of ours soon.
I know you lived in US sometimes ago, and most probably you are living in Iran now, do something positive and try to reduce the ignorance as much as you can, (without being labeled as anti revolutionary) reduced damages of brained washed from Mullahs' propaganda. The Victory for freedom is not too far away.
VIVA IRAN.

Viva La Espana

I lived and worked in Spain for almost 5 months in 2005 - it's an incredible country. I actually lived Barcelona, where everyone is Catalan before being Spanish - I consider my self an Iranian-Texan-Catalan.

I got to travel for 10 days through the country - from Bilbao to Madrid, down south to Andalucia and back again. I walked through the Great Mosque in Cordoba - one minute a Mosque, the next a Church.

I stood in line with people from around the world at 6:00 AM for a chance to tour Al Hamra, the seat of Muslim power - you would have thought there were about to unveil the next iPhone. The difference being that the line is there everyday.

I pray that, someday, Iran can share its heritage with the rest of the world in peace.

Viva La Espana, zendebad Iran.

Great Analysis

Great analysis, we need to thank our "intellectuals" who in the 60's and 70's were going around preaching Marxism and Islamism as our salivation. At least we did not become a part of the Soviet Union, thanks for small favors. We can also thank the Shah for instead of embracing democracy like the king of Spain became more and more despotic. The blame also goes to the fact that Spain is mainly Christian which went through its dark ages long ago. Now Iran is going through its religious dark age. I just hope that Iran weathers this one and turns things around. We have the people, the resources and minds to prosper. The simplest way is for the "Velait Fagih" to declare that his job is done and give up power to the elected government. Next, declare a general amnesty, abolish the death penalty, return confiscated property and invite the expatriates to go home. Then make peace with the west and at least tacitly accept Israel. Many of us will be willing to go home and build businesses. I know it is a tall order, but the plus side is immense.

Iran could become the next India and be the destination of all the outsourcing of western engineering work. Why not? Only time will tell if we have the right leadership. The alternative is more misery and pain.

Thanks for Nothing . . .

What a depressing write up.  Most of you who cheered the writer are living outside of Iran and are blind to see Iranian athletes’ successes.         HOW ABOUT A WRESTLING MATCH with Spain??  Bring them on!!      How about weightlifting?  Reza-zadeh can lift ALL the football players in two-zarb.  Whooohooo.        As Turkey, UAE, and other countries benefited from Iran’s down fall, Spain did too and still makes good money re-packaging Iranian goods and selling them to Europe and US of A.  You know what products no need to get into this because some Eye-ranians or MKO members will take the idea and go further against us. Iranians brought a lot of money to Spain and improved its economy, similar to Turkey and UAE.  This is not a good time for our country to write this sort of articles.  As long as Eye-ranians line up in thousands to go to a concert, or care what lip stick to use or what cars to drive, we won’t change. As someone mentioned, we will rise again.  If you do not want to give a hand, please do not throw gas/petrol at a burning situation. Eye-ranians are moftkhor regardless of where they live.  Ba sepas. 

Excellent and informative.

Excellent and informative. How do you explain this??

US Export to Iran doubled during the Bush era:

//rawstory.com/news/2008/US_exports_to_Iran_r...

perfectly put

I don't think there is any red-blooded iranian that is not sad for how their country has been destoryed at the hands of a bunch of a illiterate murderers
Sports is just one area where our pride has been trampled on for 30 years....
I feel exactly the same way, when I watched the soccer match between spain and germany and saw all their happy fans, I wondered why our fans can't have the same sense of excitement and happiness- instead of sitting on the sidelines, and see other countries do well and enjoy their teams- even lowly turkey has become a soccer powerhouse-
I just pray that 2008 is the ayatoilets last year!
javid iran

And not just in sports

Mr. Bahar,

I must point that it is not just the mullahs, it is this cancer called Islam that keeps us back and any other nation that believes in it. To verify that for one's self, one has to simply look at any and all Islamic countries in the world, you will NOT find one with real orginal technology or with true democracy and liberty for its citizens. And by the way, I must remind everyone, the word Islam means submission. How fitting, as this school of thought was shoved everyone's throat at the edge of the sword.

Regards.

Good article

I enjoyed your article very much. Only one thing, Spain hosted the 1982 WC, there wasn't a WC in 1996. The Euro took place in 1996 and was hosted by England.

-Cheers

Nice!

Good work, very insightful! Someday we will, friends. Someday!

Mr bahar !

Good article & Good pick for a subject. I had an earlier blog on Iran & spain few months ago ..funny how You are right on target.

 Kind regards!

 //iranian.com/main/blog/samsam1111-6

فرق ايران، اسپانيا و وطن پرستی کشکی ما

Excellent Analysis

Wow! Could not say it better myself. Damet Garm! One of the best articles in a while on this site. I am waiting for the gang of the IRI apologist to make the standard excusses and personal attacks.

Iran and olympic !

Latest News,, Iranian regime has cancelled the participation of Iranian olympic team because anybody who can Run,swim or jump in Iran , has already scaped the country.

...

Nadal is the best :=) .