Archive - 2007 - Article

A visit to see Amma

Alexandra Palace in north London on a grey morning in December – a Thursday. An Indian-looking man in a bright orange parka is guarding the driveway to the grand Victorian exhibition centre at the top of Alexandra Park. A banner next to him announces the presence of Amma – born Mata Amritanandamayi – "The hugging saint." White women in white saris, men clad in white, wearing beards, smiles, or looks of utter seriousness, make their way in and out of the main hall which, as their feet testify, you can only enter in socks>>>

محترمه بوتو

خانم بوتو، این زن مسلمان تحصیلکرده سازگار با جهان مدرن و مخالف تداخل دین در حکومت، در مواجهه با این دشمنان اسلام پیشه، از همه چیز خود گذشته بود. می گفت که علیرغم آگاهی به خطرات آنرا به جان می خرد. می گفت که علیرغم مادر بودن و احساس قوی برای فرزندانش، او خود را مادر همه فرزندان پاکستان می داند. می گفت که من ماموریت خود را در نجات پاکستان از تسخیرش بوسیله افراطیان اسلامی می دانم. او پادزهر روییدن و پخش شدن علف های هرزه و زهرآگین دین فروشان را استمرار در پرورش نهال های دموکراسی و آزادی در سرزمین های ملل مسلمان می دانست و سرانجام آنها را با خون خود آبیاری کرد.>>>

Happiness in slavery

We live in (here in America) what has been referred to as a fast food culture. If president Bush ordered all eateries closed tomorrow the American people would have him impeached in an hour. We don’t seem to care about our own lives, not to mention the lives of Muslims. The American people are being oppressed in the worst possible way, pacification. The same can be said about the Islamists as they are also being pacified, in their case the pacifier is Islam. In our case its comfort. What is my point? My point is this... Greed>>>

Culture shock

For those readers who are not in their 20s, back in the 1970s, the Iranian parents wanted their children to become either medical doctors or engineers (ya doctor besho, ya mohandes!!), I was sent to a university in Europe where they fully concentrated only in one subject during the 4 years of undergraduate studies. My father refused to send me to the US because he thought the freedom of choosing courses in a variety of subjects was too much of a “wishy-washy” upbringing to focus on becoming a professional Engineer or a Medical Doctor. >>>

آهنگ تو

این آهنگ

مرا به یاد تو انداخت

چو غریزه حیوانی

این چند نت کوتاه

مرا به دام تو انداخت

>>>

Oh Beautiful

Oh Beautiful,

I've heard of you.

What could you do

to a man of science?

>>>

Az Khaaneh Taa Goor

...>>>

شهید بوتو

یکی نبود به بینظیر بوتو بگه تو هم از این فرح خانوم خودمون یاد بگیر. الان سی ساله آزگار توی آمریکا و اروپا پرسه میزنه، کیفشو میکنه، کنسرت میره، به این موزه پول میده، از اون یکی خرید میکنه، عشق میکنه، روسری هم سرش نمیکنه! هرچند سال یکبار هم یکدونه ازون نطقهای چیزم به طاقی غم انگیز میکنه، که آدم دلش کباب میشه که چطور زنی با داشتن میلیارد، میلیارد دلار پول نقد، باز میتونه صداشو اونجور گه مرغی کنه>>>

The patriot

I didn't know what it meant for a long time and even when I did find the true meaning of it, I was away from my country for so long and left at such early age that I didn't really feel "patriotism. Benazir Bhutto was a patriot, to its truest meaning. She, knowing that her life was in danger, went back to her home country and died where she was born. When she was asked why, she said that it was her calling. Quite incredible, I think.>>>

آنجا که زنان برای آزادی دو بار می ميرند

درست همزمان با وقتی که خانم هيلری کلينتون، زيبا و درخشان، از پله های محل سخنرانی سالن نورانی يکی از کمپين های انتخاباتی خود بالا می رفت تا در مقابل ده ها دوربين فيلمبرداری و صدها طرفدار خوش لباس و سر حال خويش از فردايي بهتر بگويد، زن ديگری، به همان زيبايي و درخشش، در ميدان بويناک محله ای در راولپندی در مقابل هزاران زن و مردی که برخی شان روی صندلی های تاشو نشسته بودند و برخی ديگر پا برهنه از سر و کول هم بالا می رفتند، ايستاده بود تا او نيز سخن از فردايي بگويد که سال هاست بسيارانی از آن مردم در انتظارش نشسته اند.>>>

God and religion business

Benazir Bhutto's assassination reminds me of the number of rednecks and misogynists in the US who are ready to bet that if either Hillary or Obama are elected next year, they'll be assassinated by January 2010. It also makes me wonder when will the Iranians wake up and separate Disneyland/God/Religion from the State? Proud of their 2500 years history, will the Iranians ever wake up to realize that the whole concept of “God” is nothing but a mere figment of human imagination – no matter whether it is marketed by the Bible, Torah, Qoran, or any other fairy tale -- and no matter how many billions in South America or Africa believe in such BS>>>

دريغ است ايران بماند به جای!

دريغ است ايران بماند به جای
خوش ايرانِ ويران ز سر تا به پای!
خوش آن لحظه ی خوب بمباردمان
که آتش ببارد ز بام جهان
خوش آن دم که در گرد و خاک اتم
ز نقشه شود کلّه ی گربه گم
پس آنگه رسد نوبت دست و پا
که گردند از پيکر او جدا
چو بی دست و پا گردد و نيز سر
در آريم از او قلوه، معده، جگر
>>>

Not again!

Should it be true that a President of Iraq has once again unilaterally declared the internationally recognized and binding treaty null and void -- moreover, has previous to this occasion talked about its nullification with as he puts it: “we have talked with our brothers Iranians before about it”. Then it would be yet another signal that the current players have not learned a thing from the history that some of them were intimately involved in. The Islamic Republic needs to take this provocation a lot more serious than it has which has been limited to tepid friendly denunciation statements by low level functionaries>>>

تولدت مبارک

این چند خط را برای تو، پدر عزیزم، بهرام بیضایی و به پاس تلاشهای خستگی ناپذیرت در عرصه ی فرهنگ و هنر کشورم ایران می نویسم . می دانم که بسیار خسته ای و بسیار رنجدیده و می دانم که زخمهای بسیار بر روح و روان داری از سوی آنها که گمان می کنند آمده اند تا برای ابد بمانند، اما نمی دانند که ضدیت با جریان رونده و شونده ی فرهنگ ایران امری است گذرا و آنچه می ماند، فکر است و اندیشه و نیروی خلاقه ی انسانی که خود خالق است. نیز بسیاری در لباس دوست و دوستدار که پنهانی و از سر تنگ نظری زخم می زنند، گاه از سر بخل و گاه از سر خودشیرینی برای این و یا آن دستگاه قدرت.>>>

Nobody's enemy

In the face of hostility, recently more and more Iranians find themselves stuttering when asked a very simple question: Where are you from? A proud people whose heritage has heavily influenced the Western culture, they become stuck somewhere between the I and the P: Many Iranians, in fear of retaliation or being scorn refuse to identify themselves as Iranians unless necessary; some opt to use the alternative Persian (the Greek, historical, transitory word for Iranian,) few even go as far as introducing themselves as Italian, Greek, Armenian, or Northern Iranians who fit the profile, as Irish, or other. This is a deeply disturbing phenomenon that is very typical and indicative of their existence in the United States, and one that is a growing trend, elongating parallel to the strange animosity that is brewing against them>>>