Archive - 2007 - Article

Life goes on in Tehran

Drawing the past

It is unusual for the French press to agree on anything, divided across the political divide as they are. But when it comes to hailing Marjane Satrapi’s new animated movie, ‘Persepolis’, they speak as one. From the right wing newspaper ‘Le Figaro’, to left wingers ‘Humanité’ and ‘Libération’ and centrist ‘Le Monde’, all have hailed Satrapi’s movie as a work of pure excellence and highly successful in breaking down stereotypes on Iranians and Iran. Gloria Steinem has even gone so far as to proclaim that with this film, Marjane Satrapi “may have given us a new genre” while ‘USA Today’ called it “a mighty achievement”>>>

Destroying Iran

Today, a great many Iranian opposition blogs and websites trumpet the secular nationalist ideology as the flag of opposition to the current Islamist government of Iran. The pre-historic glory of Persepolis is the other component to the complex Persian/Islamic binary of modern Iran. In its extreme form, this ideology is harshly anti-Islamic, denouncing the current IRI servants of the Arabs who have forced the yoke of Islam upon the Persian masses who would yearn to cast off this alien ideology. Such rhetoric may serve well in riling up opposition to the current government, but it is grossly inaccurate in its analysis of Iranian society and politics>>>

به ۹ دليل

سردبير «القدس العربی» در مقاله ی خود توضيح می دهد که بعد از تابستان امسال، ديپلماسی غربی دچار نوعی تنش شده است؛ و همه ی نشانه ها حاکی از آن است که اين ديپلماسی ناچار است که به طور خاص به خاورميانه و شرايط متغيّر آن نظر بدوزد. او اضافه می کند که در خاورميانه، نقطه ی تمرکز، ايران خواهد بود: هدف فوری آمريکا. او از يک تحرّک اوج گيرنده ی سياسی، ديپلماتيک، مدياتيک، و نظامی بی سابقه عليه ايران می نويسد. چرا که فرصت چندانی برای جرج بوش باقی نمانده است؛ و او بايد هرچه می خواهد عليه ايران انجام دهد را به سرعت عملی کند. >>>

98% Muslim

You and your generation have been living under the most brutal, savage and radical regime on the planet. For the past thirty years Islam have been forced on you from the barrel of a gun and more importantly you have been bombarded with their propaganda day in day out, and forced to learn their ideology at school. However I am yet to find a faithful Muslim among you. If what your claim about Islam being forced on our ancestors is right then you all should have become good little Muslims as well. But we can all see, this enforcement and brutality have not only did not win you over but it also had an opposite effect on you. >>>

گل یا گور

آیا کشور ما بالاخره خواهد توانست بدون گسترش بی وقفه رشته های گوناکون پیوستگی وهمبستگی با کاروانهای پیشرفت وتمدن در دنیای کنونی راهی کم هزینه به سوی توسعه ای با شاخص های جها ن متمدن قرن 21 بازکند؟ کسانی براین باورند یا چنین مینمایانند که مصالح ایرانی آزاد وبا ثبات درتقابل آشتی ناپذیر بامنافع حال و آتی کشورهای پیشرفته سرمایه داری غرب قراردارد.>>>

Under the umbrella

Many of the known figures from well recognized Iranian political groups and individuals who have been residing outside the country for many years and while keeping their opposing views and stance against Islamic regime, they have not been able to perform as they expected their departure from the country would allow them to do. Part of this issue can be blamed on the style of living in western countries which consumes most of the time of any individual to support their own life and paying for the bills in order to avoid putting themselves under debt of any source.>>>

خواننده ای درون من

در مثلث نویسنده، متن و خواننده، خواننده نیرویی خدایی دارد، زیرا اگر او متن را نخواند، هیچ چیز به وجود نخواهد آمد و نویسنده درون حروف بی جان متن خود گرفتار می ماند. به علاوه آغاز کار خواننده به پایان نگارش متن موکول نمی شود، بلکه نویسنده به محض اینکه قلم بر می گیرد خواننده ی خود را در ذهن دارد و تصویر خواننده هرگز در جریان کار نگارش ناپدید نمی شود. به عبارت دیگر، هر نویسنده، درون خود خواننده ای دارد که نه تنها به او گوش می دهد، بلکه هم چنین با او سخن می گوید، و حتی گاهی چون همبازی خیالی کودکان، دارای نام است.>>>

The Reader Within Me

In the triangle of author, text, and reader, the reader has a divine power. If one does not pick up the text, nothing comes alive and the author remains trapped in the lifeless letters of the text. Moreover, the reader's role does not begin when a text is finished. As soon as authors pick up pens, they have their readers in mind, and the image of the reader never vanishes during the writing process. Every author has a reader within who not only knows the art of listening, but also speaks and, like a child's imaginary playmate, sometimes even has a name>>>

Hold the Receiver

I know your ring; who else would call on the first day
of Spring to wish me Happy New Year,
with seven S’s laid upon a table I have seen
in photographs embedded in your email

I hold the receiver
flush to the ear that hears the clearest,
my right, lips pursed at the mike.
I would whisper but for static
in the line >>>

Recursions and resignations

You said, "I'll come back."
As the train was snarling and hissing
At first refusing to budge
Then abruptly yanking you away
And you waved and shouted,
"See you later, see you later."
Remember? >>>

Watch out, here they come! (part 4)

I met Kiosk's Arash Sobhani for the first time at Yoshi's (a famous jazz club here in San Francisco) through a mutual friend, Afshean. This is 5-6 months after I moved to San Francisco. Arash had moved to San Jose just a few weeks before, and was looking for a place here. I recalled I didn't know many people when I moved here, and out of empathy, gave him my number and told him he can call if he needs help to move his stuff. I was fool enough not to remember that he's a rock star, that he knows half of the Bay Area, and the other half he doesn't know, know him!>>>

Where peace begins

Nothing is as it seems, as they say. Plot twists reveal surprising hidden motivations, and in the tradition of sophisticated drama, each character sees the others more clearly than he sees himself. For example Kermani’s plea to save Iranians who would die in the impending war are countered by Muthada’s reminder that Kermani isn’t as concerned with life when it comes to the Islamic regime’s support of terrorism, and the brutal suppression of internal dissent. Sadly, Kermani does not put up a worthy defense. This is partly because the Islamic regime’s position is difficult to uphold in the first place>>>

هادی و صمد 10 سال بعد

...>>>

For principled solidarity

Of course, no-one who has listened to Dick Cheney or George Bush could be in any doubt that the nuclear debacle is no more than an excuse for preparing for such an attack. The current US administration labelled Iran its main enemy in the region on the day it came to power in 2001 - it was Iran’s compliance with and support for the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq that delayed the escalation of the conflict. But now the US administration is so desperate to divert attention from the disaster in Iraq that an air assault on Iran by the US or Israel is a real possibility>>>