Date

STORY

Somebody is calling my name

Whoever I may be, I know that now I’m the precise and perfect meaning of my name

by Nilofar Shidmehr
27-Aug-2007 (3 comments)
I don’t know the meaning of my name. But I know one thing: my name is entirely what I am. Already, I’ve forgotten the name that’s given to me. Maybe if I think harder, I’ll remember it. Yet I feel no urge to look for it: it was like all those things that must have been lost, those that must have been gone and set free in formlessness. I shaped my new name on my own, though. First, it was simply an insignificant speck of pollen among thousands of other specks, drifting around in the air, searching for the pistil. I waved at that very spec and it floated toward me. “Just don’t forget to water me everyday,” it whispered.>>>

MOSSADEGH

The first mammal

Going to bat for Mossadegh

by Ari Siletz
27-Aug-2007 (3 comments)
In moments of statistical introspection, I wonder if LA Dodgers fans are generally Pahlavi supporters. The occasional Shah picture posted on huge Westwood billboards, and the handful of TV stations time capsuling pre-revolution Tehran are tempting bits of data. San Francisco Giants fans, on the other hand, are likely pro-Mossadegh, though I lack the evidence of billboards. Needless to say, Giants rule and Dodgers suck, but it is nice occasionally to brawl with facts and reason. Two meticulously researched books by Oxford scholar Homa Katouzian hit the ball right out of the ballpark for the Giants.>>>

28 MORDAD

فرمودید کودتا یا قیام؟

پس بفرمائید که در آخر حکایت هنوز نفهمیده اید که لیلی زن بود یا مرد!

by Mahshid Amirshahi
27-Aug-2007 (30 comments)
از روزی که آخوندها در ایران به فکر تکیه زدن بر مسند قدرت افتادند من هم و غمم را متوجه مبارزه با آنها کردم و نیازی هم ندیدم که هر بار ابراز مخالفت با رژیم اسلامی را با زدن گریزی به گذشته همراه کنم و هر بار انتقاداتی که همیشه به دستگاه آریامهری – در زمان بیا برو اش – داشته ام مکرر نمایم. هرگز تصور نکردم که وقتی از روشنفکران ایراد می گیرم باید توضیح بدهم که این ایراد متوجه مخالفت آنها با حکومت استبدادی نیست که من با آن همصدا و یکدلم بلکه از این روست که آنها به وظیفه روشنفکری خود عمل نکرده اند ...>>>

RIGHTS

What's gone wrong?

When a lesbian says: "We are all Hezb’ Allah now"

by Azar Majedi
27-Aug-2007 (10 comments)
When my daughter’s friend told me a couple of weeks a go, that her socialist lesbian friend has a poster on her wall saying: “We are all Hezb’ Allah Now!” I said: “my God! (And I am an atheist) something has gone fundamentally wrong.” I asked myself, what are they trying to do, mocking socialists? Or, are they simply brainwashed? What is this world coming to? This young woman has all the necessary ingredients for fighting against political Islam and Hezb’ Allah. First of all she is a woman.>>>

FOOD

Gastro-Geek

I have recipes for Char-Broiled Squirrel to Moroccan Pigeon Pie

by Shabnam Ghayour
27-Aug-2007 (4 comments)
I spend a crazy amount of time watching cookery channels, reading food & culinary magazines, catching up on restaurant reviews and reading cookery books. And when I mean ‘Reading’ cookery books, I mean cover-to-cover… like normal people read novels. My friends and family know me so well that the safest bet for a Christmas/Birthday gift for me is a cookery book. Their only dilemma lies in how to find one that I don’t already own. I always tell them to look for the most random, weird & unique titles possible and avoid the more popular ‘Usual suspects’. As a result of this, I now own more than 220 carefully chosen food related books (or my bibles as I like to refer to them). >>>

WELCOME

iranian.com 12.0

Finally, iranian.com is catching up with the rest of the internet

by Jahanshah Javid
26-Aug-2007 (25 comments)
You may have noticed changes in Iranian.com in recent days. Well now it's official: iranian.com 12.0 has gone live! The site has gone through many changes in its look and feel since its launch in 1995. This time, however, the transformation is more fundamental. For the first time visitors have the power to self-publish. You can leave comments immediately on the site, have your own blog and submit articles more efficiently. Basically, you are no longer at my mercy to have your voice heard around here (do I hear "thank god"?!) >>>

IDEAS

مذهب عليه دين

اصولاً تأسيس مذهب هميشه با تعطيل دين همراه است

by Esmail Nooriala
26-Aug-2007
يکی از تضادهای عمدهء اجتماعی را می توان مابين دو پديدهء «دين» و «مذهب» يافت؛ دو پديده ای که ، بنا به تعريف، هر دو بر بنياد يک پديدهء سوم به نام «ايمان» شکل می گيرند. اما وجود اين تضاد آنچنان بديهی نيست که تصور کنيم همه از آن مطلعند. حتی بنظرم می رسد که اکثر ما به تفاوت ماهوی بسيار اساسی اين سه پديده، که اتفاقاً اکثر مشکلات ما از خلط ماهيت آنها ناشی می شود، توجه چندانی نداريم. لحظه ای پيش خودتان به اين سه مقولهء مفهومی بيانديشيد تا دريابيد که اغلب يا آنها را يکی می گيريم و يا نمی توانيم دقيقاً تفاوتشان با يکديگر را توضيح دهيم. >>>

BOOK

ضد ولایت فقیه

براندازی حكومت اسلامی

by Ramin Kamran
25-Aug-2007 (3 comments)
راهی كه در این كتاب برای براندازی نظام اسلامی عرضه شده ساده و روشن است. اول به داو مبارزه پرداخته شده كه پایهٌ نظریه پردازی است، بعد به استراتژی كه تابع هدف است و در نهایت به سازماندهی كه تابع استراتژی است. این روش در جهت منطق تاریخ معاصر ایران كه نبرد بر سر تعیین نظام سیاسی است و در جهت خواست یك قرنهٌ مردم ایران كه دستیابی به دمكراسی است حركت میكند. نظام حكومتی امروز ایران با سلب حاكمیت از مردم، با تعریف خود به عنوان ضدلیبرال و مذهبی واروی خود را هم كه نظامی دمكراتیك و لیبرال و لائیك است، تعریف كرده است >>>

ETHNIC

Azerbaijan in Iran

Consequences of persecution and discrimination

by Ben Madadi
24-Aug-2007 (56 comments)
Iran was not supposed to be a country of the Persian, or the Aryan, nation, because the Persians are just about half of the population, or maybe less, and there is neither an Aryan nation or an Aryan race to build a country upon. But it could be just like any country, a union of peoples or nations, where there is no preferred one, and each nation within the country can decide about their own affairs in case they wish to. Breaking up countries is too costly and not worth any attempt, but discriminatory policies of authoritarian regimes are creating the right atmosphere that over time lead to social discontent that can overflow and cause serious problems at any moment.>>>

EXCLUSION

Can't keep my promise, mother

Denying Bahai students acces to higher education

by Bahai Student
24-Aug-2007 (36 comments)
In 2006, for the first time in 29 years, more than 200 Bahai students could enter national universities. However, from the very beginning of the school year, gradually most of these students were expelled according to a previously planned strategy. This year (2007), however the government has employed a new tactic. Most Bahai students have not yet received their test report cards. Not receiving their results, they are now even unaware of their scores and the fact that whether they have passed the test or not.>>>

THEATER

Disowned

Part 2 of a play about an Iranian boy who gets disowned by his father

by Ali Hamvatan
24-Aug-2007

(Mr. Amiri is getting the mail on a Saturday morning. He sees a letter from Farhad's school addressed to his parents. He opens the letter. It reads:  Dear Mr. and Mrs. Amiri: Congratulations! Your son, Farhad has been selected to receive a scholarship for a summer writing program at the prestigious Foster Academy for the Arts.)
Mrs. Amiri: Oh, that is wonderful!
Mr. Amiri: Pah! It is wonderful to you, not to me. My son has no interest in such things, he will be an engineer, and then the world's greatest surgeon. He will invent new instruments, he will win the Nobel Prize, he will have a family with a good Persian wife and children, he will be a great soccer player on the over 40 league, he will -- where is he -- (yelling) FARHAD! Come down right now! (Enter Farhad) >>>

IRANIANS

My Ego & I

What stops so many of us from learning and applying time-honored lessons in wisdom?

by Mansour DJadali
24-Aug-2007
Bear with me for a moment while I put aside my admirable modesty to make a point. I have a Master’s degree in Engineering, speak several languages, and have traveled and worked in many parts of the world. I have read more books than I can remember, read newspapers and news magazines every day, and avidly follow current affairs on radio and television. Based on all that, you might be kind enough and tempted to think I am an “educated” person, right? WRONG! No, I am not a self-hating Persian – just one who is finally waking up.>>>

SUGGESTION

The speech that Ahmadinejad should give

Today we are announcing the suspension of our enrichment activities for a period of six months

by Mohammad Alireza
23-Aug-2007 (19 comments)
Thank you ladies and gentleman of the press for accepting our invitation to attend this news conference. For your information we invited many news organization to this news conference but as you will note quiet a few chose not to attend. We consider this another piece of evidence of how the corporate media plays into the hands of the warmongers as they did prior to the attack on Iraq. Fox News is repeating the same distortions but this time it is targeting Iran instead of Iraq. >>>

WOMEN

Burning dream

Below the surface, in the privacy of the domestic realm, much goes unseen and unheard

by Sanaz Fotouhi
23-Aug-2007
Some might think that the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan has liberated the Afghan people, especially the women. While there is no denying that some steps have been taken to improve the situation of women, for the majority of women life has become harder. With no way out, many women, in an attempt to liberate themselves from the pressures put upon them, are attempting suicide in the worst possible ways. One of the most common methods, which hundreds of women use, has been self-burning. Reports show that within the last several years, the number of women, aged 14-27, who have burnt themselves, has been well over 300 per year, and that is only the ones who survived to admit or are reported.>>>

POETRY

جمهوری خاوران
by Mahasti Shahrokhi
23-Aug-2007
مسلمانی یا نه؟
مثل همیشه چشم بند به چشم داشتم ولی ضربه ی باتون برایم آشنا بود
سرم را گرفتم و با چشمان بسته گویی جن دیده باشم گفتم: بسم الله. بسم الله. بسم الله
شصت و هفت هزار بار گفتم: بسم الله
آنقدر گفتم: بسم الله تا رهایم کردند
>>>
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