Date

POETRY

Tariaak raa be baazdamat paz

(Can't say he doesn't have guts)

22-Aug-2007 (2 comments)

SILENCE

درخدمت و خیانت کیان تاجبخش

درغربت و غریبی پژوهشگر

22-Aug-2007
به نظر سکوت حاکم بر فعالیت های کیان حکایت از ضعف در ا رزیابی نقش روشنفکرانی چون او، در تغییر وتحولات سیاسی سال های اخیرداشته است. ضعفی که گوئی به تابوی تحلیل های سیاسی دوران معاصر ،چه در داخل ایران و چه در جمع مهاجران ، تبدیل شده است. وچه بسا با حفظ توهم توطئه و تقویت ان، به مثابه کم خرج ترین وسیله برا ی حفظ انسجام میان گروهای مخالف است که طیف منتقدین نظام به نقطه مشترکی با حکومت جمهوری اسلامی می رسد ، حتی اگر امروز یک طرف دعوي مسرور از خفه کردن نوزاد در نطفه باشد و طرف دیگرمغموم از نارسی او. >>>

GUARDS

Déjà vu

Given all that has happened in Iraq, why would the US want to extend the conflict into Iran?

22-Aug-2007
There is very little doubt that Iranian Revolutionary Guards have armed and trained the Mahdi Army in the past but the majority of US deaths have not been in the hands of Iraqi Shia militia but the Sunni insurgents. The elephant in the room, the one US media seems to be blind to, is that Saudis and Jordanians have been bankrolling Sunni insurgency from the beginning. Regardless of what one thinks of the ruling clergy ˆ they have plenty to answer for - Iran's neighbours don't seem to be terribly afraid of Iran in spite of dire warnings by the US.>>>

GUARDS

پذيرفتني تر از تحريم ايران

تقابل سپاه پاسداران ايران و ارتش آمريکا به کجا مي انجامد؟

22-Aug-2007
اولاً، در صورت تحريم اقتصادي ايران، رژيم (يعني سپاه پاسداران و باند مصباح) مي تواند افکار عمومي مردم ايران را عليه آمريکا بسيج کند، حال آنکه در صورت تحريم سپاه پاسداران، مردم ايران که با سياست هاي سرکوبگرانه، تماميت خواهانه و توسعه طلبانهً سپاه آشنايي کامل دارند، تنفر و انزجارشان را متوجه رژيم مي کنند. دوم، قراردادن سپاه پاسداران در ليست سازمانهاي تروريستي، دست اين ارتش بنيادگراي مذهبي را در ادامهً سياست دورويي در کشورهاي منطقه، بويژه عراق و افغانستان (بحران سازي، توطئه و ترور نظامي بمنظور باج خواهي سياسي) آنهم با چراغ خاموش، مي بندد.>>>

WOMEN

حکایت ماه من و ماه گردون!

مقایسه دو کمپین یک میلیون امضاء در ایران و کنیا

22-Aug-2007
در خبری خواندم که در کنیا هم کمپین "یک میلیون امضاء برای تبعیض مثبت" به منظور ایجاد 50 کرسی برای نمایندگان زن در مجلس آن کشور اعلام موجودیت کرده است. نمی دانم آیا این زنان کنیایی از کمپین یک میلیون امضاء ما در ایران خبر دارند یا نه؟ چه بسا که خبر داشتند و فعالیت های ما یا زنان مراکش الگویی بوده است برای پدید آوردن این حرکت ابتکاری در کشوری در قاره آفریقا. چه زیبا که زنان کشورهای جنوب و در حال توسعه از تجربیات هم می آموزند و به ابتکارات هم به این شکل بها می دهند. >>>

LIFE

Bump

A short story

22-Aug-2007
Everything started on a Monday when, in the morning, I noticed that little bump on my forehead. It was almost like nothing. Nothing noticeable, so I ignored it, as if it didn’t exist. It was even smaller than a coin. The color of my skin hadn’t changed, and I found no hole in the middle of the bump; all this indicated to me that it was just a mosquito bite. The next day it had gotten bigger. It was right in the middle of my forehead, where everyone who was looking at me would see. I changed the style of my hair to cover it. That was a busy week at work, so I had to work late nights, and in the morning I was washing my face with closed eyes, so the bump didn’t bother me at all. >>>

FEAR

Clear distance

In less than a week, over 50 people were executed by public hanging in Iran’s Islamic Republic

21-Aug-2007 (34 comments)
Of course, as we had predicted, US pressure on Iran, the threat of war, sanctions and plans for regime change from above, Bush-style, will only lead to further repression, executions and detention of the very activists who lead genuine anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist struggles - while Iran’s islamic regime is busy negotiating with the US and UK governments over the terms of all three parties’ interference in the internal affairs of imperialist-occupied Iraq. Public hangings and mass arrests are part of this government’s efforts to impose an atmosphere of fear and terror at a time when large sections of the working class are protesting against low wages and lack of job security. >>>

LIFE

I will love once again

Courage is not to hide your wounds but show them as soldier wears his medals

21-Aug-2007 (5 comments)

Courage is not the absence of fear.

Courage is when you shake in your underwear and still face the melody.

Courage is being numb of pain and still not surrender.

Courage is to see the last light of your aura being drained and consumed by the invisible and faceless pain and still stand there and smile.

Courage is to never let them make you a victim. >>>

THUGS

اراذل و اوباش حکومتی

تاریخ سیاسی ما

21-Aug-2007
اگر دلیل مجازات رذالت و اوباشگری ست, کدام یک رذل تر و اوباش ترند ؟ آمران و عاملان طناب به گردن روشنفکران و روشنگران گرانقدری چون محمد مختاری و محمد جعفر پوینده انداحتن و آنها را خفه کردن , وبا قمه هنرمند گرانقدری چون فریدون فرخزاد را مثله کردن , و با چاقوی آشپزخانه سیاستمدار برجسته ای چون بختیار وهمکارش رابه قتل رساندن, و با دشنه پیکر فروهرها را دریدن و قلب کارون 9 ساله را برابر چشم پدر شاعرش حمید حاجی زاده دریدن پیش از آنکه شاعررا مثله کنند و........ , یا زور گیران و باج گیران ؟ >>>

VACATION

Beautiful Nancy

A snatched break in France

20-Aug-2007
Last time we went was a planned camping holiday with my sister and brother in law. This time we booked a couple of B&B’s, one in Nancy (200 miles from where we live) and the other in Dijon (350 miles from where we live). Nancy has special significance for me because my maternal grandfather studied medicine there between the two world wars in the 1930’s. So it was a pilgrimage of sorts. I never met either of my grandfathers, but here at last I had the opportunity to follow in one of their footsteps. And what breath taking footsteps; this city could be the love child of Barcelona and Bath in the UK. The architecture is simply beautiful.>>>

REVIEW

Raging against the gods

Gilgamesh, the play

20-Aug-2007 (one comment)
In the thirteenth century A.D. there was Rumi and Shams. In 2700 B.C. there was King Gilgamesh and Enkidu. The heroes, Rumi and Gilgamesh, were civilized masters of their domain, enjoying a small greatness in their time. Shams and Enkidu were untutored outsiders who burst in from the wild to become the heroes' beloved companions. The same extraordinary spiritual upheaval created by the unlikely friendships launched both Rumi and Gilgamesh out of their time and into legend. George Charbak's play, The Epic of Gilgamesh with a long prologue, thankfully does not dwell on the Enkidu-Shams comparison. In fact Enkidu's god protector is simply referred to as the sun god, sidestepping the god's real name Shamash, the root for the Arabic word Shams >>>

OPINION

Shadows of mistrust

Who says that we "have to" be either on the side of Dr. Mossadegh or the Shah?

20-Aug-2007 (21 comments)
Decades after the events of 1950's in Iran, there is still a lot of heated debates about what happened, who was to blame and why? The issue which in some people's view, originated from intervention of foreign elements in order to influence Iran's political process, had profound impact on the future events which happened during the years after that. Antagonistic atmosphere of Iranian politics has always been filled with extremist tendencies and emotions towards one side or another during this period which contributed a lot to creation of many unfounded stories around those events that eventually resulted in start of one of the cruelest governing systems of the world in our country.>>>

28 MORDAD

Guys, it’s time to move on

28th Mordad has been turned into another Karbala

19-Aug-2007 (8 comments)
Yet another anniversary of 28th Mordad, and I can’t stand it! Like the 3rd of Esfand 1299 nothing shows the divisions amongst Iranian nationalists up as much as the anniversary of these events and the (mis-)treatment of history by all involved. There are many lessons that need to be learnt by Iranians from these episodes of their history but having learnt those lessons (long ago) they need to move on. Unfortunately we don’t seem to be able to do this judging by the idiotic emotion ridden pieces of tripe written every year by all sides. >>>

28 MORDAD

کاشانی و مصدق

تفاهمات و تقابلات

19-Aug-2007 (2 comments)
پس از 30 تیر 1331 تاریخ نهضت ملی ایران به دو بخش تقسیم میشود و شاید بخش دوم از اهمیت بیشتری برخوردار باشد از آن جهت که پرده ها فرو می افتد، رفته رفته نقش ها آشکار می گردند، عهدها شکسته، دوستی ها بدل به دشمنی و خیانت ها هویدا می شوند. علت تغییر موضع 180 درجه ای آیت الله از آن جهت که یکی از دو رهبر نهضت ملی ایران بود، محتاج بررسی و تحقیق ریشه ای است و در این فرصت کوتاه دست نمی دهد. اما آنچه مسلم است این است که از فردای 30 تیر 1331 رفته رفته غرور و نخوت در رفتار و کردار آیت الله به وضوح مشاهده می شود. >>>

ART

Cloudy, with a chance of war

War in Ala Ebtekar's art exhibit in San Francisco

19-Aug-2007
As an American-born Iranian, who has lived and studied in Iran, Ebtekar’s war images are influenced by the Iran-Iraq war. “My earlier works borrow a lot from the Iran-Iraq war. If you look closely at my earlier works you will see jet-planes and tanks that are direct references to the ones used in the Iran-Iraq War.” But war does not stop there for the globe, nor for Ebtekar. He explains: “When 9/11 happened I stopped working on this manner and felt as though I couldn't continue in that political climate. However when current war was declared shortly after, I remember saying to myself I have to continue working, it’s actually more important to do it now that any other time. So I continued, and now the references are not solely from the Iran-Iraq war but from a larger body of sources and material that are coherent with contemporary geopolitical crises we are in.”>>>