Archive - Jan 2008 - Article

The Way

Why should I stay?

why should I talk repeat?

I have crossed this way

I have smelt the love

and want nothing more...

I have touched the mirage

pictures of fascinations in a land

lost in dreams of water and growing green

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What will Israel do?

Though the White House press release read "President Bush to travel to Middle East to follow up on progress made at Annapolis," his January trip actually centered on Iran, a country he did not visit. America's friends -- the Persian Gulf monarchs as well as Israel -- fear that the publication of the recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) means the United States is weakening in its resolve to confront the rising threat from Iran. President Bush made his Middle East jaunt, in part, to assure them that that assessment was premature>>>

The quiet side of Pop

I discovered Barzin a few months ago when I was browsing the Internet. Barzin was supposed to open for Kiosk in Toronto and yet, I had never heard of him. I quickly Googled his name and found his web site. Lucky me, I found a few full-length mp3 files from his music there to listern to. I think the first few notes did it for me. I was rather surprised at the fact that an Iranian act would create music in the same style as bands such as Wilco, Mazzy Star, or even Radiohead. The next thing that surprised me was his smooth Canadian/American/English accent, to the point that I first had doubts about him being Iranian>>>

احیا کنندهء شرمساری بشر

این چند روز گذشته اخبار فاجعهء بزرگی که دارد در غزه رخ می دهد زخمهای کهنه ای را بر پیکر بشر باز گشوده است و دردهای زیادی را زنده کرده است. از یک طرف تصاویر مردمی که به رویشان امکانات حیاتی را قطع کرده اند و در تشنگی و گرسنگی و تاریکی در میان آب های آلوده و مسموم فاضلابی که در خیابانهای شهر نشر کرده است٬ برای ادامه زندگی دست و پا می زنند٬ احیا کنندهء درد و رنج تمام انسانهایست که در طول تاریخ٬ جریان حیات را به رویشان قطع کردند تا که در انزوا به تدریج بخشکند: گولاگ استالین٬ کربلای یزبد٬ اردوگاهای هیتلر...>>>

Red lines

Currently, over 65% of students entering university in Iran are women and slowly, these women will become a strong force that will make their dissatisfaction with the inequalities in law, society and the family known. Iranian women have not achieved this success easily and this representation is not secure. The current government has planned to reduce the number of women entering universities and has set up obstacles making it more difficult for women to achieve this goal. After the revolution, women who played an important role in the Revolution with the aim of reversing discriminatory laws against women were shocked to find that these laws not only remained intact, but that the human rights that women had achieved before the revolution were also eroded>>>

دریچه ای سوی ایران معاصر

وبلاگنویسی نمای فراخی است از ایران معاصر؛ ایرانی که به تصویر هرگز ندیده ایم،از کوچه و خیابانهایش نمی توان شناخت، ایرانی که در پس انگاره های مذهبی و سیاسی نهفته است. وبلاگنویسی روز به روز در ایران مورد استقبال بیشتری قرار می گیرد. با توجه به محدودیت ها و قوانین حاکم بر صنعت نشر و رسانه های عمومی، هیچ جای تعجبی نیست که اینترنت پیوندی است به دنیایی بازتر برای باورها و گرایش های گوناگون.>>>

شب سده!

کدام سده
از حافظه ی کيهانی من گذشته ای
که اسم شب را نمی دانم
و ميان مهربانی و آتش سرگردانم؟
در کدام جاده ی کهکشان
نوازشم کرده ای
که تا ابد در عطر ستاره غوطه می خورم؟ >>>

Slimming with Siamack (2)

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Touran Khanom

In the vicinity of Baharestan, the old Parliament, there used to be an elementary school that was a little gem of an establishment. Dabestan-e Farhad opened in 1958 in the building and grounds that had been home to Mirhadi family. Touran Mirhadi—or, as she is universally known, Touran Khanom—was the youngest daughter of the family and the principal of the school. Her old students, some now well into their fifties, still refer to themselves as Farhadi, and are perpetually in quest of establishing contact with each other and their old teachers. For those us living outside Iran, no trip to Tehran is complete without touching base with Touran Khanom>>>

From Shah to Ayatollah

We are approaching anniversary of an extra ordinary event in the history of our nation, which had a profound effect over the lives of every single Iranian in one way or another even if we had no contribution to it. I remember those days that when traveling on the roads, from one place to another, we would encounter mobs of people with clubs in their hands while blocking the road asking you to say “death to shah” so they let you go! Then they put a picture of Khomeini on the windshield of your car after getting what they wanted and before you run into another group of them a bit further. It was a truly unusual scene to see and live in those days in a country, which was considered an “island of stability” in a troubled region, not much earlier!>>>

A National Obsession

The British are greatly influenced by cultures that have filtered into our own culture through centuries of exploration, discovery and colonisation. So it was only a matter of time before I decided to pen a piece that would shine a light on culinary unsung hero of our fair England… Namely, the beautiful and mysterious Eastern treasure that could only be... India... India itself is a cornucopia of culture influenced by different cultures and religions. Even the Persians had a very infamous hand in the history of India and the ‘Parsee’ culture (as it’s now known) is alive and well in India to this very day. The Persians established the ‘Mughal Empire’ which introduced an era of decadence and luxury that was previously little known to India.>>>

حسن نیت؟

((نامه به دکتر محمد مصدق)): آقای نخست وزیر گرامی، مایلم پیش از آنکه شما آمریکا را ترک نمایید، مطلبی را به عرض برسانم. من اطمینان دارم که سفر شما [به آمریکا] بسیار ارزشمند بوده و موجب حسن نیت میان آمریکا و ایران است. ممکن است که سرمقاله امروز صبح در ((واشنگتن پست)) شما را مأیوس کرده باشد. آن سر مقاله منعکس کننده نظر انگلیسی ها در مورد ایران است و به باور من نظر آمریکایی ها را نمایندگی نمی کند. من مطمئنم که مردم و همچنین مقامات آمریکا در نتیجه سفر شما متوجه مسایل بزرگی که برای کشورتان مطرح است شده اند.

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The Virus of the Conscience

From not remembering when
To not noticing how
My brain is being infected
With viruses just like a computer.
But a computer has no soul
Suffer no scars >>>

Palestine does exist

It is not just the US politicians who are complicit with the State of Israel’s violence against the Palestinians. Sadly, those of us who read and contribute to Iranian.com and are often so opinionated on every matter and feel so compelled to write about everything that happens in the world, have been complicit with this violence by being silent about the recent Palestinian situation. Unfortunately, I think many of us have tuned Palestine out and frankly the Arab-hating sentiments that have filled our national imaginations do not let us see the pain and hear the voices of Palestinians who are being killed violently by the Israeli tanks or die softly behind the Israeli walls. We refuse to notice as we go on with our comfortable lives, pretending that Palestine does not exist.>>>

Hammering inflation

U.S. economic pressure on Iran has been increasing steadily. The U.S. to a large degree has been successful in cutting Iran from normal international financial institutions. Many European and Asian banks have been forced to reduce or cut their financial ties to Iran. Even some Chinese banks have come under pressure to restrict their dealings with Iran, not to mention UAE and Bahraini banks. This coupled with two successive UN sanctions have been hurting the Iranian economy much more than the government has been willing to admit>>>