Archive - Nov 2008 - Article

Cordoba to Kurdistan via flamenco

Hamed Nikpay speaks Farsi the way he plays his music: rapid staccato syllables held together by slow melodic interludes. Maybe this is why he favors the setar when he speaks his heart. The instrument comes to life at the flick of the index finger over the strings, followed by a trilled sustain detailing the life of the tone. Nikpay’s new CD album, All Is Calm (Asoudeh) seems to follow the emotional biography of a young artist sparked to life by a devastating early romance whose lament still haunts him in the sustain. In the first track, Deceit, (Fareeb), he sings “You bestowed kisses from my lover’s lips to the other man.” I ducked the temptation to ask Nikpay who she was and what happened. Instead we chatted a little about the man who penned those lyrics >>>

It's in the pot!

I took part in a UK based TV cookery show (The name of which, I sadly cannot repeat until it airs next year) But the idea is based on a group of strangers who each take turn to host and cook dinner for the group, often to hilarious and bitchy consequences. Each cook is scored for their efforts, by the other guests and the winner gets a prize at the end. It has a somewhat cult-status here in the UK and I can tell you that the whole process was a bizarre experience, indeed. A week of intense filming, Monday through Friday from 6pm-3am sometimes, leaves you absolutely exhausted as you have your normal day job to do also and so you are getting only 3 hours sleep each night! I wasn’t planning on even writing about this, but someone made me promise I would mention it… Although I did agree that only in the instance that I won, would I write about… and by some miracle I did actually win! >>>

The Italian Girl

She was American really, but she became a little more Italian after each drink, not in terms of how she talked or acted, but in terms of how she wanted him to see her, and after their third round, he'd told her about how a lot of Iranians liked to think they looked like Italians, and he tried to tell her with the right combination of flirtatiousness and Western beauty standards critique. You don't have to lay your whole heart on the table in order to have a good time, he thought. Anyway there's no time when you lay your whole heart on the table, because that would suggest that you understand the whole thing. It was a very sound conclusion to reach after three gin-and-tonics. She was quiet for a moment and then she said, "I don't like the way they protest against Columbus when we have the Italian Day parade in North Beach.">>>

Comrade Obama?

The word socialist has been bandied about more in the past few weeks than it has since the early 1990s. John McCain was asked whether nationalising banks was not tantamount to socialism – remarkable, a mainstream network airing the s-word in an interview with a US presidential candidate. In Britain the word socialism is regarded as a terminal virus the Labour party sneezed out in 1994 when the then opposition leader Tony Blair ditched Clause 4 -- along with its commitment to “the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange”. After Labour came to power in 1997, its use was phased out. Now that capitalists themselves are forced to accept that a system that rewards complete bastards, for being complete bastards, is doomed, “redistribution of wealth” and “socialism” are out of their cages>>>

America's better half

On November 4, America made history once again by generously embracing Barak Obama as its first African-American president. In this election more the 53% of Americans cast their votes for Obama (more than any other Democratic presidents since World War II with the exception of Lyndon Johnson in 1964 who gained the sympathy votes of the people after Kennedy’s assassination). To better understand and appreciate the magnitude of what happened in this U.S. election we should notice that it was only 53 years ago that Rosa Parks bravely refused to give up her seat on a public bus to make room for a white passenger and by doing so she ignited the Civil Right Movement. Prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which legally prohibited racial discrimination, African-Americans were treated like second class citizens. >>>

The Newlyweds (13)

Dear Khaleh joon, You must be getting used to my confusion and distress by now. These are emotions that have filled the pages of my letters to you, now more than ever. I thought at the beginning of this month that some positive news would finally go your way for a change. Shahab had been in a chipper mood than usual. He kept telling me that business was “looking up” without elaborating, of course. Every time I ask him to give me details, he just waves me away laughing, saying “in maamele beyne mardha hasst, khanooma nabayad dekhalat konan.” Just like my father! Finally, one day, he took me out in a spanking new, convertible Mercedes-Benz, which he had again rented out for the week-end. He told me he had a big surprise for me. We kept going up twists and turns on a winding road that led us to the summit of one of Los Angeles’ many hills>>>

پيوند مهلک فقه و فسا د

نخستين وضعيت را می توان در گرايش های بيمارگونه و غيرعادی مردمان به عوالم به اصطلاح «معنوی» و «روحانی» متجلی ديد که بکلی با روابط عادی فرد مؤمن با آفريننده ای که به آن باور آورده تفاوت دارد. در اين ساحت بيماری زده، شخص مؤمن به سوی افراط در خرافه کشيده می شود و فقيه نيز چاره ای ندارد که ـ اگر بخواهد در ميدان بماند ـ به نيازهای او پاسخی مناسب دهد. امروزه، با همۀ انکارهای ظاهری که از جانب فقهای اصلی مطرح می شود، نمی توان دست داشتن آنان را در مورد مقولاتی همچون چاه جمکران، مطرح شدن ظهور قريب الوقوع امام زمان، چله نشينی های زايندهء اختلالات روانی، تأکيد بر کرامات و معجزات روزمره در رسانه های گروهی و آثار باصطلاح هنری، تبديل فقها به صاحبان کرامتی معادل پيامبران و امامان، گسترش فالگيری و نذر و نياز و سفره انداختن ها و زيارت رفتن ها، ناديده گرفت. در همۀ اين مقولات، فقيه (در صورت های مختلف آخوند و روضه خوان گرفته تا خود ولی فقيه که از دستارش و آب دهانش معجزه و شفا می گيرند) نقش مرکزی را بازی می کند و خود منشاء رشد سرطانی ناشی از تسلط نهادی کارکرد از دست داده و در حال فاسد شدن بشمار می رود.>>>

شاپرکم برگشته!

شاپرک تازه از ایران برگشته و تلفن زده تا خبر بازگشتش را بدهد. صدایش که مثل صدای زندگیست شادم کرد. پرسیدم: چه خبر؟.... باز از گرانی گفت و این که همه اش توی خانه بوده و در گرما جایی نمی رفته و آهان! که در اولین روز ورودش به ایران، توسط گشت توقیف شده!....
پرسیدم: چی؟ آخه واسه چی؟....
- به جرم بدحجابی دیگه!....
- مگه حجاب نداشتی؟....
- چرا! ولی ما فرق داریم!....
- یعنی چی؟....

>>>

Moving forward

The American voters proved me wrong. They proved my scepticism that they (almost 75% white population) would not vote for a black man. I am actually glad that I was proved wrong and that Americans proved that they have so quickly moved so much, from slavery, and then segregation, to even electing a black president in such a short time; short for human social progress that is. America is great because of its ability to progress, evolve, and become a better and better place. We can say so much about this election and there is indeed a lot to say. People my type do not usually get excited about much, especially individuals, and very often pretty much about anything. Others get excited, and then get disappointed. When you don't get excited, you have less chances of disappointment too. Life seems a bit more boring like this. But it is a much safer place when you take the boring approach>>>

Change -- towards Iran

I want to let you my fellow hamvatans know that the result of this election does not automatically translate into fulfill any of your wishes. There is no comfort zone and there will be a ton of hard work ahead of us. Regardless of the result of the US election, that we celebrated dearly, naively and perhaps prematurely, we should think hard how we can prevent the US policies towards Iran to be hijacked again. I voted for Obama but for the hope of change not seeing the repeated scenes in US politics. I recommend Mr. Obama to visit Iranian modern history especially the part that relates to President Khatami. Believe it or not, the last 30 years of Iranian modern history resembles much of US 200 years of existence. Mr. Khatami came with a broad message of hope and change>>>

Waiting for an Ordinary Day

My first glimpses of Baghdad are burned deep into memory, as if they belong to a vanished place. Palm groves swish in a soft autumn breeze, as the muddy waters of the Tigris River stream through the city. The green riverbank is lined with shabby fish restaurants, and the skyline is dotted with an architectural variety of marble palaces, blue-domed mosques, gigantic statues made of steel, colonial houses with engraved balconies, and multistory, seventies-style office buildings. The roads, wide and well paved, are jammed with cars. In a crowded market, peddlers push wooden carts full of fruit and fresh herbs, and a bookstore is stocked with old translated copies of Russian literature and Shakespeare’s poetry>>>

ترکمنچای دوم

هدف از مذاکرات بین کشورهای همجوار دریای خزر تقلیل سهم ایران در دریای خزر از 50% طبق قرارداد 1940 به 11% می باشد. درصورت موفقیت این مذاکرات تمامیت ارضی ایران دوباره خدشه دار خواهد شد و ضررات ناشی از آن به مراتب سهمگین تر از قراردادهای ننگین گلستان و ترکمانچای خواهد بود. زیرا که در کل 11% سهمی که برای ایران در نظر گرفته شده منابع نفتی وجود ندارد و در نتیجه عقد قرارداد جدید دست ایران از تمام منابع عظیم خزر کوتاه خواهد شد. دو مقاله زیر تفسیری در این مورد به کوشش تیمسار آریان پور و آقای سازگارا می باشد که مکمل یکدیگر می باشند. مقاله آقای سازگارا موقعیت فعلی را ترسیم می کند و مقاله تیمسار آریان پور تاریخچه خزر و موقعیت آن در دوره پهلوی را. آمار ارائه شده تکان دهنده هستند. اگر دست روی دست بگذاریم و از این فاجعه جلوگیری نکنیم عواقب آن دامنگیر چندین نسل آینده خواهد بود. متاسفانه اکثر ایرانیان از این خطر آگاه نیستند.>>>

چکامه ی روشن آشیانه

همگان گفتند:
شاید که مرا
درنگ ِ این سروده
به آشیانه ی اشتیاق ام
مگر نشانه ی روشنی گردد،
و من رفتم
از پی آن چکامه ی شاد و
آن دگر همزاد ِ آینه. >>>

Time will tell

Barack Hussein Obama has "proven the impossible," or so the saying goes among people who just two weeks ago were swearing up and down that "America will never elect a black man President." Within foreign policy circles, the conventional wisdom of all the pundits is that people in the Middle East are so racist, or have such a low perception of the American people, that they will be "shocked and awed" by the selection of a black man to the point of capitulation and cooperation with America. That is wishful thinking for the most part. I don't think the race issue is or has ever been nearly as extraordinary a factor with the developing world as it is with the developed one. For decades now the rest of the world has seen many diverse faces representing America>>>

This moment in history

Congratulations to all for witnessing one of the most historic moments of our lives. Obama's victory was not just an American victory, it was a victory for all nations. It gives hope and inspiration to all human beings around the globe and it brings back our belief in the future, that good, common sense, and the notion that we are "our brother's keeper," as Obama so brilliantly kept saying during his campaign, prevails over self-serving greed that has consumed the human race in the last decade. In my opinion there have been many heroes during this race, those who have brought us inspiring moments, demonstrating grace, human decency, and above all, unity for the good of all in the midst of all the chaos and the dirty political race to the top. I can never forget Hillary Clinton's concession speech and her grace and complete selflessness in her support for the under dog who came from the back and beat her in the race of her life. And then that of Bill's>>>