Archive - Jan 2008 - Article

Messing with your mind

The propaganda aimed at social change through creating new norms and values is being directed more and more towards children. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, this new target group was selected in an earlier stage, in the early 1980’s when the new babyboom was old enough to go to school and learn about the values of the Islamic Republic. Schoolbooks had changed, resulting in text books with stories derived from the Qoran, carrying values of martyrdom, submission to Islam, our brotherhood with the Palestinians and last but not least the fight of the good (the Islam) against evil (the West)>>>

مافیای عشق

خورشید که میتابد
پاهایم دراز می شود
در شهر دنیا و میگذرد
از مرز تمدن
با خلخالی از گل بوسه های آدمی
>>>

Hidden cash

The existence of corruption is fundamentally a philosophical problem and has roots in human nature and ethics. Though from a political perspective, this writing is concerned with the percolation of corruption throughout political life. I seek, here, to outline the causes of political corruption, with a focus on Iran. Political corruption is widespread in Iran almost to the proportions of an endemic disease. The modus operandi of Iranian political life requires a recipe of bribery, nepotism, cronyism, secret deals, and financial collusions, among others, camouflaged by the rhetoric and visage of Islamic justice>>>

شاهزاده و گدا

ترجمه قطع جیبی شاهزاده و گدا رابه راحتی در بین کتابهایش پیدا کرد. با دقت زیادی انگار که دعای مقدسی را دارد ورق می زند، صفحات را با واسوس لمس کرد. اولین ترجمه محمد قاضی از شاهزاده و گدا در سال 1333 در آمد و او همان موقع که جوان رشیدی بود کتاب را خرید و آن شب تا آن را تمام نکرد خوابش نبرد. از نتیجه گیری کتاب وحشت کرد، یعنی اینکه کسی شاهزاده و یا گدا می شود فقط یک اتفاق است. آیا همه ما در شخصیت واقعی خود قرار داریم. نکند واقعاً شاهزاده ایم و لی به ظاهر و در اثر سیر حوادث لباس های گدایان را بر تن کرده ایم.>>>

Are we ready for democracy?

If we want to change policy, we have to change the present circumstances, the clichee iranian type. We can change that, by changing the medias attitude. It is us in the west, who have to draw the media´s attention to the, let us call it a fact, that Iranians are Democrats and deserve to be supported. But a fact is something, which needs evidence. Every Iranian can proove and contribute by taking time (5 minutes), just clicking in the survey... I will pass on the results to the media in Germany. Despite the survey naturally may not be representative, it could be seen as a very small step>>>

Three short ones

Some seek truth by soaring the heights,
there where they would become one with the Boundless.
Others seek it plumbing the depths,
there where they would surrender and be Bounded.
And both of these ways are good for a time.
But the Boundless one soon becomes prisoner of his freedom
while the Bounded one in bondage knows little release. >>>

Back to the future?

Kianoosh Sanjari, a human rights activist and an ex-political prisoner himself, demonstrated against the human rights atrocities in Iran by showing his protest in a gathering together with Amnesty International in front of the Norwegian parliament in Oslo on January 12th. It is an alarming fact that the number of death sentences in Iran are on the rise, comparing 177 death sentences by hanging in 2006 to 298 in 2007. Not only is there a rise in the number of death penalties, there also seems to be more cases of “alternative penalties” like amputating limbs or pushing people off cliffs>>>

At what price?

Dear Mr. Taheri, and alike, we know that you, like all of us here in the west, have to earn a living and pay rent -- but at what price? You are willing to provoke conflicts where there are none with consequent bloodshedding just because you are against the present regime in Iran? Maybe, we Iranians of the diaspora that earn a living by legitimate means and working our asses of to make ends meet, should also set aside a fund where we can contribute to these has-beens so that maybe they will not commit these stupidities and just sit at home and SHUT UP>>>

For your next president

As the California primary comes closer, it is incumbent that our Iranian-American community come show up at the election polls and vote for a candidate which takes a stance against military confrontation with Iran. Unfortunately, many of the Republican and some Democratic candidates have not taken this position and continue to leave the military option on the table. It is important for us as Iranian-Americans to vote in the California Primary, given that it is the state with the largest number of delegates and the state most likely to determine the next US President>>>

هشت قدم

همان گونه که داشتن معیارهای معتبرمی تواند موجب برگزیدن همسری دلخواه و برخورداری از یک زندگی آرامش بخش بشود، نداشتن معیار گزینش می تواند در مورد انتخاب همسر به حسرت و پشیمانی بیانجامد ، می دانیم که اگربرای بدست آوردن چیزی هزاران تلاش کنیم ولی ندانیم آن چیز چیست و چه مشخصاتی دارد، هرگز بدان دست نمی یابیم. حتی اگرهم بفرض محال پیدایش کنیم آن را نخواهیم شناخت. بنابراین باید دقیقا بدانیم چه می خواهیم تا دچار سرگردانی و اشتباه نشویم.>>>

Claim

They say there is nothing like the wind

to tempt you away from here.

They say abandon your ways

haven't you had enough of fear?

>>>

Defying conventional wisdom

I just returned to the United Stats from an exciting short trip to Iran. One thing that grabs your attention more than anything else when you travel to the major cities in Iran is overcrowding, best displayed by chaotic traffic and the proliferation of residential high-rises. Almost everyone complains about this social evil and how the presence of others in big cities like Tehran has made his or her life miserable and how other people do not deserve to live in Tehran>>>

Caramius

Yea…I remember it well. I had wished for him ever since I was incarnated onto earth 68 000 years ago for the first time. But his conception by the ‘Holy’ took a long time and his essence took even a longer time to take form. Caramius was born at the break…at the break of the first light. Just like myself and just about this time. I can still see the flashes and the absolute light surrounding everything. I am not talking about the kind of light that the sun produces…no…it was another kind of light. It had substance…the light was heavy…it had warmth…it even had a smell>>>

Never mind the bomb

The irrefutable fact is that the Jihadist belief of Islam itself poses existential danger to the world. Beliefs energize and direct actions. Beliefs are as indispensable as the air we breathe. Even an atheist is a believer, with his own system of disbelief. Not believing in anything is mental breakdown. There is something about humans that demands a belief. A belief can be anything or a combination of many things; it can be well-defined and even rigid, or a loosely put together hodge-podge with considerable latitude>>>

Secret Words

Tell me the secret words

The big worlds of walls, people, a desk in a small room

Life hanging from a thread called time

So fragile, so lost

Ticking away your thoughts

Tell me before I go >>>