Archive - May 2008 - Article

كاتوليك‌هاي ديروز، مسلمانان امروز

سه سال قبل كاتوليك‌هاي آمريكايي براي انتخاب پاپي دعا مي‌كردند كه مدرن ستيز نباشد و به نص و روح اصول مصوبه در شوراي دوم واتيكان (سال 1965) وفادار باشد. مثلي است كه مي‌گويند خداوند همه دعا‌ها را مي‌شنود ولي بعضي اوقات جواب حضرت باري <نه> است. مسلمانان در آن روزها دستي به دعا نداشتند، ولي شايد بهتر بود آنها هم دعا مي‌كردند.به‌محض اينكه كاردينال راتزينگر سابق <تيارا>ي رهبري كاتوليك‌هاي جهان را بر سر گذاشت، اسقف مايكل فيتز جرالد كه از سوي پاپ جان پل دوم مسوول گفتمان با مسلمانان بود با تقليل منصب به‌كار ديگري گمارده شد و راهبان فرانسيسكن از مذاكراتشان با مسلمانان منع شدند. پنج ماه بعد در دانشگاه ريگنزبرگ پاپ بنديكت شانزدهم اسلا‌م را مستقيما مورد حمله قرار داد.>>>

Do you feel it?

When I look intently at my black and white picture on my high school diploma, I realize how the passage of time has taken its toll on me. I remember when I was a kid, any time I did something nice for older people; they wished me to get old, elahi peer beshi. Now, that prayer has been almost answered and I am getting older. But believe me it is not much fun to get old. An aged man is like an old car, out of warranty with not much horse power, going up the hill and breathing rapidly but hardly. The pace of life becomes slower and slower with age. The only thing that is easier to do when you are older is waiting>>>

Paris catacombs

Underneath Paris
There is a network of subterranean
Chambers and passages
Extending hundreds of kilometers
From the Roman-era
Near the end of the 18th century
When real estate was scarce
While the cemeteries were full
Some of the quarries
Converted into a mass tomb >>>

Force-feeding freedom?

dictatorship is a survival tactic for a society. A nation under siege acts exactly like a human body under viral/bacterial attack. When you get sick your movements become minimal, you try to conserve as much energy as possible, you focus on your pain and sufferings so you don’t pay attention as much to your surroundings, and you do many other weird things that you would not normally do. A society under a dictatorial regime is a human body on antibiotics. The free movements in thoughts become minimal, the enemy becomes on the center of focus not the society, and everything gets orchestrated by one person or a group of people in order to conserve energy>>>

نه ادوارد سعید! نه برنارد لوئیس!

هنگامی که در سال 1993 به دانشگاه UCLA بازگشتم تا در رشته ی "زبان ها و فرهنگ های خاور نزدیک" درس بخوانم، نظریات پسااستعمارگرایی و بویژه پسانوگرایی باب روز بود، اما من به هیچ یک کششی نداشتم. تجربه ی انقلاب ایران به من درس هایی داده بود که عبارت پردازی های ضد غربی و ضد روشنگری را برایم بی اثر می کرد. هیچگاه از یاد نمی برم یک بار هانس پیتر اشمیت1 استاد آلمانی زبان پهلوی ام نظر مرا راجع به کتاب "خاورشناسی" ادوارد سعید2 جویا شد. میدانستم که او شش سال در هندوستان زندگی کرده تا کاری را که آبراهام آنکتیل د پرون3 فرانسوی، راسموس کریستین راسک4 دانمارکی، ویلیام جونز5 انگلیسی، ابراهیم پورداوود ایرانی و بسیاری دیگر آغاز کردند ادامه بدهد. آن روز برای اولین بار با او از تجربه ی خود در انقلاب ایران سخن گفتم.>>>

خليفه ای ايستاده، پشت به نام های بزرگ

آيت الله خامنه ای در ديداری از فارس و با اشاره به تخت جمشيد سخنانی گفته اند که دليل بسياری از وقايعی را که در طول چندين سال گذشته در ارتباط با ميراث های تاريخی و فرهنگي و طبيعی ما پيش آمده کاملاً روشن می کند. با سخنان ايشان اکنون ديگر به شکلی کاملاً مستند می شود گفت که دولت و حکومتی که زير نظر و تحت کنترل ايشان است نه از روی عدم مديريت، و نه از روی اشتباه و ندانم کاری، بلکه با برنامه ای حساب شده و به طور کاملاً عمدی به نابود سازی گذشته ی فرهنگي و تاريخی ما برخاسته است، چنان که به قول آقای بهشتی، يکی از مسئولين سابق سازمان ميراث فرهنگي، «در ده سال گذشته بيش از هزار سال تخريب انجام شده است». >>>

Democracy for all?

Paul E. Erdman’s colossal #1 bestseller novel -- The Crash of 79 -- was published in 1976 while the recent fuel crisis was very fresh in Western memories. It was an exciting novel, translating complex world monetary and economical issues into simple language for every reader to understand. Using real life personalities, as well as current affairs of the time, it made its message convincing and even made the false portray depicted by the Western propaganda machinery of the Shah of Iran during the 1970’s, more plausible. Nevertheless this calamitous prophecy written three decades ago has never been more pertinent than today>>>

Abadani girl goes back home

It seemed like I had waited for eternity, but March 13 finally arrived. This would be my second trip to Iran in nearly 25 years. I spent the entire year working and cut off all my social and cultural activities because I was too busy. During 2007, I only attended two very small gatherings and two weddings and I was perfectly fine. Unlike last year, this year I had reasons, beyond my control, to be afraid of going to Iran. I am too old to change, have no fear and figured if I got held up, I would just deal with it>>>

To keep it the Persian Gulf

This website, and many other Iranian ones, have for some time already been inundated by blogs and threads about a possible danger, the danger that the name for the gulf that is located in the Middle East, south of Iran, to be named Arabian Gulf, from its historical name of Persian Gulf. The concern is indeed genuine, and I quite agree with it. Many changes in this world, especially in the world of mass communications, democracy, lobby etc, take place not necessarily because the change is right, but because the change is well promoted, propagated and sustained. So, the Iranian community is doing its right bit to take preventive actions against the possibility of this name change, in the future>>>

Oldest oil painting?

Researchers have discovered what is believed to be the first use of oil painting at Bamyan in Afghanistan, (part of Persian Empire at the time of painting) predating European oil painting by some six centuries. After the destruction of the Buddhas, 50 caves were revealed. In 12 of the caves, wall paintings were discovered. In December 2004, Japanese researchers discovered that the wall paintings at Bamyan were actually painted between the fifth and the ninth centuries, rather than the sixth to eighth centuries as previously believed>>>

The Spider Killings (19)

Roxanne was smoking her fifth cigarette of the night, leaning against one of the side doors at the police station, which opened into a narrow side street. With Majid’s whereabouts unknown, she did not feel safe enough at her hotel and had asked Ramin to allow her to hang out with him. The memory of Majid holding her daughter’s photograph threateningly would not have allowed her to go to sleep anyway. Thank god she had been able to reach Manou to take the necessary precautions. He had taken Setareh with him to shomaal, to the popular seaside resort that lay to the north of Tehran, where nobody would know they were>>>

سی و پنجمین سال

سی و پنج سال پیش دولت وقت ایران بعد از یکسری جلسات و صحبتهای اولیه به دکتر احسان یارشاطر استاد آنزمان دانشگاه ماموریت داد تا تدوین و گردآوری دانشنامه کامل و مدونی را در باره ایران شروع کند. کار در ایران شروع شد وتا چهار سال بعد و تا زمان وقوع انقلاب در ایران کار با بودجه دولت ایران ادامه یافت . پس از انقلاب و با قطع شدن بودجه مربوطه مشکلات بزرگی در سرراه تهیه این دانشنامه قرار گرفت . سرانجام کار به بخش ایرانشناسی دانشگاه کلمبیا منتقل شد و بدون کمکهای مالی دو دولت (دولت آمریکا و ایران) و تنها با کمکهای سازمانهای غیرانتفاعی – موسسات پژوهشی و افراد خیر کار تا به امروز ادامه یافت. کاری بزرگ و در عین حال طاقت فرسا که اگر استقامت و پایمردی پرفسور یارشاطر نبود هیچگاه به انجام نمی رسید >>>

«پرسپوليس»، ساتراپی

اما تأثیر مخرب فیلم در نگاه ساتراپی به مردم «عادی» دور و برش نیست؛ بلکه در نگاه گزینشی و مطلق‌گرای او به هر کسی‌ست که «خودی» (یعنی دوست یا فامیل ساتراپی) نیست. مثلا تظاهرکنندگان ضد شاه در زمان انقلاب یا سربازان ایرانی در جنگ عراق، از دید بصری، سراپا سیاه و بی‌صورت‌اند، بدون کوچک‌ترین نقطه‌ی سفید. ولی از این بدتر تصویر کاملا اهریمنی و غیرانسانی‌ست که ساتراپی از هر کسی که به شکلی به حکومت «سیاه» جمهوری اسلامی ربط دارد می‌دهد: آدم‌هایی با حداقل ممکن فضای سفید در فیگورشان، زنانی چادری و اخمو با صور‌ت‌هایی عین همدیگر و مردانی ریشو و اخمو، همه با اسلحه و باز هم همه دقیقا شکل همدیگر. >>>

My Disastrous Date Last Night

This is not going to happen again. I am not going to log on to any dating site as long as I live. After months of research, I finally met a seemingly nice person on line. I made sure to get to know all about her and her family. After over six months of day and night chatting, I knew what she liked and what she disliked. Which primary and secondary schools she attended and from which college she graduated. I knew what books she read and what movies she watched. I was sure I knew her like the back of my hand. So ten days ago I asked her if she would have dinner with me. Last night was our first date>>>

The Theater of War

Fields of battle throughout history where men had fought and died had culminated in the beautiful sand dunes of the Presidio of San Francisco serving as the theater of war for a group of students from Presidio Hill School, and the young man who had brought them there thought that that must have often been the case - that even the sight of the bay in the distance added to the spirit of battle for its participants, rather than contrasted with it. Each group had probably believed that nature was on its side, and nature hadn't been able to tell anyone that it wasn't on either side, or at the least it was on both sides, but most of all it was on the side of those who had laid down their arms, or had never picked them up in the first place. They were the ones most in need of something on their side anyway>>>