Archive - Jul 2008 - Article

Messiah

A millinium has passed
and another and
another,
no Saoshyant has arrived.
Mahdi won’t arrive either.
By the Jewish account Jesus will come to save the Jews
Or
By the Christian account he will come to end the Judaism. >>>

در باب نشئه پرانی

در عالم هپروت بودم که شبکه خبری سی-ان-ان اعلام کرد و نشان داد که ایران مجدداً چند تا از آن موشکهای دونبش را هوا کرده و یک دسته خر به این گنده گی از زمین بلند میشه و مثل علی ورجه دور خودش میچرخه و چه بسا صد متر آنطرف ترتلپی میافته روی زمین و بادش در میره! اونا که بقیه ویدیورو نشون نمیدن که آخه این موشک آخرش کجا میافته و ما باید هی مجسم کنیم که این موشک حالا حالا ها داره میره، خوب همین هم خودش یک تفریحی است ودر افکارمان از روی لرستان پرواز میکنیم، سفری هم از بالا روی نجف اشرف میکنیم وزیارت اهل قبور و بطرف اسرائیل میرویم وسواحل مدیترانه را مفتی میبینیم، تا حدودی هم مسکن و خواب آورست و حالا اگر عَرَق نکنیم و تبمان نبرد، لااقل عِرق ملی مان بجریان میافتد و کم کم بخواب شیرینی فرو میرویم. >>>

Not just about women

Mainstream feminists who promote the foreign policies of Western Patriarchy, should understand that there are Iranian women who identify strongly with the second Carmen. Their experience of oppression as the first Carmen works only to amplify their sympathy for the other Carmen. So they will not welcome anyone who regards their culture the way Bizet’s 19^th century audience may have viewed his gypsy woman: irresponsible, uncivilized, futureless, and deadly. These women have already peeled away the practical and ideological justifications for the US drive for hegemony—oil and freedom—to find nothing but the mad Don Jose standing over them with a knife. >>>

Mossadegh

"Wait," the young man said. He was Iranian and he had told the girl, who was American, that he was Iranian and not Persian. They had kissed once and then he'd stopped.
"I have to tell you about Mossadegh."
"What?"
"Not what, who. Mossadegh was a man. He was the prime minister of Iran in 1953. He was overthrown by an American coup. I have to tell you about him because I shouldn't be the only one thinking about him when we kiss." >>>

New age martyr

This day, on 9 July 1850, at noon, the Bab was put to death by firing squad in the public square of Tabriz, Iran. Six years earlier, He had declared that He was a messenger of God whose mission was to prepare the way for the imminent arrival of the Promised One of all religions who would come to establish a new age of peace and prosperity in the world. In 1863, Baha’u’llah announced publicly that He was that Promised One. The Bab attracted tens of thousands of people to His teachings, thousands of whom were killed in persecutions that swept Iran>>>

Show common sense

It was with great dismay that I, and many of my fellow Iranians in Iran and abroad, learnt of the regrettably widespread support by you in the U.S Congress, for the Resolution HR 362. This resolution which imposes a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to stop all shipment of refined petroleum products from reaching Iran and to inspect all vessels approaching or leaving Iran, is an act of war waged on our country and the Iranian nation. If passed, this resolution, would be yet another instance in a chain of flagrant violations of international law committed by the US and a war crime under the United Nations Convention on Genocide>>>

Opposite ends

In the late 1970's, Iran and Spain stood close to each other on the world’s stage. They both had struggling monarchies with a legacy of over 30 years of dictatorship. They both had gross national products of about $50 Bn. And, they both had populations of about 40 Million. Both countries enjoyed a long history of royalty, and they had both suffered an invasion by the expanding Islamic empire over 500 years ago. This past week I witnessed Spain’s triumphant Soccer (Futbol) team beat Germany in the Finals of the Eufa Cup. And on Sunday, it was Spain’s Rafael Nadal crowned Wimbledon’s Mens Tennis Champion, beating Roger Federer. And all this right after Spain’s Sergio Garcia was named the PGA tour’s (golf) players’ champion>>>

Little Lambs

The blinding lights of the bullet from the soldier’s bayoneted rifle knocked me out of consciousness and, my face dropping on the wet asphalt thinly covered by falling snow, I could instantly taste the blood dripping from my head to my mouth and then my ears registered the second blast that hit Majid in the eye killing him instantly. A moment earlier we were writing a silly graffiti on the school’s wall, long live live Pars Team, zendeh bad Pars, taking the risk of getting caught by the soldiers enforcing the curfew, or not thinking about it at all, this after Majid questioned my bravery while we were playing cards and I made a bet on his playboy magazine that I could do it>>>

ای بخارا، شادزی!

حضرت امیر نصربن سامانی در "زایشگاه" نشسته و دارد زور می زند تا "تولید مثل" کند. در همین لحظه چشمش به آفتابه ی طلای پیش رویش می افتد. متوجه شعری حک شده روی آفتابه می شود. ناگهان خم می شود تا نوشته را بخواند، همین خم شدن باعث فشار روی عضلات شکم امیر می شود و حضرت در لحظه، "فارغ" می شود. همین امر باعث مسرت خاطر امیر می شود. دنبال اسم شاعر می گردد، اما این بی ذوقان "دستمالچی"، نام شاعر را روی آفتابه ننوشته اند. امیر از همانجا یکی از خدمه را صدا می زند و امر می کند تا برود و نام شاعر را بپرسد. آن بنده ی خدا هم سراسیمه به خدمت وزیر و وکیل می رود تا بالاخره نام شاعر "شعر آفتابه ی طلا" را پیدا می کند و فوری به خدمت امیر می رسد و نام را به سمع مبارک می رساند.>>>

Old Jerusalem and beyond

When I first entered through one of the city gates into Old Jerusalem I found myself squeezed amongst hundreds of people each holding an unlit candle, politely pushing and shoving each other to get to a particular spot in The City. With great difficulty I managed to squeeze my way through the narrow walkways and escaped through an opening where I encountered hundreds more waiting eagerly for something spectacular to happen. With a big question mark dangling over my head I surveyed the crowd looking for clues. After a few queries my ignorance of the reason for the public congregation was quickly abolished. The upcoming event was related to the day of the week>>>

From Empire With Love

James Bond is arguably the mother of all ‎on-screen celebrations of white, European ‎masculinity. More than two billion people – ‎two fifths of the world's population – have ‎watched a 007 film. Only Tarzan or Indiana ‎Jones might rival his stature. For Your ‎Eyes Only: Ian Fleming And James Bond – the ‎exhibition currently running at London's ‎Imperial War Museum – sets out to outline ‎the relationship between the fictional ‎secret agent and the man who created him, ‎Ian Fleming.‎ Fleming (pictured) was born to a wealthy Scottish ‎banking family. He went to the elite school Eton and then the military training academy ‎Sandhurst. His father Valentine Fleming, an ‎aristocratic MP, was killed in 1917, ‎serving in the same unit as Winston ‎Churchill in World War I. Peter, Ian's ‎older brother, was handed the mantle of ‎family patriarch>>>

Axis of change

With Israel rehearsing an attack on Iran and the Bush administration considering the alternative of a low-level diplomatic mission in Tehran, it is necessary to revisit your June 4th speech to the AIPAC convention in Washington. In that address, you denounced the Iraq War as a conflict which strengthened Iran and asserted that Iran has always constituted a greater threat to Israel than Iraq. You stated that Iran now constitutes the greatest challenge in the region. You even asserted that Iran is part of a “tyranny of oil” in which the high price of oil is “one of the most dangerous weapons in the world” because petro-dollars abet the killing of Israeli civilians and American soldiers. In so doing, you are taking an easy road to “toughness” on national security issues that still allows you to trumpet your opposition to a war that is now overwhelmingly unpopular>>>

Please don’t nuke us!

By now I’m sure you’ve all seen Voices for Peace: Fifty Iranian-Americans Promoting Peace with Iran. Perhaps the idea behind it was decent enough. And maybe, at the end of the day, having it is better than not. And yet, as a fellow Iranian (ixnay the American), there were many things that made me uncomfortable. I do not think it is prudent at the moment to promote the idea of: “don’t attack Iran”. While many of us are extremely worried, publicly, we should promote the idea of direct, unconditional requests for talk with Iran. Lest we forget, she too remains a sovereign nation and has the right to decide when and if she wants to open her doors>>>

Epiphany

Uprooted
from Persian gardens
of my dawning bed,
I was a cypress tree replanted
in eternal ice of Montreal, muttering
Gilles Vigneault’s "Les gens de mon pays"
for the saffron sun, sidewalk café sitting
in summer’s shade, reading my mother’s
letter from Tehran >>>

Making music, not war

On Saturday, June 28, when the fear of looming war against Iran was on the rise, here, in Prague, Iranian and Israeli musicians came together to perform in a warm and memorable concert in a prestigious and the oldest Czech world music festival, Respect, in a Woodstockesque flavor and atmosphere. Saeed Shanbehzadeh, a maestro of Ney-Anban (or as we call it in southern Iran: Ney-Anbooneh), after an hour of playing Bushehri ethnic music together with his 15 year old son Nagheeb, a very skilled drummer and percussionist, invited two Israeli percussionists participating in the festival to join them and let the people listen to an improvisation>>>