Archive - 2008 - Article

شارلاتانیزم

بار دیگر خداوند , به عنوان حامی حزب جمهوریخواه امریکا, در انتخابات ریاست جمهوری امریکا ایفای نقش می کند. واین بار در هیبت الهام بخش , راهنما و راه گشای بانوی زیبایی که ادعا می کند با ایشان , یعنی با خدا رابطه دارد , بانویی که جنگ را خواست خدا , و قوانین غیردموکراتیک را رحمت الهی می پندارد. سناتور جان مک کین کاندید ریاست جمهوری حزب جمهوری خواه امریکا - که بطور مستقیم در کشتار غیر نظامیان بی پناه و بی گناه ویتنام شرکت داشت - با انتخاب این بانو نشان داد که برای کسب آرای بیشتر و در راه کسب قدرت سیاسی , به راحتی برای آن تک و توک شعار و ژست دموکراتیک اش فاتحه خواهد خواند . >>>

Diaries & Jallad

K. was thinking about Wednesdays, caught in the middle with little or no respite, nearly always a working day, without any one questioning why weekends should always get the big breaks, then wondered if the predicament of Tuesdays or Thursdays was any better and answered yes, since Tuesdays were like Mondays fresh with work spirit and Thursdays bound up with the excitement of weekends breathing at their neck, and yet, the moment he remembered Jalil’s voice informing him recently that as of late Thursdays were being treated in government offices as an extension of Fridays, i.e., a longer weekend, he quickly shelved any comparison of poor lonely Wednesdays and Thursdays. It was past 7 pm and he was sitting across the table from Dr. Assadi at his small office on the second floor overlooking the yard where a trickle of patients were still milling about.>>>

Mother of all troubles

After the production of oil as a cheaper and commercial source for producing light started by drilling wells in North America during 1800’s, oil quickly grew to become one of the most important issues in the internal affairs of most nations as well as international relations. Later, discovery of electric power to produce light in United States forced the oil industry to look for other areas of consumption while drive for finding new oil resources had taken over the whole nation. Invention of gas burning engine to run a vehicle solved the most important problem which oil industry was facing in its toddler years and made it possible for this industry to continue growing in more rapid manner and generate more profit for the owners. This meant heavy competition and rivalry in the capitalist world>>>

بابا

راجع به مرده‌شور و مرده‌شورخانه از بچگی زیاد شنیده بودم. انواع و اقسام نفرین‌ها در ارتباط با این محل مثل: مرده شورتو ببرن! الهی رو سنگ مرده‌شورخونه ببینتم! الهی خودم مرده‌تو بشورم! مرده شوووور!... ولی هیچ وقت وصال دیدن این محل خوشبختانه نصیبم نشده بود و حالا میدیدم. همون سنگ معروف را که مرده را روش میزارن و میشورن را حالا میدیدم . خلاصه بابا را گذاشتن روی اون سکوی سنگی. ظاهرا همراهان میّت اجازه دارند در محل حظور داشته و ناظر مراسم باشند (البته غیرازخانم‌ها در بخش مردان و بالعکس). هیچوقت در عمرم مرده ندیده بودم. اصلاً دل دیدن یک چنین صحنه‌هایی را ندارم و هیچوقت فکر نمی‌کردم بتونم چنین صحنه‌ای را ببینم و بایستم به تماشا.>>>

An Invitation

There are many ways to live
But surely one of the best must be
To search out the art of living
Contemplating truth and beauty
To retire to the society of the wise
To take time for philosophy
If you permit me, I would say
This alone is to live, and to live well >>>

Optimistic future

John Limbert is a former American hostage. He is also one of several former hostages who have spoken out arguing that the US should engage in negotiations with Iran. John and Parvaneh met in Iran in their mid- twenties, got married and had their children in Iran. John Limbert did not just fall in love with an Iranian woman but with the country and its people, though naturally he felt differently after he was taken hostage. John has written numerous articles and a book, “Shiraz in the Age of Hafez: The Glory of a Medieval Persian City” (University Washington Press), which is about the city where he lived, studied and taught>>>

عدم خشونت خوب است، ولی فقط برای ما؟

خیلی جالب است کسانی که تبلیغ مقاومت بدون خشونت را برای ما می‌کنند همان‌هایی هستند که تنها بودجه‌ی ارتش‌شان ده‌ها برابر کل بودجه‌ی کل ما روی هم است. آنها هر وقت پای منافع خودشان باشد کمترین تردیدی در استفاده از وحشیانه‌ترین انواع خشونت (بمب‌های شیمیایی و پلوتونیوم ضعیف‌شده و بمب‌های خوشه‌ای و شکنجه و بازداشت‌های چند ساله‌ی بدون تفهیم اتهام و ...) نمی‌کنند. ولی وقتی به ما می‌رسد یک دفعه همه چیز باید بدون خشونت باشد، چون خشونت مال آدم‌های عقب‌افتاده و بی‌تمدن است. وقتی فوکو می‌گوید سیستم کنترل در جامعه‌ی جدید از شکل‌های قدیمی و آشکار و تنبیهی به کنترل گفتمانی و ماسک‌دار و دیسیپلینی تبدیل شده است دروغ نمی‌گوید. همین گفتمان مسخره‌ی عدم خشونت یکی از همین گفتمان‌های دیسیپلین یا تادیب کننده است.>>>

But, why?

The collaboration of various sectors of society with the centers of power and the religious authorities can be attributed to ignorance, and one could say that every society has its share of ignorant individuals, who are used and exploited by influential and powerful elements or its ecclesiastic orders. But what about the group that calls itself progressive, intelligent, on the intellectual vanguard, supporter of the people, and such names, and its claim to moral authority has filled every ear? Should we close our eyes to the truth that almost every political organization, whether on the left or the right, religious or secular, nationalistic or otherwise, in the most self-serving way have colluded in this suppression? >>>

Dream On

I take my prayers and start
To kneed them into creamy dreams
And from that rich texture
I will sing encapsulating songs from the void in my heart
To wrap them into bitter sweets
Then I wakefully task myself again
To taking these dreams and with them
Create a hammock that sieves my anger -into singing daffodils >>>

In Iranian eyes

The findings of the WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO) and Terror Free Tomorrow (TFT) surveys offer two messages to those wanting to see change in Iran's policies: (1) Iranians want their government to talk with the U.S. about specific issues and approve of their government's making policy concessions on both regional issues and its nuclear program in order to achieve normalized relations with the U.S. (2) At the same time, Iranians are relatively content with their government's responsiveness to their needs. The shortcomings many Iranians perceive in their economy are not widely blamed on President Ahmadinejad's government. While most Iranians reject the idea of a religious autocracy, most are not unhappy with the way they see their leaders being chosen and governing the country>>>

The Iran I saw

As painful as it may seem to the nearly three million expatriate Iranians in Diaspora and their few million brethrens, highly educated westernized elites and technocrats inside Iran, there are independent studies that if a national referendum were to be held in Iran today that the majority of the people, against their own long-term interests and without their cognizance, would still cast their ballots in favor of retaining the current Islamic Republic, perhaps with some in-house reforms. When the conditions are ripened for a fundamental political change, as history has repeatedly indicated-the case in point is the overthrow of the Pahlavi Dynasty- a society would rise to rid itself of the incumbent system, irrespective of the hitherto harsh repressive measures imposed on it>>>

Welcome to London! Just kidding.

A few weeks ago I returned from close to four months of fieldwork in Iran conducting research for my doctoral thesis. However, I and the 460 other IranAir passengers were caught off guard by an unwelcome greeting from UK immigration officers. As we set foot off the airplane, our passports were checked, an experience I have never had flying in from other countries. Having just spent hours in Imam Khomeini airport, I was witness to the thorough and professional examination of passports and Visas; thus, I could not understand the logic behind this act except harassment of those who decide to fly with IranAir. >>>

حرکت بیباکانۀ پوتین

آیا روسیه ، با یک ارتش دو میلیونی ، تکنولوژیِ پیشرفته نظامی-فضائی و هزاران بمب اتمی قصد دارد گرجستان را ببلعد؟ آیا پوتین همانند استالین ، می خواهد گرجستان را زیر چکمه هایش خُرد کرده و به بقیۀ جمهوری های جداشده از اتحاد جماهیر شوروی ، پیامی بفرستد؟ آیا پوتین از اینکه آمریکا از یک طرف گرفتار جنگِ عراق و افغانستان و از طرف دیگر در یک بحران شدید اقتصادی دست و پا میزند ، فرصت را برای اعمال نفوذ مناسب یافته است؟ با اتکا به تفسیر متخصصین آمریکائیِ جمهوری های جدا شده از روسیه شوروی ، علت اصلی درگیری آمریکا و روسیه در گرجستان ، انرژی (نفت و گاز) کشورهای همجوار دریای خزر می باشد و در این رودر روئی ، پوتین موفق شده که بوش را مات کند. >>>

No hero

The Republican presidential candidate John Sidney McCain III is a con man. The term “con man” comes from “confidence man,” an individual who swindles his victim by first gaining the mark’s trust. Having nothing to do with the word convict, a prisoner, nowadays, the term “con man” refers to anyone who is all about deceit and lies, it is about passing fiction for reality, or inventing a myth to bolster one’s image. John McCain is a “con man” extraordinaire: his Vietnam War legacy as accepted by supporters, the media and even his sheepish opponents is not what it seems. McCain fancies himself as war hero. His supporters do not waste any moment to remind the public that he was an ex-POW (prisoner of war), who spent time at the “Hanoi Hilton,” the infamous Hoa Lo Prison, where the North Vietnamese held the American prisoners of war>>>

Smart choice

McCain's choice for VP was a very smart move. This presidential campaign will be something to remember and something quite interesting for future political advisors and analysts to ponder about. What Mr McCain did was to borrow almost everything Mr Obama was successful with, without giving up any of what he already had. McCain was known for a few things, whether true or not! He was, and is, quite an old man, a white Christian, which bodes well with most Americans (who are also white Christians), a known maverick among the Republicans and somebody who has some strong principles (sometimes more conservative, other times more liberal), and he usually acts according to those principles. He didn't have Obama's youth, and Obama's slogan of change, and these two went together>>>