Archive - 2008 - Article

Diaries & Jallad

In the morning, K. woke up to the warmth of pleasant sunshine; a few minutes chat with his mother (who was resting her back on the living room sofa with a book of prayer, mafatih-ol jenah, to her side and sounded ill), and then after a lonely breakfast, consisting of tea, bread and cheese, he showered for about ten minutes, far less than usual. It was a small part of his new design for life to which he had woken up: to listen to the serpent-like, discordant, shriveling voices of the anti-writing self in him for once and do something different, at least for a day or two; rejected the notion of even a small indulgence by writing a postcard to his sister in Europe; was prepared for more powerful tests in the near future, tests that would agitate his determination to restore whatever equilibrium he had lost in life. He lay down on the bed naked and stared at the ceiling, breathing deeply>>>

Things Not Talked About

there is something else strange going on. We all know there’s a consensus among leaders and the media to not talk about certain things: labor movements, anti-war and anti-nuclear power demonstrations, the privatization of natural resources and local utilities, and resistance thereunto. Bosses everywhere are for privatization and against popular movements, and media everywhere either belong to the bosses or operate at their sufferance, so it’s not surprising they don’t cover these subjects. Media don’t cover what the bosses want kept quiet. This is so well known that to learn what the ruling class fears and suppresses, you only have to learn what isn’t broadcast. Would you have guessed that the media don’t talk about torture? >>>

Can I go? Can I come back?

I am sure that you believe in this massage and hope you consider my tragic situation. I know you receive tons of emails each day and you may be very busy at the moment to continue reading my email. But, I hope you take a few minutes and read this email to the end. Your time is greatly appreciated. I am an Iranian woman, perusing my Ph.D at Brown University. I came to this country 7 years a go hoping for a better education and future which was denied to me in my home country... Not long a go, my mother, whom I have not seen for 7 years was diagnosed with cancer. I was devastated hearing the news but again, did not go back to Iran hoping and praying that through chemotherapy she can overcome it>>>

به همين سادگي

مدير سايت خبري پويا نيوز ابوالفضل جهاندار، عضو سابق انجمن اسلامي دانشگاه علامه طباطبايي و عضو شوراي ‏عمومي دفتر تحکيم وحدت در دومين سالگرد زنداني شدنش، در نامه اي از درون زندان اوين که آن جا را "ميعادگاه ‏عاشقان ايران زمين" خوانده نوشته است‎:‎‏ "نه سلطان شکرم نه سلطان آهن و سيمان، نه اسکله قاچاق داشتم، نه‎ ‎گوشت ‏آلوده وارد کردم، نه رشوه دادم، نه اختلاس کردم، نه قاچاقچي کالا‎ ‎و ارز، نه توي خانه ام اسناد طبقه بندي شده و ‏محرمانه داشتم، نه‏‎ ‎جوانهاي مملکت را آلوده به چيزي کردم‏‎.‎‏"‏ وي ادعا کرده که اگر اتهامش هر کدام از اين ها بود با وي "خيلي بهتر برخورد ميشد" و اضافه کرده "شايد به جرم ‏نفرت از اسارت و استبداد بايد اين وضعيت را تحمل‎ ‎کنم، شايد به >>>

Scheherazade's legacy

Meninists are men who recognize and support the principles of women's political, social, and economic equality. Meninist men do not need women, as once Virginia Woolf pointed out, to reflect themselves back to themselves twice as large as they really are. Exit man who, to paraphrase Phyllis Chesler, says, : "Listen, children, here are the facts: Your real Mother is me--your Father!" Enter Scheherazade (Shahrzad) who, to paraphrase Phyllis Chesler, once again, says: "Listen, children, here are the facts: Never will man find a woman as able as willing, to give birth to him again." >>>

Driving American

I first saw America from a silver Buick that called to my mother from a dealership along the New Jersey turnpike. We'd been in this country less than a week and were no more committed to America than to the rental car we'd picked up at the airport. Then she spied the Buick. I imagine something about its width and breadth and the regal redness of its plush interior put her in mind of "Charlie's Angels," a big hit back then and also the inspiration for the fringe she was sporting that year. It was ours that very day.In all the years since, I've wondered about that car and its role in all that happened afterward.>>>

Will America Tolerate China's Rise?

This Olympiad was not that much different, and the medal race approach was simply the passing of the supremacy baton from the United States to China, even if the United States resorted to “its own way” of counting success by giving equal weight to gold, silver and bronze medals, instead of granting the appropriate relevance to the gold as it is done in most of the world. As for the forty billion dollars spent by China preparing for the Olympics, much of it in building superior installations, such sum may seem as politically pretentious and overbearing for a nation still emerging out of a developing world and a population four times that of the United States>>>

The Democratic Republic of Qazvin

Before there was the Internet or even the steam engine and alike, there was a dynasty ruling over Iran, the Qazar dynasty. And there was a nice chap, a king, named Qazanfareddin Shah Qazar, who inherited the kingdom from his father, Mammad Quli Bay Mirza Zulfaqar Oghlu. Times were peaceful, as the neighbouring kingdoms were fighting each other, so Iran was spared the fuss! Qazanfareddin Shah was very thoughtful of his subjects. He always listened to his subjects. He was a good king. He was kind to his subjects, but he could not be kind to all his subjects, so he always tried to have some middle ground, some reasonable approach to handling the affairs of the state>>>

گرگ بیابان

از وقتی امید تصمیم گرفت مینی بوس قسطی بخرد، دل تو دل زنش، الهام نبود. احساس بدی داشت. با وجود آنکه امید هزاران بار نقشه را برایش توضیح داده و گفته بود که با کار سخت می تواند در ظرف حد اکثر 5 سال قسط ماشین را بدهد و آن وقت می شوند ارباب خودشان باز دل تو دلش نبود. اصلاً به دلش برات شده بود که این کار برایشان آمد ندارد. الهام بیشتر ترجیح میداد که امید بر روی ماشین دیگران کار کند و مزد بگیرد. اینجوری فرصت بیشتری داشتند با هم باشند و هر دو بچه از اینکه پدرشان را سرحال میدیدند خوشحال تر بودند. آنها می توانستند شب جمعه ها به منزل مادر بزرگشان بروند و خودشان را برای بزرگترها لوس کنند. امید دیگر تصمیم خود را گرفته بود و شمر هم جلودارش نبود چه برسد به الهام. همه چیز در چشم به هم زدنی انجام یافت و مینی بوس 21 نفره جدید امید خیلی سریع دم در خانه آفتابی شد.>>>

تو دلي

توي دلت مونسم تا به حال گريه كردي ؟
اشكها قظار شده ، پنهان از چشم ديگران كردي؟
گريه با آهي پر از سكوت در دل شب
گريه با حس درد با دل خالي در نيمه شب
گريه ترس و بي هق هقه كنار معشوق
گريه سرد و پر صدا در كنار سكوت درياچه عشق
>>>

The Mindlessness is Total

The Republicans will get us into more wars. Indeed, they live for war. McCain is preaching war for 100 years. For these warmongers, it is like cheering for your home team. Win at all costs. They get a vicarious pleasure out of war. If the US has to tell lies in order to attack countries, what's wrong with that? "If we don't kill them over there, they will kill us over here." The mindlessness is total. Nothing real issues from the American press, which is about demonizing Russia and Iran, about the vice presidential choices as if it matters, about whether Obama being on vacation let McCain score too many points. The mindlessness of the news reflects the mindlessness of the government, for which it is a spokesperson>>>

Can They Come Too?

I live in a dangerously thin, long, and deep stretch of space, which is my identity. I live in America, taking daily pains to practice what I know well—being an Iranian. On good days I think I have the best of both worlds. I am free to live, to be, to think, and to talk, because I am in America. I am surrounded by wonderful friends that Americans are, loving and supportive and respectful of me. I am free to love Iran, to follow its news, and to appreciate its music, poetry, and art, among all the other cultural elements I follow. On bad days, though, I feel lost, belonging to this land never, and belonging to the old world no more. When I lose my balance and fall off my thin stretch of identity, I am lost for I am neither Iranian nor American>>>

My Eastern Promise

As the summer draws to a close, I look back and reflect at how zanily hectic the last few months have been. Probably one of the busiest summers I’ve ever had with visitors flying in out from overseas, my own holidays and business trips and far too many commitments, for a girl to have to juggle! So does that mean that my travelling is coming to an end? (Sigh…) Well not exactly. Having just come back from the South of France, I’m being sent back there for a work event, followed by a few days in Paris, also at an event. But real holiday time, it is not, so the traveller in me remains unsatisfied. I have now decided to venture beyond the safer Euro-destinations and fulfil one of my greatest ambitions… to travel around the Far East as much as possible, or certainly as much as my boss will allow me!>>>

Counter-Narration from the Borderlands

Long before, and especially after 9/11 we have been bombarded with perverted and sinister images and ideas of the Middle East: the region, the peoples, the history, and the cultures. How do people who identify as Middle Eastern realize these images and ideas on which popular consciousness has been built, and how do we understand ourselves with or without them? Whether through the Axis of Evils’ comic relief, Suheir Hammad’s poetics, or the Philistines’ beats and rhymes, Middle Eastern communities have addressed the deep understanding of what it has meant to be Middle Eastern according to imperial eyes in creative and commanding ways.>>>

Diaries & Jallad

"Valley of Lepers," K. whispered under his lips the title of his next story before entering the living room; to his own surprise, he found little difficulty in sitting next to his sister and watching television, perhaps because the content of the program, a round table on urban problems, interested him, or perhaps because he was plain curious about the identity of the female caller, who was hammering in the importance of a rail connection from Shiraz to Isphahan over the proposed national east-west highway system to connect Shiraz not only to Ahwaz but also to Baghdad and Karachi. "This will connect with the existing railway system by the proposed extension from Qom through Yezd, to kerman, to Zahedan, as well as with the existing rail facilities to Karachi," the caller said>>>