Archive - Jan 2009 - Article

Marked Treasure

Eight paces from the gate,
Sixteen paces toward the wall.
Which scroll speaks of this treasure?
Oh, earth!
If only I could feel your pulse
Or make a jug out of your body.
Alas! I'm not a physician.
I'm not a potter.
I am only an heir, deprived >>>

دلتنگی

تار های دلتنگی ام را
بر در غار دوستی می تنم

باور هایم چه عمیق
بااصحاب کهف به خواب رفته اند >>>

Jews Own America

Jews rule America. America may be a Christian country, but the Jews own it. They own all major banks, control the factories and businesses, and run the stock markets. You name it, and the Jews own or run it. The Jews are out to rule the world. They do it by helping each other and show no mercy to non-Jews. With those thoughts deeply drilled in me before leaving Iran for America, imagine my shock as a total stranger Iranian Jew came to my cousin Jamshid and I in the lobby of the YMCA and asked us for help. Ask us two Iranian non-Jewish students to help him with work? We ourselves were desperate trying to find work. And here I was told how Jews own America and how they help their own. What about this guy? Why don’t they help him? Why would he have to come to us for help? >>>

Cause and effect (2)

One of the problems that is more unique to Moslem countries is what you call a segregated labor force; very low Labor Force Participation Rate, or LFPR, for female population and relatively high rate for male. In modern era, economic progress is not possible without dynamic participation of women. While women constitute almost one half of their population, there is no comprehensive and reliable data about female employment and the gainful participation of women in labor force for Moslem countries. In many of them, women are openly barred from playing an active social or economic role or working in certain fields because of religious prohibition or because those fields are traditionally reserved for men only. Some countries like Saudi Arabia have specific legislations about limits and restrictions for female employment>>>

Live with it

As long as we are alive (and alas, many are not), and we still have a functioning mind and heart, and good friends to remind us of that, we can still live a worthy life: Simply absorb the meaning of the characters inscribed on the Tsukubai (water basin) behind the Rock Garden in at the Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto: "I learn to be content". These five words can be understood in different ways, but when I came across them in January, I realized that we, Iranians, got it all wrong when we followed the carpe diem philosophy of Khayyam, when he claimed, a wine cup in one hand and the tresses of his beloved in the other:>>>

احقاق حق

سالها پيش که به ايران سفر کرده بودم، بحث داغ روز اعدام جنايتکاری بود که علاوه برقتل نفس، جرم ديگری داشت. بهمين دليل قبل از اينکه حکم اعدام را اجرا کنند، او را ۸۰ ضربه شلاق زده بودند. من نه تنها از کم وکيف جريان قتل اطلاع درستی نداشتم، بلکه بيشتر تحت تآثير فرهنگ مدنی غرب، اجرای حکم شلاق را قبل از اعدام محکوم، قبيح وغيرانسانی ميدانستم. نه اينکه امروز تغييرعقيده داده باشم و فکرکنم حقش بود و بايد از اين هم بيشتر مجازات ميشد، ولی نميتوانم آنرا قبيح و غير انسانی تلقی کنم. قبل از اينکه به مفهوم قصاص که درست در همين رابطه است بپردازم، بايد به اين واقعيت غير قابل انکار توجه کرد که اگر مجازات جنايتکار بنحوی اجرا شود که مردم بجای عبرت گرفتن، برای محکوم احساس ترحم کنند، يکی از اساسی ترين اهداف مجازات کيفری نه تنها پايمال شده، بلکه نتيجه معکوس داده است>>>

شعر گفتن

شعر گفتن
مثل لخت شدن است.
رنگم باز چرا برگشته؟
این لکه کنار دهان
از آن روزی است که به خودم
دروغ گفتم. و این داغ
از خود سوزی آن شب است >>>

A Tale of Two Lunatic Fringes

When I wrote “From Cordoba to Mumbai” criticizing Islamic terrorism and urging moderate Muslims to rise up in protest against shameful spectacles of Islamic terrorism, I fully expected to take flack from both the Islamist and anti-Islamic fringes. And, like clockwork, first the Keyhan gang of Tehran and then the anti-Islamic peanut gallery of the exile neverland have chimed in with the identical refrain, best summed up by one of my loyal detractors at the Iranian.com site: “Islam = Quran = Mohammad = Terrorism.” Usama Bin Laden could have produced that formula – indeed, his lieutenant, Ayman Al-Zawahiri occasionally does say things very close to that. But you could hear this very sentiment echoed in the studios of every neo-con-inspired shock jock and from the ringmasters of right wing radio from Rush Limbaugh to Michael Savage>>>

Root causes

Mr. Kazemzadeh details some terrorist attacks by Hezbollah and claims that I have attempted to “save” them from the designation of “terrorist”. I invite the reader to look at my definition of terrorism. There I specifically stated that terrorism is defined “independent of the identity of its perpetrators”. I made it perfectly clear: even Al-Qaidah, an undisputed terrorist organization may engage in non terrorist (paramilitary) activity (like its attack on USS Cole). Hezbollah of Lebanon, too, have attacked Israeli military convoys in southern Lebanon or the US Marine compound in Beirut. Those are not instances of terrorism, according to my definition, because their objectives were military in nature. Please notice that my discussion, unlike my critic’s, is precise and specific.>>>

The True Story

We have seen an unprecedented but expected propaganda attack against Israel in recent days going over to pure anti-semitic hatred every once in a while. Israel is being condemned for protecting her citizens against continuous rocket strikes and provocations by Hamas, and as usual being charged for "crimes" she has not committed. As the one-sided propaganda against Israel is being waged on all fronts, including on this website, it is important not to forget that there is another side to all this that is being deliberately ignored, silenced and covered up by the sheer amount of one sided attacks. >>>

We have to do it

The Free Gaza Movement (FG) aims to use the power of civil resistance (non-violent direct action) to physically break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza, in order to draw attention to the human catastrophe this siege has caused, and increase international pressure to shatter the siege once and for all. FG began in Lebanon, during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. A group of Lebanese and international activists formed an organization called the Civil Resistance Campaign, combining humanitarian projects in South Lebanon with political actions against the Israeli aggression and in support of Lebanese solidarity. After the bombing stopped in August 2006, Israel maintained a blockade against Lebanon for several weeks>>>

The good fortune

Two months ago I had an opportunity to see Claus Strigel’s film MOON SUN FLOWER GAME at the Iranian Film Festival in Chicago. It was a fascinating experience! I must admit that I have been deeply engaged and obsessed to learn about Hossein Mansouri's life -- a great poet living in Munich now-- since Forough Farrokhzad’s death. I wrote a review... then I decided to interview Claus... In 1962 the young poetess Forough Farrokhzad visited the lepers at the end of the earth to make a film about their world. Her film, “The House is Black”, was to become world famous, and, by and by, change a small world too: the world of a small boy who had the good fortune to meet her. >>>

The Land of Living

I see you walking past
wearing the news on your feet
words of wisdom as dust in the wind
bring no mircale
war continues through the streets of dark shadows playing guns taking land, building endless walls
No  pain counts, no views, no history, no beliefs, no faces of humans eating dust in the streets of disaster, >>>