Archive - Feb 2009 - Article

Democracy and Natural Right

In his recent opinion piece on the recently-announced candidacy of Mohammad Khatami for the upcoming presidential elections in Iran, Trita Parsi proscribes the steps he believes the purportedly reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami should take in order to fulfill the broken promises of his previous stint as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. What most stands out from Mr. Parsi's article however, is his characterization of the elections themselves: "The Iranian presidential elections will not be democratic by Western standards," he writes, "but they won't lack excitement or fierce competitiveness.">>>

Pure mercy

Today as on almost every day since seven Baha’is were arrested in Iran, I check for updated news on the situation. Someone has sent me the final list of the signatories of the open letter “we are ashamed” that was published by Iranian.com. An open letter that expressed remorse on behalf of its signatories, writers, intellectuals and human rights activists of Iranian background for the way the Baha’i community has historically been persecuted in Iran; Persecution that continues with the unlawful arrest, detention and alleged trial set for next week of seven Baha’is whose only guilt is their adherence to the Baha’i Faith>>>

1953 to 1979

Unfortunately, Mosaddegh’s second year in the office unravelled all the gains of his first! He proved to be much better as the speaker for opposition than the leader of government, and much more resourceful in weakness than tactful in power. His emotional and authoritative style (my way or no way) soon upset and aggravated most of the nationalist and Islamist allies, who gradually turned into sworn enemies. Finally, when Mosaddegh lost the majority support in Majles, he simply dissolved it, in order to prevent the parliament from voting him out of the office! >>>

یقه روشنفکر دینی

مدتی قبل مقاله ای در شرق نوشته بودم تحت عنوان "روشنفکر دینی سه نقطه باید گردد" که دفاعی بود از روشنفکری دینی در برابر گروههای سکولارکه میگفتند اینها باید تکلیف خود را مشخص کنند. کوسه و ریش پهن نمیشود. بیایند یکی را انتخاب کنند: یا روشنفکر باشند و یا دیندار. این دوستان روشنفکری و دینداری را طوری تعریف کرده اند که با هم نمیسازد و تاوان تعاریف خود را میخواهند به روشنفکر دینی تحمیل کنند. به آن مسائل نمی پردازم زیرا بحث آن به تفصیل رفته است. ولی ظاهراً دو موضوع در ایران هیچوقت کهنه نمیشود. یکی بحث رسالت روشنفکر است (که فعلاً مطمح نظر این نوشته نیست) و دیگری مسأله نقد روشنفکری دینی. معلوم نیست اگر این پروژه اینقدر که میگویند ورشکسته است چرا یقه روشنفکران دینی را رها نمیکنند؟ >>>

One Cannot Have Love

I want your gaze
Not your eyes.
I want your kiss
Not your lips.
I want your hug
Not your arms. >>>

Who should apologize?

When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks of "60 years of US crimes in Iran” and the coup against the nationalist regime, he sounds less than authentic. He and his regime have never uttered the name of the man responsible for the oil nationalization, whose government was in fact toppled for that reason. Ahmadinejad keeps using old-style rhetoric to enflame people's sentiments against the US and to rally them behind his failed economic and social programs. His pre-election campaign rhetoric, “a man of the people” is now just an empty slogan. His administration has included some of the most corrupt and criminal people since the inception of the Islamic regime.>>>

حضور خاتمی در گفتگو با آمریكا

اعلام نامزدی خاتمی درست در روزهایی صورت می‌گیرد كه مقامات ایرانی و آمریكایی برای اولین بار در طول سه دهه حكومت اسلامی از آمادگی بدون قید و شرط خود برای گفتگو با یكدیگر سخن می‌گویند. این اعلام آمادگی از سوی آمریكا البته نتیجه یك تغییر فاحش در سیاست خارجی این كشور پس از روی كار آمدن رییس جمهور اوباما است. در مورد ایران، اما به تازگی تغییری در حكومت صورت نگرفته است. در واقع، حكومت فعلی ایران تا همین چندی ‌پیش هرگونه گفتگو با شیطان بزرگ را نفی می‌كرد و آقای خامنه‌ای كسانی را كه خواهان گفتگو با آمریكا بودند «بی‌غیرت» می‌خواند. اكنون چه اتفاقی پیش آمده است كه تابوی گفتگوی با آمریكا را برای جمهوری اسلامی شكسته است؟>>>

Voting from the heart

I lived in Iran until I was 14, which meant I was too young to vote. In 1987 we moved to England. During my 17 years there, I never voted. This was because I was either too young, or moving around too much between Universities. Also, on a personal level, I didn't feel connected to the political system. The UK is a wonderful country, but politically, I never felt that I belonged. This all changed when I moved to Israel in 2004. Politically speaking, I felt very connected here. After having left Iran, this was the first place where I felt at home. This country is no paradise by any stretch of imagination, however as an Iranian Jew, I was welcomed and treated as an equal>>>

The warrior in us

When referendums are held, and elections are stolen, when promises are broken, and a nation sits at awe of what could have been, a fist is slowly but undeniably formed and risen. When Khatamis, Ahmadinejads and Ghalibafs have come and gone, when non-violent avenues of political dissent have been exhausted, when the calls for peaceful transition of power fall on deaf ears, when the cries of hunger are unanswered, the Iranian national psyche reverts back to its roots, to the children of the blacksmith who crafted his apron into a banner of defiance and the bloodbaths that have since followed. Such will be the future>>>

عیب می جمله بگفتی، هنرش نیز بگوی

خوب بیاد می آورم که یکی از عمده ترین شکایت های روشنفکران ایران پیش از انقلاب ، عدم استقلال سیاسی ایران و وابستگی شدید آن کشور به امریکا بود. اگر در حال حاضر به سیاست خارجی ایران نگاه کنید می بینید که در حقیقت ایران نوعی سیاست موازنۀ منفی که در زمان حکومت دکتر مصدّق برقرار بود اتّخاذ کرده است. هیچکس نمی تواند هیچ نوع وابستگی نه تنها به آمریکا بلکه به هیچ کشور دیگری در حکومت ایران بیابد. شاید امروزه بتوان ایران را در آن قسمت از دنیا از زمرۀ مستقل ّترین کشور ها بشمار آورد. حتیّ مخالفان سرسخت جمهوری اسلامی هم نمی توانند - مگر غرض مندانه - منکر خودگردانی و استقلال ایران باشند. به این زودی خواسته های خود را فراموش کردیم!>>>

Feb. 11, 1979 - Feb. 11, 2009

When narcissist idealist
Takes over the moment,
However imperfect the moment’s truth,
When dust in the wind
Becomes vanishing motto,
Blasting this house apart, >>>

خمینی و امت گریه

انقلاب که شد من 9 سالم بود و کلاس پنجم دبستان بودم. سه سال بعدش وقتی کلاس سوم راهنمایی بودم بخشنامه‌ای آموزشی آمد که دانش آموزان باید برای حرفه و فن یک حرفه را انتخاب کنند و چند ساعتی از هفته را در این حرفه کارآموزی کنند. از آنجا که من، نه در آشپزی خوب بودم و نه در خیاطی یا گلدوزی و چون به تدریس علاقه داشتم، حرفه معلمی را انتخاب کردم. هفته‌ای یک روز در یک مدرسه ابتدایی کمک آموزگار شدم. وظیفه‌ی اصلی من این بود تا دیکته‌ها را که شامل کلمه و ترکیب هم می‌شد تصحیح کنم. روزی جزو سوالات بچه‌ها بود که مترادفی برای کلمه‌ی "رهبر" پیدا کنند. هنگام تصحیح با تعجب دیدم که اکثریت دانش‌آموزان مترادف رهبر را "خمینی" یا "امام خمینی" نوشته بودند. دفعه‌ی دیگری هم که باید مترادفی برای کلمه‌ی "امام" می‌نوشتند، باز جواب داده بودند: "خمینی">>>

Time to choose

The son of the late Shah exposes his vision of a different Iran which is democratic, secular and integrated in the international community. This includes a project to accomplish a society capable of answering to the aspirations of the Iranian people, the foundation of a democratic parliamentary regime in which the constitution is founded on the universal principles of human rights, the establishment of a nation guaranteeing the liberty of all, a national reconciliation like the model of South Africa, and finally the separation of state and religion>>>

Post-Bush World Order

The U.S. at the head of the western powers tries as much as possible to hold onto some aspects of the unipolar status that it gained after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In a period less than a decade, American ideologues head-mastered by groups of cold warriors angrily rejected any idea of a multi-polar world, declaring that no other country except the U.S. is qualified to be at the head of the “new world order.” This claim went unchallenged until the U.S. occupation of Iraq exposed the vulnerabilities of the U.S. as a single superpower on the world stage>>>

From Zahak to plastic prostitutes of Tehran

Here is a quiz question: - If I were to ask you to identify one single style of narrative that has consistently existed in our Iranian Art and literature for several millennium what would you say it is? OK, I’ll give you a clue, what do writers and Artists do under repression and censorship? The answer is they use allegory. More consistently for the last 1400 years, these allegories are signs of how as a nation we have taken bends and twists to comply, shape or live with Islamic law or live under tyranny of kings, sheikhs, Sultans and Khans and say what we want to say>>>