Archive - Apr 26, 2010 - Article

The Question of Violence

If Iran’s Green movement has a godfather, the Iranian religious thinker Abdulkarim Soroush recently said, it is Gandhi: “We are insisting adamantly that democratic, nonviolent change is at the heart of this movement.” Echoing Soroush, the Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo has called the post-June 12 period “a Gandhian moment in Iran.” “Iranian public discourse has changed by drinking deeply from the well of nonviolence,” he observes, pointing to parallels “between the civil disobedience movement in today’s Iran and successful nonviolent movements led by Gandhi in South Africa and in India.”>>>

The City of Joy and Protest

In the evening that I arrived in Kolkata, the musician A.R. Rahman was giving a concert in the city’s Salt Lake Stadium. “He is our double Oscar winner,” the receptionist at my hotel said with obvious pride. “More than one hundred thousand people are expected to attend the concert.” Dubbed India’s Mozart, the multi-talented Rahman excels in Hindustani and Carnatic music, as well as Western classics. Presently, the din of another kind of music attracted me to a night club on the other side of the lobby>>>

Art for Free

what music or musicians are worth for people! And in specific; for Iranians! Are Iranians art lovers or are they art owners? In order to answer this question, let’s study the generations. The generation that has grown up with Internet and is familiar with the accessibility it brought with itself, is generally unfamiliar with the concept of paying for music. It is not only not paying attitude for music that is important but also the culture this generation brought with itself>>>

For What Good is Life

Conscience seared,
Innocence lost,
Manhood morphed,
Into the brute force,
Of a soldier ready,
And willing,
To kill,
Upon command >>>