Archive - 2010 - Article

Sound of Silence

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The list goes on and on

Ahmadinejad made his annual trip to New York to appear before the United Nations. The seats where the U.N. General Assembly members should have been, quickly emptied in protest again this year when the fraudulent president took to the stage. Yet, this alone isn’t enough of a message of support for human rights for Iran. Later Ahmadinejad met with Larry King as he has in years past. I waited, just as I have each time Western media has interviewed Ahmadinejad, to hear answers to the hard questions: “What is Iran doing about human rights?” “How can you justify the torture and murder by your government of your own people?” Again, Ahmadinejad didn’t have to answer these questions>>>

Hossein is one of us

Hossein had had some conversations with Press TV about working in their Tehran office. Even during the days before his arrest, he would sometimes go to their office since we didn’t have high speed internet at home. Before his return to Iran, the High Council of Iranian Affairs Abroad promised Hossein that his trip would be without problem. He had cleared his trip with this Council which is governmental and which is in contact with the Intelligence Ministry. That’s why even though Hossein knew that they would call him to be questioned, he did not expect to be arrested>>>

احمدی‌نژاد و مجلس

نزاع بین احمدی‌نژاد و مجلس اسلامی به نحو بی‌سابقه‌ای شدت گرفته است. این نزاع که نه بین حاکمیت و اصلاح‌طلبان و بلکه بین خود اصول‌گرایان حاکم در جریان بوده در روزهای اخیر با اظهارات جدیدی از احمدی‌نژاد و مجلسیان به اوج رسیده است. احمدی‌نژاد در تازه‌ترین اظهارات خود در این باره، د رمصاحبه‌ای با روزنامه دولتی ایران در آستانه سفر به نیویورک، ضمن انتقاد شدید از مخالفان خویش در درون حاکمیت خواسته است که موقعیت او به عنوان «رییس جمهور» و مقام دوم کشور (پس از ولی فقیه) به رسمیت شناخته شود>>>

یارانه ها

با احتیاط تمام از دختره پرسید: ببخشید سوالی داشتم. دختره اصلاً جوابی نداد و با بی میلی طوری نگاه کرد که یالا بپرس. پیرزن لبخند سردی زد و گفت: می توانم شماره حساب همین دفترچه قسط را بدهم تا کمک های یارانه ام را که دولت قرار است با قطع یارانه ها به حسب مردم بریزد، به جای همین قسط هایم قبول کنید. لحظاتی سکوت برقرار شد. پیرزن فکر کرد که دختره منظورش را خوب درک نکرده است>>>

Fairytale

In Nineteen Seventy Four
in a dilapidated highrise
across the Zahara cemetery
we held our yearly seance.
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Voices of Bravery

Life for students in Iran has not been easy, especially those who seek justice or demand more freedom. Yet some of Iran’s best and brightest come out of Iranian universities and are sought after by American universities. Many have had to leave their homeland to seek more freedom, opportunities or take refuge in exile from harassment and imprisonment. Iran’s brave students continue to resist despite being targeted by IRI officials. They are once again holding the banner of the struggle for democracy, freedom, civil rights and the rule of law whether in prison or outside>>>

America's World

The all-in melee that is now American politics makes forecasting impossible. It can yield anything -- the bizarre is the new norm. Who or what will rise to the top after all this crazed flailing about is a matter of pure guesswork. For we have become an incoherent polity. Yet, in the midst of all this commotion, the tracks of the nation's foreign policy are readily discernible. There most certainly will be more of the same -- "more" in both senses. There are three reasons for this>>>

هویت و مدرنیت

تاریخچه اخیر گفتگو در باره هویت از "غربزدگی" آل احمد آغاز می شود و با "بازگشت به خویش" دکتر علی شریعتی ادامه می یابد. سخن در نیمه دوم قرن بیستم اینست که نمی توان هویت ایرانی را از هویت اسلامی ایرانیان مستغنی دانست. بویژه در حضور رقیبی متهاجم چون استعمار فرهنگی غرب. این گفنار در مقاله "سه فرهنگ" دکتر عبدالکریم سروش دامنه وسیعتری می یابد. سخن او اینست که هویت ایرانی، هویت اسلامی، و هویت غربی در این سرزمین با یکدیگر عجین و ممزوجند>>>

Some Larger Sadness

The father went to the librarian. She was beautiful. She did not look like there would be a war either, but he already knew that the president of a country and a librarian there could be very far apart. "Hello," he said. "I am looking for information about conscientious objector status. It is for my son." The librarian looked at the father and she thought that it was a big world. It was a much bigger world than she knew>>>

مسجد محله

بانگ گوی نماز
فراش خنده رو و خپلی بود
با ریش و مو و دست و پای حنا بسته
که شَست بزرگ پای راستش
همیشه از کفش پاره اش بیرون زده بود >>>

The Neighborhood Mosque

In our neighborhood
There was a tiny mosque
Which had a dome, but no minarets,
And as a child I thought
That Ali had been stabbed there >>>

Story through body

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The Great Internet Freedom Fraud

In March of this year, Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. government had granted a license to a company whose software would "help information continue to flow freely into and out of Iran." That software was called Haystack, an anti-censorship tool that received glowing coverage from the BBC, NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, the International Herald Tribune, and many other news sources. Perhaps it was Haystack's teasing, provocative slogan—"Good luck finding that needle"—that so intrigued the reporters>>>

Hostage Hikers

After oil and pistachios it seems, ransom for hostages, seems to be our best source of income. If oil is a dirty smelly disgusting substance, taking lost hikers hostage and releasing the sickest and weakest female for $500,000 a year later cannot be that far behind. I am not going to even attempt to argue whether these 3 are spies or are innocent hikers as they claim. One would hope that we're better than that>>>