Archive - 2010 - Article

Falling short

The author decided to write this book when the events of September 11, 2001, created a distorted image of the life aspirations and loyalties of Muslim-Americans in the minds of many. This is clearly a worthy goal that has been addressed by other writers, and filmmakers, with mixed results. The author approaches her subject by presenting the life stories of 12 individuals: 7 women, 5 men. Those chosen include the author herself, her husband, and several very close friends. As such, these 12 people do not represent an unbiased cross-section of the Muslim-American community>>>

There's nothing like it

I wish people would stop comparing Namjoo to Bob Dylan. As much as I love and enjoy Bob's music I do not find this a fair comparison. To start with, Namjoo has a great voice that poor Bob could only sound like in his dreams. Also, Bob followed a musical path that Woody Guthrie had paved before his death in 1931, and then entered Woodstock’s highway to fame. Namjoo has created his own style of music against all odds. He learned different styles of music, before fusing them in to what he presents to us today>>>

قصه تنهائی ما

پیرمر د را لقمه نانی بدهیم
بیمار را شفائی بخریم
و بدانیم
خدا در درون ما آدم ها
عشق را جاری کرد >>>

What threat?

Instead of taking practical steps towards reducing the truly dire threat of nuclear weapons proliferation, the US is taking major steps towards reinforcing US control of the vital Middle East oil-producing regions, by violence if other means do not suffice. That is understandable and even reasonable, under prevailing imperial doctrine, however grim the consequences, yet another illustration of "the savage injustice of the Europeans" that Adam Smith deplored in 1776, with the command center since shifted to their imperial settlement across the seas>>>

They can work

With the most recent round of UN-approved sanctions and seemingly more restrictive additional sanctions introduced by the European Union, Canada, Japan and Australia, there appears to be renewed interest in the effectiveness of sanctions in altering the behaviour of the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning the atomic energy programme of the regime and its real purpose. In this note, I try to explore some of the less often discussed but I hope not less appreciated possible effects of sanctions>>>

Psyche Spinner

My mother just returned to Iran. When she called this morning I thought she was just calling to inform me of her safe arrival. Instead, her voice was shaking. Fatemeh Khanoom, the woman who cleans my mother's house and whom I had written about for women's day, was there bearing the news that her husband had gone insane. "Why?" I asked my mother, she replied, "You know how he was an opium addict?" I answer yes. "Well," my mom continued, "he took a pill the dealer gave him called Ravangardan (psyche spinner) and he went insane>>>

هراس از پیروزی

هر گاه صحبت از براندازی نظام میشود هراس از فروریختن كل دستگاه حكومتی، پیدایش خلاء سیاسی و خطر تجزیۀ مملكت نیز خود نشان میدهد. البته نظام اسلامگرا هم كه بقای خود را در گرو احتراز مردم از براندازی میبیند به این هراس دامن میزند ولی مشکل فقط از تبلیغات حكومتی برنمی خیزد. سؤالی كه اخیراً یكی از دوستان با من در میان گذاشت دلمشغولی بسیاری است: اگر این نظام به ناگاه سقوط كند چه خواهد شد؟ آیا سرنوشتی نظیر یوگوسلاوی و تجزیۀ مملكت در انتظار ما نیست؟>>>

Farsi or Persian? Again.

Within the past few years there has been a tendency to replace the adjective "Persian" by "Farsi" when it refers to the Persian language. The practice seems to have originated within the Iranian community in the United States and out of good will. However, the provenance and the initial intention are not important, as the practice has backfired and developed into a widespread usage that is detrimental to the status of Persian language and literature. Quite often we come across absurd combinations of the two alternatives, such as "BBC Persian Section broadcast this item of news in its Farsi programme">>>

فردوسی منتقد نه ناسیونالیست

فردوسی این باور رایج را كه شاه چون فره ایزدی دارد و به اصطلاح سایه یا نماینده‌ی خداست با انتقادگرائی روشنی كه در برابر مفاسد برخی پادشاهان بزرگ مانند كیكاووس و گشتاسب بكار می‌گیرد متزلزل می‌كند و از عمومیت می‌اندازد. انتقادگرائی شاهنامه نه تنها پرده‌ی ابهام را از روی خشونت‌ها و مفاسد برخی پادشاهان كنار می‌زند بلكه نقطه‌ ضعف‌های رستم را نیز برای خواننده برجسته می‌كند>>>

You asked for it

In short, with these sanctions ---- along with others ---- we are striking at the heart of the Iranian government's ability to fund and develop its nuclear program. We're showing the Iranian government that its actions have consequences. And if it persists, the pressure will continue to mount, and its isolation will continue to deepen. There should be no doubt ---- the United States and the international community are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons>>>

Jews for War

One hoped that the neoconservatives would have disappeared after George W. Bush left office and the Iraq War they worked so hard to engineer proved to be a disaster. All those dead, nothing accomplished except the establishment of Iran as the main player in Iraq. But they are still around and still pushing for a war with Iran, which they want even more than the last one. Everywhere you look there's Elliot Abrams, Richard Perle, John Bolton, John Podhoretz, Douglas Feith, Danielle Pletka, The Washington Post editorial page, Frank Gaffney, Charles Krauthammer...>>>

خود گویی و خود خندی

با پیروزی انقلاب سال ۵۷ و سلطه روحانیت بر همه شئون کشور، دادگستری بیش از هر نهاد دیگری دستخوش تغییر شد و ماهیت آن دگرگون گردید. حاکمیت، امر قضا را مختص روحانیان می‌دانست و با تصفیه عمیقی که در این نهاد انجام داد قاضیان حرفه‌ای و مجرب را یک سره از کار برکنار کرد و جای آنان را به روحانیانی داد که کمترین آشنایی با نظام مدرن دادگستری نداشتند. روحانیت در واقع شکست خود در انقلاب مشروطه را جبران می‌کرد >>>

برگ چغندر

تنها یک روز بعد از نصب مجسمه، شایعات زیادی در شهر پیچید. قیمت همه زمین هائی که سمت دم اسب بود(debajo de la cola de caballo)، ناگهان سقوط کرد. بورس بازان و دلالان زمین شایع کردند که از ماتحت اسب بوهای نامطبوعی متصاعد می شود و همه منطقه زیر دم را مسموم میکند. ظرف تنها 48 ساعت بعد از نصب مجسمه واژه های زیادی وارد ادبیات زبان اسپانیائی شده و آهنگ های مستهجنی ورد زبان همه ساکنان محله بدنام شهر گردید. شهر ناگهان به دو منطقه مهم زیر دم و بالای چشم (منظور چشم اسب) تقسیم ش>>>

Honey

My brother had a girlfriend, the first real girlfriend he had ever had. They had met at the end of his first year of college. He showed me her picture. She was pretty, and everybody was happy for him. Just having her picture in his room made our whole house seem different. I didn't know if it made us more American, but it was exciting to think about. There was a lot happening on television with boyfriends and girlfriends, and it felt like some of that had come into our house>>>

Money

Do you remember
how we first met?
Not being clever
I was clueless, more or less,
of the provenance of things
or what became mine.
>>>