Archive - 2010 - Article

February's Neigh

In your city
When does the clover become sweet?
In my country, that year
It was ripe in the midst of February's cold.
I didn't see the white steed
Tied to the gate, as forseen
Waiting for the Messiah >>>

Protests on 22 Bahman

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جنبش دموکراتیک

شعار «رأی من کو؟» شعار دموکراسی است. شعاری که می‌گوید تنها اراده شهروندان که از طریق صندوق رأی اعمال می‌شود، و نه هیچ عامل دیگری، باید در اداره جامعه تصمیم گیرنده باشد. شعاری که نقش هر عامل و نیروی دیگر را که منبعث از رأی شهروندان نباشد نفی می‌کند. شعار دهنده می‌گوید که کسی نمی‌تواند به نام دین، خدا، و یا هر قدرت طبیعی یا ماورای طبیعی دیگر رأی خود را بر رأی من مرجّح بشناسد و آن را نادیده بگیرد. شعار در واقع به معنای نفی سلطه دین یا حزب و ایدئولوژی بر حکومت است. شعار می‌طلبد که حکومت تنها مشروعیت خود را از رأی مردم بگیرد و رأی مردم که از طریق نمایندگان منتخب آنان ابراز می‌شود تعیین کننده تصمیمات حکومتی باشد>>>

Focusing on abuses

Old habits are difficult to break. After years of almost singularly focusing on the nuclear issue, the west has been slow to react to the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Iran. While United Nations Security Council members are preparing new sanctions over the nuclear issue, the UN has yet to address Iran’s human rights abuses since the fraudulent elections last summer. Now more than ever, the narrow nuclear focus must be set aside and renewed attention given to the state of human rights in Iran. It is literally a matter of life and death>>>

A date to remember

If today doesn’t turn out to be the big day that we all hope for, the day that brings about the end of Tehran’s repulsive regime, it is at least bound to be a major milestone in the right direction. All we must hope for now, beside a decisive blow to the awful theocracy that has been crushing Iran and spreading hatred and terror in the world for the last thirty years is that the brave Iranian people will not be weeping over new casualties but be a step closer to victory>>>

The unfortunate case of Mr Dizaei

In Britain, the word “black” usually refers to people of African or Caribbean descent. It’s always been a surprise to many Iranians that Ali Dizaei, the disgraced London Met police commander, should have been head of the Met Black Police Association (MetBPA) — few people of African or Caribbean descent would be comfortable calling themselves Iranian. Even the word “Asian” doesn’t quite sit with us — it usually refers to people from the Indian subcontinent. We identify much more with the tag “Middle Eastern” and even then like to make clear that we are not Arabs>>>

My Valentine

I have waited for you, and I will patiently wait much longer. There are signs by which I will instantly recognize you, even though our paths have only crossed subliminally at best. Those instants are burnt into my memory by the powerful flash of Young Love.>>>

برای شکوفه های بر باد

برشاخ ِ نازک شعرم ترانه ئی شکفت؛
چه بی درنگ ولی
خموش شد به کوته ِ آهی.
وقت خزان نبود
که توفان موسم سرد
گذر کرده باشد از باغ
به قصد ِ شبیخون، >>>

Morghe Sahar

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Our patience is not infinite

Although I have already highlighted the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran on several occasions in writing and in person, I deem it necessary to once again draw the attention of Your Honour and the distinguished members of the UNHRC to the following issues as you prepare to review the Islamic Republic of Iran's human rights record, on 15 February 2010: My compatriots have endured a difficult period. Their peaceful protests were responded with bullets and imprisonment>>>

A Foresaken Revolution

One day, many years ago, when I returned to Iran after a long absence, I saw an old friend. We walked and talked on Pahlavi St., what came to be known as Vali Asr St. I asked him what had happened to him while he was in jail. He said, “I can’t tell you, it is too painful.” I responded by saying I understood. Though, in all honesty I didn’t. I could not even fathom what he had gone through. He had been in jail for four years between the years 1981-1985>>>

اهمیت رفتار مردم در 22 بهمن

روز 22 بهمن معترضین سبز به خیابان خواهند آمد و خواسته های خود را بیان خواهند کرد. باید دید که اکثریت آنها چه خطی را دنبال خواهند کرد و چه شعارهایی خواهند داد. آیا به دنبال ساختار شکنی، درگیری با نیروهای انتظامی و تصرف مراکز حساس حکومت خواهند بود؟ یا اینکه به توصیه رهبران سبز گوش خواهند داد و از قانون اساسی فراتر نخواهند رفت و شعار براندازی نخواهند داد. البته 22 بهمن آخرین ایستگاه این قطار نیست. روزهای دیگری هم خواهند بود. ولی 22 بهمن شرایط حرکت بعدی را تعیین خواهد کرد>>>

استقلال، آزادی، جمهوری ایران

شعار های ما انعکاسی از مطالبات و خواسته های متنوع هموطنان مان است. این که عده ای ممکن است بعضی شعار ها را “نپسندند” مشکل آنهاست. شاید بهتر باشد این افراد ظرفیت خود را برای شنیدن صدا های متنوع و گاه متفاوت افزایش دهند. چرا که خواست مهم جنبش ما احترام به آزادی بیان و نهادینه کردن فرهنگ دمکراتیک و چند صدایی است. اگر به انقلاب 57 نظر بیاندازیم، آنچه که از آنروز تا به امروز قابل مشاهده است: عدم تحمل نظر مخالف بوسیله کسانی است که در موقعیت قدرت قرار میگیرند>>>

Monster’s Last Bout

Blood dripping from
Gaping mouth:
Wounded monster
Musters one last bout.  
Slippery fingers, crooked hands
Grasp brittle branches
Of a dead tree’s
Timorous stance >>>

Dog is God

Last summer I got a dog. I wasn't planning on it, it just sort of happened. I had been thinking about a dog for years. As a child, my father had gotten us one, while we were living in Algeria, his assignment as a technical engineer exchange program for the National Iranian Oil Company. We lived in a beach-side residential area on the southern Mediterranean, and the puppy we got, Alfor, was very soon bitten by a wild dog roaming the sand dunes, rabid as it turned out, and after a week or so, Alfor showed up outside our house again, but with the telltale signs of foam at the mouth, dirty, bloody, exhausted, and unresponsive to our calls>>>