Archive - Article

به روز واقعه تابوت ما ز سرو کنید

احمد بورقانی که خود با موج اصلاحات ،به معاونت مطبوعاتی ارشاد رسیده بود، تعریف دیگری ازنقش قدرت در جامعه از یکسو و کارکرد مطبوعات از سوی دیگر داشت . پافشاری بورقانی بر درستی دیدگاهش در باره ی مطبوعات هرچند "بهار" دیگری برای اهل قلم به ارمغان آورد اما "تنهایی" ، او را در برابر موجهای پی در پی ای که از سوی کانونهای قدرت ایجاد می شد، شکننده کرد و نهایتا با سخنانی فراموش نشدنی از این سمت استعفا داد و رفت. البته رفتن بورقانی ، "خزان" دیگری را برای مطبوعات ایران به دنبال آورد که هنوز هم ادامه دارد. >>>

The gentle giant

I still can't believe he's gone, forever. Ahmad Bourghani Farahani died in Tehran on Saturday at the age of 48, from a heart attack. He is best known as a former liberal member of parliament from Tehran and one of the most open-minded deputy culture ministers in charge of media affairs during Mohammad Khatami's first presidential term. I met Ahmad years before his brief political career. He was a senior editor at the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) when I joined the English section in March 1980. I still remember his friendly, playful, welcoming smile the first time we met... >>>

Ey Sareban

Music video>>>

Fear and Hope

The occasion for this reflection is, of course, the Barak Obama phenomenon -the novelty of which, incidentally, is demonstrated by the fact that my word processing program does not recognize either name. To be more precise, it is the conundrum that the phenomenon poses for the American electorate in the 2008 Presidential campaign. The audacity of Obama’s hope has become contagious. The Democratic Party establishment’s iconic Ted Kennedy has endorsed him, and more than 70% of Move-On respondents have chosen him over Hillary Clinton.>>>

Simply Irresistible

The singletons amongst us are cruelly reminded that, once again, despite our best efforts, there will be no romance on this cruellest-of-cruel days… the dreaded Valentine’s Day. Yes folks, Valentine’s Day is just over a week away and there is no escaping it! My personal belief has always been that this special day was a well thought out scam created by the greeting card companies and florists of this world, to cash in on our hard earned monies…. Jerks. But single or not, Valentine’s Day is a strange affair at the best of times. Happy couples seem to appear from nowhere and the City is suddenly awash with red roses, shop windows are crammed with chocolate, perfume and lingerie>>>

Achilles' heel

Few days ago the official spokesman of the Islamic Republicís judiciary reported a directive banning any further execution in public has been issued by the head of the judiciary. The said directive also disallows any further dissemination of pictures of hangings by Iranian mass media except in cases that exclusive exceptions are made by the judiciary. Interested observers who are seasoned in the IRI's public announcements have come to expect denials and clarifications on the heel of most officially announced declarations. And since it has been a few days and none has been made it should be safe to opine on repercussion of the judiciaryís latest directive>>>

وطن، دوچرخه ای روی جک

دلم بیسکوییت مادری می خواهد
با چای شیرین
هوای وطن دارد دلم
سرد است و هوای دربند به سرم زده
و به سرم زده که با خیال تخت
بنشینم با تو
که بی خیال آسمانی که بالاست
و زمینی که زیر تخت است
به کودکیم برگردم
>>>

Sean Penn's Last Frontier

The very first film I ever saw with Hollywood's angry man Sean Penn goes back to some 20 years ago in unusual circumstances. I had to reluctantly do my military service in France and during a three day long selection process during which I had to pass several I.Q. and medical exams to judge if I was apt for a year long stay in Army barracks and for all sorts of maneuvers in the cold snow covered hills of Eastern France. Now some 20 years later I get to meet the real guy at the screening of a film Into the Wild in which he did not act but directed >>>

غیاب انسانیت

فرضأ کمک های مالیی که از جانب ایران به فلسطین می شود بیشتر از پولهای مالیاتی که از جیب ایرانی ها به جیب دولتهای کشورهای غربی می رود٬ صرف ساخت سلاحهایی می شود که برای تهدید جان خانواده های خودشان در ایران به کار می رود. ولی حق طلبی و آزادیخواهی ما چه می شود؟! موضع گیری قاطع ما در برابر ظلم و ضعیف کشی کدام است؟ آیا میزان پایبندی ما به آرمانهای انسانی مشروط به روابط تاریخیمان با ملت های مختلف است (آن هم در چارچوب ساختارهای موجود روابط بین الملل)؟ و یا آنکه همدردی و همدلی میان انسانها و مبارزه با بی عدالتی و زورگویی فرا تر از این مسائل است؟ >>>

آتش ارتجاع

هيچ شکلی از «بنيادگرائی» نيست که در ذات خود واکنشی و ـ اتفاقاً ارتجاعی هم ـ نباشد. يعنی هم بصورت واکنشی در برابر کنشی پيشرونده ظاهر شده و هم خواستار آن نباشد که نه حتی به گذشتهء نزديک که به گذشتهء بسيار دوری که فقط در تخيل آدميان ماليخوليائی وجود دارد برنگردد. اينکه يک «بنيادگرا» از مدرن ترين تکنولوژی ها و اسلحه ها برای از بين بردن جهان متجدد استفاده کند هرگز ماهيت «ارتجاعی» و «واکنشی» بنيادگرائی اش را تغيير نمی دهد. >>>

Stop. Wrong direction.

Following the National Intelligence Estimate ("NIE") report, the rhetoric on Iran has decreased significantly. Not only have politicians stopped debating about it (except for attacks against Clinton for supporting a resolution calling the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization), but the news and reports about Iranian nuclear programs have stopped getting the front page coverage in major papers that they apparently deserved in the past. Yet there's a problem here, an itch that everyone feels but no one has yet scratched. The Bush administration has long stopped caring about Iran possessing nuclear WEAPONS. It cares about Iran possessing nuclear KNOWLEDGE>>>

When taboos must be broken

Muhammad was before the prophecy a reliable businessman (Muhammad-al- amin), working for his wealthy wife, Khadijah. As a prophet in Mecca, he was a sage thinker, a quick speaker, who could invite people to believe in the only God “Allah”. He was decent, humble and generous to the poor, with whom he shared his meal. After 10 years of prophecy, he had to leave Mecca and his migration--“Hijrat”-- to Medina in 622 marks his new career. In Medina, as a powerful prophet with personal ambitions, Muhammad did not only used and abused the existing traditional norms of society; he s also violated ethical rules of his own religion to achieve his goals>>>

Why not IRAN?

I care for my own more than others. Why do I need to feel so sorry for others while my own kind inside Iran have a much worse fate than Palestinians? Palestinians are… how many? Are they 3 million, 4 million? Iranians are probably more than 75 million if we take into account those who are outside Iran too, like me. Why should I put Palestinians in my priority-list while I really feel sorry for Iranians, especially my own relatives who have no justice and no hope inside their own country? So many Iranians want to leave Iran to pursue their dreams and I understand them perfectly. So, Israelis are kicking the hell out of Palestinians. So what? Why do I care for them while Iranian rulers are kicking the hell out of Iranians inside Iran? >>>

The Way

Why should I stay?

why should I talk repeat?

I have crossed this way

I have smelt the love

and want nothing more...

I have touched the mirage

pictures of fascinations in a land

lost in dreams of water and growing green

>>>

What will Israel do?

Though the White House press release read "President Bush to travel to Middle East to follow up on progress made at Annapolis," his January trip actually centered on Iran, a country he did not visit. America's friends -- the Persian Gulf monarchs as well as Israel -- fear that the publication of the recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) means the United States is weakening in its resolve to confront the rising threat from Iran. President Bush made his Middle East jaunt, in part, to assure them that that assessment was premature>>>