IRANIANS

My Ego & I

What stops so many of us from learning and applying time-honored lessons in wisdom?

24-Aug-2007
Bear with me for a moment while I put aside my admirable modesty to make a point. I have a Master’s degree in Engineering, speak several languages, and have traveled and worked in many parts of the world. I have read more books than I can remember, read newspapers and news magazines every day, and avidly follow current affairs on radio and television. Based on all that, you might be kind enough and tempted to think I am an “educated” person, right? WRONG! No, I am not a self-hating Persian – just one who is finally waking up.>>>

SUGGESTION

The speech that Ahmadinejad should give

Today we are announcing the suspension of our enrichment activities for a period of six months

23-Aug-2007 (19 comments)
Thank you ladies and gentleman of the press for accepting our invitation to attend this news conference. For your information we invited many news organization to this news conference but as you will note quiet a few chose not to attend. We consider this another piece of evidence of how the corporate media plays into the hands of the warmongers as they did prior to the attack on Iraq. Fox News is repeating the same distortions but this time it is targeting Iran instead of Iraq. >>>

WOMEN

Burning dream

Below the surface, in the privacy of the domestic realm, much goes unseen and unheard

23-Aug-2007
Some might think that the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan has liberated the Afghan people, especially the women. While there is no denying that some steps have been taken to improve the situation of women, for the majority of women life has become harder. With no way out, many women, in an attempt to liberate themselves from the pressures put upon them, are attempting suicide in the worst possible ways. One of the most common methods, which hundreds of women use, has been self-burning. Reports show that within the last several years, the number of women, aged 14-27, who have burnt themselves, has been well over 300 per year, and that is only the ones who survived to admit or are reported.>>>

POETRY

جمهوری خاوران
23-Aug-2007
مسلمانی یا نه؟
مثل همیشه چشم بند به چشم داشتم ولی ضربه ی باتون برایم آشنا بود
سرم را گرفتم و با چشمان بسته گویی جن دیده باشم گفتم: بسم الله. بسم الله. بسم الله
شصت و هفت هزار بار گفتم: بسم الله
آنقدر گفتم: بسم الله تا رهایم کردند
>>>

POETRY

Tariaak raa be baazdamat paz

(Can't say he doesn't have guts)

22-Aug-2007 (2 comments)

SILENCE

درخدمت و خیانت کیان تاجبخش

درغربت و غریبی پژوهشگر

22-Aug-2007
به نظر سکوت حاکم بر فعالیت های کیان حکایت از ضعف در ا رزیابی نقش روشنفکرانی چون او، در تغییر وتحولات سیاسی سال های اخیرداشته است. ضعفی که گوئی به تابوی تحلیل های سیاسی دوران معاصر ،چه در داخل ایران و چه در جمع مهاجران ، تبدیل شده است. وچه بسا با حفظ توهم توطئه و تقویت ان، به مثابه کم خرج ترین وسیله برا ی حفظ انسجام میان گروهای مخالف است که طیف منتقدین نظام به نقطه مشترکی با حکومت جمهوری اسلامی می رسد ، حتی اگر امروز یک طرف دعوي مسرور از خفه کردن نوزاد در نطفه باشد و طرف دیگرمغموم از نارسی او. >>>

GUARDS

Déjà vu

Given all that has happened in Iraq, why would the US want to extend the conflict into Iran?

22-Aug-2007
There is very little doubt that Iranian Revolutionary Guards have armed and trained the Mahdi Army in the past but the majority of US deaths have not been in the hands of Iraqi Shia militia but the Sunni insurgents. The elephant in the room, the one US media seems to be blind to, is that Saudis and Jordanians have been bankrolling Sunni insurgency from the beginning. Regardless of what one thinks of the ruling clergy ˆ they have plenty to answer for - Iran's neighbours don't seem to be terribly afraid of Iran in spite of dire warnings by the US.>>>

GUARDS

پذيرفتني تر از تحريم ايران

تقابل سپاه پاسداران ايران و ارتش آمريکا به کجا مي انجامد؟

22-Aug-2007
اولاً، در صورت تحريم اقتصادي ايران، رژيم (يعني سپاه پاسداران و باند مصباح) مي تواند افکار عمومي مردم ايران را عليه آمريکا بسيج کند، حال آنکه در صورت تحريم سپاه پاسداران، مردم ايران که با سياست هاي سرکوبگرانه، تماميت خواهانه و توسعه طلبانهً سپاه آشنايي کامل دارند، تنفر و انزجارشان را متوجه رژيم مي کنند. دوم، قراردادن سپاه پاسداران در ليست سازمانهاي تروريستي، دست اين ارتش بنيادگراي مذهبي را در ادامهً سياست دورويي در کشورهاي منطقه، بويژه عراق و افغانستان (بحران سازي، توطئه و ترور نظامي بمنظور باج خواهي سياسي) آنهم با چراغ خاموش، مي بندد.>>>

WOMEN

حکایت ماه من و ماه گردون!

مقایسه دو کمپین یک میلیون امضاء در ایران و کنیا

22-Aug-2007
در خبری خواندم که در کنیا هم کمپین "یک میلیون امضاء برای تبعیض مثبت" به منظور ایجاد 50 کرسی برای نمایندگان زن در مجلس آن کشور اعلام موجودیت کرده است. نمی دانم آیا این زنان کنیایی از کمپین یک میلیون امضاء ما در ایران خبر دارند یا نه؟ چه بسا که خبر داشتند و فعالیت های ما یا زنان مراکش الگویی بوده است برای پدید آوردن این حرکت ابتکاری در کشوری در قاره آفریقا. چه زیبا که زنان کشورهای جنوب و در حال توسعه از تجربیات هم می آموزند و به ابتکارات هم به این شکل بها می دهند. >>>

LIFE

Bump

A short story

22-Aug-2007
Everything started on a Monday when, in the morning, I noticed that little bump on my forehead. It was almost like nothing. Nothing noticeable, so I ignored it, as if it didn’t exist. It was even smaller than a coin. The color of my skin hadn’t changed, and I found no hole in the middle of the bump; all this indicated to me that it was just a mosquito bite. The next day it had gotten bigger. It was right in the middle of my forehead, where everyone who was looking at me would see. I changed the style of my hair to cover it. That was a busy week at work, so I had to work late nights, and in the morning I was washing my face with closed eyes, so the bump didn’t bother me at all. >>>

FEAR

Clear distance

In less than a week, over 50 people were executed by public hanging in Iran’s Islamic Republic

21-Aug-2007 (34 comments)
Of course, as we had predicted, US pressure on Iran, the threat of war, sanctions and plans for regime change from above, Bush-style, will only lead to further repression, executions and detention of the very activists who lead genuine anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist struggles - while Iran’s islamic regime is busy negotiating with the US and UK governments over the terms of all three parties’ interference in the internal affairs of imperialist-occupied Iraq. Public hangings and mass arrests are part of this government’s efforts to impose an atmosphere of fear and terror at a time when large sections of the working class are protesting against low wages and lack of job security. >>>

LIFE

I will love once again

Courage is not to hide your wounds but show them as soldier wears his medals

21-Aug-2007 (5 comments)

Courage is not the absence of fear.

Courage is when you shake in your underwear and still face the melody.

Courage is being numb of pain and still not surrender.

Courage is to see the last light of your aura being drained and consumed by the invisible and faceless pain and still stand there and smile.

Courage is to never let them make you a victim. >>>

THUGS

اراذل و اوباش حکومتی

تاریخ سیاسی ما

21-Aug-2007
اگر دلیل مجازات رذالت و اوباشگری ست, کدام یک رذل تر و اوباش ترند ؟ آمران و عاملان طناب به گردن روشنفکران و روشنگران گرانقدری چون محمد مختاری و محمد جعفر پوینده انداحتن و آنها را خفه کردن , وبا قمه هنرمند گرانقدری چون فریدون فرخزاد را مثله کردن , و با چاقوی آشپزخانه سیاستمدار برجسته ای چون بختیار وهمکارش رابه قتل رساندن, و با دشنه پیکر فروهرها را دریدن و قلب کارون 9 ساله را برابر چشم پدر شاعرش حمید حاجی زاده دریدن پیش از آنکه شاعررا مثله کنند و........ , یا زور گیران و باج گیران ؟ >>>

VACATION

Beautiful Nancy

A snatched break in France

20-Aug-2007
Last time we went was a planned camping holiday with my sister and brother in law. This time we booked a couple of B&B’s, one in Nancy (200 miles from where we live) and the other in Dijon (350 miles from where we live). Nancy has special significance for me because my maternal grandfather studied medicine there between the two world wars in the 1930’s. So it was a pilgrimage of sorts. I never met either of my grandfathers, but here at last I had the opportunity to follow in one of their footsteps. And what breath taking footsteps; this city could be the love child of Barcelona and Bath in the UK. The architecture is simply beautiful.>>>

REVIEW

Raging against the gods

Gilgamesh, the play

20-Aug-2007 (one comment)
In the thirteenth century A.D. there was Rumi and Shams. In 2700 B.C. there was King Gilgamesh and Enkidu. The heroes, Rumi and Gilgamesh, were civilized masters of their domain, enjoying a small greatness in their time. Shams and Enkidu were untutored outsiders who burst in from the wild to become the heroes' beloved companions. The same extraordinary spiritual upheaval created by the unlikely friendships launched both Rumi and Gilgamesh out of their time and into legend. George Charbak's play, The Epic of Gilgamesh with a long prologue, thankfully does not dwell on the Enkidu-Shams comparison. In fact Enkidu's god protector is simply referred to as the sun god, sidestepping the god's real name Shamash, the root for the Arabic word Shams >>>