Jahanshah Javid

IRAN or Persia? - Return of PARSA (Persia) and Zoroastrianism.

iranian.com

Dear Mr. Jahanshah Javid,

Appended here, we are sending our article for publication in
your website.  We have had great difficulties in reaching you
as none of those two e-mail addresses in your website are
reachable as all of our past e-mails to you were failed.

But we hope through this INDIRECT way, you receive our
article as below and we very much hope that you publish it.
If you need some language editorial work on it, please do not
hesitate to do so.

Many thanks and wishing you all a very merry and prosperous
Nowroz ahead.

Thank you,

Yazdgerd and colleages.

]]]]]]]] Our Article ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

IRAN or Persia?  - Return of PARSA (Persia) and Zoroastrianism.

By:  Yazdgerd

In the following sections, a few topics are discussed to
provide you with information and awareness on some critical
issues and historical facts.  Please if you found these
materials interesting, pass them around to other Persians to
spread the awareness as much as possible. 

The issues discussed here are:

    1- Our COUNTRY's NAME
    2- Our LANGUAGE
    3- our HANDWRITING or SCRIPT
    4- Our FLAG
    5- Our NAMES
    6- Our CELEBERATIONS or CEREMONIES

-1------------ First issue:  our COUNTRY's NAME ------
 
In 21 March 1935, the Persia's government requested those
countries which it had diplomatic relations with, to use term
"Iran" instead of Persia in their future correspondences. 
This strange act met not much resistance at home, given the
totalitarian feature of the regime at the time, lack of many
political intellectuals, wide illiteracy and lack of insight.
 
Mainly there was a resistance in Tabriz to the country's name
change, when the government of Tehran deployed army troops
there to pound the opposition.  There was no legitimacy to that
piece of paper which was sent to foreign embassies in Tehran
about 75 years ago, as the people of Parsa (in English:
Persia) were never asked whether they were agree or not via a
national referendum.

A generation after that very unwise, insane and devastating
decision, resulting from lack of judgment and wisdom, very few
people around the world recognizes us as the nation that inherited
the heritage of the Persian Empire. No history book is teaching
students who we are as Parsis/Persis.  But instead, we are
Iranians with no link to the past!  This name change caused much
damage to our cultural heritage and separated us from our glorious
historical past and cultural identity. This unlawful, insane and
illigimate action was like endorsing the defeat and death of Parsa
(Persia).

Due to close similarity between IRAN and IRAQ names, it caused
a wrong perception in the Western world that two countries have
the same identity and they consider Iran like Iraq and Jordan,
carved out of the ruins of Ottoman Empire (Osmani)  and  as an
oil rich country with similar identity as Arabs and with no link
to the ancient Persia! 

One of the rationale for this name change has been given as:
"Iran is a cognate of Aryan and is drived from it".  It is
rather ridiculous and as far as I have investigated via
linguistic sources, there is no relation between Iran and
Aryan since these words are two different names with no link. 
Where these words: "Iran  means land of Aryans" come from?? 

Moreover what was the point that suddenly change the name of
the country after almost 2700 years of written documented
history, cultural and archeological heritage.  This name change
also caused problems for some ethnic groups who live inside
Persia, but do not identify themselves as Aryan race (i.e. Iran,
land of Aryans, is racism to them).

Some people have stated that this name change was to present
a new and modern face of the country to the world?!  But how
about those damages caused to us?  For example by calling the
country Iran, we broke the link between our country's name and
Persian-Gulf. 

The British have always used any chance to devide and rule. 
So the British cleverly refused to recognize Persians' right
over Persian-Gulf name.  And Arab countries also intensified
their efforts through economic pressure on Western oil and
shipping companies to use the term "Arabian-Gulf", we didn't
help our cause either.  By pretending to be more Arab than
Arabs, the Islamic regime has never cared to defend the
rights of Persians.  In fact, the Islamic regime tried to
accommodate our Persian-Gulf neighbors by suggesting an
alternative name for the Persian-Gulf at the time, as a gesture
of reconciliation and as a part of the dream of leading the
Muslim world (Shiit Islam empire).

Today many of Persian intellectuals who live abroad remain
ashamed.  They introduce themselves quietly as:  "Persian ...
you know ... from Iran".  This is also done to distance
themselves from current Islamic regime of Iran.  Iran in the
mind of many people is when after Persia was forced by Taazi
nomads to convert to Islam.  Iran has emereged as a symbol of
Arab-Islamic country, but Persia is a symbol of Zoroastrian faith/
Empire.

Some others have qouted that the reason for the country's name
change was to get aligned with Nazi sentiment and as a show of
solidarity with the Nazis at the time.  But, if true, it is rather
insane as what it has to do to change the name of our country and
cause horrible damages to our country's culture and history.

The origin of the name PARSA (in English: Persia) comes from
"Pars", but the meaning became general for whole country as
Persian Empire/ kingdom from almost 2700 years ago, referring to
the name of the tribe (Parsa) whom the Kourosh (Cyrus) the great of
Achaemenid dynasty once ruled.  As an ancient land, possessing a
civilization with thousands of years old, our country was known
as a norm:  "Parsa/Persia", but NOT "Iran".   

In order to protect national interests and the country's
history, we must remain faithful in using the word "Parsa"
inside country and "Persia" on an international level and use
"Parsi" or ""Persis/Persian" accordingly for anything that is
related to PARSA's history, civilization, culture, language, art,
and people.

To keep a culture, one needs to preserve and protect its
traditions and conserve its CONTINUITY.  It would be irrational
and folly to deliberately break the connection to the huge
materials written about us as "Persia" and "Persian".  Once the
link is broken, it is very hard to re-establish it.

Nevertheless, no one else is mainly responsible for damages to
our cultural background and heritage of our homeland than us. 
Wise thinking, could anyone ignore the power of national pride
in building the future?   It is not just about a name, it is
about national identity.  No nation and no HONEST LEADERSHIP
would give up on a hard earned national identity.  The glorious
past is just a reminder to ourselves of the hope for renewed
success in the future.  We must battle for the name change and
restoring of our country back to "PARSA" as soon as possible.   

-2------------ Second issue:  our LANGUAGE ------

As usual we Persians are waking up too late to what has been
happening to us as a result of a lack of trust in each other,
lack of unity and excess blind pride, during the last 1400 years.
As an ancient land, possessing a civilization thousands of years
old, our country's language was known as "PARSI (in English:
Persis/Persian)" but NOT "Farsi".  "Farsi" is the Taazi nomad
(Arabic) corrupt word of "PARSI".  Almost 60%  of words we use
daily, are Arabic corrupted/infected/ill/mixed Persian or Arabic
words.

"Farsi" was used as the name of our language, on and off, from
the time of Taazi nomads (Arabs) invasion  when  Parsa and
Zoroasterian Parsis/Persians were forced to convert to Islam
and to speak Arabic during several centuries.   In Arabic there
is no phoneme of "p", so the pronunciation changed to "f". 
After fall of Sassanid dynasty and occupation of Parsa by
Taazi nomads, Parsi/Persian language has been infected by a
vast Arabic vocabulary while before that the old and middle
Avestan/Persian/Parsi (with no Arabic elements in it) has been the
official and cultural language of PARSA.
 
By pretending to be more Arab than Arabs, the Islamic regime
has promoted rigorously the word "Farsi" after year 1979.  No
one else is mainly responsible for burying our cultural
background and heritage of our homeland than us.  We are also
responsible for gradual death of "Parsi" language in previous
territories of PARSA's kingdom, such as Tajikistan, Uzbakistan,
Armenia, Afganistan, etc.  by no support and broadcasting to them,
but instead promoting more Arabic injection in Farsi by the Islamic
regime.  

In fact, by pretending to be more Arab than Arabs, the Islamic
regime is dragging our feet to a trap similar to current
situation of EGYPT.  From many decades ago due to severe
penetration and influence of Islam and Arabic culture in EGYPT,
EGYPT has lost its ancient culture related to Pharaohs and
Cleopatras Empire and has become 100% an Arab nation!  

Persia can only survive through its culture by maintaining its
OWN music, painting, traditions, script, literature, and
language.  It is important for us to protect and transfer our
ancient culture to the next generations.  Otherwise we will face
the faith of Egypt and Egyptian culture (servants of Arabs!).

Regrettably, following migration of millions of Persians to USA,
Europe, Australia, etc. in the recent years and given the
carelessness, ignorance and lack of knowledge/insight by some
Persian expatriates to the issue as well as the lack of attention
/insight by some of the national institutions in charge,
specially Iran's Academy of Culture,  miserably,  the word
"Persian" commonly used in the European languages, including
English, is now replaced by "Farsi", a completely NEW NAME/
LANGUAGE in the literature of West, totally failing to describe
the historical background of our country and the written works
of the Persian literature, which in no way is representative of
Persia's culture.

In order to protect our literature and ancient cultural
creditibility, the least thing we must strickly avoid is using
the word "Farsi" and instead use the ancient word of "Parsi"
(in international English media:  "Persis/Persian", in French:
Pers-e, in German: Persisch[Perzish]) everywhere and correct
others by asking them to say "Parsi" or "Persian" in stead of
"Farsi". 

We must battle for the name change and restoring of our mother
language to "PARSI" as soon as possible.  Also our language must
be purified by removing ALL the Taazi Arab words and replacing
the equivalent of them from original PARSI language (middle or
old Persian). New dictionaries should be written based on pure
Parsi/Avesta/Persian words, with no Taazi Arab words inside.

-3------------ Third issue:  our HANDWRITING or SCRIPT ------

No one else is mainly responsible for burying our cultural
background and heritage of our homeland than us.  As usual we
Persians are waking up too late to what has been happening to
us as a result of lack of trust in each other, lack of unity
and excess blind pride, during the last 14 centuries.  Another
critical issue is our HANDWRITING or SCRIPT. 

As an ancient land, possessing a civilization thousands of years
old, our country's HANDWRITING or SCRIPT just before invasion
and occupation of PARSA, during the Sassanid dynasty, was
AVESTAN script.  Our today "Farsi script" is totally Arabic!!!,
with four alphabets which have actual Persian pronounciation
that Taazi nomads cannot pronounce them.  This happened after
fall of Sassanid dynasty and when Parsa and Zoroasterian
Parsis/Persians were forced to convert to Islam, to speak Arabic
and to write in Arabic during several centuries.

By pretending to be more Arab than Arabs, the Islamic regime
promots rigorously the "Arabic Farsi script".  In order to
protect our literature, Persian script and ancient culture, We
must battle for the change and restoring of our language's
HANDWRITING or SCRIPT back to AVESTAN script from the current
"Arabic Farsi script" as soon as possible. 

Sassanid AVESTAN script is one of the oldest, most powerful,
most easy and most complete scripts of the world.  Avestan
script has 48 letters of alphabets which consists of 14 vowels
and 34 consonants which provides very accurate pronounciation
of words.  The Avestan holy book of our prophet Zoroaster has
been written using AVESTAN script.

                                        
                                                                                                                                                       
-4------------ Fourth issue:  our FLAG ------

Our current flag is yet another big shame and disgrace.  It is
decorated by disgusting words which are associated with the
terrorist God of Taazi nomads.  Even the GREEN COLOR and the
SWORD (in previous flag) are due to influence of Islam which
must be removed.  Changing our flag to a new flag, representing
the Eagle-flag of Cyrus the great, will be a re-birth of Persia. 

I would like to remind Persians that the nasty Arab words of
"-Alao-Akbar-" written on our current flag are the same as the
ones shouted by Taazi nomads during invasion and destruction of
our homeland Persia when these desert barbarians and MURDERERS
turned our homeland to rubbles and ruins of hell fire and made
rivers of blood and skulls by killing and beheading our greatest
hero commander-in-chief of Persian army (Rostam e Farrokhzad), our
hero soldiers, innocent defenseless men, women and children.  Our
brave hero soldiers fought till the last drop of their blood for
our homeland. 

It was just after battle of Qadessiyeh that, the Omar ibn Khatab,
the Taazi nomad Caliph, wrote a letter to Yazdgerd III the
Emperor of Persia and informed him:  "Either you accept the
-Alao-Akbar- and you and your people start to obey our holy book
Quran and pray to our -Alao-Akbar- God as the only right God, or
we will make your Ajam (retarded) people and empire a ruin as
part of our obligation to our very right religion.  So Beia'at or
submission is the only way for you and your people's salvation"...

The Aryan Emperor, king of the kings, Yazdgerd III wrote in
response to desert Taazi nomad Omar that:  """"""How can you
teach us Godly ways when you and your -Alao-Akbar- followers
commit actions such as:  burying your daughters alive, beheading
prisoners of war, eating lizards, raping women, mass murdering
innocent people, attacking and robbing Caravans, kidnapping
people's wives and stealing their properties, making female
war-prisoners your comfort slaves, beheading children's of God,
etc.?  Your hearts are of stone and we condemn all your evil
actions.

Is that your -Alao-Akbar- who commands you to murder, pillage,
destroy, fire and terror the non-believers of your very right
religion?  Do you want to teach  -Alao-Akbar- to the
non-believers of your very right religion and people of other
religions, by using your bloodshedding swords to pray your God
in Arabic, since your very right God can only understand Arabic?  

Have you, desert barbarians, pirates and savage beasts, ever known
that we PARSIS for thousand years have waved the flag of:  GOOD
THOUGHTS, GOOD WORDS & GOOD DEEDS,  and we worship a mono-God
(as Zoroastranism, the 1st and oldest monotheism) and pray five
times a day? 

We Persians see the Love of God in the light of Sun and warmth of
Fire that makes us to see the light of truth.  It warms/enlighten
our hearts to be kind to each other and to Love the Creator.  It
makes us to keep the light of our Lord, Ahora Mazda, alive in our
hearts.  We help other human beings and spread Love among each
other.  Our Zoroastrian religion preaches benevolence, freedom,
tolerance, and progress with no barrier for gender, race, color,
age, or nationality.

"So I command you and your nomad terrorist gang of -Alao-Akbar-
to pack-up and go back to your hell deserts as your believes and
actions are the most barbaric!!"""""". 

-5------------ Fifth issue:  our NAMES ------

No one else is mainly responsible for burying our cultural
background and heritage of our homeland than us. Although there
are many Persians who have preserved our Persian names as a part
of our culture, but miserably it is very shameful and treacherous
that there exist people in our homeland who carry Taazi names,
the names of enemies, MURDERERS and ruiners of our people, country
and culture.  - What a big shame!

In order to protect our ancient culture, the least thing we must
strickly avoid is using VERY SHAMEFUL Taazi names such as: 
-> Mammadrasul, Rahem, FAti, Husen(Akh!), MohammadReza,Reza,  Majid,
AbbAs, Karim, Ghasem, Kulsom, Ali, Hasan, Soghra, Masud, Ehsan,
Hamid, Hamideh, Mansor, Sakineh, Mojtaba, Morteza, Mohsen, NAser,
Mehdi, JamAl, JavAd, Ka'abl-e-Ali (dog of Ali!), Ja'afar, KamAl,
HAshem, MoostafA, KAzem, HAfez, Sa'adi, ZahrA(ye-antar), Akbar,
Asghar, Rughiyeh,...

But INSTEAD inform, educate, advise and correct others to use
Aryan/Achaemenid/Avestan/Parsi/Persian names such as:   Cyrus,
Kourosh, MithrA, AtoosA, RoxAnA, AnAhitA, Darius, Asha, Azartush,
BAbak, BardiA, Voshmgir, Aryano, Sepanta, Zartosht, Shahrbanoo,
PArsA, Saasan, Maazyar, Ozhan, Pardis, Paria, PAsAd, MAndAnA, ZhiAn,
RoshAk, Rika, Avan, Uoshah, Sepandar, VornA, Zadmehr, Pezhvak,
Aryamehr, VoryA, Minoo, Varshasb, Sepand, Toorazh, Yazdgerd, AAtash,
ZhAmak, Varjavand, Zarasp, Shahrokh, Vishtasb, Sooren, ZharfA,
Tirdad, Variyan, ZamyAd, Vartan, Varoozh, Sohrab, Behram, Ardeshir,
Arash, Armun, Arya, Ashkan, Azarbod, Bozorgmehr, Azar, Arman,
Poorandokht, Barbod, Sourena, Gushtasb, Goudarz, Kaambiz, Karen,
Siavoush, Siamak, Roeya, Shervin, Azardad, Mozhgan, Arasp, 
Armiya, Artin, Hooman, Rustam, Aryabarzan, Arzhang, AAbAn, Giv,
Gorgin, Mazda, Hutan, Kamran, Kaykobad, Kashayar, Kiavush, Mani,
Marzban, Zhoubin, Nikan, Niusha, Tinoush, Soshyant, RAmyAd,
YazdAn, RAyAn, RAmtin, RAmbod, NimAd, MehregAn, TirgAn, Mazdak,
Katayoon, Parastoo, Ashavan, Keyumars, KiAnoosh, KayAn, Gorazm,
BAmdAd, Fourohar, Farvahar, Borzouyeh, BornA, ArshiA, Borzin,
AzarAn, ArsiA, Arashk, Gira, Homa, Hormozdad, Usan, Artavardya,
Chubin, Azata, Lilya, Sam, Vishtaspa, Katin, Geeti, Cambujiyeh,
Arsaces, Arshan, Kata, Kara, Kurav, Nozhan, Teispes, Mazdayasna,
Tusa, Ushtra, Uxshan, Vahuka, vohushtra, Zaosha, Artavardiya,
AvA, Simin, Yasmin, Martiya, Parizad, etc.        

-6----------- Sixth issue:  our CELEBERATIONS or CEREMONIES --
   
No one else is mainly responsible for burying and damaging our
cultural background and heritage of our homeland than us.

Despite those Persians who have preserved our Persian rituals,
ceremonies and celeberations as a part of our culture, but
miserably it is extremely shameful and treacherous that there
exist people in our homeland who perform Taazi rituals,
ceremonies and celeberations, associated with the enemies,
MURDERERS and ruiners of our people, country and culture. 
- What a big shame!

In order to protect our ancient culture, the least thing we
must strickly avoid is performing Taazi rituals, ceremonies
and celeberations such as:  Eid-e-Feeteer, Eid-e-Ghorban,
Aashura & Tasoua'a, Ramazan, Doayeh-Kumeyl, Muharram,
Nimeyeh-Sha'aban, etc.  People should not attend Mosques,
Imamzadeh, or NOT going to visit graves of dead Taazi origin
MURDERERS in Mashhad, Qom, Najaf, Karbala, etc. (What a big
shame!).

After the battle of Qadessiyeh, when Persians had to evacuate
their capital, city of Tispun, in rush, many children and old
people were left behind in chaos.  Old people were given a
choice, by Arab occupiers, to accept Islam or to die.  Many
preferred to die. But the young girls and boys were taken as
slaves and were distributed amongst the Arabs.  One of the
unfortunate children who got captive by Arabs was OUR THREE
YEARS OLD CHILD princess, SHAHRBANU.  The Arab soldiers handed
her to Caliph Omar, who in turn gifted her to ALI who was the
son-in-law of Muhammad (Prophet of Terror). Ali was 32 years
old and took our THREE YEARS OLD CHILD princess, as his
comfort slave. 

It was ALI who advised Mugheera-ibn-Shu'ba to display our
captured Persian THREE YEARS OLD CHILD princess to Persian
army assembled in Nihavand.  He shouted that he will kill our
princess unless any of Persians has courage to come and save
her life.  When Persians verified our child princess in the
hands of ALI and Arabs,  they went out-of-control and in a
mad-rush against their commanders' orders, to rescue the
SHAHRBANU. 

When their emotional move made Persian army-front into chaos,
Arabs took the opportunity and withdraw into a valley and
then climbed onto hills.  Once the Persian heavy armor chasing
Arabs came down the lowermost part of the valley in rush and
chaos, Arabs massacred them through the day from three sides
with little room for Persians to maneuver in the narrow
valley...

So instead inform, educate, advise and correct others to
perform our ancient Parsi/Persian  rituals, ceremonies and
celeberations (Jashn) such as:

NOuROZ                 – New Year Festival (the holiest Jashn in
                                                 ZOROASTRISM).   
Khodad-Sal             – The Prophet Zarthosht’s Birthday on
                                 6th of Farvadin month/new year.
Farvardegan            – Remembrance of departed souls.

Ardibeheshtgan         - to Perceive & Realise the Best Truth.
Tiragan                – Water Festival (Jashn).
Mehregan               – Harvest Festival.
Ave roj nu Parab       – Water Festival.

Adar roj nu Parab      – Fire Festival.
Chahar-Shanbeh-Suri    - A Fire Purification Rite Celebration.
Zarthosht noDiso       - A Praying Day for Remembrance of
                                             our holy Prophet.

Sadeh                  – Mid-Winter Festival (Jashn-e-Sadeh),
                         celebrated 50 days before NOuROZ,
                         Which in Persian means "100" and refers
                         to one hundred days and nights left to
                         the beginning of the new year. It is
                         a festivity to honor fire and to defeat
                         the forces of darkness, frost,and cold.
 
Shab-e-Chelle/Yalda    - On the eve of the 1st day of winter
                            to celebrates the birth of FEMALE
                            GOD of Sun:   Mithra.

Sizdah-bedar           - On the 13th day of new year/Spring.

And visit and pay your respect to Parsi heros and Persis
heritage sites:  Parsapolis, Pasargad, Kourosh the Great's
monument, monument/tomb of our prophet Zoroaster, Syavosh,
Babak, Maazyar, Naqsh-e-Rustam, Apadana, Bihstun (currently
inside Iraq), Tispun ancient city (Capital of Parthian and
Sassanid Dynasties - currently inside Iraq, about 40km away
from our western border), etc.   We must also battle for
re-building of our worship fire-temples and Zoroastrian
libraries.
 

---Conlusion---------------------------------------------

In conlusion, in order to save and revive our culture and
glorious history, and for the LOVE of our ancient Persian
culture and homeland (re-birth and direct link to PARSA or
last Sassanid Empire), we must battle for achieving the
following cases:

1- Changing and restoring the NAME OF OUR HOMELAND from
current "IRAN" back to "PARSA" for inside the country and
word "Persia" on an international level accordingly.

2- Changing and restoring the NAME of our national LANGUAGE
from "Farsi" to "PARSI" for inside the country and word
"Persian" on an international level and accordingly for
anything that is related to  PARSA's (Persia) history,
civilization, culture, language, art, and people.

3- Throwing out all the Taazi Arab words and vocabulary from
our "Parsi/Persian" language and purify it from all the Taazi
words by substituting equivalent words of PURE "Parsi" origin
(i.e. middle/old/Avestan Persian).  Developing new dictionaries
based on PURE "Parsi/Persian" words/vocabulary.

4- Changing and restoring of our HANDWRITING SCRIPT from the
current "Arabic Farsi script" back to AVESTAN script.

5- Changing and restoring of our current Arabic infected flag
to the Eagle-flag of Kourosh (Cyrus) the great, Aryan Emperor of
PARSA/Persia.

6- Throwing out all the current Arab names and change our
NAMES (first and last) completely to our beloved Parsi/Persian
names.   Use:  "PARSI", "PARSA", "PERSIAN" in referring to the
people of our country.

7- Strickly avoid and reject performing Taazi MURDERERS'
rituals, ceremonies and celeberations.  Instead inform,
educate, advise and correct others to perform and attend our
ancient Parsi/Persian  rituals, ceremonies, celeberations and
our ancient Parsi/Persian cultural heritage sites. 

8- Re-building thousands of our worship Zoroastrian fire-temples
and libraries.

9- Re-storing names of our cities and provinces back to the
era of Persian Empire, such as:  Ctispun, Ekbatana, Susa, Bishapur,
Karmania, PasargAd, Tabarestan, Apadana, Persis, Ariana, Marw,
Elamite, etc.  Possible re-capture of Ctispun city which is only
40km away from our west border.

10- Providing many incentives to those remaining Zoroasterians
abroad, especially those in India (Parsees), who ran away their
homeland from hundred years ago, due to their massacre,
genocide and insecurity of their lifes, to come back to their
homeland, Parsa, and help in restoring, rebuilding and reviving
the Zoroastrian culture and religion, once again.   

""""Oh' Persia,
    my tortured and ruined homeland,
    we are coming to save you,
    and get revenge from your enemies.
    Your re-birth is near...""""

Yazdgerd.

And?

Did we reach the target?

Any other way of payment??

It just doesn't work with the CC. No idea why!

Any other way of payment possible???????????????

Thanks!

What do you say, boss?

I am wondering if you can consider keeping this blog of yours as a permanent fixture either here as a blog, on the home page, or on the  side column as a means of our direct/real-time contact with you. Kind of "Yaad daasht be sar dabir" whenever a private email to you is not necessary.

Topoli talking

Mirza Choghondar, the interview was recorded when I was in Washington in early December. I have not seen it myself. I will link it if it appears on YouTube.

Camera adds few pounds; they say

I just missed your interview on VOA's "KHABAR HA VA NAZAR HA" jj; can you put it up for us?

Thanks.

Ghorbane Shoma

Rustgoo, there is no media organization I know of that demands a fee from writers to publish their work. It's usually the other way around.

iranian.com is user driven. Content is provided by people on a voluntary basis. It would dramatically change the character of the site if the articles came only from those with money.

On the other hand, we are seriously considering offering subscriptions. Those who subscribe for a monthly fee, could browse the pages of iranian.com must faster without seeing any of the annoying ads.

And to all other wonderful friends here, yek donya mamnoon for your support. You're the reason I wake up every morning :)

Democracy is neither free nor subject to mercy

Please forgive me if my suggestion has been put forward and discussed before, JJ;

I really don't see any reason for you having to ask people pay their dues. I do know it's technically possible to receive money from commentators according to a set method which can be a flat-rate system or, per use. The only thing I don't know is the feasibility of anonymity within either of the two.

I am sure that your concerns and limitations are far beyond the scope of my suggestion which I wanted to share with you, nonetheless.

Thanks Monda!

Yes, it's driving me nuts as well!

I'll try your suggestion.

Dear princess and rtaebi1

Thanks for supporting the site. JJ, never told me how many visitors took my challenge. I made an assumption and covered based on that assumption.

I read JJ's comment and am touched by his humble attitude and grateful for the service he is providing. I would also appreciate if he would give me the chance to honor my promise.

Best of luck to all democracy lovers of this site.

Shirin Vazin, I feel for you!

I'm on the same boat with paypal problem!  I have been trying daily to give them my new CC #'s, but since i'm using the same email addresses used on previous transactions, they can't validate my identity!  I have received phone calls from them too.  Even on the phone problem sounds resolved but then the next time I try my donation or online store on IC, it wouldn't work.  And it's driving me nuts!

I guess you and I need to open a new email account, so paypal can properly handle our accounts.  Anyone any other suggestions?   

Arash Sobhani supports Iranian.com

Five vintage Kiosk CD's, of their very first album, "Ordinary Man," autographed by band member and lead singer Arash Sobhani, will be sent to the fund raising drive's top donors.

//iranian.com/main/music/kiosk
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs8nXINVM7g
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6ZM1Du_zYY

HELP!

I tried to pay 4 times by my CC but each time I get the message that Pay Pal could not validate my card!!

I checked with my CC company, nothing is wrong with that.

Any idea?? Thanks!

Almost There

Mr. would you be kind enough to update us about the donation as to how fare we are, I am very determined to know, thank you.

Agha Bijan,

Thank you so much for supporting our favourite site.

You just tempted me to donate again just so that you would match it. :) Let's see if we can reach our goal by Monday.

I am not a new member

I have already donated a little bit of money, but if I was to  donate another 50 would u match UR 20? thank U

Keeping Iranian.com alive

With the amounts of Iranians that live in the US, if we can't raise $10000 to keep the Iranian website continuing, I have to say, shame on us, I did my part.

............

I wish I could offer $3501.00 and have your earmarked met but I cann't.              Maziar

Fared Shafinury supports Iranian.com

Ten autographed Fared Shafinury and Tehranosaurus CD's will be sent to the top 10 donors of this week, thanks to Fared!

//iranian.com/main/music/fared-shafinury
//www.myspace.com/FaredShafinury

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLQvqjiG7_U
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FXu4ouqan8
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfZL7KR2EhQ

wow!

Thanks Nazy jan ...... and ma beeshtar.

sbglobe Jan

Your Hamed CD will be on its way to you soon! And no matter where I am, I will always be "mokhless," and "under your shadow!"

I hope I made the cut

Nazy jan.... If not that is OK too.

BTW - I hope you are having fun whereever you are :-)   

Where is Mr Yassari?

He is great in this art of fund raising ! I don't see him around this time.

What happened to him? I'm sure he will come up with a great idea to gather more donation again.

Hamed Nikpay supports Iranian.com

Artist Hamed Nikpay has generously autographed ten CD's of his All Is Calm collection to support Iranian.com. They will be shipped to the next ten donors who give $75 or more to Iranian.com.

//www.hamednikpay.com/

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Fzq32fYZs 

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqONCJoADtQ

ca. 4500 registered at IC - $6500 raised?

In a very supeficial count, I saw 4500 registered participants in Iranian.com.  I can not imagine those in Iran or some other countries (???) to be able to contribute at PayPal, but those registered in the west, please.

JJ - Let us know if you want us to increase our contribution.  Thanks.

You are so kind people

I appreciate your concerns. As I mentioned before, we are grateful for every dollar we receive, and do not worry about why the great majority do not feel they should donate. We have to be rational about this and not blame anyone for being "cheap".

The biggest issue, in my opinion, is that iranian.com is not a non-profit and therefore those who could donate large sums cannot expect a tax refund.

Also public media, such as PBS in the U.S., or Democracy Now, receive a lot more donations because they are just that: Public, and lots of people are supportive and protective of that in a country where commercial media are very powerful.

Also, when there are so many free sites, there's no sense of urgency to pay.

What's important to us is that there are many dedicated readers who have been loyal supporters for years. And that means the world to us.

....

Thank you, BN and Bijan, for your candid posts. Apparently we have an unflattering picture here......truth hurts, but truth must be told! I hope we can do better and I just donated again.....I hope we will approach our goal, or even reach our goal!

Thank you, Bijan, for your generosity!!! May God bless you!

Dear Mr. Javid

I apologize for my comment on your previous blog because I was way off in my assumptions about the order of magnitude of fund that you will be raising.  I was extremely shocked to see how low your goal was for this fundraiser. I found it unbelievable that you are still struggling to meet such a low expectation.  

To help with your goal, I offer a challenge to the patrons of this site. I will match $20 for every $50 contribution by a new member in the next 24 hours. I hope this will encourage more people to contribute.

Democracy lovers should support this site.

Well

Regarding the concert loss, dont pay em up front prior to the event & if the event failed to break even then go to their room after the concert and explain to them that ; "As you know I failed to make a single penny on this so its only fair that you kindly take a cut from your fee yet i,m willing to borrow and pay you up as per our agreement but keep in mind that I will blog about it 1st thing tomorrow morning on the global site I happen to own .So which will it be, greed or fame ..".  I,m sure they will compromise ;:)).

Cheers!!!

Path of Kiaan Resurrection of True Iran Hoisting Drafshe Kaviaan //iranianidentity.blogspot.com //www.youtube.com/user/samsamsia

wait!

Paypal is still debating my identity! I tried putting my new card info on their site, it took it because I was thanked for it ... but then I got 3 messages from paypal accounting dept. warning me about someone possibly trying to forge my identity!

I feel bad about this!  Never lose your wallets guys!  

What?! I thought it would be more than $6500!  Is the site even half out of hole from the last benefit concert?!