Peter Khan Zendran; Iranian.com Blog
به زبان فارسی
PICTORY
LATEST MUSIC
SEARCH
Disgust over nyc persian parade
01-Apr-2008
In seeing this years persian parade on madison avenue, billed to show pride in our heritage, I was insulted by the way it was planned and carried out. If anything it showed the laziness and half assed approach which has charactedized Iranian civilization. This year the insult was more personal.
In mid February I was attending a NIAC meeting at MIT. I originally had not planned to attend, but Mr. Tehrani, when he heard I was the one who got george noory to stop his anti-Iranian rants on the radio and had glenn beck banned from brown University for threatening anti-Iranian statements, paid for me to got to that NIAC meeting. While there Babak Talebi and Javad Fakharzadeh invited me to march in the persian parade planned for this march, even asking me to bring the same Shir-o-Korshid there that sparked the rift in international answer in september 2003 and to wear the Sipah Salar insignia given to me by Iran's Defense Ministry in May 2005. I said would attend on two conditions. The first was that I be given transportation to and from the event, and I was told this could be easily arranged.
The second was that I must not march behind the people from norooz productions. During my tenure as Editorial Contributor for persianmirror not only did I help that magazine grow and make it's niche but I got involved with norooz productions, as the founder of persianmirror was an executive for persianmirror. My active association with persianmirror ended on bad terms in may 2005, partly due to personal differences with the founder. One thing that really nagged me was the fact that I was in the midst of a civil rights lawsuit where I was suing for being denied the right to pray in jail while held as a political prisoner and the management at persianmirror was denying me support, all the while asking me to spand my time and resources which were needed in my suit to assist them at norooz productions. Needless to say the rupture was a rough one.
In the long run both persianmirror and norooz productions have gone downhill, the former being an ersatz for other Iranian media sites by it's rehashing of old news, the latter relying too much on marketing gimmicks. Interesting enough when the founder of persianmirror would try to pull down my articles people would contact them en masse and insist my works remain. After my rupture with persianmirror that publication fell into a pattern of using writers and contributors, as most contributors would only last after a few articles, and proving me right in my slams on persianmirror as the founder showed herself to be a self absorbed user.
In contrast I became more involved with organizations, be they government, military, educational, literary etc. in Iranian affairs, and saw the effects my writings had on others, including my works on persianmirror. If anything the invitation I recieved was the fruit of my work.
I ended up exchanging contact info and was told I would be contacted. By mid March nobody had gotten back to me and once again I was left in the lurch. Neverhtheless I continued to recieve invites to that parade.
When I saw the website for the persian parade for this year I wanted to smack the goh out of the people who put that event on. As it turned out the nypd and homeland security were so involved in planning that event that they were demanding the exact names and marching order of those marching in the parade. Such a request is the type one would expect from a gulag taskmaster and too demeaning for any individual to accept. Also, on their site the explanation for the choice of word persian instead of Iranian or Farsi was insulting. The way it was esplained they said was not to scare away people and to highlight Iranian culture and it's influence.
If they had wanted to do that they would have been better off using the indegenous Farsi instead of the greco-Roman patronymic persian, or just use the more all encompasing Iranian. After all, the title Kurush, Daryush, Ardashir, Shabour, Khosrow, Ismail, Abbas etc. used was Shahanshah e IRAN, not the greco-roman persia. And in citing the use of the term persian cat they forget the reason the cat was called a persian has nothing to do with the country of origin, but because persian cats are TANBUL and persian is more popular to use than a word like nigger, spick, heeb, etc. NOt to mention some pervert used a pic of a persian cat with the caption "persian cats are sexy" to promote IranianPersonals, turning off many including myself. And to add insult to injury the biggest promoter of the parade is, you guessed it, norooz productions and persianmirror.
In response to this I will NEVER attend another persian parade in manhattan, as those who organize and promote it are selective, sneaky users in it for themself who jeopardize our culture. If anything we are better off organizing Iranian heritage parades around No Ruz in major cities across the country and world. Cities like Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, denver, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Vienna, London, Paris, Rome, Sydney have large Iranian communities and our resources would be better spent organizing locally and in doing so better promoting our culture rather than wasting our time travelling long distances to be used by others.
| Recently by peterkhanzendran | Comments | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Princess Leila; The case for her murder | 7 | Mar 27, 2008 |
| Setting the facts straight about 1953 | 3 | Mar 25, 2008 |
| Update on Bandar Abbas wikimapia situation | 3 | Mar 14, 2008 |
RECENT COMMENTS
IRANIANS OF THE DAY
| Person | About | Day |
|---|---|---|
| نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
| Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
| Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
| احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
| گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
| Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
| محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
| Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |
In addition:
by Atlantis (not verified) on Sun Apr 06, 2008 05:34 AM PDTAfter having provided my criticism of the parade, and some suggestions on how I think one could improve it, I would like to add that one must start somewhere, and that somewhere is almost always far from perfect. The important thing is that they have started this beautiful tradition, and for newcomers on the block they have done very well! Now we have to make sure to remain on the block, and that is done by trying to expand and improve every year! And to improve is much more important and fruitful than just expanding. Expanding without assuring high quality will just result in disaster.
It's ok to have other parades in other major cities around the U.S., but the New York Parade should remain the mother of all Persian Parades in the world, and to that end all Iranians around the world who can afford their time and resources should contribute in any way they can to this parade.
As for parades in other cities: Something we need to understand is that if something is too meager and lacks the necessary luster, extravagance and beauty, then it's better to skip it alltogether! It needs to be spectacular, or else it should not exist at all. Because what we want to show the world about our civilization and culture needs to be spectacular, since our culture and civilization is spectacular. We do not want to show something that would raise the question "and...?" We're showing Iran, and so of course we want to show the BEST! Besides, a show that is not appreciated by the audience will not have fulfilled its purpose.
Many Iranians in the diaspora, which largely came in to existence after the revolution of 1979, have a bad habit of starting something with much enthusiasm, only to let it deteriorate with time. Take Iranian restaurants outside of Iran for instance - their food and service is usually excellent in the beginning, and then with time it deteriorates until they almost have no more customers and will have to shut down. (There are a few exceptions) The same goes with Iranian TV programs - they were quite entertaining some 30 years ago when they started out, and look at them today: 97% commercials and 3% trash music with new "singers" from LA. To keep a creation alive year after year, renewal and improvement is necessary - It's the same as in the world of marketing of brand names and services. If largely the same things will be shown year after year, I can promise you that it won't be long before the number of spectators and participants will shrink in size year after year.
Looking forwards to many years of this wonderful tradition, the Persian Parade in New York.
Best Regards,
Shahram
Anger and bitterness won't solve anything.
by Atlantis (not verified) on Sat Apr 05, 2008 04:13 PM PDTI was unfortunately not able to personally see the Persian Parade in New York. As a former New Yorker I had to be content to watch it on you tube from where I live now. Judging from what I saw I have this to say: It was nice and sweet, but we could still do a lot better! I suggest to those who arrange this parade to go to see the Turkish parade in Manhattan. That is a beautiful parade, other than that there is a large number of anti-Iranian pan-Turks marching in it with the flags of all the territories which they would like to attach to their "Greater Turkey" nightmare, including our Azarbaijan. But the parade in itself is beautiful. Go and look at their nuberous folkloric dance groups. You won't find any 12-18 year old girls with a colorful scarf wrapped around their waist on top of tights, trying to look "folkloric" while waving their hips and hands in what is supposed to resemble some kind of dance - what kind of dance we do not know. Just looking at the parade one realizes that there is a lot of chaos and disorder, and a lot of elements lacking. What's the idea of having one person walking around with a sign on which it says "Kurdistan" or "Gilan" when there are either 2 people or none at all following them behind them? The message it sends is that there are three Kurds and one Gilaki in this whole parade. It would be better to have small floats, each representing the different regions and ethnic subgroups of Iranians. And when doing so it is extremely important to include ALL Irnaian subgroups!
Another thing is that it get's tiring to see them same thing year after year. In a parade like this it is important to renew the repertoire each year. Of course some things could be more or less the same.
Anyway, I think the parade was nice and I thank the arrangers very much for their hard work, but I would still suggest that they should view the other national parades of other countries - especially the Greek and Turkish, and then compare it to the Iranian, and you will see that we could do a lot better.
As for the gentleman who wrote the very angry article, I do not know him, but since he shared his opinion on a number of subjects I will take the liberty to share my opinions about some of the things he wrote: First of all, to set a condition for participating in the Parade by stating he would only participate if he would be provided private transportation to and from the event, makes only sense to me if he is a)Very old, b)Physically disabled in some way, c) An extremely important VIP person. Other than that I would think that a person who makes such demands has a rather big ego.
If the author of the article is not happy with the parade, then I suggest that he come with some constructive suggestions instead of a long letter of bitter and furious comments which do not make much sense to the readers, and which I also found insulting and belitteling to the Iranian nation and civilization.
Happy New Year to you all!
A total waste of time!!!!!!!!
by Parsian (not verified) on Thu Apr 03, 2008 07:10 AM PDTJust wasted my time reading your article. I couldn't make sense of it either! You sound to be an angry and unhappy person first with yourself. And Please don't take it out on the PERSIANS and what they do!! I would suggest that you look within you and see where your anger is really coming from. My guess is that you have many unresolved issues, and writting this way is not going to help it! JUST SMILE AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE, RESPECT AND LOVE ALL PEOPLE. With this attitude, no one will be missing you at the next year's parade!!
To straighten you out
by peterkhanzendran on Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:18 AM PDT//www.peterkhanzendran.com
//peterkhanzendran.blogspot.com
Ey fan dul consider that if the kunpedar putting that parade on wanted to do our civilization a real service they would not involve nyc and homeland security pigs to the point where our personal info is known to them, split hares over who attends and who does not, and encourage others to show their Farsi pride in their own communities instead of wasting time and money better spent elsewhere in one area.
they use Persian instead of Farsi?
by manesh on Tue Apr 01, 2008 09:34 PM PDTWOW! I like them even better.
As for you, I did notice you weren't there. It was great fun.
What?!!!!
by Anonymously (not verified) on Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:29 PM PDTI read this article from beginning to end, and cannot make heads or tails of it!!! What is this piece about again? It sounds like a pissed off rant about something...I just can't make out what it's about....
Peter What a daring
by masoudA on Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:13 PM PDTPeter
What a daring individual you are !!!! first presenting yourself as a pedestrian thinker by indicating your connections with NIAC - and then proceeding to prove yourself as a backward yet judgemental sanam criticizing a group which is doing great service to all Iranians - and doing it better every year.