History

ماندگاری شايسته ترين

چرا؟ راستی چرا؟ چرا به هر بهانه و به هر دليلی که برای مردم آورده می شود آنها بی اعتنا به اهداف حکومت نوروز را به عنوان «بزرگترين عيد» ايرانيان گرامی می دارند. حکومت برای برگزاری هر کدام از جشن های مذهبی، از تولد پيامبر اسلام گرفته تا عيد غدير و فطر و قربان، ميليون ها خرج می کند، راديو ـ تلويزيون هايش صبح تا شب در بوق و کرنا می دمند و کسبه وادار می شوند تا به رقابت با يکديگر در و ديوار را چراغانی کنند. اما همين حکومت برای عيد نوروز هيچ کاری صورت نمی دهد و فقط دنبال يک شهادت و مرگ و مير مذهبی است تا بتواند عيش مردم را تعطيل کند. اما، هر سال، با پيچيدن بوی بهار در سينه های ايرانيان، مردمان اين عيد را با شکوه گسترده و بيشتری گرامی می دارند و آیین های آن را مفصل تر از گذشته بجای می آورند>>>

Bahar Aborted

Islamists tried to cancel the 1979 Nowruz celebrations, in order to maintain their unending cycle of mourning and fighting. The Hezbollah was determined to take over the entire government apparatus, expel the liberal technocrats from the ministries, crush the Kurdistan uprising, and reinvigorate the populace around their banner. However, their mindless repressive tactics (Chomaghdari) had alienated most political activists; and their lack-lustre fundamentalist slogans could not attract the vibrant young population. Since his arrival, ayatollah Khomeini had not helped their cause either, as his Qom lectures were normally tedious and erratic>>>

History for youth

When the idea of producing high quality books for young readers about Iranian history and culture was conceived, one of the first and most important goals was to get these books into public and school libraries in North America. For many reasons beyond the scope of discussion here and despite the importance of Iran in the world stage for centuries, Iranian history does not have its rightful place amongst the history of civilizations. When the book was first published, my daughter sent a copy of “Ancient Iran” to her Professor of Ancient Near Eastern studies at our local University. The response was “Great, I did not know Iran was this fascinating, maybe I should include some topics from Iran in my course”.>>>

The Outbreak that Changed the World

In the autumn of 1978, everything started to fall apart. The rebellion spread to universities, then schools and finally to factories, offices and even the oil industry. Widespread strikes paralyzed most government functions and large-scale desertions weakened the armed forces. In secret, Shah was terminally ill, but would not relinquish any real power to his hand picked governments or even the army generals. During the past 15 years of his despotic reign, every decision and action was so directly dictated by him, that the whole country fell into a state of convulsion, as he was being tormented by an incurable cancer and an implacable enemy>>>

هنوز هم وقت دانستن حقيقت نيست؟

نوشته‌ي پرخاشگرانه و افترازننده‌ی اخير فريبرز سنجري عليه خسرو شاکري در سايت‌هاي اينترنتي به بهانه‌ي دفاع از چريک‌هاي فدائي در دوره‌ي شاه انگيزه‌ي نوشتن اين گفتار کوتاه‌ شد.‌ از آنجا که افتخار دوستي و همکاري با خسرو شاکري استاد ممتاز تاريخ و تاريخ‌شناس چپ ايران را داشته و دارم و در آماده کردن کتابي که سببِ برخوردِ خشونت‌بار و حذفي سنجري شده ــ يعني کتاب هشت نامه به چريک‌هاي فدائي خلق (به همت خسرو شاکري؛ تهران:‌ نشر ني، 1386) ــ با آقاي شاکري همکاري کرده‌ام و «پيش‌واژه‌اي» هم بر آن کتاب نوشته‌ام، لازم مي‌دانم يکي دو نکته را در مورد موضوعِ جنجالي تصفيه‌هاي درون‌گروهي فدائيان بگويم. افزون بر اين، بايد بگويم به باور من، نوشته‌هاي عصبي و ايدئولوژيک، مانند «افشاگري» سنجري شايسته‌ي پاسخدهي نيستند، و اين نوشته نيز پاسخي به اتهام‌زني‌ها و پرخاشگري‌هاي ایشان نيست.>>>

Shatranj

First of all, it’s not chess it’s shatranj. And yes the rules are different. In chess, the queen is the terror of the board. In shatranj nothing is more powerful than the rook. The humble piece that sits next to the king is the farzin, a wretched civil servant that can move only one square diagonally. There are more differences, but this isn’t about modern chess versus authentic shatranj, it’s a confession. We Iranians cheated in the very first game of shatranj ever played. In our defense, we didn’t start the whole affair, the Indians did>>>

The ‘Fun’ Hoveida Years

During the great oil boom of the 1970’s, the irrational exuberance of the Iranian upper classes and the unquenchable greed of the royalty played havoc with the domestic economy. Hoveida’s half-baked plans for hasty modernization and the Shah’s expensive upgrades for the army, created a number of economical and social dislocations. That deluge of projects, which were unnaturally fuelled by the soaring oil prices, played havoc with the fledging Iranian economy and infrastructure; creating cyclic booms and busts, deficiencies and speculations, inflation and hoarding>>>

The Iranian Revolution at 30

Thirty years ago the Iranian revolution overthrew the Pahlavi monarchy in Iran. It subsequently became known as the Islamic revolution, although it had a much wider base than that, and it was only its further developments that led to the Islamic revolution. The shah believed that he was highly popular with his own people, an illusion which was both due to the rapid increases in the standards of living and the fact that his system did not allow any criticism, least of all of his policies, to be made by anyone however high in society. He would therefore gauge his relationship with the people from sycophantic reports and stage-managed demonstrations of public support on certain occasions. His greatest tragedy, thus, was that he became a victim of his own propaganda>>>

Shah vs. Khomeini: Round 1

After the 1953 coup, Shah’s reign as an autocratic monarch started. Similar to his father’s rule, soon the parliament became a rubberstamp of the royal decrees, and the political rights were in effect suspended. However, it still took the Shah another decade before he could gain the absolute power over his court, the army and the Persian nobility. Meanwhile, he had to contend with his family, who were forcing him into divorces and remarriages; the power-hungry generals of his army, who were planning coups behind his back; and the older and wiser nobility, who were trying to teach and mentor him! Besides, the country was dirt poor and most people were illiterate and living in abject poverty>>>

What is there to celebrate?

Allow me to go back to the beginning of the revolution, or maybe a little bit before. It was 1978. The Iranian revolution was in full swing. I was a teenager full of life and passionate about a big change, like so many young people during that period. We were all ready to get rid of the monarchy and bring justice and equality to our country. The future was so bright and it was right in front of us; we could be free from the hands of a dictator! Finally the time had come: 1979 was glorious. The Shah left the country! However, the glory of the 1979 revolution did not last long for many Iranians. Women were the first to be targeted by the new regime.>>>

Revolution is not dead

No shame in saying it. We carried out a revolution with everybody else in the country. We became humans just like everybody else. We did our fighting and got our butts kicked. The fight is not over, though, and will not be any time soon. We are still here and still doing what we can, and the next generation of socialists inside the country has picked up beautifully where we got beat, imprisoned, executed or driven out of the country. But, we learned and proved something that cannot be taken away. It is a lesson that puts the deepest fears in any dictatorial regime. We proved that it is possible to get rid of tyrants>>>

1953 to 1979

Unfortunately, Mosaddegh’s second year in the office unravelled all the gains of his first! He proved to be much better as the speaker for opposition than the leader of government, and much more resourceful in weakness than tactful in power. His emotional and authoritative style (my way or no way) soon upset and aggravated most of the nationalist and Islamist allies, who gradually turned into sworn enemies. Finally, when Mosaddegh lost the majority support in Majles, he simply dissolved it, in order to prevent the parliament from voting him out of the office! >>>

عیب می جمله بگفتی، هنرش نیز بگوی

خوب بیاد می آورم که یکی از عمده ترین شکایت های روشنفکران ایران پیش از انقلاب ، عدم استقلال سیاسی ایران و وابستگی شدید آن کشور به امریکا بود. اگر در حال حاضر به سیاست خارجی ایران نگاه کنید می بینید که در حقیقت ایران نوعی سیاست موازنۀ منفی که در زمان حکومت دکتر مصدّق برقرار بود اتّخاذ کرده است. هیچکس نمی تواند هیچ نوع وابستگی نه تنها به آمریکا بلکه به هیچ کشور دیگری در حکومت ایران بیابد. شاید امروزه بتوان ایران را در آن قسمت از دنیا از زمرۀ مستقل ّترین کشور ها بشمار آورد. حتیّ مخالفان سرسخت جمهوری اسلامی هم نمی توانند - مگر غرض مندانه - منکر خودگردانی و استقلال ایران باشند. به این زودی خواسته های خود را فراموش کردیم!>>>

خمینی و امت گریه

انقلاب که شد من 9 سالم بود و کلاس پنجم دبستان بودم. سه سال بعدش وقتی کلاس سوم راهنمایی بودم بخشنامه‌ای آموزشی آمد که دانش آموزان باید برای حرفه و فن یک حرفه را انتخاب کنند و چند ساعتی از هفته را در این حرفه کارآموزی کنند. از آنجا که من، نه در آشپزی خوب بودم و نه در خیاطی یا گلدوزی و چون به تدریس علاقه داشتم، حرفه معلمی را انتخاب کردم. هفته‌ای یک روز در یک مدرسه ابتدایی کمک آموزگار شدم. وظیفه‌ی اصلی من این بود تا دیکته‌ها را که شامل کلمه و ترکیب هم می‌شد تصحیح کنم. روزی جزو سوالات بچه‌ها بود که مترادفی برای کلمه‌ی "رهبر" پیدا کنند. هنگام تصحیح با تعجب دیدم که اکثریت دانش‌آموزان مترادف رهبر را "خمینی" یا "امام خمینی" نوشته بودند. دفعه‌ی دیگری هم که باید مترادفی برای کلمه‌ی "امام" می‌نوشتند، باز جواب داده بودند: "خمینی">>>