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IDEAS
15-Feb-2009 (12 comments)
Bill Maher is clearly uninterested in engaging authorities on religion. No cameos of Houston Smith or Karen Armstrong here. Instead, he targets the humble and the unsuspecting: a lay pastor of a store-front church with folding chairs, an Imam in a mosque under construction in Amsterdam, and a peacenik Rabbi in a cramped Brooklyn synagogue. He then goes on to badger them with irreverent questions and clever asides. You can’t help but feel for these folks who have been framed—in both senses of the term—as ignorant fanatics. One must have a twinge of sympathy even for the Christian fundamentalist senator whose verbal gaffes Mahr flashes across the screen lest the viewers miss the extent of his ignorance>>>
30 YEARS
13-Feb-2009 (45 comments)
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>>>
IDEAS
13-Feb-2009 (8 comments)
In his recent opinion piece on the recently-announced candidacy of Mohammad Khatami for the upcoming presidential elections in Iran, Trita Parsi proscribes the steps he believes the purportedly reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami should take in order to fulfill the broken promises of his previous stint as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. What most stands out from Mr. Parsi's article however, is his characterization of the elections themselves: "The Iranian presidential elections will not be democratic by Western standards," he writes, "but they won't lack excitement or fierce competitiveness.">>>
VIEW
13-Feb-2009 (19 comments)
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! >>>
CHARACTER
12-Feb-2009 (18 comments)
When referendums are held, and elections are stolen, when promises are broken, and a nation sits at awe of what could have been, a fist is slowly but undeniably formed and risen. When Khatamis, Ahmadinejads and Ghalibafs have come and gone, when non-violent avenues of political dissent have been exhausted, when the calls for peaceful transition of power fall on deaf ears, when the cries of hunger are unanswered, the Iranian national psyche reverts back to its roots, to the children of the blacksmith who crafted his apron into a banner of defiance and the bloodbaths that have since followed. Such will be the future>>>
REVOLUTION
12-Feb-2009 (41 comments)
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!>>>
REVOLUTION
10-Feb-2009 (18 comments)
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">>>
ALLEGORY
10-Feb-2009 (12 comments)
Here is a quiz question: - If I were to ask you to identify one single style of narrative that has consistently existed in our Iranian Art and literature for several millennium what would you say it is? OK, I’ll give you a clue, what do writers and Artists do under repression and censorship? The answer is they use allegory. More consistently for the last 1400 years, these allegories are signs of how as a nation we have taken bends and twists to comply, shape or live with Islamic law or live under tyranny of kings, sheikhs, Sultans and Khans and say what we want to say>>>
ABANDON
09-Feb-2009 (9 comments)
It was decided. She felt no need to consult or ask permission from any other but her own conscience. Come to think of it she was not even nervous about making such a bold gesture to someone she barely knew yet felt she’d known all her life. What could be kinder than to invite him over to her home? Totally oblivious at the time to the connotations of that offer, she set out to make a romantic meal. She laid the table with great care, the first for two she had set in a decade. She concocted some sumptuous recipe from her old files; cooking lovingly and with abandon>>>
EXCERPT
09-Feb-2009 (8 comments)
ABU JAFAR AL-MANSUR was taking no chances with his new imperial capital, for this was to be a city like no other. The second Abbasid caliph of the Muslims turned for guidance to his trusted royal astrologers, the former Zoroastrian Nawbakht and Mashallah, a Jew turned Muslim from Basra and now ``the leading person for the science of judgments of the stars.'' The pair consulted the heavens and declared that July 30, 762, would certainly be the most auspicious day for work to begin. Still, al-Mansur hesitated. He ordered his architects to mark the layout of the walls of his proposed city – a perfect circle, in keeping with the geometric teachings of the caliph's beloved Euclid – on the ground, first in ashes and then again with cotton seeds soaked in naphtha>>>
HERITAGE
09-Feb-2009 (one comment)
It is dark and quiet in the plane. We are descending towards Philadelphia. Our sad journey began at nine this morning and probably will not end until eleven tonight. But, that is the easy part. The hard part is to enter the house on Rexford Rd. How can we step into your house Ezat Jon knowing that you will not be there to greet us with your cheerful, kind, and lively face, and your traditional three kisses on the cheek? How can we enter the house without your friendly smile and big welcome? My heart is aching for the good old days when the house was filled with life, warmth, laughter, and love>>>
MEDIA
09-Feb-2009
شمار بالای رسانه های ایرانی قابل توجه است و گاه این تصور را ایجاد میكند كه در این فراوانی همه چیز میتوان یافت. این احساس نادرست نیست ولی چشم باختن به وسعت این مجموعه گاه باعث میشود تا تركیب اجزای آن از نظر ما پنهان بماند و سهم نسبی خانواده های مختلف سیاسی در آن به چشممان نخورد. آنچه در این میان جداً مایهٌ نگرانی است ضعف رسانه ای لیبرال هاست. چون این ضعف فقط در حكم بی بنیگی یك گروه معین سیاسی نیست بلكه بیانگر خطری است كه برقراری دمكراسی را در ایران آینده تهدید مینماید. هر بار روی سایتی میروید یا نشریه ای را ورق میزنید یا به رادیویی گوش میدهید یا به یكی از این تلویزیون های جدی و غیرجدی نگاه میكنید به همه جور گفتاری برمیخورید به غیر از گفتار لیبرال>>>
EXECUTIONS
09-Feb-2009 (2 comments)
گزارش اعدام‌ها در ایران خسته كننده شده است. كمتر روز و هفته‌ای است كه اسیری در این یا آن گوشه كشور دست بسته كشته نشود. اگر در گذشته نزدیك، این اسیركشی‌ها تك تك در این جا و آنجا صورت می‌گرفت، اكنون دسته دسته سر به نیست می‌شوند. بنا به گزارش‌ها(۱) در طول كمتر از دو هفته گذشته ۴۸ نفر در ۸ شهر ایران اعدام شده‌اند. در تابستان گذشته نیز تنها در یك روز ۲۹ نفر در زندان اوین گله‌وار به دار آویخته شدند. صحبت یكی دو نفر نیست. صحبت ده‌ها نفر است. صحبت افرادی غالبا بی نام و نشان است. صحبت كسانی است كه یا نام و نشانی از آنان داده نمی‌شود و یا فقط با حروف اختصاری یا اسم كوچك از آنان یاد میشود. گویی این قربانیان انسان نیستند>>>
POETRY
09-Feb-2009
Cute little boy don’t cry, please be strong
Your dad will not stay in prison for long
For now, you miss him, you have lost your guide
But he will be free in time, grow old with you beside
Beautiful bright young girl, some people insult
Closed minds call your faith, your ideas a cult >>>
Your dad will not stay in prison for long
For now, you miss him, you have lost your guide
But he will be free in time, grow old with you beside
Beautiful bright young girl, some people insult
Closed minds call your faith, your ideas a cult >>>
LANGUAGE
07-Feb-2009 (12 comments)
There has been a flurry of sex-related short stories in the past little while, some written by women. This effort in itself is pushing the envelope and creating a space that didn’t exist before and my hat’s off to the writers, regardless of their literary merit. Reading these stories and also readers’ comments make it evident that Farsi language offers few choices in sex vocabulary. Writers have resorted to all kinds of indirect reference to genitalia, as well as directly using the few terms available in Farsi, thus creating various reactions in readers that range from outrage to mockery>>>
WOMEN
07-Feb-2009 (100 comments)
پذیرای خانم مسنی از اقوام بودم. دو سه ماهی در منطقه’ ما بین فک و فامیل زندگی می کرد تا کار اقامتش درست شود. به تماشای سریال های زنانه’ وسط روز تلویزیون علاقمند شده بود. یک روز که منزل بودم گفت میشه لطفا برام بگی این خانمه توی این سریال چرا گریه می کنه؟ خوب دقت کردم ببینم قضیه چیست. تا آنجا که سر درآوردم برایش تعریف کردم. گفتم این خانم که الان یک مدیر موفق در یک شرکت است ، در دوره’ دیگری از زندگیش گویا جنده بوده. بعد آمده به این شهر و رفته درس خوانده و در شهرش آدم سرشناسی شده و با یک مرد بسیار خوب خیال عروسی دارد. حالا کسی که در شهر دیگر جاکش او بوده او را پیدا کرده و آمده سراغش و از او اخاذی می کند. او هم گریه می کند چون نمی خواهد راز سر به مهرش فاش شود و آبرویش برود.>>>
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 |