Current Events

Down but not out

Khamenei might be okay with a weak Rafsanjani but he does not want to see him eliminated. What Rafsanjani did was that he convinced Mahdavi-Kani to run. This man [Mahdavi-Kani] is a very conservative but a moderate cleric. Rafsanjani and Mahdavi-Kani have been political allies for many years. This [Mahdavi-Kani’s nomination and subsequent victory] was a team effort led by Rafsanjani. Mahdavi-Kani has always been viewed as someone who could mediate between different factions in the Islamic Republic>>>

Mousavi's Children Forsaken

I remembered the summer of 1981. It was the golden years of Khomeini’s reign, and Mir-Hussein Mousavi was his prime minister; Mehdi Karroubi was the head of the Mostazafen Foundation of Islamic Revolution [Bonyad-e Mostazafen va Janbazan]. And I was in prison. My brother, Aref, had been martyred in peaceful demonstrations held on the 30th of Khordad [June 20, 1981]. My husband, Mahmoud, had been arrested and tortured such that for his execution, he had to be carried on a stretcher>>>

زن، بزرگترین قربانی انقلاب اسلامی ایران

هنوز برای مرد ایرانی این نکته کاملا جا نیفتاده است که به زن به عنوان یک انسان نگاه کند و نه به عنوان کسی که به انسان دیگری متعلق است. پذیرش زن به عنوان یک انسان مستقل شرط اولیه نگاه به او به عنوان یک انسان هم‌تراز و برابر با مرد است، و تا وقتی این مفهوم در فرهنگ جامعه ما شیوع پیدا نکند و مرد ایرانی با آن خو نگیرد، تبعیض سازمان یافته علیه زنان هم چنان ادامه خواهد یافت>>>

Women on the Frontline

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Locked Away

Over the past 32 years, Iranian security forces have widely relied on “house arrests,” detention in a “safe houses,” or in a “secret prison,” of prominent opponents who enjoy a wide social base, or who enjoy religious or partisan backing. Reviewing the evidence it becomes evident that Islamic Republic rulers have taken advantage of these methods for cracking down on critics and dissidents. But while the two methods share many similarities, their implementation and objectives differ>>>

زنان، تخت جمشید، گوگل

بنا بر اسناد تاریخی می بینیم که اجتماع ایران هخامنشی آن زمان تا چه اندازه نسبت به حقوق اجتماعی زنان پیشرفته بوده و چه برخورد مترقیّانه ای با آنها داشته است. چیزی که در قیاس با موقعیّت کنونی زنان نه تنها در کشورهای در حال پیشرفت بلکه در کشورهای پیشرفته هم کمتر نظیر دارد. آنچه که اخیراً از طرف شرکت های های گوگل و اپل در مورد دادن مزایا و بوجود آوردن تسهیلاتی برای زنان کارمندی که باردارند انجام گرفته باعث بحث و گفتگو در رسانه های جمعی آمریکا و تحسین و بزرگداشت این شرکت ها شده است>>>

Deltangi

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New Fears

The latest U.S. National Security Estimate reportedly revises the conclusions of a controversial 2007 NIE on Iran, which argued that the regime had halted its clandestine work on a nuclear weapons program. When the 2007 estimate's "key judgments" were declassified and released, they offered a starkly different perspective than the message emanating from the Bush White House, which had been emphasizing a growing Iranian threat. Yet public perception of the 2007 NIE largely ignored one of its other key findings: that Iran was continuing to develop uranium enrichment technology>>>

Part of the Family

A month ago, I had never had a boos. I was just a Berkeley guy, an English teacher of all things, who didn’t know a single Persian word, who was missing out on a huge Persian world. Those days are shadowy to me now, almost as though I was a different person, an outsider. In the few weeks since I have joined the staff at Golestan, in Berkeley, California, I have listened to the sounds of the school—the students, Yalda joun, the teachers—and, I think I have learned something. Now, I think I’m part of the family>>>

10 Esfand

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Labor Force

While the discussion of labor unions in United States is controversial, the Iranian society under the Islamic Republic can benefit the cohesiveness it brings among a suppressed working class and presents a forefront imbued with strength in numbers. The Islamic Republic has come to recognize this strength in populace and has guarded against it. On January 15, 2011, three labor Unions in Iran released the following statement>>>

نقش رهبری در جنبش سبز

تهور جوانانی که با شعار ضد دیکتاتوری این روزها به خیابان ریخته‌اند حاکی از آن است که حربه سرکوب دیگر نمی‌تواند این حرکت را متوقف کند. عوامل رژیم در تبلیغات خود سعی می‌کنند که تظاهرات اعتراضی مردم ایران را کوچک و پراکنده نشان دهند و در مقایسه با تظاهرات عظیم و پر سر و صدای کشورهای دیگر منطقه آن را ناچیز بنمایانند. ولی بسیج سرتاسری نیروهای دولتی برای مقابله با این تظاهرات «کوچک و پراکنده» نشان می‌دهد که تا چه حد رژیم از این گونه تظاهرات در هراس به سر می‌برد>>>

Bumpy Road to Freedom

In the summer of 2005, shortly after Ahmadinejad had first been elected President, I visited Iran. I saw with my own eyes the many changes that had taken place. I remember trying to enter Tehran University. A few bassijis (herasat ) were at the gate and would not let me in. I entered from another gate where the guy who was a bit nicer allowed me in on the condition that I would not go into classrooms. I kept to my promise but managed to interview a few students. They had voted for Ahmadinejad>>>