Current Events

سركوب نواندیشان

كم نیستند شیعیان اندیشمندی كه صرفا به دلیل این كه قرائت دیگری از مذهب ارائه كرده‌اند مورد خشم و غضب مقامات حاكم قرار گرفته‌اند و حتا با خطر اعدام مواجه شده‌اند. در سال‌های اخیر كه یك قرائت قشری امام زمانی بر حكومت مسلط شده، دامنه این تعقیب‌ها و فشارها گسترش یافته است. از جمله، در روزهای اخیر سخنان هاشم آغاجری و محمد مجتهد شبستری باعث آن شده كه غوغاگران باز داد وا اسلاما سر دهند و چماق تكفیر و ارتداد را بر سر آنان بكوبند. یك بار آغاجری در گذشته به دلیل ابراز اندیشه‌هایش تا مرز خطر اعدام پیش رفته بود. اكنون نیز نباید این غوغاها را دست كم گرفت، و باید از آزادی‌ اندیشه در قالب‌های مذهبی‌ نیز، هم چون آزادی اندیشه در كل، دفاع كرد.>>>

بازی در بازی

به تاریخ زندگی ام که نگاه می کنم این زن را می بینم که "من را" — اگرچه نه هستی مرا — بازی کرده است. در یک صحنه او با یک سینی چای به اتاقی که پر از مهمان است وارد می شود و اول چای را جلوی مردها می گیرد و بعد جلوی زنها و بچه هایشان. این زن فکر می کند این جریان طبیعی بازی است چون همیشه اینطور بوده؛ زنهایی که او دیده ران مرغ را جدا کرده اند و اول توی بشقاب پدر گذاشته اند و عاشوراها و یا مراسم غدیری در خانه عمویش همیشه اول به مردها در اتاق دیگر غذا داده اند و بعد آورده اند این یکی سالن جایی که دختر بچه ها از گرسنگی بی تاب شده بودند و زنها از گرما هی خودشان را باد می زدند. و در صحنه ای دیگر این زن تا هنوز غذا تمام نشده و لقمه از گلویش پایین نرفته همراه دختربچه ها و زن های دیگر تند بلند می شود تا سفره را جمع کند در حالی که پسرها و مردها کون خیزه می روند و از سفره عقب می نشینند و منتظرند که چایی و میو ه شان را بیاورند.>>>

Revolution within a revolution

The Iranians belong to the most busy users of the Internet worldwide. Seven million people surf regularly, there are about 80,000 private Internet sites. Only in Teheran there exist 5.000 Internet cafés. "Today the Iranian Internet diaries make Farsi to the fourth-most frequent language, in which the sites are written", writes Nasrin Alavi, author of "We are Iran". Her book shows a picture which isn't similar to the official Iran. In the net there are no taboos. One writes about everything what is hidden, otherwise, in the Iranian republic with pleasure. The Blogger discuss drugs and sex, about the Mullahs and their power avarice, about war, torture and prison, about religion and the custom guards>>>

بزرگترین توهین

بهره‌برداری رژیم جمهوری اسلامی از كشتگان‌ جنگ خانمانسوز ایران و عراق پس از گذشت دو دهه دراز از پایان این جنگ هم‌چنان ادامه دارد. در آخرین نمایش از این نوع، اجساد چند نفر از این كشتگان به دانشگاه امیركبیر تهران كشانده شدند تا در برابر اعتراض شدید و گسترده دانشجویان این دانشگاه در آن جا به خاك سپرده شود. عوامل رژیم كه در عزم خود بر تبدیل دانشگاه به گورستان مصمم بودند با وسایل ضربتی مختلف به جان دانشجویان معترض افتادند و عده زیادی از آنان را مضروب و مجروح كردند. ده‌ها نفر از دانشجویان نی‍ز دستگیر شدند و به زندان افتادند. شاید برای شكستن حرمت قربانیان جنگ اقدامی بهتر از این نمی‌شد انجام داد. >>>

No War, No Surrender

Those who overlook the lessons of history are likely to repeat the mistakes of the past. President Barack Obama seems to be treading the same path on Iran that former President Jimmy Carter was on. That path led to the disastrous circumstances that are still being felt in today’s political sphere. Carter’s misstep was to turn on a key ally in the region the guise of promoting human rights, thereby assisting in the establishment of the current dictatorship. Carter urged that Shah’s regime take up the cause of human rights, in effect accusing the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, of blatant human rights violations. This was in the midst of Pahlavi’s democratic and economic reforms>>>

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>>>

2012 and beyond

Let me tell you in no uncertain terms that we are facing a synchronised global economic depression and I am not the only one that is saying this. In early February, the International Monetary Fund’s chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the world's advanced economies -- the U.S., Western Europe and Japan -- are "already in depression”. Gordon Brown, the UK’s Prime Minister also used the word "depression" to describe the global economy, although his aides quickly said it was a slip of the tongue. The politicians and others of course avoid using the term “depression” for fear of creating a panic; instead they use terms such as “severe recession” or “one of the most serious financial crises since the great depression”, etc. >>>

Crisis of legitimacy

World Public opinions regarding the United Nations and all of its component parts vary from absolute ignorance of its history, structure and purpose to an outright dismissal of the entire organization as a dysfunctional international agency. Sandwiched between the two are the opinions of those who lament the “real” United Nations and its departure from what it could be, and then there are those who are operating within the context of realpolitik—the realist theory of international relations-- and see it as viable mechanism for conflict resolution provided that the governance and the decisions are left to the most powerful nations. The reality, however...>>>

First Khanom

Since becoming president in 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has become one of the most widely known Iranian politicians. In direct contrast, his wife has been one of the most discreet spouses in Iranian political history. The world got its first glimpse of her in 2005, after she accompanied her husband on a trip to Malaysia. However, she did not speak any words and has hardly ever appeared in front of cameras since then. What was even more mysterious was her identity. She was only referred to as Mrs. Ahmadinejad in the very few reports which mentioned her. Her real identity was strongly protected>>>

Taking the lead

There's going to be another presidential election in Iran in June 2009. Another chance for the reformists to get their candidate elected to the office of Presidency. Everyone in the reformists' camp agrees that they cannot afford another four years of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. The policy of spend, spend and spend has proved popular with the masses since they see the short term result. However, those who look further out can see that the huge drop in oil prices coupled with the lack of currency reserves is creating a huge obstacle in the path of Iran's economic progress>>>

Casualties of Empire's Wars

On February 5, the U.S. Army announced there were 128 suicides in 2008, the highest since it began keeping records in 1980. It was the fourth year in a row that the numbers rose as the wars in the Middle East continued. Last year's Army suicide rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers was also the first time since the Vietnam War that the rate was higher than the adjusted civilian rate. This is also higher than the current rate of the Marine Corps. The reason for the higher rates of suicides in the Army and the Marine Corps could be attributed to the fact that the two services have suffered the cruelty of the war in Iraq and have been subjected to repetitious deployments back to the killing fields of the Middle East>>>

سركوب بهاییان - چرا؟

در گرماگرم صف‌آرایی‌های جناح‌های‌مختلف حكومتی برای تصرف قوه مجریه جمهوری اسلامی ایران، در سایه زمزمه‌های رسمی و نارسمی برای ارتباط و تماس و گفتگو با آمریكا كه این روزها شدت گرفته است، و در برابر بحران شدید اقتصادی كه اكثریت مردم را تحت فشار قرار داده و آینده سختی را در برابر آنان نهاده است، رژیم جمهوری اسلامی به یكی از ترفندهای همیشگی خود دست زده و موجی از بهایی‌ستیزی به راه انداخته است. این موج از چندی‌ پیش با دستگیری ده‌ها نفر از بهاییان آغار شده و تا به امروز به اتهام جاسوسی برای هفت تن از آنان منجر شده است. در آخرین مرحله از این موج بهایی‌ستیزی، آقای قربانعلی دری نجف‌آبادی دادستان كل كشور طی نامه‌ای خطاب به خلف خود در وزارت اطلاعات خواستار آن شده است كه با «تشكیلات بهائیت» برخورد شود. >>>

Destroying evidence

The area being destroyed in Khavaran is a desolated plot next to the cemetery of religious minorities. Families of the victims call this place "the rose garden of Khavaran" - for a rose, in a culture where it is often safer to use poetry, represents a fallen freedom fighter. The Iranian leadership calls it the "place of the damned" or the "graveyard of the infidels". There are no gravestones, monuments or markings there because the government hasn't allowed any, but families of the victims have quietly gathered at the Khavaran cemetery every September over the last 20 years to commemorate what they call "the national catastrophe" - the largest state crime in Iran's modern history>>>

آیا تنها قربانیان توهم توطئه بهائیانند؟

چند روز پیش، برای نخستین بار پس از دو دهه، جمهوری اسلامی ایران رسما و علنا رهبران جامعه بهائی ایران را به جاسوسی برای اسرائیل متهم کرد، تا یکبار دیگر جامعه بهائیان ایران را به شرایطی بازگرداند که تا نیمه دهه 1360 شمسی به آن دچار بودند. اکنون حجت الاسلام دری نجف آبادی، دادستان کل کشور، نیز بهائیان را به "جمع آوری اطلاعات و فعالیت های نفوذی و تخریب پایگاه های اعتقادی مردم" متهم کرده و خواهان مقابله وزارت اطلاعات با تشکیلات بهائی در کلیه سطوح شده است. ایراد اینگونه اتهامات سیاسی برعلیه بهائیان تکرار مکرر ادعاهایی است که اکنون برای نزدیک به هفتاد سال درباره بهائیان مطرح شده است.>>>