Current Events

جنایت جنگی یا تروریسم از بالا

اقدامات لازم برای تعقیب بین المللی حمله اسرائیل به غزه از نخسیتن ساعات آن شروع شد. نامه اعتراض آمیز ریچارد فالک، استاد بازنشسته حقوق دانشگاه پرینستون و راپورتر ویژه حقوق بشر سازمان ملل در سرزمینهای اشغالی حمله اسرائیل به غزه را به سه دلیل جنایت جنگی میخواند. نخست اینکه این عملیات در واقع نوعی "تنبیه جمعی" محسوب میشوند به این معنی که دولت اسرائیل بنام مجازات عده قلیلی از چریکها همه مردم غیر نظامی منطقه ای را تحت فشار گذاشته تا دست از حمایت از حماس بر دارند. این همان سیاست محاصره اقتصادی غزه است که امروز با بمب و موشک دنبال میشود. ثانیاً با بمباران مناطقی که از پر جمعیت ترین نقاط جهان محسوب میشوند اسرائیل به بی مبالاتی در "کشتار مردم غیر نظامی" متهم است. و بلاخره ریچارد فالک (که خود کلیمی است) "تلافی بی تناسب " نظامی را دلیلی دیگر برای اتهام جنایت جنگی علیه اسرائیل میداند. >>>

سكوت علامت «رضا»؟

آقای اوباما از هنگام انتخاب (و حتا پیش از آن) در باره بسیاری از مسایل مربوط به سیاست‌های داخلی و خارجی آمریكا، به خصوص در مواردی كه با سیاست‌های حكومت فعلی متفاوت بوده، نظر داده و سیاست‌های آینده خود را تشریح كرده است. این اظهار نظرها و برنامه‌ریزی‌ها دخالت در سیاست‌های فعلی آمریكا تلقی نشده و مورد اعتراض قرار نگرفته است. در مورد حوادث اخیر در فلسطین نیز آقای اوباما می‌توانست نظر و موضع خود را ابراز كند. او نه تنها سیاست‌ خارجی خود در باره اسراییل و فلسطین را مطرح نكرده است و بلكه از دید انسان‌دوستی نیز تنها پس از چندین روز حاضر شده است در مورد تلفات غیر نظامیان اظهار تأسف كند و از طرفین مخاصمه بخواهد كه از حمله به غیر نظامی‌ها اجتناب كنند. به جز این، او ترجیح داده است در این مورد هیچ سخنی نگوید - و این سكوت در شرایطی‌ كه آمریكا صریحا طرف اسراییل را گرفته است علامتی جز «رضا» نمی‌تواند باشد.>>>

Feeling superior

Iranians can be extremely racist. I was first made aware that Iranians were perceived, by others in the region, as arrogant racists by a Pakistani professor of Islamic literature at Boston University. Professor Rahbar taught in the Religion department and most Iranians took his literature course for an easy grade. He also conducted the Farsi exams which, if passed, made the University wave the second-language requirement for Iranian students. The poor man, who was well-versed in Persian poetry and loved Saadi and Hafez, was routinely ridiculed by his Iranian students. This was mostly because of his Pakistani accent. Although his eccentric habit of cooking curry in his office, in the Theology building on Mass. Ave., did not help either. >>>

Jews Own America

Jews rule America. America may be a Christian country, but the Jews own it. They own all major banks, control the factories and businesses, and run the stock markets. You name it, and the Jews own or run it. The Jews are out to rule the world. They do it by helping each other and show no mercy to non-Jews. With those thoughts deeply drilled in me before leaving Iran for America, imagine my shock as a total stranger Iranian Jew came to my cousin Jamshid and I in the lobby of the YMCA and asked us for help. Ask us two Iranian non-Jewish students to help him with work? We ourselves were desperate trying to find work. And here I was told how Jews own America and how they help their own. What about this guy? Why don’t they help him? Why would he have to come to us for help? >>>

The True Story

We have seen an unprecedented but expected propaganda attack against Israel in recent days going over to pure anti-semitic hatred every once in a while. Israel is being condemned for protecting her citizens against continuous rocket strikes and provocations by Hamas, and as usual being charged for "crimes" she has not committed. As the one-sided propaganda against Israel is being waged on all fronts, including on this website, it is important not to forget that there is another side to all this that is being deliberately ignored, silenced and covered up by the sheer amount of one sided attacks. >>>

We have to do it

The Free Gaza Movement (FG) aims to use the power of civil resistance (non-violent direct action) to physically break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza, in order to draw attention to the human catastrophe this siege has caused, and increase international pressure to shatter the siege once and for all. FG began in Lebanon, during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. A group of Lebanese and international activists formed an organization called the Civil Resistance Campaign, combining humanitarian projects in South Lebanon with political actions against the Israeli aggression and in support of Lebanese solidarity. After the bombing stopped in August 2006, Israel maintained a blockade against Lebanon for several weeks>>>

ناخواسته، خانمانسوز، نزدیك‌تر

فلسطین باز در خاك و خون غوطه می‌خورد، و غزه بزرگترین تعداد تلفات را در طول یك روز در تاریخ ۶۰ ساله درگیری های فلسطینیان و اسراییل داشته است. حملات هوایی اسراییل به غزه ادامه دارد و ناظران سیاسی و نظامی این حملات را مقدمه لشگركشی زمینی اسراییل به داخل غزه می‌دانند. كشورهای غربی، در عین اظهار تأسف از تشدید این حملات و تلفات فوق‌ العاده فلسطینی‌ها، از محكوم كردن اسراییل سرباز زده‌اند و تلاش زیادی برای توقف این حملات انجام نمی‌دهند. حكومت‌های عرب در مقابل اسراییل را محكوم كرده‌اند، ولی كار زیادی از آنان برای پایان بخشیدن این جنگ بر نمی‌آید. جمهوری اسلامی بیش از هر حكومت دیگری سنگ فلسطینیان را به سینه می‌زند و برای اسراییل خط و نشان می‌كشد. ولی‌ غرب و اسراییل ظاهرا از این تهدیدها نگرانی چندانی احساس نمی‌كنند. حمله اخیر اسراییل به غزه را باید به عنوان مرحله دوم عملیات مقدماتی و تمرینی حمله علیه ایران ارزیابی كرد. >>>

Rebel with a pause

News of playwright Harold Pinter’s death arrived in primetime, Christmas – a religious date, in Britain, for watching telly. You couldn’t escape the news and the news couldn’t escape reporting on Pinter’s final years and his opposition to the war in Iraq, as well as his monumental literary achievements. His stance on the war demanded to be featured in the briefest of TV obituaries. Of course, in the BBC News bulletin I caught, there was no mention of the fact that, in accepting his Nobel prize for literature in 2005, he had called for Tony Blair to be prosecuted for war crimes. That would have been too much given the mince pies, turkey, pigs in blanket and booze viewers will have been digesting>>>

Not so good

The results of a PAAIA/Zogby survey indicate that about half of all Americans have a favorable impression of Iranian Americans, as well as the Iranian people. On the other hand, about one-eighth of all Americans have an unfavorable impression of Iranian Americans and the Iranian people. Significantly, however, about one-third of Americans are not familiar with either Iranian Americans or the Iranian people. The similarity of the American public’s overall impressions of Iranian Americans and the Iranian people perhaps indicates that such impressions are in large part formed by media reports on Iran. In contrast to generally favorable impressions of Iranian Americans and the Iranian people, two-thirds of Americans have an unfavorable impression of the Iranian Government>>>

In defense of free speech

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Self-desired loneliness

I was reading a piece in Persian about J.M.G. Le Clezio, the winner of this year’s Nobel Literature Prize. If you allow me to go to a tangent at the beginning of an essay; it never fails to surprise, and delight me, to see how active Iranians, the ones living in Iran, are in pursuing international and global issues of art, literature, and basically what helps us continue to be human. Considering the information blockade which prevails there, it is quite striking to read pieces in so many journals which show a deep understanding of issues beyond the borders of Iran, and even beyond the immediate concerns of Iranians. I have it from several sources, one particularly reliable, that Iran alone publishes more translated literature than its neighbouring Arab countries together. >>>

Who are Iranian-Americans?

It seems that one of the trendiest things to do in the Iranian community nowadays, (other than avoiding any sort of action at all costs) is the perennial community Survey. Recently the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) in Washington, DC, the latest organization with the usual need to serve, announced the results of yet another survey, this time a Zogby phone survey! This implied secret-sauce of information and revelation of who we are, that will somehow explain our superiority, and cure all our ills, inspires and invites and begs deserved criticism. Just ask me how I know!>>>

Some answers

The results of this PAAIA/Zogby survey indicate that nearly all Iranian Americans are either citizens (81%) or permanent residents (15%) of the United States. While their ethnic heritage is important to the vast majority of Iranian Americans in defining their identity, they appear to be well-assimilated into American society, with only one in five indicating that they interact mostly with other Iranian Americans outside of work, and more than half indicating English as the language or one of two languages most often spoken at home. The survey paints the picture of a diverse and relatively affluent Iranian American community. While two-fifths of Iranian Americans identify themselves as Muslims, almost an equal percentage appear not to practice any particular religion>>>