Darkness vs Darkness

As I write at this very moment I am deeply disturbed by the thought that Ameneh Bahrami might be personally partaking in an act that is indeed making the whole world blind in it's most literal sense. In 2004 Ameneh suffered a very vicious acid attack in Iran by a suitor whom she had turned down multiple times. She lost both eyes, and much of her face as a result of this horrific attack and has spent the last 6 years of her life in hospitals where she has undergone 19 reconstructive surgeries>>>

Closed Kingdom

As night falls in villages around Bahrain’s capital Manama, candlelight flickers in the dusty streets. Small groups of locals hold peaceful protests. There is an air of fear given what has taken place. Sometimes, the vigils are targeted by police, dispersed with tear gas. But worse, the night time also brings security force raids where people are ripped out of their beds and dragged away in front of screaming wives and children. This is Bahrain since the Government imposed Martial Law on March 15>>>

Spaces of Resistance

We have seen in this article how three interwoven ideologies - patriarchal, technocratic and capitalist – have colonized the spaces of motherhood in the 21st century Western society. Given the sexual division of labour, it is predominantly men who design reproductive technologies aimed at women. These technologies have little connection with women’s actual needs and can be harmful to their health and independence>>>

چه بر سر مردان آمده است؟

چه چیزی مردها را از زندگی «بزرگسالانه» دور می‌کند و آنها را به مردان «نوجوان صفتی» تبدیل می‌کند که دوست دارند دنیای «بی‌بندو‌بار» خود را طولانی‌تر کنند؟ روزانه مردانی را می‌بینیم که اصرار بر حفظ سلیقه‌ها و رفتارهای سبکسرانه و غیر جدی دارند؛ با بازی‌های طولانی‌مدت کامپیوتری، تماشای تلویزیون و صرف وقت زیاد در سایت‌های مختلف اینترنتی. این رفتار آنها نیز توسط رسانه‌های سرگرم‌کننده تشویق می‌شود>>>

نیمه پنهان ماه

شناختن ایرانیها در هر جای دنیا کار سختی نیست. فرمول قدیم من هنوز ردخور ندارد. اگر صفحه ای از سر شانه های ایرانیها به موازات زمین عبور دهی در اغلب موارد سر ایرانیها بالاست. یعنی دقیق تر بگویم چانه آنها با افق زاویه ای حدود ده درجه میسازد. یعنی آنها سر به هوا هستند و بیشتر در نخ این و اون و اطرافیانند تا خودشان. چه زن و چه مردان ایرانی، حتی اگر عینک های ضخیم آفتابی هم زده باشند در حال سوکیدن این وآنند>>>

Let's Get Real

One of the great bluffs in the foreign policy community in the previous decade was that Israel would have no choice but to attack Iran's nuclear facilities unless Washington stepped up and took military action first. With predictable frequency since the mid-1990s, reports emerged claiming that Israel was months, if not weeks, away from bombing Iran. And every time a new dire warning was issued, a new rationale was presented to convince the world that the latest Israeli warning was more serious than the previous one. The Israeli threats, however, were bluffs all along>>>

سونامی سیاسی خاور میانه

به نظر می‌رسد این درک است که حماس را واداشته تا به رغم شعارهای تند خود به گروه رقیب یعنی فتح نزدیک شود و بینش و روش خود را تعدیل کند. این نزدیکی ظاهرا بدون مشورت و یا حتا اطلاع رژیم ایران صورت گرفته است. دلیل این امر را می‌توان از واکنش جمهوری اسلامی دریافت. وزارت خارجه ایران، البته، از این توافقنامه تحت عنوان «گام مثبت و مباركی در جهت تحقق اهداف تاریخی مردم مظلوم فلسطین» یاد نموده و از آن استقبال كرده است. ولی اظهارات رسمی مقامات نظام گویای موضع واقعی رژیم حاکم بر ایران نیست>>>

One Who is in Love Always Prays

The man was sitting on a wooden chair, wearing his wool jacket and drinking tea, much oblivious and relaxed. The teacup, however, was full of memories as if it was telling the story of the tea farm and its teenaged farmer girl, with her charming smile, the twinkle in her eyes, her tired hands and the flower patterns on her skirt. The tea was very tasty which means the farmer girl must have been in love when she picked the leaves>>>

کاسه مجنون

خلق  توئی  خالق و  مخلوق  تو
عشق توئی عاشق و معشوق تو

عشق تو گر در دل مجنون  نبود
از غم لیلی جگرش خون  نبود
>>>

بوتیمار

همچون بوتیمار که
بر لب دریا می نشیند
و هرگز آب نمی خورد
از ترس آن که
آب دریا
تمام شود >>>

Ascending Bird

...>>>

You Are My Teacher Too

Farzad had given hope to Kurdish children; so the Islamic Republic of Iran forces killed him. They labelled him an enemy because he longed to keep his heritage alive. He was locked up because he was a danger to the dictator who is unable to survive with people like him alive. Farzad was a liberator; so oppression tightened its grip on him until he choked to death.>>>

Fighting Ignorance

While reading War on Error by Melody Moezzi, I was overcome by awe for a young Iranian-American woman who is brave enough to take a chance and defend a topic that has caused much animosity. This may be the most difficult time for Muslims around the world to raise their voices, but it’s ten times more so for those in the US. In the words of one interviewee, “It has just become such a Pavlovian response in this country: if terrorism, then Islam.”>>>