Going All the Way

So Team Melli seemingly cruises to the quarter-final round of the 2011 Asian Nations Cup. After conceding an early goal to Iraq, our boys have not allowed a goal and have won all of their round robin matches – the only team to have achieved either feat. The next game against South Corea will be a classic, as it is considered by many to be the continent’s biggest rivalry dating back to 1970’s. This will be the fifth consecutive quarter-final game between the two giants in Asian Nations Cup with each winning two games>>>

درون شکافی در ساعت یک و بیست و سه دقیقه ی بامداد

این روزها هر کاری که دلم می خواهد انجام می دهم چون به جادوی بزرگی دست یافته ام که توان حتی به کلمه رساند نشان را هم در خودم نمی ببینم. اصلن چرا باید به زبان بیاورم وقتی این همه آسان پیچک درونم را باز می کند و کاری می کند که حس کنم راه نفس کشیدنم بازتر شده>>>

جیرجیرک

نه، این شب نیست، جیرجیرک نیست، باروت نیست
آب انباری ست
که همه شب
از آن، جرعۀ آبی، میهمانان شبانه را دعوت می کنم
نه، این همه نیست، و باری لباسی ست از شب
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Enta ya Ghali

...>>>

Collision Course?

We know from history that whenever Israel saw that WMD were acquired by its enemies it took it as a threat to its existence and hunted down those involved very vigorously. For example, Israel took direct action against German scientists who worked to develop radiological weapons in Egypt in the early 60’s. It also took action against scientists who were involved in Iraq’s WMD pursuit in the 80’s, including allegedly the assassination of Gerald Bull who was a Canadian scientist working for Iraq>>>

We Hardly Knew You

To understand the reaction many of us had to Alireza’s death, you need only look as far back as our history over the last century. I am not a monarchist. I am also not religious. I was still a child when the Shah of Iran packed his bags and left, replaced by the Islamic regime that has been in power since the revolution in 1979. Had I been an adult at that time, I believe I would have been in support of opposition to the throne, but only in so much as to support secular democracy in my country>>>

The Good Daughter

SOME years ago, when I was in my early 20s, I found a photograph of my mother as a bride. That the man beside her was not my father, that she’d kept this marriage a secret from me, that she had been disturbingly young — none of this unsettled me as much as her expression. Eyes downcast and lips pouted, she looked as if the next shot would have shown her crying. In that moment I thought: That is not my mother. My family left Iran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. My parents bought a roadside motel in California and set out to make new lives for us>>>

نشست‌های شنبه

آزادی اندیشه و سخن بدون آزادی انجمن امكان‌پذیر نیست، زیرا فرد برای اندیشیدن و بیان آن نیازمند مخاطب است و به علاوه برای پیاده كردن نیات خود به یاری هم‌‌فكران احتیاج دارد. بیهوده نیست كه در دوران جدید، اشاعه فكر آزادی همیشه همراه با تشكیل انجمن‌ها است. انقلاب مشروطیت، جنبش‏ ملی كردن صنعت نفت و قیام بهمن بدون وجود احزاب سیاسی، هیات‌های مذهبی، گروههای مخفی و كانون‌های ادبی، قابل تصور نیست>>>

دونده

طبق برنامۀ هر روز صبح، لباس دویم را پوشیدم و برای ورزش از خانه زدم بیرون. به جادۀ خلوتی رسیدم که همیشه در آن تمرین می کنم و شروع کردم به دویدن. بعد از مدتی حس کردم جاده داره انحنا پیدا می کنه و این حالت انحنا هی بیشتر و بیشتر می شه. انگار داشت اتفاقی می افتاد. حواسم را خوب جمع کردم و با دقت به اطراف نگاه کردم؛ دیدم زمین زیر پایم به اندازۀ یک توپِ بزرگ شده! خواستم بایستم، گفتم امکان داره از روی این توپ پرت بشی پائین>>>

شاه رفت، خامنه ای آمد

32 سال بعد از روز "شاه رفت"، آسمان ایران را ابر سیاه استبداد گرفته است. ازتولد "گفتمان آزادی" - دستاورد بزرگ جنبش سبز- تانهادینه شدنش، تا تبدیل شدنش بعنوان یک عنصر جاری فرهنگی، عمر درازی باید. ما. من و تو. همه ما. دیگر تاج شاهی برداشته و عبای آخوندی بدوش انداخته ایم. در لفظ گفتمان آزادی را فریاد می کنیم، در عمل به آن رنگ استبداد می زنیم. من خونریز ازتبار تاریخی ما آمده، چرخی زده و گفتمان روزرا به رنگ خود درآورده است. >>>

Every Eight Hours

Since the beginning of the New Year, Iran has hanged 47 prisoners, or an average of about one person every eight hours. Iran executes more people per capita than any other country, and in absolute numbers, is second only to China. On Saturday, 15 January 2011, Iran hanged a Kurdish prisoner some Iranian websites have identified as Hossein Khazri, a Kurdish political prisoner on the death row. A local official in the province of Western Azerbaijan told media that “a member of the Pejak (an armed Kurdish guerilla group)” was hanged in Urumiye prison on Saturday morning>>>

Defending a convicted murderer?

The execution of Shahla Jahed does not offer any special insight into the Iranian nation’s understanding of women, let alone any entrenched cultural or social misogynistic tendencies. Ms. Yazdani’s flawed premise draws a link between a murder conviction and the socio-cultural condition of a people. At best, the Jahed execution might offer insight into institutional misogyny in Iran, expressed in a possibly flawed legal judgment. However, to then take that judgment and draw from it conclusions about a nation’s democratic maturity and its understanding of women seems to me to be an unfounded and uninformed leap>>>

What’s More Dangerous?

When you hear the word “terrorist,” who comes to mind? Basque separatists in white hoods? Anarchists wearing bandanas with five-pointed stars? Or perhaps some right- or left-wing outcasts building bombs in basements? My guess is that none of these characters wins top billing in the minds of most people when they think of terrorists. Why? Mainly because we don’t generally hear about these kinds of terrorists in the news, and when we do, they aren’t typically called “terrorists.” They’re just called murderers, thugs or lunatics>>>