From Tehran to Lolita

"A critical exchange with one’s own past is a sign of confidence and the first step towards accepting responsibility, and freedom always comes with responsibility. Having said this, I criticized that aspect of my past that was too ideological, when we did not tolerate views other than our own. Left or right, ideology is dangerous. I did not change my views about human rights, women’s rights or democracy, what I did change was an absolutist attitude. It happened to come to us in the form of a leftist ideology, but I see little difference between leftist and rightist ideologies...">>>

آقای دادستان، لطفا بیشتر توضیح دهید!

اکنون که حاکمیت به زبان خود به فاجعه قتل عام سال ۶۷ اذعان کرده، وقت آن است که دادخواهی قربانیان این قتل عام از راه‌های قانونی و رسمی دنبال شود. اگر تا کنون و حتا در دوره اصلاحات هیچ وکیل دادگستری نمی‌توانست خطر طرح این دادخواهی را بپذیرد، اکنون که این تابو رسما شکسته شده خطر این کار به مراتب کمتر شده است. باید اکنون به دادگستری‌ای که آقای جعفری دادستان تهران آن است مراجعه کرد و به استناد سخنان او خواست که پرونده‌های قتل عام ۶۷ باز شود و به خانواده‌ها گفته شود که عزیزان آنان چرا و چگونه سر به نیست شدند >>>

پیام آور صبح

با کدامین خورشید،
نازک قلب تو را تافته اند
که چون این پاکتر از آتش زرتشت، هماننده ی مهر
غنچه ی نور می افشانی برقامت بوم؛
که پیام آور صبحی تو در این ظلمت شوم؟ >>>

Fathe Shab

...>>>

Don't get too carried away

The nuclear deal announced Monday between Iran, Brazil and Turkey has certainly gotten many analysts and reporters excited, not least the LA Times, which described the agreement as, possibly, a ‘stunning’ breakthrough. And it could be. According to Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, the deal will entail the transfer of 1200 kilograms of Iran’s low-enriched uranium (LEU), which has been enriched up to 3.5 percent, to Turkey. Once there, it will be exchanged for nuclear fuel. But we shouldn’t get too carried away>>>

Attack on Cinema

In his introduction Kiarostami said, “cinema has been attacked, which is why I am intervening.” He further stated that on his way to the Palais, he got a message from Panahi’s wife, to call her as soon as he possibly could.” Kiarostami interpreted this as being positive news, interestingly enough since it could be negative, too. Kiarostami said, “the fact that a filmmaker has been jailed is intolerable … an entire art form has been jailed.” The Iranian filmmaker also mentioned the March letter which appeared in the New York Times and told us he had brought a stack of them along in case any of the journalists present needed a take-home copy>>>

The Military of Ershad

The grueling process to obtain printing rights for the first edition of a book is physically and emotionally daunting to the extent that many authors and poets prefer to live in a self-imposed state of idleness. If and when a literary master-piece dares to shape, its author is summoned to the Ministry of Ershad for questioning and endless interrogations. Once a book is accepted for further consideration, Ershad’s special examiners assume the role of writers and poets themselves and demand modifications and annexations to the text. The book is then sent back to the publisher for repeated revisions>>>

My Daughter

My daughter,
it was their tradition to bury you alive.
You were killed;
a whole nation is being buried alive.
Look how peacefully he rests his head on the pillow
he who has earned his wage for killing you
eats a Halal dinner >>>

ای میهمان مهربان زمین

در سرزمینی که
هیچ کس
آشتی را نمی شناسد
تو هنوز
آواز دوستی را
>>>

Moving appeal

This year, two great figures are absent at the International Film Festival of Cannes. The first is Roman Polanski, and the readers of Huffington Post know that I have spared no effort to plead and defend his cause over the past seven months. (Moreover, the pathetic declarations of Ms. Charlotte Lewis haven't made the slightest dent in my determination.) But the name of the second is Jafar Panahi; he is Iranian. Tim Burton chose him to be a member of his jury, and if he is unable to be there, it is because he is incarcerated in the terrible Evin prison, near Tehran, where he was thrown by the obtuse and criminal fanaticism of Ahmadinejad's police>>>

Back to the past

Five young Iranian Kurds were executed last Sunday in summary trials reminiscent of the era that immediately followed the fall of the Shah and the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. Even according to government-backed press, the victims had been kept incommunicado for most of their imprisonment and had little or no access to lawyers — a violation of Iran’s own laws. Gone are the regime’s efforts at keeping up pretenses, at casting itself as the authentic but misunderstood regional democracy. The evolutionary clock, which the West briefly believed to have been ticking in Tehran, positively wound down last week>>>