The unfortunate case of Mr Dizaei

In Britain, the word “black” usually refers to people of African or Caribbean descent. It’s always been a surprise to many Iranians that Ali Dizaei, the disgraced London Met police commander, should have been head of the Met Black Police Association (MetBPA) — few people of African or Caribbean descent would be comfortable calling themselves Iranian. Even the word “Asian” doesn’t quite sit with us — it usually refers to people from the Indian subcontinent. We identify much more with the tag “Middle Eastern” and even then like to make clear that we are not Arabs>>>

My Valentine

I have waited for you, and I will patiently wait much longer. There are signs by which I will instantly recognize you, even though our paths have only crossed subliminally at best. Those instants are burnt into my memory by the powerful flash of Young Love.>>>

برای شکوفه های بر باد

برشاخ ِ نازک شعرم ترانه ئی شکفت؛
چه بی درنگ ولی
خموش شد به کوته ِ آهی.
وقت خزان نبود
که توفان موسم سرد
گذر کرده باشد از باغ
به قصد ِ شبیخون، >>>

Morghe Sahar

...>>>

Our patience is not infinite

Although I have already highlighted the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran on several occasions in writing and in person, I deem it necessary to once again draw the attention of Your Honour and the distinguished members of the UNHRC to the following issues as you prepare to review the Islamic Republic of Iran's human rights record, on 15 February 2010: My compatriots have endured a difficult period. Their peaceful protests were responded with bullets and imprisonment>>>

A Foresaken Revolution

One day, many years ago, when I returned to Iran after a long absence, I saw an old friend. We walked and talked on Pahlavi St., what came to be known as Vali Asr St. I asked him what had happened to him while he was in jail. He said, “I can’t tell you, it is too painful.” I responded by saying I understood. Though, in all honesty I didn’t. I could not even fathom what he had gone through. He had been in jail for four years between the years 1981-1985>>>

اهمیت رفتار مردم در 22 بهمن

روز 22 بهمن معترضین سبز به خیابان خواهند آمد و خواسته های خود را بیان خواهند کرد. باید دید که اکثریت آنها چه خطی را دنبال خواهند کرد و چه شعارهایی خواهند داد. آیا به دنبال ساختار شکنی، درگیری با نیروهای انتظامی و تصرف مراکز حساس حکومت خواهند بود؟ یا اینکه به توصیه رهبران سبز گوش خواهند داد و از قانون اساسی فراتر نخواهند رفت و شعار براندازی نخواهند داد. البته 22 بهمن آخرین ایستگاه این قطار نیست. روزهای دیگری هم خواهند بود. ولی 22 بهمن شرایط حرکت بعدی را تعیین خواهد کرد>>>

استقلال، آزادی، جمهوری ایران

شعار های ما انعکاسی از مطالبات و خواسته های متنوع هموطنان مان است. این که عده ای ممکن است بعضی شعار ها را “نپسندند” مشکل آنهاست. شاید بهتر باشد این افراد ظرفیت خود را برای شنیدن صدا های متنوع و گاه متفاوت افزایش دهند. چرا که خواست مهم جنبش ما احترام به آزادی بیان و نهادینه کردن فرهنگ دمکراتیک و چند صدایی است. اگر به انقلاب 57 نظر بیاندازیم، آنچه که از آنروز تا به امروز قابل مشاهده است: عدم تحمل نظر مخالف بوسیله کسانی است که در موقعیت قدرت قرار میگیرند>>>

Monster’s Last Bout

Blood dripping from
Gaping mouth:
Wounded monster
Musters one last bout.  
Slippery fingers, crooked hands
Grasp brittle branches
Of a dead tree’s
Timorous stance >>>

Dog is God

Last summer I got a dog. I wasn't planning on it, it just sort of happened. I had been thinking about a dog for years. As a child, my father had gotten us one, while we were living in Algeria, his assignment as a technical engineer exchange program for the National Iranian Oil Company. We lived in a beach-side residential area on the southern Mediterranean, and the puppy we got, Alfor, was very soon bitten by a wild dog roaming the sand dunes, rabid as it turned out, and after a week or so, Alfor showed up outside our house again, but with the telltale signs of foam at the mouth, dirty, bloody, exhausted, and unresponsive to our calls>>>

A Republic Without a Nation

Thirty years on, this Republic remains the only one without a Nation, based on which to constitute itself. It has been a mongrel system that has thus been in permanent warfare against the real body politic, the Nation, for the last thirty years. Alas, the Ommat never showed up in the June elections, but the Nation, impatient with playing the role of Ommat, finally decided to call the political system for what it is: a Mongrel Republic, a lie, a non-Republic>>>

The Bottomline

I went to Iran, the country of my birth, in November of 2009 and stayed there for two months after being away for 30 years. I had left Iran right before 1979 revolution that overthrew the Shah. Before I left for my visit back to Iran, I was feeling very agitated and depressed about the way things are here in the USA and I felt like I needed to get away for a while. My trip to Iran was a pleasant, interesting, and eye-opening trip, but at times I felt strongly the gloomy atmosphere that was overshadowing the country of my birth>>>

خواستۀ اصلی جنبش سبز چیست؟

طی صد سال گذشته، جنبش سبز چهارمین قیام مردممان برای کسب عدالت و آزادی است. اینبار تکلیف روشن تر است زیرا روحانیان برای نابود کردن جنبش، دیگر از پشت خنجر نمیزنند، بلکه شمشیر را از روبسته و با کمال وقاحت بنام فقاهت از هیچ جنایتی برای خاموش کردن ندای حق طلبانۀ مردممان دریغ نمی کنند. ملت ایران در یک سیر تکاملی در پیکارهای خود برای کسب عدالت، استقلال و آزادی از دوران انقلاب مشروطیت؛ جنبش ملی شدن نفت و انقلاب 57 درسهائی آموخته که برای پیروزی جنبش سبز حیاتی است>>>