Down with Russia? Down with China?!

This fact has been so far undeniable that one of the two main characteristics of the '79 Revolution was its anti-western imperialism content. A substantial section of the pro-bourgeois nationalists have let the cat out of the bag and pointed at China and Russia as two enemies of Iran, at least in their eyes. Were the ideological leaders of the reformist crowd aware that China and Russia have supported Iran, more or less, on the nuclear power plant issue, on the enrichment of uranium and have softened the impacts of the U.S./U.K.-promoted UN Security Council sanctions against Iran?>>>

Standing with Israel

Now is the time to explain exactly why the Iranian-American community should ally itself with AIPAC, instead of treating American Jews as embarrassing cousins from the dahat who we don’t want to associate with, even though it’s their power and influence that we need to liberate Iran. Now is the time to discuss the number of people that will get killed over decades if the regime survives vs the number of people who will get killed in a few moments if we or the Israelis bomb Iran. Now is the time to discuss why it is so dangerous if Ahmadinejad gets the bomb>>>

بن بست

مرگ هنگامیست
که بخواهی بیافرینی، اما دنیایی نیست
بخواهی عشق بورزی، اما قلبی نیست
بخواهی بنوشی، اما جامی‌ نیست
بخواهی زمزمه کنی‌، اما هوایی نیست >>>

Invisible

I am invisible. A dark ghost ship
searching the seafloor, with fingers
that mistake junk for its lost anchor.

To be frank, I expected more,
say as a victorian, a romantic
or a soul that tosses and turns
waiting for something that burns.
You'd rightly say: “Oh, please! >>>

Fessenjoon

...>>>

There is another Iran

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is slated to make his annual visit to New York to address the UN on Sept. 23, 2009. If there ever were a time for us Iranian-Americans to come together to demonstrate to the world our outrage and contempt for his government, it is surely now. It is important that we do this especially because the movement to protest election fraud and civil rights abuse in Iran has been brutally suppressed. The reform movement in Iran is in shackles and behind bars. Armed with the Sepah, Basij and plain-clothes forces the Ahmadinejad government has arrested our leaders, intellectuals, activists and students. Many have been killed, tortured and raped>>>

Those hands belong to the world

Try mentioning your Iranian background in a circle of cultured American friends. Instead of the usual questions about politics they may ask, “Do you know of Lily Afshar?” This is because Afshar is one of the world’s leading classical guitarists, with remarkable innovations furthering the influence of the instrument. In fact, someone once asked Afshar herself where she was from. That “someone” was Maestro Andres Segovia, the terrifyingly eminent virtuoso authority on the classical guitar. A group of 12 young guitarists had been selected out of hundreds of international competitors vying for the honor of playing in front of the guitar legend, hoping for an approving nod>>>

Coffee and Conversation (4)

Men come in all shapes and sizes. Yet there is something distinct about the Iranian man; for however ordinary his looks may be in his youth, the passage of time is kind to him. No matter what his shortcomings, philosophies or occupation, one thing is for certain; the Iranian man ages well. Nowhere is this more apparent than when he has been groomed throughout a long marriage to a woman who is a notch or two above him. It is as if she has taken an eraser and painstakingly softened the edges. Having carefully done away with the coarse language, the poor taste in clothing and the uncouth mannerisms; she has lovingly filled the void with refined sensibility>>>

A way of life

Historical evidence shows that the cultural principle of human rights, which in a general sense is the right to pursue life-sustaining goals, interests, and beliefs freely and responsibly, transcends the boundaries of the East and the West. Around the world, however, different cultures have placed either greater or lesser emphasis on the individual or collective aspect of human rights. Some Eastern cultures embrace the concept that it is the individual who has a responsibility to contribute to the rights of the collective whole, and in so doing, an individual realizes his or her human potential>>>

Shahadat of Hazrat Ali

you look at the sky and you see blood
you see mourners streaming by the casket with thirst and hunger
you are so small to comprehend
you just cry because your mother is crying
and you can't wait for this day to be over
for sun to show up again
making every one happy >>>

Love in Masquerade

Even though life is short,
painful with stories,
and forgotten in retort

Even though memories' glory,
like bright stars in a dark night,
seduce the lessons learnt in part >>>

Truth

I am sitting in a high school class. It’s the end of grade eleven and I can barely take it anymore. I feel I am suffocating. I want my freedom. Outside the walls of this school is where I thought my freedom would be. On this particular day, in a stuffy, windowless classroom, our religion teacher is discussing about Truth. The students around me seem to be listening partially, as if waiting for it all to come to an end. I am tired too, but something in the teacher’s sentences catches my attention, the word “Truth”>>>