Iranian of the Day

More about her

I came across this article which has more photos and video about her interesting life.

No thanks!

Mariam Firooz, was a cousin of Mohammad Ali Shah of Qajar and wife of Dr. Kianoori, former head of Tudeh party of Iran. Her whole life was dedicated to destroying Iran for revenge against Pahlavis and in this way, she even took the oportunity of being a confidant of Stalin himself. Feminism or any other social movement in Iran could never benefit from characters like Mariam Firooz who soled out herself and her nation to achieve power and revenge by getting allied with our nation's enemies. Mariam Firooz was one of the main policy makers of Tudeh party and her influence in this regard was more than her hausband and even Dr. Tabari. No thanks to those who helped enemies of our nation up to the last minute of their life!

To Anonymous-today

Dear Sir or Madam,

Unfortunately, I can not respond to your last comment. This is not so because I do not have any answers, but becuase to do so I have to engage in a dialog with a person who does not posses any notion of civil discourse. For whatever reason, you have never learned civility. My social status, family background, and intellectual ability do not allow me to sink as low as you. I hope one day in your life, you grow up and be capable of engaging others in intelligent conversation. I pity you.

Note: Since I used the French language term "idiot savant", I need to provide a clarification. This term is not used as an insult in French language.

Doris Lessing

is the woman that you are thinking of.  She was also an Iranian of the Day.

Solh va Doosti (paz a vosotros)

Nadia

I take my princess reference back.

I think she would have wanted to be known for who she was and where she came from.  Being a princess was part of who she was.  She should be remembered as a whole in her life. 

She reminds me of that other Iranian old lady who last year won the Nobel prize.  Forgot her name.

Please... Haji........for women's rights.....hahaha

who are you kidding. :o) All he does is trash women and then he wonders why he still doesn't have a woman.

If anyone needs a strong, confident, intelligent, loving, and nurturing woman is Haji. At least in that we do agree. :o)

Yes, I know he gets provoked easily but  no one provoked him this time. At some point in time, even Haji will need to be accountable for his comments. Otherwise, the kind of woman that he wants, needs and desires will not be interested in him.

Well, on the wishing people congratulations on someone's death must be a cultural thing. In my culture, if you wish congratulations upon someone's  death, it is seen as an insult and the individual as heart less.

Solh va Doosti (paz a vosotros)

Nadia

Nadias

I think you jumped the gun.  Remember generally speaking he is for women's rights.  Once he gets a wife he will be nothing but a saint about women's right, his wife will pound it to his head :-) In his farsi comment the title is "are you iranian? no I am persian?" which is giving you a hint about the reference to his cartoon which is a joke.  Anyway, you were the one who thought he was happy for her death.  Also, in Iran some of religious people tend to say congratulations and condolences for someone's death for getting close to god, or for martydom as you can imagine.  So in this case, I'd have left it alone.  Remember he gets provoked easily and will makeup stuff just to piss you off :-)

As far as being a Qajar princess, it is nothing, like a dime dozen.  Fathali Shah which gave away 1/4 of Iran because he didn't want to disturb his break his opium buzz and move his ass had literally thousands of wives in his harem.  So did other Qajar shahs.  Like imagine Wilt Chamberlain who had sex with 20,000 women would have a dozen or so children from each encounter.  You can do the math. And I don't think she would have wanted to be remembered as a princess.

Oh and I forgot in my comments, rohash shad (may her soul be happy and in peace) and yadash neek (remember her good name).

Anonymouse....

Now did I really jump the gun on Haji? Given his previous track record on women's issues, women and especially feminists is your conclusion accurate?

I still remember the blog you created so that Haji and what you called the "feminist" could battle it out. Did you forget? :o)

One would think that his Farsi would be more precise and understandable. Even you have doubts about his comments this time.

I usually rely on you to not only translate but dicepher what Haji is trying to say.

Sepaas!

Also, thank you for the link from the Guardian on Dr. Firouz. So, she was a Princess and headed the Iran Democratic Women's Organization. I had found out that she was sent to jail for several years and then was placed under house arrest.

I found it interesting that the Tudeh party originally banned women from joining them. However, women have had to get past the gate keepers of many political parties through out the world.

Solh va Doosti (paz a vosotros)

Nadia

Who is the idiot here?

Lord, save us from the likes of Mohammad Jahan-Parva, the so-called Associate Professor, who thinks he has a monopoly on knowledge, rattling off dogmas (“Since capitalism is a prerequisite of democracy (read Friedman), those who oppose capitalism in favor of a centralized Stalinist system, again by definition and admission can not be democracts”) as if they are truth from heavens of American university system. Why is being a feminist and Marxist-Leninist mutually exclusive? Ms. Firooz, a former Ghajar princess, dared to defy her aristocratic background, became educated against all norms of her society. By espousing communism she became a class traitor, divorced her aristocratic husband and married another rebel intellectual in Kianouri. She made independent decision as a human being, advocated women’s participation in the political process, defended their right to education and a host of other things. And this was back in the dark days of Iran’s patriarchal past. No two bit, Johnny-come-lately neo-con wannabe, sitting in his comfortable room in North Carolina and repeating Friedman has the moral authority to say a damn thing about a woman who fought in the trenches in Iran. No, I do not approve of Tudeh’s political legacy. She made many mistakes as did her male counterparts but why is she not a feminist? She believed women’s struggle for equality was inseparable from the struggle of world proletariat but that was her belief, right or wrong. By the way, open the dictionary for a definition of idiot savant. It means a person who although incapable of reading or writing (e.g. autistic people) nevertheless has access to great knowledge. How does that describe the posters you so rudely have bunch together? Well, Mr. associate professor, we know one thing, you certainly fit the idiot part if the term. In your circles perhaps Marxism-Leninism may be equated with Nazism, maybe even Nazism is privileged over Marxism. Whatever the faults of Marxism and even Leninism, it doesn’t advocate racism and elimination of another race altogether.

By the way

She didn't die on March 7, she died on March 23rd. This is the article that JJ posted from Guardian.

//www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/31/iran

She was 94 years old and this article tells her interesting story. Her story actually tells how stupid the IRI was and still is. They imprisoned her at the age of 70 and her husband Kianouri and later after years of torture they condemned them to house arrest telling them "not to tell anyone"!!

Read the article.

I remember in mid to late 80s some of the Tudeh party leaders were paraded on TV, like Haleh Esfandiari and "confessed" to their crimes. This in contrast to the time the same Tudeh party leaders joined a debate with (shahid) Beheshti (Rafsanjani's boss) in the early years of revolution discussing politics and communism and not believing in god and so on. Good open dialogue in early days of revolution which reminds me of Satrapi's Persopolis which states everyone had high hopes in the early days of revolution and those hopes were turned to nightmares as dark forces took control of everything.

Nadias

You may have jumped the gun on Hajiagha. He said thanks for the good news. He may have meant thank you for letting us know about her and also the coincidence of the date of her passing which is March 8th -- the women's day.

Anyway, not a biggie in his Farsi comment he didn't say why he is glad she is dead either. In the Farsi comment he said why "shouldn't" he be glad, not why he "should". The mystery remains! But I wouldn't jump the gun.

Sepaas!

Professor Mohammad Jahan-Parver,

Sepaas, for the recommendations for further study and analysis.

Solh va Doosti (paz a vosotros)

Nadia

Dear 

Dear  Anonymous77,

 Whenever you want to find something comical, please look in the mirror. Your writing definitely lacks humor. Your thought process and "historical" level of information also does not encourage me to bet my salary. I can deduce, Sherlock Holmes style if you please, that looking in the mirror may be your best bet to find something worthy of a laughter.

Dear Nadia,  I) there

Dear Nadia,

 I) there are several versions of feminism, granted. The particular version which you are rferrring to is particularly problematic. All Marxist based social research suffer from one fundamental shortcoming: if you model all social interactions as zero-sum games, then the social system is not dynamically stable at all. I do not mean static stability. Social systems are never statically stable. But dynamic stability is a hallmark of modern liberal democratic societies. This simple empirically verifiable fact falsifies any Marxian style prediction. You can refer to Deirdre McCloskey (2006) for more information.

II) Tudeh party of Iran and Ms. Firouz never claimed that they are feminists. Actually their reaction to the feminist movement in 1960s and 1970s was very negative. They, along with the majority of communist parties, considered women's rights movement as a detraction to the main goal, which was "combatting" capitalism.  Or they labeled the movement as a capitalist ploy to weaken the movement. Big exception: communist party of France. See l'Homanite archived issues, especially 1968-1969 period.

III) Since capitalism is a prerequisite of democracy (read Friedman), those who oppose capitalism in favor of a centralized Stalinist system, again by definition and admission can not be democracts.

Socialist and Marxist femenism.....

My apologies for copying and pasting but I don't have sufficient time for a response at this time.

I am sure that both of you are aware of the variations within femenism. However, others on this thread may not. The following will hopefully help them follow your discourse better.

//www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism

Socialist feminism connects the oppression of women to Marxist ideas about exploitation, oppression and labor. Socialist feminists see women as being held down as a result of their unequal standing in both the workplace and the domestic sphere.[72] Prostitution, domestic work, childcare, and marriage are all seen as ways in which women are exploited by a patriarchal system which devalues women and the substantial work that they do. Socialist feminists focus their energies on broad change that affects society as a whole, and not just on an individual basis. They see the need to work alongside not just men, but all other groups, as they see the oppression of women as a part of a larger pattern that affects everyone involved in the capitalist system.[73]

Marx felt that when class oppression was overcome, gender oppression would vanish as well. According to socialist feminists, this view of gender oppression as a sub-class of class oppression is naive and much of the work of socialist feminists has gone towards separating gender phenomena from class phenomena.[74] Some contributors to socialist feminism have criticized these traditional Marxist ideas for being largely silent on gender oppression except to subsume it underneath broader class oppression.[75] Other socialist feminists, notably two long-lived American organizations Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party, point to the classic Marxist writings of Frederick Engels[76] and August Bebel[77] as a powerful explanation of the link between gender oppression and class exploitation.

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century both Clara Zetkin and Eleanor Marx were against the demonization of men and supported a proletarian revolution that would overcome as many male-female inequalities as possible.[78]

Mohammad Jahan-Parvar, the self-acclaimed intellectual

Never heard of historical context, even within politics, just imagine! Duh!

And no, I'm not a commy, just that I find your didactic ranting bordering on the comical.

Now this is a good one: "a

Now this is a good one: "a communist feminist who
rmained committed to the cause of women's
movement and struggle for democracy in Iran." Since when communists are believers in democracy? Not a single communist activist or party made any such claim from 1905 to 1991. Who do you take us for? I don't care what is your intellectual ability, but never, ever insult mine. A communist, by definition, is anti-democratic, anti-liberal, intolerant, and dogmatic. No exceptions. They are just the mirror image of fascists, what is "right" for fascists, is "left" in communists. Both are totalitarian ideologies that promote group over the individual. You can not deny, actually crush, individual rights and claim democratic credentials. And leave name calling out of this discussion.

a typical Male perspective

a typical Male perspective obviously!!
Maryam Firooz was a Tudeh ee and died
a Tudeh ee, a communist feminist who
rmained committed to the cause of women's
movement and struggle for democracy in Iran.
you obviously are clueless about this....
and that makes you a sad pathetic male
chauvinist pig!
Iran needs less and less of you, and idiots
like you.
p.s shah is dead and so is monarchy and
any hope of it being restored...so get over it.

Now what is the truth?

I found the following links but not enough to find the real answers. I am trying to find objective information as to who, she really was, believed and her contributions to the Iranian society.

Objective answers and information are welcomed. Subjective opinions not needed. :o)

//www.dailymotion.com/video/x4t6xn_maryam-firooz-iranian-femiist-died_news

This is really a new low for political spinning

Maryam Firouz, what ever she was, was no femminist. I guess at least some diehard "compadre" lefty-loonies have wised up to the fact that calling someone a Marxist-Leninist is not cool (in polite, educated company, it is as offensive as calling somone a Nazi or a fascist). So I assume this is a lame effort to put a positive spin on an otherwise totally nauseating and evil political career and legacy. No, you bunch of gullible "idiot savants", Maryam Firouz was an unrepentant, dogmatic communist of the worst sort, not a pioneering femminist. Calling her a femminist pioneer is in fact a rich insult to all those true hard working women (and men) who fight day and night towards resolving many real and deeeply ingrained institutional injustices against women in the Iranian society. These people do not need false heroes. They are heroes themselves.

Late Mrs. Firouz was one of the last walking fossils of the unlemanted and sad period of communist supremacy in Iranian intellectual discourse. While her death is somewhat sad (she was over 90 after all, so she did not live a short life) and the treatment she recieved after her death is absolutely despicable, the fact that she passed away does not have any meaningful political or social significance. She might have had some nostalgic value for some aging Tudeh party members, but that's about it!

Low life Haj

NADIA,

No te preocupes!

WE DONT EVEN UNDERSTAND THIS GUY'S ENGLISH, LET ALONE HIS FARSI.

HE'S JUST AN EXTRA THROWN IN THESE POSTS TO GENERATE REACTIONS.

LETS ALL IGNORE HIM, HOPEFULLY HE'LL DISAPPEAR!

:)

Hasta luego!

:)

Oh what a circus oh what a show!

Oh what a circus oh what a show!
iraniandotcom is set to confuse
everybody over the death of the Stalinist, Maryam Firooz
We've all gone crazy
Mourning all day and mourning all night
Falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right
Oh what an exit! That's how to go!
When they're filling you up with booz
Demand to be buried like Maryam Firooz

(adopted from the musical Evita, by Tim Rice and Andrew LLoyd Webber - with a little contribution by moi)

Hasan

Feminism arose to attain equal legal rights and opportunities for women; unfortunately extremely relevant in Iran today as well as other so-called Third World and Developing countries.
Germaine Greer often falls off the rails, making a lot of noise.

کمونیست نبود؟؟؟؟

یه جوری از این خانم نمجید شده انگار نه انگار که ایشون زن کیانوری بودن و نفر دوم حزب توده که می خواستن ایرانو دو دستی به روس ها تقدیم کنند. لطفا ابتدا اطلاعاتتونو از ایشون بیشتر کنید بعد ازش بت بسازید. تا اونجایی که من میدونم ایشون در زمان خودشون در داخل حزب توده بسیار هم آدم مخوفی بوده و نفرات حزب مثل سگ ازش می ترسیدند.دادن دستور تنبیه کمونیست های  حرف گوش نکن ایرانی در برلن شرقی رو به ایشون نسبت می دهند

Femi? ( Femi... What?)

I asked a few female friends what “Feminism” meant, and non knew, nor they looked happy to be asked this question. Finally I asked an Iranian woman what it meant, and I discovered that like in all other matters, we ( Iranians) are very much behind. Feminism died with Communism and both got buried by the last generation. Today’s women are much happier to be a complete female rather than half female-half male. Have you recently seen the latest by German Greer and how she worships a young man’s genital?.

Are you Iranian ? no I am persian?

//hajiagha.tripod.com
باید نسبت به مرگ و گرفتاری هم خوشحال بشیم چرا...نمونه ان الان دارم از شب نوروز و پارتی ایرانیها می ایم رفتم جمعیت زیاد بود اما چندتا بیشتر اشنا نبودند و من هم پس از احساس تنهائی و غربت زدم اومدم خونه خوب این از فرهنک ما ما با هم کویا قعر هستیم و یک مشت لاشخور کرواتی که تیب انها داد میزد چه قماشی هستند انجا بودند نه احوال پرسی نه تبریکی..زن جماعت هم همین طور دنبال پول و درشت ها میره...تو ایان یک هنر مند داخل یک جمع می شد همه با احترام به اون نگاه می کردند و غربت یک غریبه رو با محبت و احوال پرسی جواب می دهند...حالا من چرا نباید از مردن کسی خوشحال شوم اگر شما از مردن یک بسیجی تو ایران خوشحال می شوید و از دیدن همدیگر هم تو خیابان وحشت داریدو

Making fun of ........

this woman is a new low for Haji. Just when I think he cannot sink any lower.....he proves me wrong.

I know Haji has a lot of issues because of justifiable reasons but sometimes it gets to be too much.

Usually, Anonymouse, Kamangir and others translate what he says because the majority of the time, I don't know what he is saying. This time the malace of his comment needed no translation.

His statement saddened and disappointed me, that is all.

Solh va Doosti (paz a vosotros)

Nadia

Nadias

THIS is him!      

And it's surprising that you're surprised !

Like........ what else did you expect? 

NADIA

You are cute, are you single?

What are you

talking about Haji? How is the woman's death good news?

Solh va Doosti (paz a vosotros)

Nadia