Iranian of the Day

Not Islamic treatment though

Maryam Namazi mistakes a paternalist, working-class rural culture for Islam. She blames their behaviour and treatment of women on Islam. This is a great shame.

I agree with Ali's last post about her wrongful approach. It's a shame that she's like this, really. If she was a campaigner for quality rural education to match that of urban areas, I might consider supporting her, but her insults to Islam and those who are Islamic aren't accurate. I say this as Jew. We have much the same problem with treatment of women in ultra-orthodox Judaism and only education of the males and females within this group can change this.

To Tahirih

Comparing the faith of 1 billion people to consuming expired milk? I"m not sure if I should laugh or not. Did you even think about that before you typed it? What I'm saying to you and rest of the people who have no clue what life in Iran or any other Muslim country is that Islam is part of the fabric in society. And whatever we do in terms of evolution should be with consideration to that fact. The Shah tried to disregard that important fact and ordinary people tossed him out on his rear. You can't look at Iranian society through the myopic prism of the west. You have to put matters in context. Iran is not France or Germany or America. All societies have their ills. Germany had the Nazis which committed atrocities against mankind on a scale never seen before. France colonized and enslaved most of Africa. America, the land of the free and home of the brave has over one percent of its population in prison! Yes, over 3million americans are in prison. Lets not forget that 40 years ago in most of the country black people and white people couldn't even drink from the same water fountain. All these crimes were committed not in the distant past, but in my life time, or at the very least, the lifetime of my parents. Does Iran have problems, of course it does. Which country doesn't? But Ms Namazee's rable rousing serves no one but the neocons who are just itching for another war. You think anyone in American politics cares about the plight of women in Iran?? If they cared about that sort of thing, they would have stopped the genocide in Darfur. So temper your criticism with a dose of reality, and put it in perspective.

Re: bahman

To bahman and all other IRI imbecile stooges:

For the thousandth time: The fact that Hindus or Israelis or anyone else is committing heinous crimes DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE IRI COMMITTING THOSE CRIMES TOO.

What part of this your retarded brains cannot grasp? What bother me is not your argument, it is your retarded brains actually believing that people will buy into this stupid argument.

last 3 or 4 honor killings

last 3 or 4 honor killings in the news were in the US, Canada, and England, and they were all Hindu's.

I don't like Stupid people who have an agenda, instead of a true cause. This lady obviuously has some sort of agenda, she's no better than a mullah, liars are liars

To Anonymous Iranian:

I have never suggested that Islam has been erroneous and I am not denying the great scolars of glorious islamic Spring time.I am saying the laws of islam are being updated by God and as you said we do not need a revolution we need an EVOLUTION.

Did'nt you say that at the end of your posting???
See you guys know the answer but your eyes are covered with the veil of prejudice!

The Traditions “I am a Prophet by the sword” and “I am commanded to threaten the lives of the people until they say, ‘There is none other God but God’” referred to the idolaters of the Days of Ignorance, who in their blindness and bestiality had sunk below the level of human beings.
Rasole Akram did not mean use "sword on people of Iran in 21st century!!!!"
Do you continue drinking milk when the expiry date has past?The same thing applies to religion!!!!!

To Ali:

//uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5w5Rm2dxpeI

To jamshid

First of all, watch your language and try to act like a civilized person.

Secondly, how did you conclude that I support the "Islamists"?! Because I criticized Maryam Namazie's stereotyping and undiscriminated generalization of Muslims and her call for confrontation against a entire religion?! Because I called for more rationality in political debates instead of the usual hate slogans and brainless rantings?

Thirdly, indeed I don't see ANY differences between the so-called "opposition" and the Ansar or the likes of Shariatmadari. They are made of the same fabric. They are both allergic to intellectual debates and reasoning and are much more comfortable in swearing contests and shouting hate slogans. Their very existence relies on their radicalism and extremism and they are too uneducated to be able defend their view in structured debate. So, they try to shut down any voice of moderation and reason.

You, yourself, can not even get into an online debate without throwing insults and making accusations, and you have the nerves to criticize the I.R?!

Re: Anonymous Iranian

Quote from you post: "YOU CAN'T CONVINCE A POPULATION OF 70 MILLION PEOPLE THAT THEIR BELIEFS FOR THE PAST 14 CENTURIES ARE ERRONEOUS..."

I and hundreds of thousands other Iranians were convinced that our beliefs were wrong, weren't we? So could millions. The excuse you keep poping is irrelevant.

Re: Anonymous Iranian

It is true that Islam is present in every aspect of Iranian society. But so what? Zoroatstrism was once present in every aspect of Iran's society in the past. Where is it now? It is obviously gone.

Why is it gone? Because societies and history evolves and moves on. Islam replaced Zoroastrism because of this evolution, and it did not cared a bit if Zoroastrism was in every aspect and fabric of Iran's society. The same could be said of other religions supplanting the older ones. So it is not impossible.

It is high time for the same to happend to Islam. We need to move on onto something better.

Re: Ali

This is a quote from you post:

"Anyone who ... criticizes the views ... of any ... "opposition" figure, is immediately attacked by bunch of bullies who only recognize brainless rantings and hateful slogans as legitimate political arguments.. and try to shut down any other voice by labeling them as "I.R agent", "terrorist", "Islamist", "Islamofascist", "hostage-taker".etc and accusing them of all kinds of horrific crimes against Iran and humanity..."

That sounds more like the Islamist ruling in Iran, does it not? You imbecile hypocrite how can you fault others with what you yourself support?

Typical of Islamist assholes.

To Iran and Iranian

Yeah! The Islamo-fascisto-terroristo-apologists-9/11-Alqaida-I.R agent-dejkhimaaneh khoonaashaameh zan-setizeh Arab-parast (also known as average Muslims) are sucking the blood of Iranians who are all purely secular and atheist Aryans but have been faking their beliefs for 14 centuries. That's why the peaceful, freedom loving, democratic-minded noble "opposition" is calling for real freedom-loving Iranians to hang every Muslim from every tree (we should have enough trees for that) and destroy their mosques for ever.

And anyone who dares to come up with some deeper thoughts and analysis and ask for more rationality and moderation, is an anti-Iranian "soopapeh Etminan" I.R agent apologist paid by the regime to enrich our vocabulary and stop the upcoming revolution. Be careful of those!

She has a point but....

Why so much criticism???? I’d say she is quite brave to challenge the IRI and Islamic extremism. I don’t agree with all she stands for, but I’d still give her thumbs up.

Women and New Era

The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind.

But the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy.

Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more evenly balanced.

Man and Woman share the same rights

In the estimation of God there is no distinction of sex. One whose thought is pure, whose education is superior, whose scientific attainments are greater, whose deeds of philanthropy excel, be that one man or woman, white or colored, is entitled to full rights and recognition; there is no differentiation whatsoever….

To all Islamic apologists: Nice Try ...But

Islam and Islamists are raping Iran and Iranians. While Iranians are screaming from every living cell they got about inflicted dire pain of anguish, Islamists shout for wolves and tell us to watch for Bush and neo-cons.

We have learned this story when we were in second or third grade "Chopan-e-Doroghgo".

The internal virus, the enemy of Iranians is religion of Islam that wishes us to submit as sheep and be controlled.

Islamists as mafia clans through controlled media, corruptions and bribes and by massive paid thugs have enslaved us in our own country.
We have no choice but to attack at the heart of this blood and wealth sucking backward monster.

To Tahirih

HOW SOON WE FORGET. IF YOU'D REMEMBER THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION OCCURRED 30 YEARS AGO. NO MATTER WHAT THE MOTIVATION OF THE REVOLUTION OR ITS UNDERLYING REASON, PEOPLE WILLINGLY AND OVER WHELMINGLY VOTED FOR AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC. BEFORE THE REVOLUTION WERE FREE TO CHOOSE THEIR LIFESTYLE. WOMEN COULD WEAR WHAT THEY WANTED. PEOPLE COULD DRINK. AND HAD ALL THE SOCIAL FREEDOM THEY DESIRED. THE ONLY THING THAT WAS BANNED DURING THE SHAH'S TIME WAS ANYTHING THAT CHALLENGED HIS AUTOCRACY. YET PEOPLE WENT IN TO THE STREETS, THEY FOLLOWED A BUNCH OF SCREAMING MULLAHS AND RID THEMSELVES OF ALL THE SOCIAL FREEDOMS THEY HAD. THEY ACTIVELY PARTICIPATED. THEY WERE NOT VICTIMIZED. YOU CAN SAY THE REVOLUTION WAS DONE BY THE LEFTISTS AND MULLAHS JUST HIJACKED IT. BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT'S JUST A LOAD OF BS.
WHAT YOUR ADVOCATING OR CONTEMPLATING IS SIMPLE NONSENSE. YOU DON'T HAVE A CLUE OF WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. YOU CAN'T CONVINCE A POPULATION OF 70 MILLION PEOPLE THAT THEIR BELIEFS FOR THE PAST 14 CENTURIES ARE ERRONEOUS. FOR ONE THING IT'S ARROGANT, AND SIMPLY ILLOGICAL. FOR BETTER OR WORSE, ISLAM IS THE FAITH OF THE LAND. AND WHILE ISLAM WAS THE FAITH OF THE LAND, IRAN PRODUCED ITS BEST SONS AND DAUGHTERS. HAFEZ, SADI, FERDOWSI, IBN SINA, THESE WERE NOT SASSANID SCHOLARS. THEY APPEARED AT THE HEIGHT OF THE ISLAMIC ERA. WHAT HAS CAUSED OUR DEMISE IS NOT OUR RELIGION. IT'S OUR CULTURE. PURE AND SIMPLE. NOW YOU CAN GET IN TO AN ARGUMENT OF SEMANTICS, BUT WE ALL KNOW ITS TRUE. WE DON'T NEED REVOLUTION, WHAT WE NEED IS EVOLUTION!

TO "Rood barak"

The root of our cultural problem in Iran is the fact that People are not free to choose their life style,and also in order to survive they have to live a lie,and pretend.When we fake our faith or spirituality due to being forced to the society will get corrupted,since the essence of their being is fake.Listen to the following:

A few, who are unaware of the reality below the surface of events, who cannot feel the pulse of the world under their fingers, who do not know what a massive dose of truth must be administered to heal this chronic old disease of falsehood, believe that the Faith can only be spread by the sword, and bolster their opinion with the Tradition, “I am a Prophet by the sword.

” If, however, they would carefully examine this question, they would see that in this day and age the sword is not a suitable means for promulgating the Faith, for it would only fill peoples’ hearts with revulsion and terror.

According to the Divine Law of Muḥammad, it is not permissible to compel the People of the Book to acknowledge and accept the Faith. While it is a sacred obligation devolving on every conscientious believer in the unity of God to guide mankind to the truth, the Traditions “I am a Prophet by the sword” and “I am commanded to threaten the lives of the people until they say, ‘There is none other God but God’” referred to the idolaters of the Days of Ignorance, who in their blindness and bestiality had sunk below the level of human beings.

" A faith born of sword thrusts could hardly be relied upon, and would for any trifling cause revert to error and unbelief".

We need more Mrayam Namazie's

What a brave lioness,defender of human family,and her sisters.We need to expose the brutality of the IRI towards women in the Media in the West.

God has created all creatures in couples. Man, beast, or vegetable, all the things of these three kingdoms are of two sexes, and there is absolute equality between them.

In the vegetable world there are male plants and female plants; they have equal rights, and possess an equal share of the beauty of their species; though indeed the tree that bears fruit might be said to be superior to that which is unfruitful.

In the animal kingdom we see that the male and the female have equal rights; and that they each share the advantages of their kind.

Now in the two lower kingdoms of nature we have seen that there is no question of the superiority of one sex over the other. In the world of humanity we find a great difference; the female sex is treated as though inferior, and is not allowed equal rights and privileges.
This condition is due not to nature, but to education. In the Divine Creation there is no such distinction. Neither sex is superior to the other in the sight of God. Why then should one sex assert the inferiority of the other, withholding just rights and privileges as though God had given His authority for such a course of action? If women received the same educational advantages as those of men, the result would demonstrate the equality of capacity of both for scholarship.

TO IRANIANS, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE.

"Our culture is the roots of all our ills" someone correctly said.
Our bastard culture have been induced either by
Eastern hegemony and their proxies or by Western hegemony and their proxies.Proxies are
Iranians either in the East or in the West.
Have you seen this new video of Tehran by Mr. Rageh
Omar? Today Nose-jobe considered as a culture of
Iran! With this speed in progress, I bet Open marriage, Homosexuality, and all the other X-rated
Western novelties prety soon will join our nose-job.

Millions of Germans believed

Millions of Germans believed in Hitler and Nazim and Nazim was part of every fabric of their being but they learned their lesson well...didn't they? Iran needs to be reduced to rubble for Iranian to realize what an evil and morally bankrupt ideology they are following especially when it is not in their own best interest...

TO IRAN AND IRANIANS

I THINK PART OF THE PROBLEM IS THAT MOST OF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT LIFE IN IRAN IS REALLY LIKE. YOU'VE PROBABLY LIVED OVERSEAS TOO LONG. FOR BETTER OR WORSE, ISLAM IS IN THE VERY FABRIC, IN EVERY THREAD OF IRANIAN SOCIETY. EVEN IF PEOPLE ARE NOT RELIGIOUS, IT IS PART OF THEIR CULTURE AND EVEN THEIR NATIONAL IDENTITY. DON'T GET ME WRONG. I'M JUST AS PROUD AS THE NEXT GUY OF CYRUS THE GREAT AND THE FACT HE LIBERATED THE JEWS 25 CENTURIES AGO AND HAD A UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. BUT THAT WAS 25 CENTURIES AGO. A LOT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN. IRAN IS A MUSLIM COUNTRY. IT IS AN OVERWHELMINGLY MUSLIM COUNTRY. THAT WILL NEVER CHANGE. NEVER. I REMEMBER A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO I WAS VISITING YAZD, AND THIS DRIVER I HAD HIRED FOR THE DAY TO SHOW ME ABOUT TOWN WAS GOING ON AND ON ABOUT THE GLORIOUS HISTORY IRANIANS HAVE HAD, AND HOW NICE IRAN WAS WHEN IRAN WAS A NATION OF ZORASTRIANS. ALMOST IN THE SAME BREATH, WHEN I ASKED HIM HOW MANY ZORASTRIANS HE KNEW, HE SAID THEY WERE NAJES AND COULD NOT ASSOCIATE WITH THEM. THIS IS YOUR AVERAGE IRANIAN. THIS IS THE GUY YOU'RE TRYING TO WIN HIS HEART AND MIND TO CHANGE IRANIAN SOCIETY. WE DON'T NEED REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS, OR HOLY WAR. WE NEED EVOLUTION OF CULTURE WHICH UNFORTUNATELY HAS NOT OCCURRED FOR A VERY LONG TIME. OUR CULTURE IS AT THE ROUTE OF ALL OUR ILLS. NOT OUR RELIGION.

To jamshid

You are the one who is acting dogmatic and bullish.

Anyone who asks for more rationality and common sense in political activism, or criticizes the views and methods of any self-proclaimed "opposition" figure, is immediately attacked by bunch of bullies who only recognize brainless rantings and hateful slogans as legitimate political arguments and try to shut down any other voice by labeling them as "I.R agent", "terrorist", "Islamist", "Islamofascist", "hostage-taker".etc and accusing them of all kinds of horrific crimes against Iran and humanity.

But my friend, there is "right" and "wrong" political activism and criticism. Not every argument against the I.R, is worth supporting. Not every method is right. Not anyone who seems to have good intentions is beyond harsh criticism. Some radical and uneducated opposition groups and individuals are far more dangerous to the country than any brutal regime. Have you ever heard of "doostiyeh khaleh kherseh"?

Ali and other hostage takers

You and Islamists have taken Iranians hostage with no shame. Whenever anyone demands the observation of human rights in Iran, you immediately jump in and say "isn't this what the bushites are saying?" Whenever we demand the IRI to respect women's rights, you jump in and say "isn't that what the neocons are using nowadays?" Whenever we criticize the IRI for using Islam against Iranians, you jump in and say "isn't this what the US think tanks are teaching you?"

Bastards.

Ali. Islam must serve well being of Iran and Iranians.....

otherwise, Iranians have no choice but to boot Islam out completely.

The first and innermost demand of Iranians is that Islam be completely shun away from power and politics. If not, Islam as whole ideology inflicting pain on Iranians will be targeted harshly by no choice.

To Iranian Feminist

Educated people (including true feminists) have a somehow relativist and pluralistic view towards the world. They acknowledge the diversity of (and within) every ideology. They have the capacity to recognize the fact that every ideology (including religions) can be understood and practiced in different way by different people, and so they refrain from making blunt generalizations and creating stereotypes about any particular group of people.

Not only Maryam Namazi does make blunt and stupid generalizations and promotes stereotypes against Muslims, but she also calls for a "shameless" (in her own words) confrontation against them. Now, where else, besides the neo-conservative think tanks, fascist groups and other reactionary movements, have you seen anyone make such statements?!!

She is not intellectually sophisticated enough nor does she have the knowledge to study and analyze the real roots of chauvinism and suppression of women, and the only solution that comes to her mind is to blame everything on Islam! She is still stuck at the primitive age of ideological battles while the world has moved on from that stage a long time ago.

If you are an "Iranian feminist" as your nickname suggests, you have probably studied the views of other feminists around the world and you see have noticed how different their views are from fossil-minded people like Maryam Namazi.

Ali you are absolutely wrong: Maryam Namazie is well respected

All educated feminists and human right activists are proud of intelligent, well-informed and insightful Maryam Namazie. And Islam is inherently anti-woman!

Maryam Namazi is a radical,

Maryam Namazi is a radical, uneducated propagandist. She is a marxist at the service of neo-cons and zionsts.

Even warmongers such as Bush and Cheney are not so shamelessly stereotyping and making generalizations about muslims. They are not so shamelessly calling for confrontation either. But we Iranians always have to be extremists in whatever we do.

If Maryam Namazi is honestly concerned about women's right, she better educate before taking action. Her current mentality is totally rejected by any educated feminist and human right activist.

So What??

What good does it serve to make these speaches in a foreign forum except be self deprecating. We as middle easterners are demonized enough. Not for nothing but one should observe matters in their proper perspective. Instead of the rarities and anamolies in the muslim world that the western press blows out of proportion, Ms Namazie would serve humanity and human kind much better if she would outline the atrocities committed by the United States against many more women and children in the past 5 years, than all of the Muslim world has perpetrated against women and children in the last 20.

Sheer Zan

She is the only socialist that I respect.

u go girl!

As a Persian male living in the West, I have gained a lot of respect for Maryam. I wish some of these so called western feminists would have the guts, like Maryam, to openly condemn the Islamic treatment of their sisters throughout the world.