Op-Ed

Values, not bombs!

Is president Bush trying to strengthen his alliance against the Iranian regime during his visit to the Middle East? In Iran, with its current dog-eat-dog internal political affairs, president Ahmadinejad is too busy trying to keep his head above water while his political opponents try to drag him down. Too busy perhaps to notice how discontent the Iranian people have grown. The system of the Islamic Republic is in a state of crisis. The fact that neither Khatami nor Ahmadinejad has been able to realize unity even within the ruling elite shows this. For over two decades, the main resistance to that system has come from within Iranian civil society>>>

Hollywood’s war on terror

Wouldn’t it be funny if one day, when all our current political concerns have vanished into the mist of time, we are brought back to life and judged by disheveled archaeologists whose faces are layered with dust? How would we fare if they used our filmography to divine our collective mind the way we use cuneiform tablets to guess at the zeitgeist of the ancient Sumerians? The answer to that question would depend on which shelf of footage is exposed in the dig. We would do quite well if our judges relied on Hollywood’s critique of the American posture at the outset of the 21st century >>>

Death & Revolution

A death-worshiper sees death as the only solution to all problems of life, and his permanent war cry is, "Kill or be killed." We find death worship not only in the desire of the people for martyrdom but also in the methods and slogans of their struggle and sources of their inspiration during the 1978-79 Revolution in Iran. Especially, when the clergy who officiate the ceremony of death become politically active and after the "outside the zone" movement in Summer 1978 and "the nights of poetry" in Fall of the same year, gradually take the leadership of the revolution>>>

In our face

Human mind, that wondrous grey matter housed perspicacity, given time, has the uncanny flexibility to acclimate to almost any horror it encounters. It is a defense mechanism that the mind through rationalization, beguiling trivialization, begrudging justification or an outright denial preserves some semblance of sanity and avoids what is loosely termed ”loosing it”. The operating factor for this innate mechanism is time. Ingrained value system need time to adjust and go though a series of steps. The fuse box of mind trips and reboots with a higher threshold for yet more horrendous events to be pacified- all along tweaking that which is the essence of what is generally labeled human values>>>

He's not that stupid

I'm a little bit late on this subject, but having in mind the nature of the subject, and that its participant, Mr Ahmadinejad, is still in power, it is not late at all to have another glance. Either this man is crazy, or he is just an idiot (which one is worse for a president?!) is a matter for psychologists to discover. I think all he wishes is to gain some fame while it lasts. Iranian presidents aren't really powerful after-all. I don't think he is so stupid. He is simply playing the outrageous because he doesn't have anything to lose. So, let's go through the statements that made him famous>>>

Mind it!

Although there are many reasons we should believe that Iranians are very bright, intelligent, and ambitious people as individuals, but based on my limited observation and in contrast to my usual way of thinking I respectfully have to admit that most of us are socially stupid. Forgive me! I try hard not to generalize since it is the generalization that is the root cause of our social stupidity. To know how I have reached to this conclusion I should go back and give you some background materials>>>

فرهنگ عدم تحمل

25 سال از جان باختن منوچهرهلیل رودی (ابراهیم شفیعی) گذشت. منوچهر,همچون خلیل ملکی, اسحاق اپریم و دهها انسان آزاد اندیش و آزادیخواه دیگر , ازقربانیان ترور شخصیت در جنبش چپ میهنمان است , و دریغ و درد که آخرین قربانی نیزنیست. در سالگشت در گذشت منوچهر نگاهی گذرا به زندگی , و چرایی و چگونگی ترور شخصیت او می اندازیم , به این امید که این دست روشنگری ها تلنگری شوند برای آغاز دور ریختن اندیشه و رفتار پلشت " ترور شخصیت". >>>

مشارکت عمومی

سایت بالاترین این روزها روزنه هایی از امید را دارد به چشم می بیند. نوشته داور نبوی به عقیده من می تواند آغاز تغییر باشد. داور نبوی در این نوشته کاربران حذف شده هجرت کرده را داده است و در کنار کاربران بالاترین را به تحمل عقیده تشویق کرده است. من هم تصمیم دارم به این پروسه کمک کنم. خیلی از مواردی که کاربران ناامیدانه از آنها به عنوان غیر دمکرات بودن بالاترین یاد می کنند نه تنها ذات یک سایت آزاد هست، بلکه اساسا با دمکراسی هیچ نوع تناقضی ندارند. >>>

Iranian identity under fire

Unfortunately however, the word ‘Farsi’ is increasingly and incorrectly being used to describe the Persian language. This paper outlines the linguistic and cultural context of Persian, as well as exploring the potential motivations of those promoting the incorrect usage of the word ‘Farsi’. It explains clearly how the use of the word ‘Farsi’ instead of Persian voids important historical and cultural associations for the Iranian nation, with its long history of civilisation, and how it can therefore be seen as an insult to the heritage of Iran>>>

چاپار آزاده

قهرمان سازی ایرانی همانا بمانند علم کیمیاگری است، که فقط معدودی از افراد نظر کرده، در پشت پرده های رنگین و با دستهای نامرئی، مطلا و آهن ناچیز را طلا کنند و جاه طلبان را قهرمان. سایرمردم موظفند به تعظیم و فرود آوردن سر و ضمن انتظار برای پلوی نذری، به سر دادن شعارهای حماسی بپردازند، به همان گونه ای که ماکیاولی تجویز کرده است. شعارهائی، که نویسندگان آن اکثرأ علمای اخوان المسلمین ساکن لندن و پاریس و شاهدوستان پراکنده در غرب و یا جانشینان ایشان در حکومت ایران امروزند.>>>

Hatred tree

Today I asked my mother why she named me Azarin. My name, Azarin, means a type of volcanic rock similar to granite. When volcanoes erupt, granite rocks are thrust into space, and when they first contact air, they lose their heat and turn worthless, items unusable for any kind of jewelry. Granite rocks are two-faced. One minute they are hot, and the next minute they turn cold. One minute they are red, and the next minute black. >>>

انحلال تبعيض

تلاش برای «رسيدن» به دموکراسی و گذاشتن قطار تحولات و تطورات اجتماعی بر روی ريلی که به دموکراسی منتهی می شود نوعی «مبارزهء سياسی و فرهنگی» است و در دل تاريخ و منظرهء مبارزات اجتماعی جای دارد. باز، از نظر من، خود اين مبارزه برای رسيدن به دموکراسی يکی از تجليات مبارزهء بزرگ تری است که شايد بتوان آن را موتور حرکت پيش روندهء تاريخ بشر دانست؛ و آن چيزی نيست جز مبارزه برای امحاء و برانداختن «تبعيض های اجتماعی». >>>

YeeHa! for covert action

The film starring Tom Hanks as Charlie Wilson, portrays the brash action by a Senator who raised as a child frightened of imminent attack by the Soviet Union during the nuclear Cold War era (one of the damaging effects of "duck and cover" ad campaigns on this generation), takes it upon himself to push his counterpart buddy "idealists" in the CIA to covertly support the Afghan rebels to fight the Soviet Union with training and equipment. This is successfully spun as a heroic tale of Yankee ingenuity and dogged American determination. What bothers me about this kind of storytelling is that it tidily evades the real problems that this kind of illegal covert action leaves in it's wake>>>

Ax the tax

I am going to pay some taxes in January about which I've been having nightmares for a couple of months already. Then I found out that Mike Huckabee proposes to abolish the IRS, in favour of CONSUMPTION TAX!! When I heard this I thought it was a joke, but it is actually true. And Mike Huckabee has just won the Republican elections in Iowa. Great news! I hope he wins'em all and becomes president. I'm not very sure about a FLAT consumption tax, but I am definitely in favour of abolishing income and all other similar taxes>>>

Road to democracy

I am under the impression that some people are in search of a democratic Iran without the consideration of the geopolitical and/or sociopolitical situation. Some Iranians are stuck in a mindset that the religion of Islam is the cause of all evil in the Iranian struggle to advance and that Iranians were “defeated” because of the introduction of Islam into their society. For many, the IRI represents a government that promotes the same religion that corresponds to the downfall of the great Persian Empire and its advance society >>>