Intro to The Ayatollah Begs to Differ

Haven't read the book, but that does not stop me from enjoying the intro. Found via the blog: Fudzail. UPDATE: Just realized that the well-written commentary on Fudzail's site was from Iran Writes.

Now that you've seen it, I have 2 comments:

1. Only a man could claim to be "sometimes" reminded that he is living under Islamic rule. For women, the reminder is relentless.

2. I agree that the lack of fear is surprising in Iran; that there *can* be no palpable sense of secret police. I do, however, think that if he were to stay for a really extended time, say a year or two, he would have a different view. (If he had an American wife staying with him, I'm positive he would have a different view.)

I would also argue, that if he were a woman, he would think differently as well. Every woman I know who returned to Iran after spending a significant amount of time abroad, had the sense of being watched. Many of the Iranian women I met, who had become accustomed to life in the UK or the US or the Netherlands or any number of other places, had lost much of their ability to maneuver easily in the society. It wasn't even an issue of "ability," it was an issue of willingness.

It was so much easier for me than for my expat Iranian friends. My taarof mishaps were excused, my aggressiveness accepted... People expected me to be inflexible, selfish, and miserly. With those kinds of expectations, it's easy to impress. I was treated like a full grown child: spoiled and doted upon. Trust me, had I been culturally Iranian I would have been taken to task for every misstep: whether perceived or purposeful.

I would love to hear from expat Iranian women out there who want to chime in and tell me how wrong/right I am.

I'll even tag a few:

Pedestrian at Sidewalk Lyrics
Homeyra at Forever Under Construction
Beja at A Voice of Two Cities
Ava at Love Jihadi

(I hope commenters will add to this list and chime in with their own experiences)

The chain breaks here, or not

Sahand and Helen, two people who I adore tagged me with one of the Internet's version of a chain letter, or meme, or whatever you want to call it. I've broken just about every chain letter I've ever received, and I'm old enough to have received chain letters with stamps on them. But here goes:

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag

6 random things

1. I walked through a glass door (Cooper Union, Spring 91 or 92) and survived with only a scratch. The secret is, and you will want to pass this on to everyone you know, NOT to back up. It's backing up that causes real damage.

2. When I cannot fall asleep at night (which is often), I review novels I have enjoyed in my head. I don't turn on the lights, I don't read, I don't get out of bed. My favorite sleepless night novel is Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick.

3. I've seen Babe at least 6 times: most of them with my amazing niece Frances who knew the dialog by heart.

4. The best place I ever lived was Miller Beach, Indiana.

5. I was bored by Archie comics when I was a kid.

6. My idea of heaven includes a big wooden table covered with printed newspapers and magazines, all of them in English.

Tagged (six is a lot)

Jonathan at Miniver Cheevy
Arash at Kamangir

Will Ward at Friday in Cairo

Esra'a at Mideastyouth.com

Pam at Nerd's Eye View

Sepideh at Pars Arts

Sean Paul Kelley at The Agonist

Let's see if anyone responds...

Harry's Place Censored

The UK's libel laws seem to have put the fear of legal fees into the server that hosts Harry's Place. Via Mick Hartley, we can read the last post at Harry's Place:

Harry's Place may be removed (or rather have it's DNS disabled) after a 'complaint' to the company that our domain name is registered with.

We assume after threats were made on the weekend that this 'complaint' originates from Jenna Delich or her supporters.

Though we have not yet seen the complaint submitted, we assume it runs along the lines that pointing out that Ms Delich linked to the website of a known neo-Nazi figure and former Ku Klux Klan leader is defamatory.

This is extraordinary since Ms Delich has not denied that she circulated links to David Dukes website. There would be no point since the evidence is in the public domain.

Nevertheless, a malicious complaint has been made to the company hosting our DNS.

We would like to assure readers of Harry's Place that we are doing everything we can to prevent a disruption, but that - of course - we will not concede any ground. We have posted nothing defamatory, and we stand by the information we have supplied.

ISPs often run scared of UK libel law and malicious complaints are thus common. Sadly, it is a well known - and usually successful - way of censoring websites which publish truths that they'd rather not be generally known.

We ask our readers and supporters in the meantime to publish this information as widely as possible. The disgraceful tactic of dishonest and malicious complaining should not be allowed to succeed.

Those on the UCU list, please also make this know there.

Please spread the word.

If we go down, email us at harryblog at gee mail dot com for updates.

At Zionation, the author writes:

Most interesting perhaps, is the supreme irony that the people who rant about the "Zionists" muzzling criticism are quick off the mark to shut down a Web site that dares to tell the truth about them.

Read about UK libel laws at The Guardian.

Oh, and interestingly enough, both David Dook (purposely misspelled) and the prez of Iran feel the need to remind us that they have PhDs. Because, as we all know, smart people need to keep telling us that they are smart lest we forget. ;-)

Blogging in Iran

Azadeh at Radio Zamaneh has an interesting interview with a disabled man who discovered blogging. He discusses how blogging made him feel less isolated and opened him up to a whole new world. As a result of this experience, he has set up all sorts of others in Iran with their own blogs.

If you can read or listen (I listened), it's a great interview.

A “Robot” for Analyzing the Persian Blogosphere

Interesting interview with Kamangir about his analysis of the Persian blogosphere. Here's an Excerpt:

Q: How do you evaluate Iranian blogs' impact in Iranian society?Big and even bigger. Not that every single Iranian reads blogs. But I am amazed how conveniently we cross the red lines put in place by the state to discuss issues of interest. There is a very long way to go, but this phenomenon is fantastic in that it offers a method to think together and freely discuss issues of mutual interest.Q: Any ideas to share with the Global Voices audience?One of my hobbies these days is to go inside the database of KiBeKi and look at random blogs. I am amazed how many fantastic Persian blogs are out there, most of which do not have the deserved readership. The Persian blogosphere has been initially shaped around a few famous blogs. This is gradually turning into a more scattered pattern of readership. I believe that anyone who wants to know about the Persian blogosphere has to refrain from restricting themselves to the “first-generation” blogs and must try to go deeper than that.

read more | digg story

New Year's wishes

Kamangir tagged me to write my new year’s wishes. He writes that this is going around the Iranian blogosphere. Thanks to my “slow as molasses” Persian reading comprehension skills, I am not even going to attempt to read the wishes written in Persian.

What are my wishes?

1. I wish that we would be paid the money we are owed by one of our clients. The thing is that there is so much corruption in Iran that you have a hard time getting paid if you don’t make bribes. “If I try to get you paid, people will think I have been bribed,” clients tell us. Huh? So I have to bribe you to get my check and you can’t get me my check because I have not bribed you and people will think that I have.

Bureaucracy is the true legacy of the 3000 year old Persian culture. Even corruption is bureaucratic. I am sure they’ll find an ancient version of Catch 22 in the ruins one day.

2. I wish to lead tours for Jewish visitors to Iran and not have people ask if we are Muslims before we are allowed to enter Daniel’s tomb.

3. I wish for a good haircut.

Who is tagged from me? Mr. and Mrs. Behi, my husband, a non-celebrant who has written about his travels in Iran: Sean Paul Kelley, and David Yaghoobi at ddmmyyyy (BTW, why am I crossed off your links list?). DY will have to find the tag online because I cannot find his email address.

Damp

Dream, watery dream, sweaty dream:

Angus McDowall has a great mistranslation up at his site

Open Letter on Iranian Holocaust Denial Conference

I would be remiss if I did not post a link to this letter from a handful of Iranian intellectuals over at Norm's Place.

(I know I wrote "handful," but I believe it is only a handful because more Iranians did not have an opportunity to sign the letter before it was sent.)

Holocaust Denial

I posted my concerns about the consequences of Tehran's Holocaust Denial conference at Mideast Youth which launched an unintended, and for me, disturbing discussion of genocide. It was from that discussion that I discovered the diary of one of the commenters, a German, Heimo. Here is a quote from his entry "Warnings about voting for me!"

Post from Heimo at Sting of the Unicorn
Note to Heimo: Get a blog that we can comment on!

Another word to the so called „holocaust discussion” in Ahmadinejads selected round of ‘enemys of Israel’ –

I had a discussion with my Iranian friend G.yesterday on telefone - & oof – when I at last mentioned this strange congress – he was so well informed & also he was so enthusiastic about the nice atmosphere there when in the end members of that congregation embraced each others & ‘there were even Jews invited (this was important for G. to tell me)& even Ahmadinejad embraced with ‘a Jew’ in the end –

He praised that on this congress could be openly discussed, what is forbidden here in our so called ‘free world’ & asked me why there is no free speech here.

I didn’t argue with this, but it just came in my mind: if there would be a congregation of child molesters who would argue whether it would be moral or immoral to have sexual connections with children – free speech – why not talk about it?

I tried to tell G. why especially here in Germany it is so important to not let the same spirit that did in our recent much evil ever happen again. – Words of agitation are also weapons & we know by recent history the lies, stories & agitations of the Nazi-people well enough. – Giving them platform, means giving them chance to spread their beguiling agitions again & there are stupid herd people ever present to listen to there arguments, where some truths, some half-trues & some wild exaggerations are mixed to a conclusion of lies. – It’s not only the words & arguments – it’s the spirit behind it that is so easy to regognize for us, but apparently not to him coming form a far-away culture, where all what had happened here is nothing but a far away tale (or fairytiale even)

I love step-by-step guides

Mr. Behi has a guide for all you proud nations out there:

Your step by step guide to look like a fool as a nation!
Ingredients:

1) You. The good nation. You need to say to yourself everyday that you are a good nation. That you are free and nice. You need to digest the rest of the ingredients to be considered the “GOOD” nation otherwise the following items will generate a serious indigestion!

I would add, make sure to hold bogus scientific conferences and tout your record on freedom of speech.

Khomeini's Letter

Interesting post on the recently revealed letter from Khomeini:

From Angus McDowall:

"Khomeini quoted Revolutionary Guard estimates that the war could not be won for at least five years, and only then if Iran had the following equipment:

'350 infantry brigades, 2,500 tanks, 300 fighter planes and 300 helicopters as well as the ability to make a substantial number of laser and atomic weapons which will be the necessity of the war at that time. The strength of the IRGC must be increased seven times and the Military by two-and-half times.'


But before anybody gets carried away, a word of caution. Khomeini at no point in the document suggests that he supported getting the bomb or that it would be religiously acceptable. All his known public utterances on the subject maintained that nuclear (as well as chemical and biological) weapons are haram (a position that has been carefully maintained by all other senior Iranian officials and clerics)."

Condom Israel

Via Onze Man in Teheran:


This image illustrates why I tell my foreign friends never ever to use spellcheck...

Adventures of Mr.Behi: We still can or we never could?

Adventures of Mr.Behi: We still can or we never could?

Just enjoying this post from Mr. Behi:

There is a lovely story about one of the old comic legend in Iranian literature that talks about the day he shouted in the middle of the main square of his town that he was still as powerful as when he was 20. People gathered around that 60 year old guy and asked for proof.

He took them to the country side where there was a big rock along side of the river. He started pushing the rock so hard for some minutes and then gave up. After restoring his breath he claimed: "See, I could neither move this when I was 20".

The Iranian president claimed :" We STILL have means to confront the west".

Opip - an observation post: Conversation with Nasser Zarafshan

From Opip's Blog an interesting interview. I know I was late finding it, but that doesn't make it any less interesting:

Conversation with Nasser Zarafshan

Under the title „Tehran’s reformist mask has come off“ the German newspaper „Junge Welt“ published an interview with Nasser Zarafshan on Saturday.

Dr. Zarafshan acted as a lawyer to the relatives of Iranian writers assassinated in the ‘serial murders‘ (more on the serial murders), when he was himself arrested in 2002. He has been in prison ever since. In June he went on hunger strike to protest his detention. During the summer he was shortly transfered to a hospital to undergo treatment for kidney stones.

A (naïve) case for (modicum of) Irano-Israeli rapprochement

Interesting post from the Brooding Persian...

I am still puzzled by the curious silence which shrouds Mr. Katsav's recent personal peace appeal to Iran. I think we might have a real opportunity here to win some much needed time and breathing space to set our houses in order. I know this is a thorny issue. But I am going to make a case for having the Europeans find a way of linking the future of Iranian nuclear aspirations to some degree of direct engagement between Iran and Israel.

The relations between these two nations have ancient roots. I know the affairs have been a tad more complicated in recent past, with revisionists on both sides hard at work projecting the present animosities backward in time in order to provide even more justification for the ongoing campaigns of hate and venom.

Yet, the fact remains that some ancient nations are tied at the proverbial umbilical cord. There have been positive interactions and mutual influences over countless centuries as attested to by what little scholarly work exists that map out the history. Much work remains to be done, of course, given the vast quantities of material available still that has remained unexplored by the broader academic community.

As an aside, I have noted once before what a magnificent tradition of Judeo-Persian literature exists which is simply astounding and that you should get familiar with it if you are not already. And in one recent work (I have yet to examine) we get a glimpse into the life of our Jewish compatriots over the years. Some pictures here. ">Brooding Persian: 08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005: "I am still puzzled by the curious silence which shrouds Mr. Katsav's recent personal peace appeal to Iran. I think we might have a real opportunity here to win some much needed time and breathing space to set our houses in order. I know this is a thorny issue. But I am going to make a case for having the Europeans find a way of linking the future of Iranian nuclear aspirations to some degree of direct engagement between Iran and Israel.

The relations between these two nations have ancient roots. I know the affairs have been a tad more complicated in recent past, with revisionists on both sides hard at work projecting the present animosities backward in time in order to provide even more justification for the ongoing campaigns of hate and venom.

Yet, the fact remains that some ancient nations are tied at the proverbial umbilical cord. There have been positive interactions and mutual influences over countless centuries as attested to by what little scholarly work exists that map out the history. Much work remains to be done, of course, given the vast quantities of material available still that has remained unexplored by the broader academic community.

As an aside, I have noted once before what a magnificent tradition of Judeo-Persian literature exists which is simply astounding and that you should get familiar with it if you are not already. And in one recent work (I have yet to examine) we get a glimpse into the life of our Jewish compatriots over the years. Some pictures here.

Miniver Cheevy: Independence Day

Recommended reading from the Miniver Cheevy blog:

Miniver Cheevy: Independence Day:

"Independence Day is the High Holy Day of American political identity. If you think about it, the Fourth of July is a strange choice of date. Consider the French equivalent, Bastille Day, which commemorates the storming of the Bastille and thus the event which demonstrated that the French monarchy was over. By similar reasoning, we should be celebrating when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on 19 October, the battle of Lexington & Concord on 19 April, or (my favorite as an occasional lefty activist) the Boston Tea Party on 13 December.

But we don't. We celebrate the day that a bunch of guys signed a piece of paper."

Juan Cole comments on Iran's elections

I wish Juan Cole would not waste his breath making comparisons between Bush and AN. It's exhausting... I'm exhausted from these arguments...

And I don't know how much he really knows about what goes on here and what AN will or will not do...

The fact of the matter is this: AN ran a compelling campaign in the one-week between the first and second rounds of the election. All of the other candidates pledged their votes to Hashemi which just made AN look more appealing to Iranians who do not trust the establishment.

Only time will tell what will happen here.

Informed Comment: All that said, it is probably true that there was some ballot stuffing by Ahmadinejad supporters. It was alleged by clerical moderate Karrubi, and it is plausible. These presidential elections are the least free and fair since the early 1990s, though all along there has been a problem of the exclusion and vetting of candidates by the clerics. On the other hand, it seems undeniable that Ahmadinejad's campaign struck a chord with many Iranians tired of corruption and economic stagnation. He may well have won the second round even without those 'extra' ballots.

Thanks to Diana for pointing me in this direction.

Here is a correspondence between me and Hooman of Whoman. I decided to respond to his points in this blog. Then I found that I could not exactly argue with his points because in many ways he is exactly right. The only thing I will not give up on is the idea of change. K says, "Iranians take a long time to decide to change, but once they do: they do." I'll let Hooman speak for himself. Maybe one day, I will respond in detail.

Your blog remains a fresh breath of air. I enjoyed your last post, that's perhaps why I am writing to give some inputs although I don't know if you are interested in having any.

"Iranians are smarter about the world of politics than I am."

Don't be so sure of that. Iranians (specially older generations) usually brag about their political "insights" and flaunt them. As you know it is a pastime among many to talk politics with a spin that Don Quixote would have used.

I think Iranians waste a lot of their creative energy and vision by fighting their own windmills, dreaming unrealistic dreams, and an evasive culture (that you touched on in a later post). They would be better off if they kept their head out of the sand instead of burying it in there.

The fact is that their political remarks are not well-thought out or well-researched with solid evidences to back them up. They could be equally wrong as they could be right on specific topics. It is not that hard to be correct 50% of the time when things are hazy and uncertain.

"Iranians have an open and resilient culture that is unbelievably open to change."

I can agree with resilience of the culture, but open? I am not so sure. The downside of this resilience is that every time the culture bounces back up, it ends up having more cues and formalities added to otherwise simple interaction of people. Evasiveness and its burden on the culture have built up this way in the course of time.

I might actually start writing again. Until then, check out this article:

Bad Jens - Iranian Feminist Journal: "Performance in Everyday Life and the Rediscovery of the 'Self' in Iranian Weblogs"