About 1 Iranian Dead Every 25 Minutes

Iranians are out of their minds on the roads. They push rickety old cars way past the legal speed limit. They drive like maniacs on roads that, while in good condition, are not in good enough condition for speeds of 80-100 mph.

I guarantee that if you spend 1-year in Iran, someone you know will be killed in a car accident. It is likely that the person killed will be young, just married or engaged, and full of promise. If you only have one-week to spend in Iran, then ask any Iranian you meet. They will tell you the story of a loved one dying in a car accident. That loved one may be a brother, a lover, or a dear friend.

Visit the graveyards here on a Thursday afternoon, and you are sure to see mothers crying beside the graves of their 20-something sons. These boys did not die in war or in any act of insurgency.

Iranians only half-jokingly blame their driving on the mullahs. Every day you can watch public service announcements geared towards improving the driving habits of Iranians. The PSAs are witty and interesting and tragic. But they are sanctioned by the government, which makes them suspect. "Iranians cannot believe that the law can also protect them," a friend who is a lawyer says.

No. Iranians believe that everything can be solved with a little money. "If Iran can solve its traffic problem," K says, "then any problem can be solved."

Why is this topical now? I'll tell you. It's because a good friend's brother was killed this past week. Just married. Full of promise. And not the first…

Riding with Pigeons in Taxis

I put on my hijab over a summer outfit and headed out to a party in a chi-chi part of Tehran that I have come to think of as Rafsanjani country. The taxi arrived.

"Be careful of the pigeon," my driver said in perfect English.

I noticed the bird's pink feet sticking out from under the seat in front of me.

"It looks scared."

"It's for my son. His pigeon died, and I wanted to replace it before he noticed."

"Where did you learn your English? It's great." …Probably an intelligence officer, I thought… "Were you a pilot?"

Drivers often claim to have been pilots. Sometimes I think they may be telling the truth.

The driver thought for a moment and answered, "I was one of the youngest pilots in the Shah's airforce."

Everyone was something. K always jokes that he has met at least 10 people who were the Shah's personal pilot.

London

I was so hoping to get this blog away from politics and back into the realm of the mundane. This I write knowing full well that the mundane is filled with politics. Especially in Iran.

We were having lunch with a friend when her sister in London called to tell her that her family there was okay. "Okay? What happened?"

We watched her face drop. She started running around collecting the phone numbers of all her family and friends in England. She began to make calls. It would be several hours before any reports appeared on Iranian tv.

That night we attending a birthday party. Almost no one at the party had heard the news. A guest announced the news to the other party-goers.

"What a bad name these terrorists are giving to our religion," he said.

"No Iranian has ever participated in one of these attacks," another responded.

"No. We just fund them," said another in a half-mocking, half-serious way.

That was the end of the conversation. It was, after all, a birthday party.

All you have to do is live among millions of Muslims to realize what an aberration the terrorists are. That's my only word on the subject.

2 Questions about Policy with Iran

I have 2 questions about the American policy with Iran. Maybe the answers have been well-thought out by others. I invite your comments.

1. People often critique the EU's engagement of Iran saying that it is naive and economically driven. That said, what happens without that engagement? Iran then engages with China and Russia. Right under our noses a new superpower is being created that will make it increasingly difficult for the EU and the US to influence countries like Iran. How do you balance the carrot and the stick?

2. Economic improvement means a bigger middle class that will, as so many historians and pundits claim, create a class that demands a voice in its government. Today, most Iranians-- middle class and poor-- are too busy worrying about money to care about having a voice in government. Isn't there a way to engage in trade with Iran without being seen to support the current government?

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."

America: love it and leave it

Happy 4th…

I was explaining to some friends that today is a holiday in America. "What kind of a holiday?"

"It's the day that we celebrate our freedom."

"Freedom from whom?"

"The British."

"Ehhh…," a young friend laughed. "Everyone has holidays to celebrate freedom from the British."

"They were everywhere," another laughs.

And while we are celebrating our freedom…

These are the things I celebrate most:

Free speech (It trumps democracy any day… although it probably requires democracy…)

Immigration

The capacity for change

Maybe I should make my own bumper sticker that reads: "America: love it and leave it."

Happy 4th

Marsha Mehran wrote a really nice piece in the NYT. Check it out...

The Long Way Home - New York Times:

"I know that identity is a major concern for many first-generation immigrants in America, but I find that I'm not preoccupied with hyphenated labels. When people ask me where I am from, I say I am Persian, born in Iran. I write and dream in English, I curse in Spanish and, after a few pints of Guinness, I dance a mighty Irish jig. And when people ask me where I live, I tell them Brooklyn is my home. "

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.

In the interest of even more fairplay...

More on Secure Computing...

Yishay Mor; Slightly informed, highly opinionated.: "Some time ago I posted a call to ban Secure Computing, the company that makes SmartFilter.
The reason: these guys are selling their software to Tunisia, which uses it to block pornography and political debate.

Today I got a comment from Mr. David Burt, PR manager, explaining that secure computing do not licence software to Iran, due to its strick adherance to the US embargo, and any Iranian ISP using SmartFilter was doing it illeagaly.

I almost flogged myself in public, but then I re-read my original post. Hang on Dude, I say, I was talking about Tunisia. What about Tunisia? You know, they are using your software to shut people up. I even warn him that I'm going to post his response.

Here it is:

We sell to ISPs where the law allows. It's really up the customer how they use
our software.

right. thanks. have a nice day."

Comment from PR spokesman at Secure Computing

In the interest of fair play...

Blogger: Post a Comment: "Secure Computing has sold no licenses to any entity in Iran, and any use of Secure's software by an ISP in Iran has been without Secure Computing's consent and is in violation of Secure Computing's End User License Agreement."

Today Iranians Woke Up to a New President…

Our friends are crying and depressed and sick. "Last night they started arresting boys and girls out walking together," a friend told me. "People are saying no more colorful scarves; no more parties…" This may seem to be the least important aspect of the whole election, but it's not. Live without a normal social life and see what happens to you…

Iranian tv is saying that Iranians have shamed America and Western news is saying that Iranians have taken a hard turn to the right. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that neither are correct.

This election was not about America.

This election was not about Islam.

The election may have been about the revolution.

This past week AN presented these simple messages:

Rich against poor and honesty against corruption.

People voted for AN. Raf voters voted against AN.

The middle class voted, but many of them voted for AN. The rich went on vacation.

The poor voted for AN. And there are a lot more poor people than rich people in Iran.

AN knew something about Iranians: they are sick to death of corruption, and they think every rich person is corrupt. They hate mullahs, but they still love Islam. And one more thing: the majority of his opponents are apathetic.

"I don't think it mattered who we voted for ever," a voting friend tells me. "This is the result they wanted from the beginning. They got it in the parliament and now they got it in our new president."

Her eyes are red from crying.

Cowboy campaigning in Iran

Hear in your head the theme song for the old television shoe Ponderosa.

Now imagine instead of a cowboy, the Islamic fundamentalist: Ahmadinejad. That is what I will do the next time I hear the song.

Last night I watched AN's campaign film. There was something so attractive about it. Here is this unassuming man who lives the way many Iranians live: simply and unpretentiously. He makes it clear that he has not been corrupted by money. He portrays himself as a friend of the poor. He is an idealist. "Our culture has come so far from the culture of the revolution."

He's right.

Now he may be elected as president of Iran. A very professional, efficient, modern friend of ours called and claimed that she will vote for him. She will call back to tell us her reasons. What could they possibly be? The undeniable sex appeal of facism? Romance with socialism? A utopian world view? A desire for change? A passion for Islamic rule? Who the f*** knows?

Meanwhile…

Hashemi is portraying himself as the future of Iran. A poster portrays him looking down, without the turban that identifies him as a cleric. The text reads something like: Against terror and for freedom.

What will it be?

Filtering the Internet in Iran

Iran is the country of stupid filtering tricks. I have read that they bought their web filter from an American company: Secure Computing... So much for spreading free speech all over the world... Hey Bush, wanna' spend your free speech money wisely? Impose an embargo on companies that restrict free speech.

Upstart in Iran Election Campaigns as Champion of Poor - New York Times:

"But if Mr. Ahmadinejad had one point that he wanted to get across it was that people should not fear that he will try to impose Taliban-style rule over Iran. 'They have said if I become president I will shut down the Internet,' Mr. Ahmadinejad said Wednesday night. 'Why do they say that?'

He added: 'My children and my wife are constantly on the Internet. They don't give me a chance to use the phone line. My wife loves doing her research on the Internet.'"

Forget politics, pornography, and other controversies...his wife is certainly not looking for any women's health information in the course of her research. You can't even access articles about breast cancer.

Ironically, the one thing that Iranian television freely presents are programs regarding health. But don't try to access the same information on the internet... it is forbidden.

Mural in front of the former American embassy

Another piece of the mural outside the "Den of Espionage:" The former American Embassy. 

Front-Runner in Iran Finds Students to Be a Tough Audience - New York Times

Front-Runner in Iran Finds Students to Be a Tough Audience - New York Times:

"'If Mr. Ahmadinejad comes to power, it will be a complete concentration of power like you have never had before in Iran,' said Amir Ali Nourbakhsh, a political and economic analyst in Tehran. He added, 'The question that will be answered for us will be, 'Will Iranians vote for radical Islamic socialism, yes or no?' '

But many of Mr. Ahmadinejad's supporters said they were not thinking that way, seeing him instead as a fresh face and a man of the people, while Mr. Rafsanjani is seen as a throwback, a part of a system they distrust.

'In my opinion, if Mr. Rafsanjani wins, they will have to replace his turban with a crown,' said Aida Shafiee, 20, a university student who was in the street on Tuesday protesting the failure of the Education Ministry to begin her program on time.

In fact, the street was crowded with protesters, young men and women, voicing their discontent. It looked like a natural constituency for the reform movement, but most everyone in the crowd said they supported Mr. Ahmadinejad.

'He has come from the people, and he is honest,' said Mehdi Gholamnia, 20, a student from the city of Bijar who said he voted four years ago for Mr. Khatami but this year will vote for Mr. Ahmadinejad. Iranians can vote when they are 15.

Mr. Rafsanjani's partisans were clearly taking the contest seriously and had stepped up their attacks on Mr. Ahmadinejad, with messages flashing on cellphones all over Tehran warning that he would usher in a Taliban-style government and put up dividers to separate men and women riding in elevators."

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my father living in the Great Satan from his daughter in the Axis of Evil. 

The rumor mill

Itchy's comments on a recent post made me decide it was time for a post on Iran's well-oiled rumor mill. Many Iranians, for instance, still believe that the earthquake in Bam was the result of underground nuclear testing.

Rumors get spread from family-to-family, friend-to-friend, and taxi driver to passenger. (Taxi drivers are the source of most of my favorite rumors…) Rumors are the way that Iranians deal with their distrust of official sources of information.

As Itchy pointed out in his comments, there is currently a rumor going around that the mayor of Tehran made it to the 2nd round in order to solidify the country's voters around Hashemi. So far, this rumor is being spread by Westerners. The Iranians we know are still too shocked to spread rumors.

Before last Friday's elections, there were rumors of plans for dirty tricks. The rumors were not specific, but there was certainly an expectation.

Recently, Fox News reported a popular Iranian rumor and called it a "well kept secret." This particular Fox News piece claimed that it is a well-kept secret that Iran is harboring Al Qaeda members including OBL. K and I have heard this rumor from ever other taxi driver since our first day in Iran. I would hardly call that a well-kept secret. I would call that a "rumor."

Election Results

Questions?...

Are bloggers and moderates so out of touch with Iran that they could predict a strong showing for Moin? Or did the heat convince borderline boycotters/voters to stay home?

[See poll (http://freethoughts.org/polls/archives/000704.php)]

There are about twenty people around me now: all of whom are in shock: voters and non-voters alike. The news in Iran is that Ahmadi Nejad may be the top vote getter and that Moin will be fifth. All of the voters we know (which turned out to be many more than two days before the vote), save 1, voted for Moin. Even the 1 Rafsanjani voter who early on admitted to her intention to vote, voted for Moin.

Demonstrations

Well there was a demonstration…
But it did not result in any deaths… I don't think.

Iran has a well-oiled rumor mill that I sometimes accidentally participate in.

We had 2 days of vote talk. At the last minute one of our friends began to canvass for Moin. He called everyone he knew and convinced them to go out and vote. "What are you waiting for?" He asked friends, family, and strangers. "Do you think America or Europe is going to come in and save us? Are you going out onto the streets? Do you think we should have a new revolution?" These are the questions he asked the non-voters. He was able to convince many to go out and vote. Many others remained unconvinced.

Boycotters argued that only a boycott would send the right message. I have always been dubious of this argument. I think it is difficult to weed active non-voters out from the apathetic.

And now we hear that Karoobi is leading. What?

TV coverage

Television programs are really pushing the vote. Iranian television is even broadcasting strange, fake LA satellite programs that urge people not to participate in the vote. I think these are meant as a form of comedy. A skinny guy with a tinny voice takes calls and makes himself look like a fool. I think that the government was so successful broadcasting snippets of the Zoroatrian guy who said that he would bring 50 full planes to Iran to bring about peaceful regime change that they thought that it would be a good idea to fake an LA-based call-in program calling on people not to participate in the vote.

I have a sense that there is a growing urge, if not intention, to vote. I found another person who is planning to vote. He plans to be the first Moin voter of the day. So in my informal poll, I have found 1 Moin voter and 1 Rafsanjani voter.

My taxi driver told me that fights have been breaking out all over town. "Yeah, supporters of the various candidates have taken to the streets and the police are busy breaking up their fights all over town." This has been confirmed by others.

K's nephew just stopped by to tell us that on his way here, the streets in front of one of the broadcasters was packed with police. "The driver said that there had been a demonstration against the government and that two people were killed."

Taxi Poll

The taxi poll

I've been in a lot of shared taxis lately: that means 5 passengers plus the drivers. Our conversations have been mostly mundane or non-existent. If you have a gregarious driver or gregarious passengers, shared taxis can be fun. If not, you have a quiet trip: you just sweat and, unless you are short and skinny, sit uncomfortably.

When K is with me, he always asks if anyone is voting. So far, only one person has said yes. One guy said, "Why should I vote? We already have a president. What difference would voting for a president make? It's just a title."

Last night, K and I were out waiting for a taxi to drive by to take us home. There were some young men working on their car: music blasting. A car pulled up. "Rafsanjani voters," K said pointing to the guys working on their car.

The driver who was young himself said, "Just wait. Three days after the election, they'll start cracking down and arresting people again."

Bombings in Iran...

7 Bombings Shatter Iran's Pre-Election Calm, Killing 10 - New York Times:
"Even so, if a pro-Hussein group is responsible for the bombings in Iran, that suggests that the instability plaguing Iraq may have begun to spill over into Iran. It also suggests that Iran's leaders could get more involved in Iraqi politics.

Mr. Mohammadi rejected the possibility that Iran's armed opposition group in exile, the Mujahedeen Khalq, was behind the bombings. But he said the bombings were aimed at undermining public participation in the election on Friday.

Bomb explosions have been almost unheard of in Iran since the eight-year war with Iraq ended in 1988. .

There were some indications that the Ahvaz bombings might have been rooted in a more local dispute. Ahvaz was the site of ethnic protests in April over rumors that the government wanted to relocate some of the region's Arab population.

The rumors grew out of a letter that had been circulated suggesting that there was such a government plan. The government said the letter was forged, but 250 people were arrested in the protests, and at least one person was killed."

Rock the Vote

Last night Rafsanjani had a Q&A with university students. One asked if he had ever been in love. "My thoughts are on the hereafter," he answered.

Another asked if it was okay to wear bright colors. "Of course," he answered.

Others complained that they were sick of being hassled every time they walked out on to the streets. Girls wanted to hang out with boys. Boys wanted to hang out with girls.

My Iranian friends and political activist friends tend to dismiss these concerns. "Iranians don't really want freedom. They just want to have sex," one friend stated just a couple of weeks ago. When we first came here, K commented: "Iranians think freedom means that they can walk hand-in-hand with their boyfriend or girlfriend."

Well isn't it? Aren't these personal freedoms important? Isn't fun important? Isn't political freedom part of this equation?

UPDATE (2013): a bit of the discussion with Rafsanjani was published on YouTube. For those of you who speak Persian, here it is:

Basically the young woman, a 23-year old student, is explaining why she doesn't want to vote. She's tired of the harassment. She's sick of all the bs. She's sick of the mistrust. "I don't have any expectations from you. Just give me back trust."

How sad is that?

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Eight Killed by Bomb Blasts in Iran:
"TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - At least eight people were killed and 36 others injured Sunday in four bomb explosions that targeted government buildings and officials in southwestern Iran, state-run television reported.

At least four women were among those killed in the explosions in Ahvaz, capital of the southwestern Khuzestan province which borders Iraq. The blasts were the deadliest explosions in Iran in more than a decade."

FT.com / Middle East & Africa - Islamic virtue takes a back seat on Iran's new-look campaign trail:

"'If a candidate tries to escape from democracy and shows toughness, it won't work,' said Hamid-Reza Jalaei-Pour, a sociology professor at Tehran university.

For the first time in Iran, there is a candidate clearly running for a party. Mostafa Moein, a reformist contender, was chosen by Mosharekat, the main reformist group. In a reality check to polished electioneering, Dr Moein appeared on Wednesday on state television in an interview with Saeed Hajjarian, the leading reformist journalist partially paralysed by an assassination attempt by Islamic vigilantes in 2000.

'You are an example to our young,' Dr Moein told Mr Hajjarian, whose questions were run as subtitles because of his slurred speech.

But just a week before the election, candidates are struggling to motivate a disillusioned electorate. Iranians are sceptical about politics and politicians' promises after wearying years of revolution, high unemployment and inflation, and Mr Khatami's battles with unelected state institutions. 'Not even all the changes in the way of campaigning may be enough to make people vote,' says Mr Jalaei-Pour. 'We have had 25 years of sloganeering, so now it's very difficult to fool Iranians.'"

[emphasis mine]

Watching from Shariati Street

Our friend thinks that there was a revolution two nights ago. She was out on Shariati Street where the crowd was tearing down election posters and young women were burning their headscarves.
Anyone else see anything like this?

Our crowd was celebratory and peaceful. I cannot imagine a more mellow group of football celebrants. They had fun without getting into fights.

"Imagine what this would be like if these guys had a few beers in them," K commented.

"They'd probably toppling cars and setting them on fire like sports fans everywhere else."

Iran qualifies to 2006 World Cup

Iran qualifies to 2006 World Cup
Originally uploaded by Mahdi Ayat's iRAN Project.

1-0
Iran has qualified for the World Cup and, on top of that, has qualified undefeated.

I was talking on the telephone when the final second ticked off. There were whoops and the sound of firecrackers. "It sounds like Iran won." (Hey, I saw the rerun of the game at midnight… I'm new to soccer: remember, I'm an American.)

K came to get me off the phone. "Let's go out," he said. "Let's celebrate!" I thought he was joking, but he wasn't. We went out. All of our neighbors were out. Some of them had boxes of pastries and were passing them out passersby. We turned the corner and went on to the main street. Rafsanjani supporters were out with giant SUVs blaring electronica and trays filled with fruit drinks. Moeen supporters were handing out pastries to people in cars stopped at the light.

We made it to Valiasr right before the major traffic started. We arrived just in time to see thousands of celebrants running down the street with faces painted and flags waving in the wind.

Drivers honked their horns and young men blew these noisemakers. There were firecrackers galore. Some of the flags were simply green, white, and red. Most were the current Iranian flag.

Young men danced in the street. Iranian men are really sexy dancers. (Although I hear that Iranian women don't find their dancing sexy. Well, foreign women do. Trust me.) We came across a group singing and dancing. A woman in her late 60s was encouraging people to clap. "What's your problem!" she would yell to passive onlookers. "Clap! Sing!"

Rafsanjani's campaign was out in force. Young people were covered with his stickers. They were dancing and yelling.

The Qalibaf campaign handed out zero alcohol beer from an Efes truck. I can't remember the exact slogan printed on the truck. I think it translated to something like "Life goes better with Qalibaf." So many people were running after the truck that you would have thought they were receiving 2.5% beer.

We saw a small, solemn group of Moeen supporters who held his poster up over their heads and walked quietly up and down the streets.

Later we saw a yellow hummer driving through the crowd. "Is Schwarzenegger in town?" I asked.

Groups of celebrants seemed to wander in and wander out from all directions. People were happy and relaxed and somewhat anticipatory. Did anything more dramatic happen? I do not know.

The Big Game
K's nephew predicts that tonight the Iranian national soccer team will beat the Bahrain team Doh-heech (2-0). A tie would make them one of the first teams to qualify for the World Cup. ( Read the story )

But more importantly, this big game is happening just 9 days short of the election. 12,000 police will be on the street. Their mandate is to use as little force as possible because the government does not want a forceful confrontation with crowds of young Iranians at this time.

Rafsanjani is ready to claim the team's victory for himself. His campaign plans to keep a high profile tonight. Rumor has it that there are already Rafsanjani soccer victory campaign posters ready.

Despite all the shiny, happy campaign images around, I have not met a single person who plans to vote. Friends tell us that even the fashionable youth sporting Rafsanjani headbands do not plan to vote. It's just fashion and money and little bit of guerilla marketing.

Yesterday I saw a group of teen-aged girls tearing down campaign posters on fashionable Valiasr Street. It was 3:00 in the afternoon. The girls were not making any effort to be secretive about their actions.

Posters come up, posters go down.

That said, Iranian agencies are already planning their world cup tours. Iranians have the greatest confidence in their team. Go Iran!

Hashemi
I don't get the whole Rafsanjani fashion craze and, neither, it seems, do other bloggers. ( Farideh Nicknazar on Open Democracy's Iran Blog writes, "What I find interesting, and I have never seen this done before, is to see young trendy women (with makeup and minimum head cover) showing off headbands with "Hashemi" written on them in English... Why in English?")

Last night a friend of our's got a call from a friend: "I'm performing tonight, why don't you come see me?" he asked.

She agreed, called a couple of friends, and made her way to Rafsanjani's headquarters. "It was so strange," she told us. "The place was filled with chic young women wearing tiny little headscarves." (That description fits her as well.) "I could not believe it. I stuck my hair in my scarf because I thought that maybe I will have problems later. He's having these concerts every night."

"It's kind of the Rafsanjani disco," K joked.

Our friend laughed. "It was weird. The place was filled with chic, young women and mullahs."

The Nation | Blog | Editor's Cut | Bloggers of Iran | Katrina vanden Heuvel:

"Did you know that on the eve of the Iranian presidential election, that country--with 70 percent of its population under 30--has 75,000 bloggers? I find that pretty stunning--and I'm usually skeptical of blog-hype."

Get a list of her top ten Iranian blogs.

Sometimes even the second most polluted city in the world has clear skies. 

Living in Iran without a job

What to do if you are a foreigner living in Iran without a job
When you live in Iran, you start to realize how much pleasure there is in casual social drinking. I am not a big drinker. I come from a long line of lightweights. But in Iran, I really miss having the occasional social drink. When Iranians drink, they down a bottle of vodka in one sitting. (I know, I know: this is not always the case. But most Iranians in Iran drink to get drunk.)

K loves to tell this story:

The first time I came to Iran, my brothers took me out for a drink. When I say out, it was really out! It was the middle of winter. There was snow everywhere, and we walked to a park. They brought out a bottle of this horrible vodka and poured drinks. I mean, they had these tall glasses filled with vodka. I'm good for a shot or two, but a water glass filled with vodka? I don't think so. I was shocked. They drank these tall glasses like they were filled with water. I was terrified we would be arrested walking home. We passed soldiers and police. We were obviously drunk, but they did not care.

Iranians have forgotten how to have a casual drink.

Foreigners make a big deal of the casual drink, but there really is something to it. It is pleasurable to have wine with dinner. Sometimes I really want a beer after a hard day. Most of all, I want to drink in public.

But there is no more boring topic than whining about alcohol. Oh, unless it's whining about the hijab. Or whining about being bored. Which is why I am offering this tip to foreigners in Iran: Don't complain about being bored. I mean, there is so much you could do: you could learn Persian, hike, learn to ride a horse, travel, volunteer on an archaeological dig, volunteer with an NGO, write, paint, draw, dream, walk, shop, watch tv, go to the movies, visit museums, drink coffee, read, learn to play the tar, take lessons from real philosophers…

Being bored is just plain boring.

That said, there are things I would really like to do: go swimming in the ocean in my swimsuit with K, wear a short skirt outside, spend a lazy afternoon drinking a beer and eating croquettes…

My first Joke

I told a joke…
We were in a taxi (as usual…). An SUV cut us off. "What does he think he is doing?" our driver complained.

I said, "We have a joke: where does a 500 pound gorilla sit?... Anywhere he likes."
(Just to prove that I can tell a joke in Persian: "250 kilo-ee gorilla koja mishineh? … Har ja keh mekhad.")

The driver laughed and said, "Exactly!" A few seconds later he said, "We have a joke too. Where does Rafsanjani sit? … Anywhere he likes."

Grapes in the Tajrish market 

Blogging about the Election

Yahoo has a round up of Iranian bloggers blogging about the election. They know a lot more about Iranian politics than I do.

Bloggers of Iran - Yahoo! News: "Blogging has gone international in a big way.

And in
Iran, blogging means that news, ideas and rumors are bypassing traditional censors. As one of Iran's leading bloggers recently pointed out at opendemocracy.net, Iran's blogs are generating 'an unprecedented amount of information [and] pre-election news has...been much more transparent.' In fact, Hossein Derakhshan argued, ' it will probably be one of the most open and transparent elections Iran has ever seen.'"

Nuclear Power...

Last night's tv news was abuzz with stories about this NYT article:

Across Iran, Nuclear Power Is a Matter of Pride - New York Times:

"TEHRAN, May 28 - From nuclear negotiators to student dissidents, from bazaar merchants to turbaned mullahs, Iranians agree: the right to develop nuclear power is a point of national pride.

James Hill for The New York Times

At Friday Prayer last week at the Imam Khomeini Square in Isfahan, soldiers and others raised a hand in a gesture against the United States. The banner proclaimed the right of Iran to develop nuclear energy.

'For a country to have nuclear energy means that it has made progress in all other fields as well, so other countries have to respect its technology,' said Nilufar, 29, a graduate student in energy management at the prestigious Sharif Industrial University. Nilufar, covered in black so only her face was showing, agreed to be interviewed on such a delicate topic only if her family name was not used."

Advieh in the Arak bazaar.  

Gloves

The secret of gloves
The secret of the gloves has finally been revealed to me!

When I first arrived in Iran, I noticed that many of the women wore gloves: even in the middle of the summer! This, I quickly deduced, had nothing to do with the requirements of the hijab. The women who wore gloves spanned the spectrum of religious dress. Some of the glove-wearers wore the full black chador and some a barely there scarf with a short manteau.

Were they, perhaps, germ-phobic, I wondered?

I asked several people. No one had an answer. And then, I filed my glove question way back in the recesses of my brain.

A friend of a friend was visiting. Her mother is Indonesian and her father is Dutch. It was her first visit to Iran. Immediately, she understood the secret of the gloves. "It's so that your hands are not ten shades darker than the rest of your arms." D'oh.

I quickly confirmed this with a brand new friend of mine who is a glove-wearer. "All I have to is go out into the sun for ten minutes, and my skin gets darker," she explained.

That should give you some info about how pale I am.

I changed the template...
Again. The other template reminded me of the time we took a copy of the US constitution, burned the edges, and mounted it on wood with shellac and shoe polish.

This one's not perfect, but I am too lazy for perfect.

Family Life

About families for San Diegan
I have written about family life off and on since the beginning of this blog. Family life in Iran can be summed up simply: heaven for children, hell for teenagers and young adults, resignation for the middle-aged… Old? Depends.

Children in Iran live in a particular children's heaven: they get sweets before dinner and are not put to be early when guests arrive. They are always part of the conversation. Cousins and friends are often underfoot.


In many Iranian families, the age differences are smoother than in American families (I am sure this is changing as families get smaller). Uncles and nephews hang out like friends. Sometimes I am a bit shocked at the bossiness of children here. But, what can I say?

A friend who grew up in England but lives here now and has a young son in school here tells us that at school Iranian girls are really disciplined, but the boys are totally out of control. Boys are allowed to do everything and that respect for elders is broken at the schools. That may be why the majority of university students are girls.

Iranians complain that the revolution has weakened their family bonds. "Brother cannot trust brother," Iranians tell you.

K's interpretation is a little different: "The revolution made people retreat into their homes where they got on each other's backs too much. They have nothing to do now except butt into each others' lives."

JeeGAR

JeeGAR
"I wish that the foreign journalists in Iran would try to find some new topics," K said to me last night.

"Like what."

"Like what they like about Iran."

"I like the spring," I told him. "Iran has the best spring that I've ever experienced."

It also has my very favorite dining experience: an outdoor seat in a parking spot, liver ("JeeGAR" in Persian) kebab, basil, lemon, coke, and fresh flat bread. "If you write about this, Iranians living abroad will cry," K tells me.

This may sound awful, but trust me, it's not. Our favorite spot is located between a butcher and a bakery which means everything you eat is fresh. It's a particularly popular spot for grandfathers and their young grandsons. Friends of the owner take turns at the grill. And you are treated as like royalty.

It's a bit like my favorite meal in Holland: the herring close to Iran's embassy in The Hague.

WTO Talks

W.T.O. to Start Talks to Admit Iran - New York Times:

"The World Trade Organization announced Thursday that it would start talks to admit Iran as a member, a reward for Tehran's agreement to continue to freeze its nuclear activities.

Mohammad Reza Alborzi, an Iranian envoy, said today that the W.T.O. 'has done service to itself by correcting a wrong.'

The decision came after the United States, in a small but important conciliatory gesture, dropped its long-standing opposition to Iranian membership in the organization, which governs global trade.

'It is a long overdue decision but it is a positive decision,' said Mohammad Reza Alborzi, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, in a telephone interview. 'We have a Persian proverb: 'A fish is always fresh, even if it is caught when you go fishing late in the day.' '"

Interview With Iranian Presidential Candidate - New York Times:

"Q. In the Arab world, the governments have good relations with the U.S. but their people do not like America. But Iranian people like the United States even though the government has bad relations with the U.S. How can you explain that?

A. Maybe one reason is the Palestinian issue which the Arab people have a greater sensitivity about and the other one is the situation the U.S. created in Iraq. The reason is because the U.S. supports Arab dictatorial regimes. But in Iran the U.S. has this serious problem with Iranian people as well. Those who express such interests say that the United States is an influential country with large industries, an advanced country with good products and these sorts of things. But there is a larger number opposed because of this hostile attitude of the United States."

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Khamenei orders election ban rethink:

"'It's appropriate that all individuals in the country be given the choice from various political tendencies,' he said. 'Therefore, it seems that [the] qualification of Mr Mo'ein and Mr Mehralizadeh [should] be reconsidered.'

Mr Khamenei's unexpected concession to reformists is almost certainly dictated by fears of a damagingly low voter turnout, leaving the clerical regime open to the charge that it lacks democratic legitimacy.

It may also be calculated to reduce the electoral strength of Mr Rafsanjani, the frontrunner, whose candidacy Mr Khamenei opposes. Despite calls for a boycott, many reform-minded voters were expected to vote for Mr Rafsanjani to prevent a hardliner being elected. Mr Khamenei is ideologically opposed to the candidacy of Mr Mo'ein, who has promised to release political prisoners and said he would consider suspending Iran's nuclear programme. He also regards Mr Rafsanjani as a potential rival.

Senior government figures have acknowledged that a high turnout is vital to reinforce the regime's democratic credentials in the face of US and European pressure for it to abandon its nuclear aspirations.

The wholesale exclusion of reformists risked deepening voter disillusionment, already widespread because of hardliners' systematic obstruction of the reform-minded programme of the outgoing president, Mohammed Khatami."

Wrapped in plastic

Plastic wrapping
I took an inter-city bus ride this Iranian weekend. On the way out we saw a pretty dismal Iranian film, The Ziggurat Goddess, about a young man whose wife and child die in the attack on the WTC in NY. The only notable part was the ability of the documentary footage to make my heart beat fast and my breath short.

On the way back, we saw an equally dismal film: this time from Hollywood. Cutthroat Island was its name if anyone is interested. From my window seat, we had a great view of the flowers. Families were out picking berries from the trees that grow along the highway. At one point the wind picked up. A particularly resourceful group held a chador under a tree a let the wind do all of the work. The berries flew off the tree straight into the chador. It was brilliant.

Every new Peugeot we saw was still wrapped in plastic. The fenders, the seats, and the steering wheels were still covered in plastic wrap. Iranians love plastic wrap. Offices leave the plastic on their office chairs along with the tag. If something comes wrapped in plastic, it stays wrapped in plastic.

Reverse Engineering
K and I were watching the news the other night. Most nights, Khatami cuts a ribbon at some new bottling plant or oil refinery or similar manufacturing site. On this particular evening a group of mullahs were walking around an airplane in a manufacturing plant somewhere in the world. Iran plans to build its own aircraft, the happy announcer reported.

"They're probably reverse engineering a Tupolov," K said.

"They'll leave the plastic wrap on the nose cone," I responded.

Thanks for the comments…
You guys are great...

New template
Some of you may have noticed that I (finally) changed the template. Now you can actually leave comments, which, frankly, terrifies me. I am terrified that you will comment and terrified that you won't.

So, remember when you see all those 0s in the archives, that we only just today turned on the comment function.

A nation of philosophers…

Iranians still study philosophy and go to lectures. I joined them to hear some philosophers lecture at the gorgeous Philosopher's Institute in downtown Tehran. On the way, my taxi driver asked me: "Are Iranian drivers good or bad?" (This is the most common question structure: Is America good or is Iran good? Do you like your father better or your mother better? Is Iranian food good or is American food good?)

"If they were good, there would not be so many accidents in Iran, would there?"

"We drive badly because of the mullahs."

"So, the mullahs are responsible for your driving?"

"Yes. Get rid of them, and we will be better drivers."

"Do you really think so?"

"Why not? We Iranians are without law. That's because of the mullahs."

Was my driver a philosopher of an idiot?

One of the philosophers speaking tried to engage the Iranians in a discussion of the ways in which Iranian philosophy could be used in the West. Unfortunately, there were too many academics in the room so instead of engaging in discussion, they spent time showing off their knowledge and making points of their own. Get a few drinks in them, though, and I bet you can have some interesting chats…

Iran Daily: "Darvishi, a UNESCO Award Nominee
TEHRAN, March 13--Music Committee of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization's Tehran office has nominated Iranian musician and composer, Mohammad Reza Darvishi for UNESCO music award for 2005.
Head of UNESCO Music Committee, Mohammad Sarir told the Persian daily Hamshahri that UNESCO's prize this year focuses on music diversity, cultural rights and objectives that can increase the people's knowledge about strategies and principles that influence music diversity.
Famous personalities such as Dimitri Shostakovich, Leonard Bernstein, Elvieh Messian, Ravi Shankar, Herbert von Karayan, Tariq Hakim (from Saudi Arabia), Alim Qasimov (from Azerbaijan) and Mohammad Reza Shajarian (from Iran) were among the earlier recipients of the UNESCO award."

Iran Ruling Frees Man Jailed for Poll on U.S.: "THE WORLD
Iran Ruling Frees Man Jailed for Poll on U.S.
From Reuters

TEHRAN — Iran has freed a leading political prisoner jailed for publishing a survey indicating that Iranians favored resuming dialogue with their supposed archfoe the United States, his lawyer said Friday.

Abbas Abdi was sentenced in 2003 to 4 1/2 years in prison for 'selling intelligence to the enemy,' referring to the poll, which found that three-quarters of Iranians wanted their country to have a dialogue with the U.S.

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But Iran's Supreme Court ruled last week that the United States was not officially defined as an enemy, and Abdi was released after 30 months in prison.

'This is an unprecedented ruling, because five senior judges, including a cleric, suggest the United States is not an enemy,' said Abdi's lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht.

Abdi was one of the student leaders who took dozens of U.S. diplomats hostage at their Tehran embassy in 1979 and held them for 444 days. Like many of the former hostage-takers, Abdi became a reformist advocating warmer ties with the West.

Washington severed relations with Iran in 1980 as a result of the hostage crisis, and any suggestion of talks with the U.S. is highly sensitive."

The International Book Fair

I twice visited the International Book Fair last week. I was one of hundreds of thousands of visitors. The fair was absolutely packed.

There were huge halls filled with books in English. It was a feast for a book-lover such as me. I wandered from stall to stall browsing the thousands of books on display. The most popular English books were definitely the art and design books. People were snatching them up.

Many of the books were academic, remainders, and technical. There was a dearth of novels. Most of the novels were by Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Shakespeare. I did see a literary critique of Salman Rushdie and about 30 books on Israel. All of them were published by reputable academic presses.

There were two stands that were noticeable for their total lack of visitors: one was the stand offered by Hamas and the other was a Jihad stand. In the two days I visited, I did not see one person visit either stand. In fact, people were walking as far from the stands as they could.

There were plenty of stands offering Islamic texts. They were busy. A stand run by a big Canadian with Suffi poetry and other Suffi texts was selling out. "Where was that guy from?" my Iranian friends asked me. "He was Canadian."

"Ehh…" they responded a bit shocked. "We thought he was Afghani."

"There are Muslims in Canada," I tell them.

Later we visit a stand run by a British Muslim who speaks very good Persian (but even better English ;) ). My young friends ask him several times where he is from "originally." They refuse to accept his answer tha he is British. Exasperated, he responds, "Not all British people are white. Many of them look like me."

Talks with Taxi Drivers, Part 115….

Well, I have been lazy. It's one of the drawbacks of "going native." I have written about this before… Things no longer seem strange to me.

I have even commented that the driving habits of Tehranians have gotten much better. Then I got into a taxi with three touring friends. At one point the driver pulled a standard move: pulling out into moving traffic in order to make a left turn. It was clear to me that we would not be hit, but our three friends all flinched and yelled in fright at the exact same moment. Is it possible that driving habits have not improved at all?

A friend tells me there were 26,000 traffic deaths last year. That would mean that, in fact, driving habits have not improved in the least.

"You foreigners should relax," a driver tells me when I ask him to slow down. "We know what we are doing."

"Hey," I respond, "you guys still have the highest accident rate in the world. Maybe it's time you became a little less relaxed."

***

Another driver asks me when Bush will come to Iran? "You don't really want him here," I respond.

"I don't want him to attack us, you're right. No one wants a foreign power to attack their country. But I do want him to visit us."

***

K and I are waiting for a taxi when a young woman pulls over. "I'm going to Valiasr Square she tells us. Do you want a ride?" This is not uncommon in Iran. People often pull over to give foreigners a lift somewhere. They feel sorry for us.

K and I hop in. We thank her. "We wouldn't want your wife to have a bad experience here and write a book," she tells K. We all laugh.

It turns out she is studying English so that she can apply for a visa to Australia, get citizenship there, and then try to get a job in America working for Industrial Light and Magic.

***

"How did Bush manage to become president again if Americas hate him so much?" a driver asks me.

"Who do you think the next president of Iran will be?" I respond.

He laughs. "Oh I get it."

***

K is sitting up front chatting with a driver about politics. The driver is going on an on about how evil the British are. At a certain point he turns to K and says, "Your wife's not British, is she?"

I laugh. "It's a little late to ask," I respond in Persian. The poor driver is shocked. "Your wife understands Persian," he says to K.

"Yeah. Some say that she understands more than I do," he responds. "But don't worry, she's not English."

When we pull up to our house, the driver says, "Make sure to tell Americans how much we like them. Iranians love Americans. We have no problem with the people. It's just our two governments that have problems."

I promise to pass on his message. I even put it in bold.

TV…
The only thing entertaining right now is football. There was a serial that ended a few weeks ago that featured a trio of do-gooding Iranians driving a truck filled with medicine to Iraq. On crossing the border, they get arrested by the Americans (many of whom are played by black Iranians) who claim that they are terrorists who are transporting guns. There are some funny scenes, but the basic message is: Americans are stupid and mean and culturally insensitive.

In conversations with the man playing the Iraqi translator, the translator asserts that the Americans are responsible for the violence between Sunnis and Shiites and that they are all brothers.


Iraq Chief Says a Mass Killing, Under Dispute, Did Take Place

Polar Express
Our DVD guy was arrested. I've never met him, but we have to find a new source for films.

We can buy cartoons, so I bought Polar Express. Just as I was warned by countless reviewers, it was indeed a horror movie. You've got these kids traveling with some weird guy on a train with a ghost and then you end up in the North Pole, which is actually world-war 2 era Europe. The elves are all dressed alike in red. They are the subjects of a dictator: Santa Claus. It is unclear whether he is a benevolent dictator or one who rules through terror.

His appearance is attended by hundreds of thousands of red-clad elves who are what? Nazis? Facists? Islamists? Government employees? I am not sure. I am reminded of the huge Death to America rallies that take place during revolution-week and the thousands of black-chadored women marching with their fists in the air. It is not all that different looking.

The appearance of Santa Claus causes awe, but it is hard to tell whether this is because the elves like him or because they fear him. Even the party they throw to "celebrate" Christmas eve seems forced. It's as though they have been ordered to have fun. "Have fun or lose your job!" It's a little bit like forcing people to vote. The turnout is high, but the participation is low.

Well, merry Christmas.

The New York Times > Magazine > Lives: My Enemy, My Friend

Just a teeny tiny bit off topic.

Religion as law…Opinion as fact
It has been some years since I lived in America. In all that time, I have been unwilling and incapable of becoming an expatriate in the sense of how I have seen it lived by many expatriates: as knee-jerk anti-Americanism. When listening to their anti-American rants, I have often felt that it is much easier to count the sins of a nation/people than its virtues. Not that I want to close my eyes to the mistakes, injustices, and even evils of my nation/people, no not that. I just cannot close my eyes to its virtues. I cannot close my eyes to the idea of America as an unfinished project rather that as something complete, dead, and defined. As a child I struggled with conflicting views of America: one that saw America through the eyes of the Viet Nam war and one that saw America through the eyes of my immigrant relatives. I struggled to reconcile these conflicting views of America and was able to. As a result, my understanding of America is complex. I can never relinquish my American identity. It is not an identity that I shrink from. This does not mean that I am always proud of it or uncritical of it. No. It means that it is mine, and it is complex, and I will not disown it. I have been proud and amused by the way American ingenuity is so touted by us. I guess the real ingenuity is giving so many of the world's population opportunities to invent, work, and study. That has been our true ingenuity.

That said, I feel that my identity is under attack. Will my Americanism become a relic? Will people find me out of date, quaint even? Are free press, free speech, immigration, religious freedom, and the separation of church and state all coming under attack?

I have a friend here in Iran who is brilliant in his field but cannot complete his studies here because somebody (or bodies) has determined that he is not Islamic enough. Iran is a country that has shown itself willing to lose most of its best and brightest to the rest of the world: all in the name of ideology. America, having become wildly paranoid since 9/11, will no longer issue visas to these people. Trust me, they will go elsewhere. When they do go elsewhere, America will suffer.

My religion is a minority religion in both the US and in Iran. I do not want to live under the religious rule of either. I do not want them to live under the rules of my religion either. Why would I? When religions rule, they set themselves up as superior to civil law and other religious beliefs. Many Muslims believe that they should only do business with other Muslims. Many Christians believe the same. (To be fair, other peoples and religions believe the same, but I am only addressing the dominant religions of America and Iran.) This is how they interpret their religious mandate in the world. Disrespecting the wishes and even the legal protections of others is acceptable under religious rule because the ruling interpretation of God's word is more important than anything else. And that is key: interpretation. Law is always subject to interpretation. Proponents of religious law, however, can always claim that God is on their side which essentially means that you must bow to God's word. The ruling interpretation of God's word often needs to combine their interpretation with violence in order to enforce their ideas. After all, violence is acceptable with God on your side. We've all seen it.

When I was nine or ten, I heard a story from the Talmud about a group of Rabbis arguing about a law. One of the Rabbis argued that God was on his side and that he could prove that by performing a series of small miracles. None of the miracles was enough to convince the other Rabbis that their reasoning was incorrect and that they should change their opinion so that it was in alignment with the opinion of the Rabbi who had God on his side. In the end, God approves of their dissent. God says, "The Law is not in heaven."

Law is subject to change and interpretation.

Happy Sizdeh Bedar
On the thirteenth day after the New Year, Iranians go out for a picnic. I mean, just about everyone in the entire country goes outside to play badminton and eat a picnic lunch. It is the most amazing holiday. It is fun. It is peaceful. It is delightful. It is nicer than you imagine.

We picnicked with a group of foreigners, which means we had cold food. Most Iranians cannot imagine a cold lunch. They bring gas burners and kebabis with them so that they can eat stews and kebabs, and of course, the all important: hot tea.

Note to America: please do not attack Iran. It won't work. Iranians are nationalists… just like us. As a writer in a recent edition of the Economist (print, read in the back of a taxi, sorry no direct quote) wrote: with notable exceptions, Americans of all political stripes are pro-American. Get it? We may hate our administration at any given time, but we would band together if attacked… Am I right? That said, how many Iranians do you know who, when pushed, do not share a similar feeling about Iran? Attacking will strengthen the current group in power, not weaken it.

Happy Sizdeh Bedar.

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.

Fires, visiting, new year's tv, and the latest fashion news

Fires
The last time I wrote, K and I were on our way to search out the best fire-leaping district. We walked for 2 ½ hours and saw a few boys lighting firecrackers, caught site of some private bonfires, and got sore feet. We returned to our neighborhood only to find that we were living in Chahar Shanbeh Souri-Central. In our small neighborhood, there were several bonfires. Our tiny street (2 whole blocks) featured 3 or 4 bonfires. The whole neighborhood was out: from newborns to one-foot in the gravers. Young men were dancing in the street. There was music and singing. I didn't know we lived in such a happening place.

It was so wonderful to see Iranians having fun in public. Fun is such a great thing. I feel pretty red after a night of fires and dancing.

Fashion
The next day, we flew south and joined millions of Iranian tourists visiting Kouzestan's spring. Ahwaz's river was so high that it reached the stairs of the Hotel Fajr. Flowers were everywhere. Women were in their new manteaus: short, salmon, and tight. Southerners were wearing these tiny little scarves woven with metallic threads. Every other young woman seemed to have one. So, last year the new scarf fashion was a shawl that let your bangs show and the back of your pony tail. This year's seems to be an oversized handkerchief that can just be tied under your chin and shows even more of the back of your hair than the shawl. Pretty soon we'll be wearing skull caps.

Haven't seen too much fashion back in Tehran yet, but then, no one is here.

TV
TV is much better during the New Year's holidays than it is during religious holidays. There's a pretty funny serial on now that features a pizza parlor, a Mercedes, several goofy men who end up in and out of jail for a series of misunderstandings, and silly women. We've been enjoying it.

There is a campy tv game show with a series of silly feats that feels like it must have been borrowed from Japanese tv. I find it pretty funny. People seem to either love it or hate it. K is in the second camp. I am in the first. There is also an Iranian version of the Weakest Link. Anyone who has ever seen Ann Robinson tear apart the contestants of the British version of this game show would be amused by the Iranian version. While Iranians are capable of making insults, those insults are subtle and require a pretty thorough understanding of Iranian manners in order to be understood. Mostly, Iranians are so unfailingly polite that the type of insult that is the hallmark of the Weakest Link is impossible for them. Every time someone loses, the host politely wishes him luck and says something cloyingly nice.

Here is a sampling of the movies on Iranian tv: Whale rider, Troy, Shanghai Knights, The Inlaws, Lord of the Rings (parts 1, 2, & 3), Antz… The only movies that don't get heavily censored are the movies with casts of men or cartoons. This means most of the movies worth watching are violent or cartoons. The only time I have seen real men and women touching on Iranian tv was when they were fighting. If they had been hugging, that would have been cut. Sword through the belly, okay. Man and wife showing affection: cut!

We saw our fair share of satellite tv during our multiple New Year's visits. Most people were watching Tapesh 2 or PMC: both of which feature mainly, but not solely, Iranian music videos. For the most part, the videos suck. Most of those shot in California seem to be shot at the same location. The men wear all white or all black, have no style, and have forgotten how to dance. (Iranian men are great dancers!) Mostly naked women dance in the background. The other type of video features a stage with flashing lights. Everyone's favorite videos were: Kamran and Hooman singing Toro Micham, Arash singing Boro Boro, and a woman (what was her name?) singing Mirdamad.

Coming soon... Norooz holiday report: until then, Ted Rall's "Guide to Zoroastrian America"
Yahoo! News - Ted Rall

The New York Times > Magazine > The Security Adviser: Is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Winning?:

"Yes, Iran, the nation the Bush administration calls the greatest state sponsor of terrorism, is having some good days, largely at our expense. In the 1980's, Iran suffered an estimated one million casualties in a seven-year war against Iraq. From Iran's perspective, the purpose of the war was to place Iraq's majority Shiite religious faction in charge, to unseat Saddam Hussein, to protect the Shiite holy places and, perhaps, to get its hands on Iraq's vast oil deposits. The costly war ended in a draw, after the two sides exhausted themselves. Seventeen years later, Iran has now achieved three of those four war goals, thanks to 13,000 American casualties and scores of billions of American-taxpayer dollars."

Wow, it's been more than one year

"Our friends are all asking when our crazy daughter is coming home," my mother tells me.

"And we say, 'which crazy daughter?'" my dad chips in.

"Tell them they can call me crazy to my face. I will just laugh and agree with them. I won't even get offended."

You want to hear the craziest thing? There are things I really like about living here. Yes, there are things I like about Iran. Iranians seem to think that I only write about the negative aspects of life here. Not true. (To be fair, Iranians outside of Iran think I'm pretty positive…)

Living in Iran means that you get sucked into all of its attending neuroses: depression, passive aggression (or 'tarof'), uncertainty, indecisiveness, etc… Like others here, sometimes I get overwhelmed by uncertainty and depression. Sometimes I am paranoid; sometimes I am desperate; often I am frustrated. I am never bored; I am often amazed; and sometimes I am dazzled.

The two things that dazzled me most this year were these: K's cousin playing the drum while his brother-in-law sang and the capacity that Iranians have for change that does not compromise their core identity.

The first represents one of the unexpected pleasures of life among Iranian culture anywhere that I have experienced: unexpectedly some banker or engineer will start singing in a beautiful, clear voice while another plays the traditional drum or traditional stringed instrument. (Sorry their proper names escape me.) This year I have cried as K's sister sang folk songs she learned from their parents and been overwhelmed by the quality of amateur musicianship.

The second is connected. Iranian culture is open and changeable while retaining its essential identity. Oh the change I have seen in one year… Possibly much of the change is internal. Possibly I have become a keener observer, a more nuanced observer. Possibly I things have changed as much as I think they have.

I can't quite describe the changes in this post. It needs time. I will be attempting to describe these changes in my next few posts, but don't expect too much in the next couple of weeks…

Happy New Year
K and I always joke about the number of new years we get to celebrate. My favorite one is Persian New Year. Here are its advantages:
Timing: I mean, who can beat the Spring equinox for a new year's celebration?
Timing again: Iranians and other Norooz celebrants all over the world celebrate the New Year at the same moment: the exact moment of the equinox. It's comforting to know that families in Los Angeles are cheering in the New Year at the same time as families in Tehran.
Haft Sin (Seven "s's" – sounds like some new fangled management theory right?): Iranians put out a table covered with all sorts of things beginning with "s." These items represent common new year's themes including renewal, wisdom, health, and prosperity. You usually see a goldfish, sprouts, pudding, coins, eggs, and other items. I love the table. It's beautiful.

Tonight, bonfires will be lit all over Iran (and California) and people will be jumping over them saying: "Give me your red and take from me my yellow." (The symbolism is so obvious that it would be silly to explain.) I plan to make my leap as well.

For the next month, Iranians will look so spiffy in their new clothes, the streets and buildings will shine because they are so friggin clean, and Tehran's air will smell like flowers instead of smog.

Happy New Year all.

The draft

When I was much younger and less nuanced and against the draft, my mother said to me: "The problem with getting rid of the draft is that the military is then made up of people who *want* to be there." Or people with no other options, I would add now.

Now my mother might add that another side effect of having no draft is that most people don't know anyone in the military.

Iran has a draft. Wealthy people can buy their way out of the draft. College graduates have a fairly simple run of duty. Non-graduates, like everywhere, get stuck with the brunt of the service.

A young friend of ours will enter the military just after Norooz (the Persian New Year).

Our young friend is brilliant. He can brag that he is been arrested for cavorting with the opposite sex (a badge of honor among young Iranians since it is becoming more and more difficult to get arrested for hanging out together). He is handsome. His English is wonderful. He is friendly and a fast learner. He goes to movies. He is secular. He lifts weights. He gains weight. He loses weight.

He is normal. He is comfortably middle class which means that his family does not have enough money to pay for an exemption. He did not make the right choice of study when he entered university and as a result lost interest and dropped out. It's not a simple manner to change majors in Iran. And now, he's stuck with serving out a full-term in the military.

The point I am trying to make is that in countries with a draft, the military is made up of people you know. They are not strangers. They are your friends, your family, and the sons of people you know.

Another book to read: The Persian Puzzle

The Persian Puzzle: An Interview With Kenneth Pollack

As far as regime change, I think you need to look back at Iran's history. First off, regime change is coming—it's clear that the Iranian people generally want a very different form of government. It's coming very slowly. Most Iranians are sick and tired of revolutions. They've had one for the last 25 years, and they don't want another one. Those who've tried to spark another revolution have failed time and again. I don't think there's any evidence that somehow, if the U.S. gave these guys the high sign, it would make regime change somehow more likely. Every time the U.S. has tried to interfere in Iranian affairs to help a particular group of Iranians, it's backfired on us, and hurt the group we tried to help. Look, regime change will eventually happen, but this isn't an answer to the very short-term problem of the nuclear program.

Interesting interview... must read book: Lipstick Jihad
Lipstick Jihad: An Interview With Azadeh Moaveni

Yes, I think this is the biggest difference between the US and Iran -- how honesty is interpreted. American culture is incredibly forthright. There’s this premium on telling it like it is and being frank. Iranian culture, and Farsi, the language, is really evasive; it has all these rituals and cues and formalities in how people deal with one another.

I think evasiveness took on a whole new meaning after the revolution. You suddenly had Islamic conservative values governing how society was run, which pushed a lot of things behind closed doors and under veils and chadors. Private behavior became much more weighted.

I write in the book about eroticization. It’s not explicit, ever, but the emphasis on covering and the hidden and forbidden was sexualizing because everyone was very preoccupied with that. Nothing about how you conduct your private life is at all apparent from the way you look to everyone else. Evasiveness, privacy and eroticization all came together in the post-revolutionary culture.

Norooz, fires, fireworks, and satellite dishes
About three nights ago, the chief of police appeared on television to announce that the police will no longer break up the celebrations that occur on the last Tuesday before the new year. On the last Tuesday before the new year, Iranians (and other Norooz –“new day” – celebrants) light small bonfires and jump over them while shouting: “Take my yellow from me and give me your red.” It is a wonderful celebration that I enjoyed on the beaches near Santa Cruz. The chief announced to all Iranians that the police would view this as a cultural celebration and do what they could to keep it safe and help people enjoy it even more, rather than breaking it up. He went on to announce that the police would no longer raid people’s homes looking for satellite dishes.

Iranians have an open and resilient culture that is unbelievably open to change. (I plan to write a post on this soon. So watch this space…) This is not a static culture or static society. Don’t let the nuclear issue become more important than a true understanding of Iran and Iranian culture. Pay attention, folks.

Long time, no write…
Even longer since I started this post…

So… a lot has happened: Ashura, UFOs, better relations with America, and a resumption of uranium enrichment. What’s that you say? Better relations with America? ( Read between the lines…) Worse relations with Iran? That too. Iranians are sure that America plans to attack.

Iranians are smarter about the world of politics than I am. “Iranians have political brains,” one older friend told me. “Americans are much simpler.”

When the Iranians I know say that Americans are simple, they mean it as a compliment. Elaine Schiolino writes in her book Persian Mirrors that it is meant as an insult. Well, maybe it was, and maybe it is. In fact, I am sure it was and is. I do, however, believe that it is becoming a compliment. Iranians of all stripes seem to find American simplicity refreshing. “It’s so easy to work with Americans,” a nationalist Iranian tells me. “They say something, and they do it. They tell you what they can and cannot do. Everything is so straightforward.” (They are not speaking about our politicians, mind you. They are also clearly not speaking about many of our CEOs.)

“I find so much more common ground between American culture and Iranian culture than between Iranian culture and the culture of Europe or Asia.”

“For instance?”

“Americans are religious. They understand religion. When I go to Europe, they think I am backwards because I am religious. Americans understand that. They don’t find it odd.”

Will America attack Iran? Has Iran purposely screwed up nuclear proliferation negotiations with the EU in order to get America to participate in the discussions? Their chief negotiator is busy insulting the EU representatives, saying things like they cannot make up their mind without crossing the Atlantic.

Today (well not today anymore) I received an email with an article from Ray McGovern that concerned attacking Iran. Well, all options are on the table, aren’t they? Listen carefully, I will only say this 10,000 times, Iranians need to clean up their own mess. The regime will not change if America attacks. It will get stronger. (Am I wrong, or didn’t we just fulfill Khomeini’s prophecy that Iraq would become an Islamic state if Iran refrained from taking Baghdad itself and left it for the future? What do you think would happen here?)

Iranians worry too. “It is always people like us who suffer in war,” a friend just told me.

I try not to worry, but I worry too. I do not want to see war. I do not want the people I know and love to be bombed. I don’t even want to see people I do not like bombed. That’s what a sissy I have become.

As usual, the Onion has the best analysis:
(http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4110&n=0&ref=myy)

Snow, internet…
There was a lot of snow here in Iran. Northern Tehran looked like a Christmas postcard with the evergreens covered in white snow. I associate the snow with my Internet problems, but that is probably not fair. It’s probably the new restrictions on internet sites that are causing all of the problems. The same thing happened last year when the government tried to forbid free internet use. In the end, they relented somewhat (not 100%). I mean, even extremists need to do business over the internet.

They turned off the gas for several days in parts of Tehran. People did not have heat or hot water for several days. Iran does not have enough gas to go around. They ran out. “The government’s first priority is pocketing the money from gas sales,” a fellow taxi passenger complained. “They don’t care about us.”

Who knows if it was the lack of gas that led to the tragic fire in one of Tehran’s oldest mosques? Sixty people were killed when something fell on the oil-burning heater in the women’s section of the mosque. The word in the taxis is that it was not an accident. “There was an explosion. It was a bomb,” a driver explained to us.

“I have a friend who works next door. He heard the explosion. It was a bomb,” my fellow traveler agrees.

I am sure it was an accident.

“After 26 years of hearing their lies, how can we believe a word they say?” Our driver said. (Everyone knows who “they” is, right?)

“I don’t hear them,” I reply.

“You’re lucky that you have not spoken our language for the last 26 years,” our driver laughs.

K’s TV rant
“Take a hot shower now because who knows when our gas will be turned off,” K said. “But you’ll notice that we always have television. That’s because the government doesn’t want us to forget them: it’s all mullah, all the time. This is Iranian tv: flower, flower, waterfall, bird, mountain, flower, river, butterfly, mullah, water, mountain, sky, mullah, flower.”

“Don’t forget crying,” I added.

The Islamic month of Moharram has begun. This is the month that commemorates Hossein’s martyrdom, which means that the crying has begun all over again. The television is filled with men crying. One tells the story. The others cry. Last year, I was mesmerized by the occasion. The singing and stories can be so beautiful. Unfortunately, most of what is shown is so filled with bathos that your gut reaction is that you are watching comedy. That said, our neighborhood has one of the best azans (religious singers) that I have ever heard. I am looking forward to following his group as they march through the neighborhood.

You know all of those months we have: national dairy month? Hispanic heritage month? Kite flying month? Etc… Imagine if the only entertainment you had during those months was from your grade school teachers, earnestly trying to get you interested in these months with filmstrips and activities? Do you have that picture in your mind? Okay, that’s Iranian tv.

Fajr TV
It’s been a week of revolutionary tv punctuated with French spy movies. Two days ago I was channel surfing when I caught sight of chanting masses with their red, blood-covered hands lifted high in the air. My stomach turned as I remembered my friends’ stories of being beaten during the marches. I could not see the red hands without imagining them at the other end of the blood.

Later in the week, the day before the 26th anniversary of Khomeini’s arrival in Tehran, channel 2 showed a documentary about the revolution over and over again. The scenes look like a French film from the 70s. Most of the men are wearing flared pants and sporting big, thick mustaches. There is something touching and heart-wrenching about the documentary. The people in the streets are so excited, so filled with optimism and enthusiasm. The shah looks so sad and filled with regret. It is somewhat painful to watch this documentary. It is different from most of the other clips they show of the revolution. Most of the others are carefully edited to show only the Islamic part of the revolution. The documentary shown on the day before the anniversary is quieter and less contrived.

“Khomeini’s speech on arriving in Iran is now forbidden,” I am told. Many of his writings are also forbidden.

Those serials I wrote about earlier: the ones that portray the time of the shah… Remember those? K has forbidden anyone to watch them in our home. “The way they portray Jews may be ridiculous,” he tells me, “but the way they portray women is just nasty. They turn women into monsters who only care about money and control. The men are weaklings who are manipulated by the women.”

“They want you to think that in the time of the shah, women controlled everything,” his sister comments.

Another serial we don’t watch.

Yes Virginia, there is a snowman
Iranians build snowmen too. There is more than two-feet of snow in our garden right now, and it’s still coming down. Our neighbors have snowmen in their gardens, and their kids are out right now having snowball fights to celebrate a snow day! Hurray!
Men wander the streets with shovels offering to shovel roofs, sidewalks, and driveways. They can earn more shoveling snow in a couple of hours than most Iranians do in a day.

The mountains are white. The sky is white. If you drive 15 minutes down from our house, the snow turns to rain.

The little stores have run out of deli-meat and baguettes: emergency cold-weather food.

It’s great here. I love snow. But it does interfere a bit with out internet connection, which is why this is a few days late. Still, the snow is still coming

Separated at birth? 

Speaking of Geography

Perhaps the Persian Gulf is not really the Persian Gulf... The other day I saw a poster abvertising a conference located on Kish Island in the Persian golf.

It’s the 26th anniversary…
…of the revolution in Iran. Twenty-six years. The television is filled with revolutionary footage, which is interesting because the footage never shows men and women together, and I know they marched together, or uncovered women, and I know that most of the women marching were uncovered. The revolution-related soap operas portray Shah supporters as greedy, ridiculous, clueless, and, in many cases, Jewish. “I never watch the revolution serial,” a friend told me. “It’s always ridiculous.” Every revolution needs its photo, film, and history editors who assist in re-creating events that did not exactly happen, doesn’t it? Don’t trust history you learn in school or in the movie theaters is the lesson here.

Which reminds me, I read little paperback called The Revolutionists about America’s own revolutionists. It was like reading a manual for the Iraqi insurgents (who should, by now, realize how slim their support is among Iraqis themselves) with its stories of Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty whose main activities seemed to be inciting the British troops to violence and creating martyrs who could gain public sympathy.

It seems that public sympathy for the Iraqi-based insurgents is pretty god-damn slim. Millions turned out to vote despite the fact that their lives were credibly threatened and many were killed. Think of that the next time you consider sitting an election out because it is raining.

The Iraqis in Iran were, by reports, positive. They were excited to vote and photos in the newspapers here showed genuinely happy men and women casting their votes. In interviews with Iraqis here, they said that they wanted American troops to stay in Iraq. The Iranian government says that it wants the American troops to leave and shows nightly images of the dead and dying in Iraq along with text that says something like: “Democracy American Style,” the Iraqis in Iran want the troops to stay, and Iranians want the Americans to invade Iran.

“Look,” an Iranian tells me, “if Iran and America did not have something going on under the table, then why is Karzai in Iran? Why are our relationships with Afghanistan improving?”

The nightly news showed pictures of Karzai and Khatami signing an agreement to build a new highway between the two countries. “Oh, so now it will be even easier to smuggle drugs into Iran,” I commented.

“That’s what everyone is saying,” said K.

There is no sign of improvement in the official communications between America and Iran though. Seymour Hersh’s article about covert pentagon operations aimed at discovering hidden nuclear sites in Iran made the news all over the country. The day after I read his article in the New Yorker, I was at a gathering with some pretty influential Iranian businessmen who told me how happy they were that relations between our two countries were improving. “That’s not what I hear,” I responded. To which one responded: “Don’t read the news and don’t connect to the Internet and don’t listen to any official pronouncements.”

I laughed.

NPR : Fresh Air from WHYY for Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Fresh Air program about child soldiers.

Paper play

I learned a new word today. The word for bureaucracy in Persian translates literally to “paper play.” Okay. What could be more pleasing than that?

The Persian Gulf
In an issue that united Iranians of all stripes (http://hoder.com/weblog/archives/012895.shtml) and was a constant feature of nightly news here in Iran, National Geographic changed its mind and has decided that the gulf we all know as the Persian Gulf really is the Persian Gulf and not the Arabian Gulf.

The New York Times > AP > International > Iran Celebrates Cartographic Victory: "Iran claimed victory after it learned that National Geographic had revised its world atlas to highlight the name ``Persian Gulf'' over the alternative ``Arabian Gulf.'' But the U.S. cartographer said such revisions are common.

Iran had said in November that it would ban from its territory new edition of the atlas, as well as National Geographic journalists, until the map for the Gulf region was changed. It objected to the eighth edition's printing the term Arabian Gulf in parenthesis beside the more commonly used Persian Gulf."

For Whoman
(I am sorry that Whoman is feeling less opinionated now, but I, for one, do not see this as a barrier to blogging. Why should it be?)

What I really wanted to write for Whoman was that it has been a snowy winter here in Tehran. While the snow has yet to stick on the streets, it is sticking in the mountains which are this incredible white with black rock sticking out here and there. When the pollution clears, Tehran is stunning. The skies are a bright, bright blue. The mountains are etched into the sky with whiffs of snow blowing off the peaks. Wow.

Unfortunately the pollution is horrid this winter. Everyone prays for rain, snow, and wind so that they can have one or two clean days. When there is no “weather,” we have these incredibly yellow skies combined with the overpowering smell of ozone. The government actually closed down schools and auto repair facilities for one day in a mostly successful effort to bring the pollution down.

Catch up
It’s hard to believe that there was an earthquake the same day as the one in Bam, which made me think of a panel from Art Spiegelman’s comic In the Shadow of No Towers [Not a link to Amazon: a link to a bio page on Spiegelman with some actual drawing samples]: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop. [Go to the bottom of the page to see the panel I am thinking of.] Well the other shoe dropped, and it was much worse than the first. The earthquake in Bam started with reports of 80,000 dead and edged down to 26,000 (still a lot). The earthquake in Sumatra started with 500 dead and leapt up and keeps leaping up.

Iranian television news reported that Europeans were celebrating New Year’s and spending millions and millions on fireworks in the face of this catastrophe. I saw the images and said, “Pretty lame fireworks this year: clearly not professional.” K was outraged, “You see how they twist everything to their own advantage,” he sneered at the hooded newscaster. The next day I read this article in the Guardian:

For Sweden's prime minister, celebrating New Year's after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Asia felt ``completely wrong.'' Paris draped black cloth along the Champs-Elysees. Elsewhere, prayers substituted for parties in the final minutes of 2004.

Even for those far from Asian and African shores where the giant waves killed more than 120,000, the disaster was too overwhelming for a carefree leap into 2005.

Iranian television has been peppered with Christmas commercials. Some of the shopping areas have Christmas trees up and Santa displays. I predict a full-blown Iranian celebration of Christmas within ten years. Why not? It’s just another one of their prophet’s birthdays. It is easily adjustable to Islam by taking out the whole son of God thing.

Speaking of Christmas, a few nights ago a mullah gave a sermon on television preaching against discrimination against other religions. Judaism and Christianity are part of the continuum, he told viewers. They are equal to Islam. (This was reported to me second-hand.)

Much of the Western view of Islam would have you believe that there is a monolith of belief in the Islamic world and that that belief is antagonistic to any other religion or culture. There is no monolith. There is no one source of interpretation. There is critique (at least in Iran… I cannot speak for anywhere else.) Iranian television is filled with the critique. Iranian society is even more filled with it. There is no monolith folks. Plus, it seems to me that much of the critique has to do with culture and not religion. (Save this thought for another post…)

One question: if, according to reports in the New York Times (okay, so I cannot find the link, so sue me), the American media does a piss poor job representing the depth of religious thought and diversity in America (Sharpton vs Robertson in a religious debate comes to mind), why would you even pretend to believe that they could accurately present the debate within Islam to us?