THE EYERANIANS

A ballot box from Iran’s election… after some grocery shopping… and this is how the votes are counted!!!

A relative of mine recently posted this petition. It calls for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the crimes committed by Ali Khamenei. It also calls for a warrant for Khamenei’s arrest, similar to the one recently issued for the arrest of Omar Bashir in Sudan. In full, the petition reads: Dear Madams/Sirs, Prosecutors [...]

Diary of a Defiance: Iran un-Interrupted By Hamid Dabashi 15 June 2009 With the semi-spontaneous demonstration in Tehran and other major cities (including Shiraz, where we have had eyewitness accounts by members of my family), the civil unrest that began on 13 June with opposition to the announced results of the presidential election of 12 [...]

Having just participated in a historic election, millions of Iranians in Iran and around the world are baffled, angry, and heartbroken with the official results of the presidential campaign of 22 Khordad 1388 (12 June 2009). There are perfectly legitimate reasons to question the validity of the official results that have declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as [...]

For many Iranians, President Obama’s Norooz message to Iran seemed to indicate a more conciliatory approach towards the Islamic Republic. In his address, he said he was committed to diplomacy with Iran that “will not be advanced by threats.”  Though many may take this as a hopeful sign that the US rhetoric will tone down in [...]

The following is my first attempt at Mehdi Akhavan Sales’ (1929-2000) famous modernist poem titled “Winter.” The Persian text and also the English translation of this poem can be found in “Persian Listening” by Michael C. Hillmann (2008 Dunwoody Press). Reading by Hooman Hedayati Music: Hamid Reza Rezai Kalaji – Tehran, Iran Camera: Aryan Hedayati

Dear Mr. Obama, I am sorry to say that I am disappointed with your recent moves towards the political right. As soon as you won the Democratic primary, you went to AIPAC to pledge your allegiance to the Israeli right wing. And just yesterday you went back on your commitment to public financing. But really, [...]

Mr. Obama has been getting awful close with AIPAC lately – too close! His recent speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was, in the words of Jon Stewart, an attempt at “pandering” – an attempt to pander to the right wing of the Israeli political spectrum. AIPAC lobbied furiously for the war in [...]

As Christopher Hitchens wrote this week, “It’s somehow absurd and trivial to use the word Israel and the expression 60th birthday in the same sentence or the same breath. (What is this, some candle-bedecked ceremony in Miami?).” Nevertheless, behold the message on Obama’s web site: http://www.barackobama.com/2008/05/09/at_60_israel_has_much_to_celeb_1.php It’d be generous to say that Obama’s record on [...]

Although never elected, these so called Iranian “dissidents” claim to represent the “real” government of Iran. Interesting, especially since they appear to advocate a US attack against Iran, something that Iranians overwhelmingly oppose. And even more interesting given that they are nothing more than a front group for the Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MEK), a terrorist [...]