The Best Days of Our Lives
As you may know different sexes mingling (if they are not married) is prohibited in Iran. 'Prohibited' doesn’t mean that you definitely would be arrested if you go out with your friend from opposite sex. It means if it happens to be caught by somebody (police, plain clothes, a fanatic religious, etc), you would be in trouble. And 'trouble' means to be beaten in the street or to be arrested and going under trial (which may end to fine or to whips), etc. This 'law' has had its fluctuations after Revolution. Sometime it was so tough, but after Khatami's time, as the atmosphere opened up a bit, you can see young people hand in hand here and there.
This is a series of pictures having millions of words inside. Notice that the next girl is wearing chador.
This is a series of pictures having millions of words inside. Notice that the next girl is wearing chador.
AS you see, the prize is named after Kaveh Golestan our prominent photo journalist who was killed in Iraq when shooting for BBC.
This is written by Jim Muir, BBC correspondent about Kaveh's tragic death.
posted by Laila @ 12:22 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
censorshp!!!
I meant censorship
I meant censorship.
Rreading Iranian blogs, I have often found out that almost every one of them are subconsciously a little Khomeini. Perhaps as a result of growing up with lack freedom of expression and speech, they themselves can not tolerate any opinion different from theirs
I only read the irainian blog in an attempt to understand them, unfortunately it makes me sad
Anon,
I didn't get what you meant. You mean this blog? If yes, can you give examples please?
I was wondering why the above comments were deleted,
first I thought it was mine, but I am not sure.
I am sorry if I am wrong, they may have been unacceptable by you,
peace
Aha,
The comments have been deleted for two reasons so far:
1-Have been spams.
2-The commenter wants them deleted -for some reasons that I don't know and it happens.
Beside those, if any comment be insulting (calling me or others with bad names without any specific reason) would be deleted definitely. Fortunately, I haven't seen any so far but in other belogs they are not few.
thanks
those were not mine
---------------------
Are women bared to run for president there?
Is there a law that excludes women from presidential candidacy or is the supreme L……who decides to delete them.
I don't think there is a reference in ghoran to exclude women, at least when I searched I could not find.
thanks
I don't know what Qoran says about the female presidents. Actually as it seems, they didn't have such a position in their society 1400 years ago. :) Instead, I think we have to look into Iranian Constitution which states the president should be picked from 'rijal' with this and that qualification. Rijal is an arabic word- as you may know- and it is a controversial word here. Islamic feminists believe that it refers to general definition of 'human' when conservatives believe it means masculine creatures. Well, what has been applied after the Revolution is what the latter group believes. So, all the female candidates are kicked out of the competetion whenever they try to run. The happy point is that they don't feel exhausted trying over and over again and that's the way we women have achieved whatsoever we have so far. :)
thanks
http://www.theholyquran.org/?x=s_main&y=s_middle&kid=14&sid=4
http://www.kurandaara.com/en/index.php?act=ara&keyword=woman+&meal=14&sure_no=&go.x=20&go.y=13
What is puzzling and disappointing is that educated women like shirin E endorse Islam, which according to their own book does not provide women with equal rights.
Perhaps the most likely cause is the fear that she is not willing to be honest about it.
After all it was the Islamic law that removed her from being a judge and reduced her to a clerk according to her own autobiography.
I do not want you to get into any trouble so it is ok if you do not wish to respond or delete this.
What I meant was a leader or head of the government/state which is now called a president.
I could not find any reference in ghoran about women's exclusion as the head of an Islamic government or head of an Islamic state.
I guess one has to look in sharieh law and hadith which is not my area of expertise.
Well I hope soon there will be a democratic republic of Iran and we no longer have to abide by rules of 1400 years ago.
peace
I don't know whether Ms Ebadi believes in Islam or not and I prefer to respect her choice to say that for whatsoever reasons she may have. At the end of the day, that's SHE who is living in this country and is acountable for what she says and does.
She says- like many other secular religious people- that Islam is due to millions of interpretations. What she claims is that Islamic Republic has a certain interpretation of Islam and nobody can say it's the absolute truth. So, for this very set of laws called Sharia' , there are people who extract quite progressive interpretations. They say whatever practiced in the country is not Islam, it's a fake. So, you see, for this very reason Ms Ebadi and other secular muslems believe that Religion is a personal thing in life. It shouldn't be the basis of laws because who can claim for sure that his/her adaptation of the Islam is the one which prophet Mohammad tried to propagate?
So, for presidency or whatever else you can say Islam is ok with it, and in the same time find quotes in religious books to prove Islam doesn't approve it.
My comment was based on her own writing and speech. I have read her autobiography and her speech when she accepted her prize. Unfortunately her autobio is not published in Iran so you have not read it.
In her autobiography she says when she was taken to prison she took her mafatih book with her!!!
For me reading the sure An-Nisa was enough question the unequal rights for women.
Here you can see original Arabic and translation:
http://www.searchtruth.com/chapter_display.php?chapter=4&translator=2&mac=&show_arabic=1
I have read progressive interpretations by Taleghani and understand what you are referring to.
I will be traveling in remote villages and will not have access to internet so will not be back to read your response (just to save you some time) : )
Best wishes
I'm answering you because:
1- Hopefully, you will get back some day from those remote villages.
2-There are others who read these comments, beside you. :)
Due to a friend's kindness who sent this amazing book to me, I have read Ms Ebadi's ' Iran Awakening' and I am going to write about it. In short, I recommend it to whoever who wants to know -in short- what our nation has been through after the Revolution.
Ok, what's wrong with her taking a prayer book with her to prison? May be she really believes in these prayers and may be they help her spiritually. Let's respect what she says she believe in. She is a Muslim, practices it and in the same time believes in secularism. That's a combination of beliefs which we may find difficult to accept.
-----
p.s. Why you don't use a name? A nickname I mean. This 'anonymous' is too anonymous and confusing.
"NOBEL PEACE PRIZE SERVES THE FURTHERANCE OF VIOLENCE IN IRAN"
"Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Ms. Shirin Ebadi contains a certain political implication. In order to understand this implication, we must understand the message given to the people of Iran and to the rest of the world by both the Nobel Committee and Ms. Ebadi herself in this relation.
The focal point of their message is clear and that is: under the rule of the Islamic Republic in Iran (and for that matter under any other Islamic regime in the world), the establishment of democracy in society is possible, and that it is possible, with this regime in power, to realise the individual as well as social freedoms stated in the “Charter of Human Rights”. When Ms. Shirin Ebadi states: “it still is possible to stay in Iran and work for the advancement of human rights there”, or “There is no contradiction between an Islamic republic, Islam and human rights”, or when she implies that attaining democracy in Iran is viable via abiding the Islamic Republic’s reactionary laws, and explicitly propounds that “it still is possible to bring reform to the regime”, she, in fact, is proclaiming the very same message which Khatami expounded under the slogan of implementing reforms and the “democratization of the regime” whose deceitful nature, of course, has since become clear to everyone.
Considering the oppression against women in Iran including Shirin Ebadi, and the fact that she has never held an official post nor has she ever played an administrative role in the Islamic regime, certainly draws some differences between her and Khatami. But, whatever these differences may be, what is noteworthy is the unanimity between her message and that of Khatami, and the common aims and objectives between the two. This is the issue which, if not grasped, can, once again, bewilder and deceive the genuine democratic forces of our society vis-à-vis the possibility for carrying out reforms within the Islamic Republic.
Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Shirin Ebadi, as a “reformist” outside the establishment, is taking place under the circumstances when the oppressed masses of Iran have repeatedly poured onto the streets and shouted: ‘Down with the Islamic Republic regime!’, under the circumstances when everyone knows that the majority of the Iranian people are so disgusted and fed up with the regime and are demanding its overthrow that even within the establishment some confess that the regime holds no legitimacy whatsoever. Under such circumstances, in order to counter the demands and the interests of the workers and other oppressed sectors, the search for generating “legitimacy” to the Islamic Republic is a serious concern for both the various factions of the ruling class in Iran and the imperialists who have vast interests in the country (of course, there are contradictions within the imperialist camp regarding the method of dealing with the Islamic Republic. For instance, a part of the US ruling class, unlike others, no longer sees the existence of the Islamic Republic necessary). It is precisely in this relation that the undertaking of the Nobel Committee, as an institution which, in its part, fosters imperialist policies, reveals its political implication. In fact, endeavoring to draw support for reformists outside the establishment (now that the government-related reformists have been exposed), and, in fact, endeavoring to strengthen the illusion that “it still is possible to bring reform to the regime” by giving this award to Shirin Ebadi, entirely serves the legitimization of the Islamic Republic. “Reform is dead, long-live reformism!”*uttered some time ago by Saeed Hajarian; one of the founders of the Islamic Republic’s intelligence agency, more vividly explains the current fraudulent trend behind the recent Nobel Peace Prize.
The struggles of workers, students, women and other militant masses of Iran in the recent years have torn the disguise from Khatami’s deceitful face, and have demonstrated to everyone the impracticality and ambiguity of the “reformist” line. This bankrupt line, which serves nothing other than extending the disgraceful existence of the Islamic Republic regime and that of violence in Iran, is being injected into the minds of people today.
Our oppressed people are seeking economic and social betterment, freedom and democracy. And the truth is that in order to attain these there is only one way and that is to overthrow the Islamic Republic regime, to eradicate the dependent capitalist system and to put an end to all kinds of imperialist domination over Iran. This is certainly a difficult path, no doubt. However, the difficulty of this path must not lead us to delude ourselves about anti-people policies that determine the future of the oppressed people of Iran and to extend the life of our enemies with our own hands."
* In “Class Struggles in France”, Marx observed the defeat of the revolution of June 1848 in France as a premise for the victory of the future proletariat revolution in France, and stated: “Revolution is dead, long-live revolution”. Saeed Hajarian has rephrased this statement presenting it as Trotsky’s.
written by Ashraf Dehghani
October 16, 2003
Post a Comment
<< Home