Windows on Iran 19

A beautiful garden in the city of Yazd. See below for more pictures from the beautiful historic city of Yazd (image courtesy of Afshin Deyhimpanah http://www.iranian.com).

Dear All,

I hope you are doing well. Please publicize the information provided
through this window as widely as you can. While the information coming
out of the media here is alarming, in Iran the atmosphere is calm.
There is even hope that a joint proposal by Russia and Iran would find
a way to would to the lifting of the U.N. Sanctions and the halting of
the enrichment. Despite celebrating the anniversary of the revolution,
the Iranian government has been sending a conciliatory message
basically: give us a chance and we will negotiate.

Let me share a fun discovery I made only last week! Iranians are one
of the top ten blogger nations in the world.

With that, let us attend to our Window on Iran – 19.

Current Issues

* A chilling article Charging Iran with Genocide before Nuking it, Gary
Leupp, Professor of History at Tufts writes predicts a U.S. nuclear
strike on Iran by this April. “Within weeks from now,” he writes
quoting a Russian military analyst, “we will see the informational
warfare machine start working. The public opinion is already under
pressure. There will be a growing anti-Iranian militaristic hysteria,
new information leaks, disinformation, etc.”  My comment:  there will
be visual warfare as well using images of flag waving Iranians
celebrating the 27th anniversary of the 1979 Revolution  as proof of
national support for Ahmadinejad and evidence of mass anti-western
hysteria. Leupp’s article is available here: An Existential Threat: Charging

Iran with Genocide before Nuking It by Gary Leupp.

* All the flag waving youth will line up behind President Ahmadinejad if
there is a war on Iran. Take a look at this article in the Guardian
“Only the US hawks can save the Iranian president now” sent to me by
Jamal Rostami:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2001703,00.html

* The American Public still wants the government to directly talk with
Iran, say 71% of the Republicans and 81% , a wide ranging analysis by
WorldPublicOpinion.org of polls from numerous organizations reveals.
According to a wide range of polls, there is substantial agreement
across party lines on many of the most contentious issues facing
policy makers today:
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/295.php?nid=&id=&pnt=295&lb=hmpg1

* Certain tendencies within the media work to change the above
consensus. An unlikely contributor to that is he History channel. On
Friday, Feb. 9, the History channel aired a program called “Iran : The
Next Iraq?” Adding disclaimers such as “perhaps” and “may be,” the
show described Iran as “perhaps  the most clear and present danger to
American security.” The program “explored” claims as laughable as
Iran’s attempt “to gain a place among the world’s super powers.” And
looked at “evidence” for Iran’s secret pursuit of a nuclear weapon
which it “may intend to use on the United States or its allies.” The
fact is that Iran is nowhere close to becoming a World’s super powers,
the IAEA reports reveal no evidence for any weapon’s program . All
they say is that the absence of such a program cannot be proven
(sounds familiar?).
* Very important: Last week, Iranian authorities arrested two al-Qa’idah
suspects who were trying to cross Iran on their way out of Pakistan.
Shouldn’t this be a positive sign?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/09/AR2007020902294.html?referrer=emai

Finally please note that  the Iraqi government has distanced itself
fully from the American accusations against Iran’s involvement in
Iraq, the major newspaper asharqalawsat  reports (in Arabic)
http://www.asharqalawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&issue=10303&article=406005

Cultural/Social/Aristic

We all need a break from all the above, don’t we? Here is a second
slide show of the small, ancient, and beautiful city of Yazd in
central Iran. Please circulate the slide show as widely as you can.
Bleak and frightening images of Iran are distributed, to present the
country as a suitable target. Click here: Ancient and Beautiful City of Yazd. Enjoy!

Yazd architecture (image courtesy of Afshin Deyhimpanah http://www.iranian.com)

Rakhshan Bani Etemad

Here, I have another break for you from political myth making and scare mongering: The Iranian Annual Film Festival Fajr. The award for the best director went to my favorite director, one of the grand ladies of the Iranian Cinema: Rakhshan Bani Etemad.  Bani Etemtmad is most outspoken screen writer and director whose films highlight the problems of poverty, gender, and social inequality. She became known with Nargis the story of a young girl from a disadvantaged family who got involved with a trio of two thieves and a prostitute. For slide show of the final night of the Fajr Festival, click here: Iranian Annual Film Festival Fajr.

Baran Kowsari receiving her award for best actress at the Iranian Annual Film Festival Fajr (image courtesy of Arash Khamooshi, ISNA).

Scientific

No, it is not about nuclear technology. On Monday February 5, Iranian Scientists at the Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Center announced the use of a new technique in treating spinal cord injuries. According to Houshang Saberi, director of the center, while in case of full paralysis the recovery has been about 15 percent, in partial injuries up to 85 percent recovery has been achieved: http://tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=2/5/2007&Cat=5&Num=001

Have a great week!

Best,
Fatemeh
===================================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
==================================

Read Full Post »

Windows on Iran 18

Tehran fashion show.

Hi all,

No, I have not disappeared on you. In fact, it is good to be opening a new window on Iran.  I went to a birthday celeberation for my poet Rumi (b.1207) in Stanford. Yes, you are right, his 800 Birthday. As we say in Persian jaye shoma khali! “wish you had been there.” There were
fun talks about Rumi’s work, I read poetry to music, and listened to Robert Bly reading some fantastic poetry. I had prepared this window to send out before traveling to Stanford but I forgot to send it as I got busy preparing for the trip.

Visual Delight

Here is a visual delight, a fun fashion show, to make up for the absence right away. It is the latest fashion show in Tehran: ladies
outfit. Click here: Women’s Fashion Show in Tehran.

Current Issues

On Sunday, January 27 hundreds of thousands of people marched on
Washington to ask for peace. As frightening news of the possibilities
of escalating the war – and entaglement with Iran – spreads, it is
important to know that the estimated number of marchers has been much
higher than the tens of thousands initially reported in the mainstream
media. Watch the video at:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013007A.shtml
According to the Iranian news agency roozna, the government of Iran
has received a message from “members of the American parliament”
although the names of the senders or the contents of the message have
not been disclosed.

Usually under outside pressure, “patriotic” feelings surge to protect
governmental actions we are usually ready to criticize. Recent
heightened American  rhetoric against Iran should convince Iranians to
rally behind President Ahmadinejad. In the last Window, I told you of
the electronic poll that showed a sharp decline in the Iranian
President’s popularity, a display of political maturity among the
Iranian public. The article suggests that some political figures echo
dissatisfaction toward Mr. Ahmadinejad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

To round up our current issues section, I’ll give you Mark Mazzetti’s
article “Leading Senator Assails President Over Iran Stance.” The
piece, focused on Senator John D. Rockefeller IV strong opposition to
the White House portrayal of Iran as dangerous, was forwarded to me by
Adam Shriver. Thanks a lot Adam:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/20/washington/20intel.html?ex=1169960400&en=a4e

Cultural/Social

At least four friends have sent me the same video clip about Iran. It
is made by the Iranian Permanent Mission to the United Nation (hence
the clip from ex-president Khatami’s presentation to the U.N.). Still,
the video is quite useful. While it does not linger on anything long
enough, it showes a large variety of scenes (historical and modern)
from present day Iran:
http://www.un.int/iran/videos/AboutIran/Film.html

Another contribution to the Windows from my friend Behrooz Ghamari who
— this time — focused on music rather than politics. Behrooz writes:
“whenever I tell people about Tehran symphony orchestra their face
drops, as if I am talking about an orchestra of the Martians.” Here is
something to read on the orchestra of the Martians! Thanks Behrooz
Jan! http://www.payvand.com/news/07/jan/1102.html

Tehran symphony orchestra (image courtesy of http://www.payvand.com)

Here is a great article courtesy of my dear friend/student Omid
Ghaemmaghami.  The essay called “Iran and Muslim Renaissance” by
Soroush Irfani was published in Daily Times, on January 27. Mr. Irfani
challenges the portrayal of Iran as a ‘anti-western’ and
‘isolationist’ culture. He states that ” indeed what is remarkable
about Iran today is a groundswell in its intellectual culture marked
by the reclamation of a Persian-Islamic past and interpretation with
western thought.” To read the full essay click on:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C01%5C14%5Cstory_14-1-2007_pg3_5

I am often asked if visual arts are forbidden in Muslim countries.
Here is an interesting source that documents what I mentioned in these
windows earlier: graphic arts are flourishing in present day Iran. The
Bibliography of Iranian Graphic Arts by Houssein Chanani cites books
and dissertations published and presented in areas related to graphic
arts including theory, basic and introductory textbooks, graphic
artists and designers, exhibitions, decorative icons and symbols, book
illustration, calligraphy, book cover, packaging, caricature,
computer, cinema, television, advertisement, poster, architecture, and
publication from their emergence in Iran (Persia) to 1997.
http://www.tavoosmag.com/english/news/detail.asp?codeclass=439&id=4953

More Visual Delight

I have for some time now been trying to put a power point show of
images from an old castle in Roodkhan in northern Iran sent to me by
my friend Yusef Hakimian who communicates from time to time from
Jerusalem. However, somehow the images don’t save properly. Recently,
I got a set of delightful images from a modern palace in Tehran:
Sadabad Place now turned into a museum. These images did save
nicely, and I turned them into a slide show for you.
Please click here: Sa’dabad Palace. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend.

Fatemeh
===================================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
==================================

Read Full Post »

Windows on Iran 17

Tehran at night (image courtesy of Arash Hamidi http://www.hamidi.ir).

Hi Everyone,

I hope you have all had a very nice holiday break and are ready for
2007. Thanks again for all your kind messages after window number 16.
I have finally managed to catch up with e-mail responding to your
personal messages. Please note that there was an unusually high volume
of bounced messages as Window number 16 was sent out to the list. This
may be due to full mail boxes over the holidays. If you did not
receive Window on Iran – 16, and would like to have it,  please write
a short note in response to this message and we will resend that
window to you.

Before we get to our  current issues which usually focuses on
conflict, I would like to share two beautiful seasonal images from
Iran:

Iranian Christians praying in a Tehran church on Christmas (image courtesy of http://www.iranian.com).

To see some neat pictures of Iranian Christians celebrating this past Christmas in Iran click on:
http://www.payvand.com/news/07/jan/1006.html
Also, I have attached a very short slide show – about ten slides – of winter images from the famous Dizin ski resort in Iran. The photos are by Shahrokh Setudeh. Click here: The famous Dizin Ski Resort in Tehran. Enjoy.

Current Issues

Following American’s recent announcement of its readiness to deal with outside interference in Iraq (interesting language to use by a country which has sent its own forces about 10,000 miles to solve Iraqi inner problems), the American security forces kidnapped five Iranian nationals in the city of Erbil in Iraq early last Wednesday morning. These unnamed officials called “diplomats” by the Iranian government and “operatives” by the Americans are still in custody. So far, nothing other than a few local maps has been declared to be found on these individuals.
Iranian News sites reflect widespread criticism of Ahmadinejad’s
inflexible diplomacy on the developing Iranian nuclear industry amidst speculations that enrichment activity has been suspended at least in the Natanz site.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear_diplomacy

A major poll in Iran confirms that Ahmadinejad’s popularity is falling
dramatically since his election in June 2005. When asked “If the
elections were held today, what would be the chances of his election
to the office, 76.1% said “much less,” and 15% said “less.” Only 5%
said he would have a chance of getting re-elected. The total number of
respondents was over 43,000, a significant number in itself.

Sunday Times has revealed frightening plans of a possible Israeli
nuclear attack on Iran. The level of anxiety among the Iranians in the
country, and Iranian Americans in the U.S. is beyond description. All
we can do is hope and pray that a new Nagasaki and Hiroshima are not
in the making: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2535310,00.html

I received Robert Fisk’s article on Saddam’s execution from two
friends Bahar Hashemi and Adam Shriver. My general policy is not to
include in the Windows issues which are not directly relevant to Iran.
Here are some Iran-related excerpts from this article particularly
informative to Americans who wonder about anti-American feelings in
the region. These unfriendly feelings are often attributed to
religious hatred for western freedom. Fisk’s article describes a small
portion of what America signifies to many Iranians. On the American
support for the Iraqi attacks on Iran (1980-1988), Fisk quotes a
German arms dealer:

“Mr Fisk… at the very beginning of the war, in September of 1980, I
was invited to go to the Pentagon,” he said. “There I was handed the
very latest US satellite photographs of the Iranian front lines. You
could see everything on the pictures. There were the Iranian gun
emplacements in Abadan and behind Khorramshahr, the lines of trenches
on the eastern side of the Karun river, the tank revetments –
thousands of them – all the way up the Iranian side of the border
towards Kurdistan. No army could want more than this. And I traveled
with these maps from Washington by air to Frankfurt and from Frankfurt
on Iraqi Airways straight to Baghdad. The Iraqis were very, very
grateful!”
According to Mr. Fisk “the terrible cocktail” of nerve gas and mustard
gas used freely on Iranians and Kurds by the Iraqi dictator was also
“given to Saddam by the US. Washington denied this. But the Iranians
were right.” The most moving is Mr. Fisk’s personal encounter with
Iranian soldiers affected by these chemicals. I apologize for the
graphic nature: “I saw the results, however. On a long military
hospital train back to Tehran from the battle front, I found hundreds
of Iranian soldiers coughing blood and mucus from their lungs – the
very carriages stank so much of gas that I had to open the windows –
and their arms and faces were covered with boils.”  Rober Fisks full
article was published in the London Independent, in case you are
interested  http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2114403.ece

More Visual Delight

All right, time for some nice friendly visual contact. Many of you
have told me that you like the visual information coming through these
windows. I think I have given you enough of historical monuments for a
while.  So, here is a power point slide show of just faces and places
in the city of Tehran. Just click here: The city and people of Tehran.

On that note, I wish you all a great week — and a great start to the
spring semester if you are in the academia. Again, please let me know
if you did not receive Window on Iran – 16.

Till the next Window, stay healthy and warm.

Best,
Fatemeh
===================================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
==================================

Read Full Post »

Windows in Iran 13

Shahla Lahiji, who is the head of Roshangaran Publications and a promient activist, was given the 2006 International Publisher's Association Award. A celebration (pictured above) was held in her honor in the Pegah bookstore in Tehran (image courtesy of http://www.payvand.com).

Dear All,

Greeting! I hope you are enjoying a pleasant week. I cannot thank you
enough for all your sweet and supportive messages. The last painting
slide show was particularly popular. There is more to come! I hope you
enjoy them and find good use for them in the classroom.

I spent an intense time in the conference “Terrorism and the University”
held at CUNY which brought together a wonderful group of dedicated and
engaged scholars. It was both refreshing and frightening to hear from
authorities that the real WMDs are here in our very own nuclear arsenal.
It was also heartening to meet American scholars who teach these
subjects and take their students on yearly trips to Nagasaki and
Hiroshima to let them experience first hand whatever impact may still be
left. Most disturbing, and relevant to our discussion, was the
presentation by Daniel Ellsberg who, despite the recent election
results, estimates the possibility of an underground nuclear attack on
Iran over the next two years as very high. He put the initial estimated
causality of such a possible attack at 2,000,000 (yes, two million
people). The presentations of this panel were so chilling that at times
it felt like listening to fiction. But then he knew that we might be
afraid of taking his figures as real, so he spoke about other instances
such as the blanket firebombing of a large number of Japanese cities by
the American air force in the 1940s which only two people in the room
were well-informed about! I cannot express my gratitude to Mr. Ellsberg
for this eye opening panel.

Folks! I am not under any illusions that these e-mails can change the
American foreign policy – or public opinion for that matter, but if we
have a hope in the world it is in reaching every single person we can
reach. Americans need to know that Iranians are not crazy, they are not
anti-Semites, they are not a threat to the world. They need to know that
Iran can be talked to.

And now to happier and more hopeful issues in our Window number 13.

Current Issues

* On a very positive note, last week Mr. Robert Gates, the New
American Secretary of Defense visited Dr. Javad Zarif, Professor
of International Law and current Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister.
The two had lunch in Dr. Zarif’s house in New York. If this is an
indication of what is to come, may be the elections will impact
the American foreign policy on Iran in a meaningful way, after all.

* This is echoed in an article by Dr. Trita Parsi, President of NIAC, who predicts better days in the Iran/U.S. relations. Mr. Parsi observes: “It was Cheney and Rumsfeld who made sure that Washington dismissed Iran’s May 2003 offer to open up its nuclear program, rein in Hezbollah, recognize a two-state solution and cooperate against al Qaeda. Rumsfeld was also a driving force behind using the Mujahedin-e Khalq, an Iranian terrorist organization opposed to the ruling clerics, to weaken Tehran.” To read the whole essay, click on: http://www.niacouncil.org/pressreleases/press484.asp

* The latest BBC report on the subject, indicates that President
Bush and Mr. Blair find themselves in agreement with the NIAC
president. However, while inviting Iran to help with solving the
Iraq problem, Mr. Blair did his best to be as insulting as
possible warning the country ” with the consequences of not doing
so.”  Sounds like an effective diplomatic gesture:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6141978.stm

Successful Iranian Americans

Nooshen Hashemi (image courtesy of http://www.forbes.com)

* Iranian Americans continue to move to the main stream of American society with great personal achievements in various areas. Noosheen Hashemi, holder of a masters degree in science from Stanford, is a private investor and advisor to companies and nonprofits. Her approach to decorating and collecting, blending Japanese, Persian, and American arts has become a sensation: http://www.forbes.com/2000/12/20/1220CandC.html

Social/ Cultural (Iran)

* Last week Shahla Lahiji, one of the first Iranian women publishers
and a noted activist was honored in Tehran. Ms. Lahiji, who has
head the Roshangaran Publications for over 30 years, recently won
the 2006 International Publisher’s Association Award for
publishing a remarkable number of books by and about women. Many
feminists attended the celebration held last Monday in her honor
in Pegah bookstore in Tehran. Scroll down to see images of the
celebration and of the bookstore:
http://www.payvand.com/news/06/nov/1106.html

* This one is a riot! No one will believe this is happening in Iran
right now. Two Iranian siblings have revolutionized the way drug
addicts and HIV/AIDS-infected people are treated in Iran. Doctors
Arash and Kamiar Alaei now have clinics in 67 Iranian cities and
57 prisons and are a World Health Organization model for the
Muslim world. The brothers were interviewed on September 28 in
Washington after their visit to the U.S. National Institute of
Health:
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticleprint/2006/10/7a8ceb97-4fb8-4b22-b87c-ad2d304720cb.html

Visual Delight

Baharak Omidfard (image courtesy of http://www.elahe.net)

* In the last Window I had a slide show of contemporary Iranian painters who work in the classic style. This week we have another splash of color, the works a young female artist with a taste for lively abstract expression: Baharak Omidfard (class of 2000, Tehran University, School of Graphic Arts) (click here): Baharak Omidfard Show.

* For our concluding visual delight, the latest interpretation of the constitutionally sanctioned Islamic outfit, just scroll down.

Have a great week.
===================================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
==================================

Read Full Post »

Windows on Iran 11

Beautiful painting by contemporary Iranian artist Parvaneh Ghasemi of a young Iranian woman.

Hi Everyone,

Late again!  Walking out of a lecture this afternoon, two wonderful friends commented casually “don’t let being late put pressure on you!” I thought that was great advice, particularly if I want to keep these windows going. So, I am not going to apologize for being late this time. And, I have exciting news: yesterday we got featured on the front page of my university’s student publication Student Life, how cool is that? The article is called “Professor’s
writing aims to reshape view of American Muslims.” The paper found us on the web where a good friend Sheila Musaji posts these windows on her website The American Muslim. Thanks Sheila! Kind mentions of the write up in Student Life have been coming in.

Now without further ado, Window number 11 on Iran, on the eve of Halloween with trick-or-treaters in the background!

Current Issues

* The spooky subject of  “nuclear threat” suits the Halloween
atmosphere. But before I get to Iran, you must listen to an
anecdote. I was sitting in our local Border’s bookstore with a cup
of coffee and twenty-five papers to read when my eyes caught the
cover of what I think was a September issue of the Newsweek.  It
had a catchy title about the North Korean nuclear threat with a
grim picture of the country’s leader wearing a pair of dark
glasses, a mushroom cloud reflected in each. I should have known
better, but read the report which said more about the leader’s
inferiority complex and hair style than North Korea’s nuclear
technology. A few days later, a friend quoted his colleague (in
the hospital where he works) as saying he would shoot as many
North Koreans as necessary to rid the world of their threat. Only
then I realized that the North Korean leader’s menacing look —
and the official line that Koreans “pretend” to negotiate to buy
time —  had worked on me too. The bigger shock came a week later,
reading a book that actually discussed North Korea’s breaking of
its promise and developing nuclear capability. The book attributed
it to the current U.S government’s breach of its earlier promises
to N. Korea, first by including Korea in the “axis of evil,” and
then terminating its pledged shipments of fuel oil and the agreed
construction of alternate power plants in that country. The writer
of the book was not Noam Chomsky but Jimmy Carter. Since I am
always going on about American media’s shortcomings, I should tell
you that the courage and forthrightness of this American brought
tears to my eyes. He wasn’t being partisan either. Here is what he
had to say about the real nuclear threat in our current world:
o “While claiming to be protecting the world from
proliferation threats in Iraq, Libya, Iran and North Korea,
American leaders have not only abandoned existing treaty
restrictions but also assert plans to test and develop new
weapons, including antiballistic missiles, the
earth-penetrating ‘bunker buster,’ and perhaps some secret
new ‘small bombs.’ They have also…reversed another long
standing policy, by threatening first use of nuclear weapons
against non nuclear states.” ( p.138 )
o And here is another quote from President Carter. If you want
to read more, I cite the reference below:
“The ABM Treaty prohibited space-based weapons, but our
government’s abandonment of the treaty in 2002 opened the
door on this extremely destabilizing project. The new
Defense Department doctrine defines our goals as “freedom to
attack as well as freedom from attack” in space. The goal is
to strike any target on earth within forty-five minutes. As
described by the U.S. Air Force, one method, named “Rods
from God,” would hurl cylinders of heavy metals to strike a
target at seventy-two hundred miles per hour, with the
destructive force of a small nuclear weapon.” (p.143)

Suggested Reading: Our Endangered Values: American’s Moral Crisis by
Jimmy Carter (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005)

* Now, against this background, look at the Iranian situation
about which this week you have read alarming news of further steps
toward uranium enrichment. Look past headlines, mushroom clouds
reflected in sunglasses, and it turns out that Iranian plants —
even if they become fully operational — are currently configured
to produce low enriched uranium (LEU) rather than the
weapons-grade highly-enriched uranium (HEU). Even the CIA experts
put the chances of making the first bomb — if Iran decides to
make one — at 10 to 15 years ( here is the full essay although
the less alarming part comes close to the end):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4606356.stm.  In addition,
here (courtesy of my friend Seth Graebner) is a thoughtful and
fairly detailed analysis from the Foreign Affairs magazine on the
possibilities of negotiating with Iran concerning its nuclear
technology. It is by Scott Sagan professor of political science
at Stanford. Though the essay is a far cry form the alarmist
mushroom cloud images, it does call Iran the “rogue” regime,
“hostile,” etc. I suppose, that is the standard language these
days. One thing I really respected about President Carter’s book
was his dignified manner of speaking about other countries.

*I guess it is time to wrap up politics and attend to some more
interesting matters. Before that, however, I have had a request
from a very dear friend Cynthia Richards to distribute a
nonpartisan information sheet about the voting process in the
upcoming election, please click here to open it: Voting Information Sheet.

Cultural

* A hot cultural topic this week in the news concerns two legal
cases ruling the fate of a number of very important ancient
Persian artifacts held at US research universities. These legal
disputes, being heard at the United States District Court level,
revolve around 2,000-year-old Iranian items controlled by the
University of Chicago and Harvard University. If these cases
produce conflicting judgments, they may be taken up at the Supreme
Court, meaning there won’t be swift resolutions. In the meantime,
more Iranian artifacts are likely to be targeted. To read more,
click on:  http://www.niacouncil.org/pressreleases/press476.asp.

* On October 18, The Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization declared
the house of the prominent woman poet Parvin Etesami (1906-1941)
to be named a national monument.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parvin_Etesami.  A charming house of
over 1,000 square meters, located in the neighborhood of
Sarcheshmeh on the outskirts of Tehran, Etesami’s house is nearly
a century old.  Etesami who has been somewhat overshadowed by the
powerful later female poetic voices of 20th cent. Iran, has had a
gentle, yet firm and lasting presence. Her poetic themes range
from celebration of motherhood and descriptions of nature, to
strong advocacy for social and political reform. You can find a
good deal of Etesami’s poems, in the original Persian, on the web
at: http://www.anvari.org/iran/Poetry/Parvin_Etesami/ though I
have to confess to ignorance about the quality of the edition. For
a more reliable source, see the reading below.

Suggested reading: Once a Dew drop: Essays on the Poetry of Parvin
Etesami. Edited by Heshmant Moayyad as well as A Nightingale’s Lament:
Selections from the Poems and Fables of Parvin Etesami also by Heshmat
Moayyad are both available from Amazon Books.

Visual Delight

* To honor the trick-or-treat tradition, I have a special treat
this week. My friend Bahar Bastani sent four paintings by a
contemporary Iranian painter Iman Maleki that were just exquisite
images of young women, oil on canvas. Not only was the quality of
Maleki’s paintings almost breathtaking, I was astounded at the
fact that I had never heard of him. And I consider myself
interested in the art of painting, not to mention annual visits to
Iran. So, I put together a small slide show for you of a handful
of contemporary Iranian painters working with human figure in
their work. I call it “portraits” but they are not all portraits.
I provide the artists’ name but don’t always have their pictures
or other details. All the painters currently live in Iran.  As
usual, click here to view the slideshow: Iranian Contemporary Painting “Portraits”. Enjoy!

Have a great week!

Fatemeh

========================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatuares
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
========================

Read Full Post »

Windows on Iran 8

Beautiful Qashqa'i women of Iran in their colorful traditional dresses. The Qashqa'i are one of Iran's many ethnic minority groups (See below for more information about them and other ethnic groups).

Greetings Everyone!

I don’t know how to thank you for all your kind messages, for forwarding these windows to others, and for recommending it. Over thirty names have been added to the list in the past two days alone. All I can say is I am delighted these windows have so many onlookers. Welcome to window number eight!

Current Issues

* On the last day of House legislative business, Iran sanctions advocates pushed through legislation ( HR 6198 ) strengthening sanctions and promoting a policy of regime-change in Iran.
Managing the bill on the House floor, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen made the
case that IFSA’s policies complemented US diplomatic activity.
“Sanctions target the Iranian regime where it is most vulnerable:
its energy sector,” said Ros-Lehtinen in her opening remarks.
Leading a bipartisan corps of members who spoke in opposition to
the measure, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) characterized the latest
version of the Iran Freedom Support Act (IFSA) as a “cruise
missile” and stated that, “the timing for this legislation could
not be worse.” Right he is. The most immediate impact of this
“cruise missile” — besides hurting ordinary people not the regime
— is weakening the moderates within the Iranian political sphere.
The hard-liners will loose no time in using this legislation to
remind the country that America is indeed Iran’s enemy.

Nothing heals like a good poem! In response to this aggressive move,
let’s read together a stanza from a great classic of twentieth century
Persian poetry by Ahmad Shamlu (b.1925), Shamlu, known as the “Poet of
Liberty,” faced hostility by the Shah’s regime and remained out of favor
with the Islamic Republic. He wrote some of the most poignant
revolutionary, as well as lyrical, poems of modern Persian language.
Here is an excerpt from a poem he dedicated to his wife Aida called
“Aida in the Mirror” translated by my good friend Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak
(University of Maryland):

Tempests play magnificently a tiny flute
in your grand dance
And the singing of your veins makes the sun of always rise
(Let me rise from sleep so that the lanes of the city
perceive my presence).

Your hands are reconciliation
and friends helping that hostilities may be forgotten

Suggested Reading: An Anthology of Modern Persian Poetry, selected and
translated by Ahmad Karimi Hakkak ( Westview Press, 1978 ) Still is
available through Amazon Books.

Science

* On a much happier note, Iran’s cloned sheep born yesterday is
alive and kicking, reported Iranian doctors in the Royan
research center in Isfahan. More significantly, a combination of
the cloning methods and the new progress made by Iranian
physicians in the field of spinal injuries has created
possibilities of curing those suffering from spinal damages,
Nasr-Esfahani said. Iranian specialists recently announced a
breakthrough in curing spinal injuries with the culture of Schwann
cells enabling those suffering from paralysis to move. For cute
pictures of the newly born cloned sheep click on the first link
below (here the text is Persian)
http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-799766&Lang=P

For more reading on the subject, click on this link:
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0610015225123117.htm and
http://www.payvand.com/news/06/oct/1015.html

Social

* This is the Children’s week in Iran. Each day is devoted to a
topic such as “Children and Health”, “Children and Equal
Opportunities,” etc. The United Nations International Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) will participate in the events. Activists such as
Shirin Ebadi have been instrumental in drawing attention to
children’s rights in Iran. More needs to be done, particularly in
relation to minority children such as abandoned children of
Afghani fathers who have returned to Afghanistan after the
collapse of the Taliban regime.

* Many of you have been asking questions about ethnic minorities in
Iran. I will keep an eye open for material. Iran’s ethnic
diversity is truly amazing. Of course, like everywhere else, all
kinds of jokes and stereotypes are attached to each group. In
general, however, people are fairly used to hearing different
languages and seeing different costumes on the street. The nomadic
Qashqa’is, for example, still wear their very colorful dresses.
Click on this link to see a beautiful young Qashqai girl in
festive outfit (center of the page):
http://www.11iran.com/Z2INDEX.HTM . To get a general idea of
Iranian ethnic diversity and its geographical distribution click
on:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_minorities_in_Iran

Prominent Iranian Americans:

* This week’s personality is Google’s senior vice president for
global sales Mr. Omid Kordestani, 42. He joined  the company a
year after its establishment as its “business founder” and is
viewed as a force behind Google’s success. Here is the link if you
like to read more (courtesy of my friend Bahar Bastani):
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187475,00.html
Also, I must apologize for sending the wrong link on the Harvard
Scientist Nima Arkani in the last window. Instead of just a
picture, I meant to send this brief description of his impressive
work:
http://www.physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/arkani-hamed.html

Art and Culture

* If you are off to France, don’t miss the exhibition of more than
200 items from the last major pre-Islamic Persian empire the
Sassanians on view at the Cernuschi Museum Paris (15th September
to 30th December 2006). By the way, art historians would tell you
that these pre-Islamic objects — and many more — survived
because Muslim conquerors of Iran did not destroy them. Click on
this link to get a brief preview:
http://www.irandokht.com/editorial/index4.php?area=pro&sectionID=9&editorialID=2143

Suggested Reading:  Mostly Miniatures: An Introduction to Persian
Painting by Oleg Grabar. A more general art history, The Golden Age of
Persian Art 1501-1722 by Sheila Canby both available through Amazon.
And Western art is exhibited in Iran. Check this one out:

* Last summer Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art held a major
exhibit (June-October 2005) called “Modern Art Movements,”
bringing together a historic number of contemporary world
masterpieces owned by Iranian Museums.  Barbara Rose who writes
about the exhibit for “The Wall Street Journal on Line” observes:
“The unprecedented show was a huge success.”  “The first gallery”
she says ” was filled with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist
paintings. There was a Gauguin still life, a rare Léger from 1913
and Picasso’s synthetic cubist masterpiece, “Fenêtre Ouverte sur
la Rue de Penthièvre,” as well as his late cast bronze of a baboon
cradling her baby, which is also in the Picasso Museum in Paris.
There were circus performers by Georges Rouault as well as a
daring watercolor by the German Dadaist George Grosz. Other
European and American modern masters were on view with a special
section devoted to Pop artists Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol,
David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine.
Also in the collection are sculptures by Magritte, Henry Moore and
Giacometti; paintings by Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró and Georges
Braque; and three important Toulouse-Lautrecs.”

Now, check out Ms. Barbara Rose’s tone in her write up:

*”Most remarkably,” she observes “an entire gallery was devoted
to Abstract Expressionism, the art movement that proclaimed
America’s cultural primacy.”  She is even more shocked at the
Iranian Museum of Contemporary art’s “continuing to list the works
of modern Western art, including a number of prominent Jewish
artists, as part of its permanent collection, which is presumably
open to the public [can the museum be making this up?]. A more
recent, “ironic” exhibition, she adds :” is that of paintings by
the well-known Jewish painter Marc Chagall also opened in Tehran
this summer.” [2006].

*Here is what she concludes: “No one knows what will happen to
the masterpieces of modern Western art in Tehran. They are said to
be worth billions of dollars now and are too expensive to be
destroyed.”  And finally, concerning a painting of a female leg,
owned by the museum, which has not been on display, Ms. Rose
speculates: “Did some fanatic realize it is a woman’s and throw a
cloth over its offensive nudity? Is it being held for ransom to be
exchanged for a valuable Persian manuscript or an important weapon?”

* All right, we need more antidote. Let’s just visit a few of our
concluding Visual Delights, some recent exhibits of the works of
Iranian painters and art-lovers who — no doubt — enjoyed the
above exhibit tremendously (and luckily won’t have to read Ms.
Rose’s review). I have particularly enjoyed the portrays by Nemat
Lalehei http://www.elahe.net/thumb.php?gallery=316 . Lalehei is an
artist from the northern city of Rasht. Be sure to double click on
each portraits to see the enlarged version. Another male artist,
and one very different in style and temperament is:  Masoud
Dashtban,  http://www.elahe.net/photo.php?picid=3416 . Finally,
please take a look at the works of the young photographer, Salomeh
Manouchehri. Here too, you must enlarge the photographs to see the
subtleties of her work. Enjoy:
http://www.elahe.net/thumb.php?gallery=313

Have a great week. I hope to be opening another window in about a week.
Best,

Fatemeh
========================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatuares
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
========================

Read Full Post »

Windows on Iran 7

The Arian Band. One of the most popular pop/rock bands in Iran. Scroll down to learn more about them and other contemporary musicians in Iran.

Hi Everyone!

I hope you have all had a very good weekend. It looks like Monday nights
is going to be a more likely night to send out the windows. Many thanks
for all your words of encouragement and for placing interested friends,
relatives, and colleagues on the list. This is a drop in the sea as we
say in Persian, but I am sure there is saying in every language to the
effect that every drop counts. So, here we go again, Window number 7 is
waiting for you.

Current Issues:

* How could there be any other current issue when Mr. Ahmadinejad is
visiting the U.S.? During such visits, Iranians usually hold their
breath for the next inflammatory remark he will make. If you are
among those who get really irritated — and I don’t blame you at
all — just remember that President Bush included Iran in “The
Axis of Evil” when President Khatami was in office and did his
best to start a “dialogue between civilizations.”  What the
American media carefully overlooks is that much of the world —
perhaps due to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s criticism of American foreign
policy — has shown him a fairly receptive attitude. 118 member
states of the Non-Aligned countries issued a statement in support
of Iranian nuclear technology at the end of their 14th summit last
week (September 18, 2006).

* Here is what Mr. Ahmadinejad said in a U.N. press conference
(September 21, 2006), answering the question “What can Iran do to
assure the international community that the country is not making
a nuclear bomb?” He responded:  “The IAEA has published many
reports. Numerous reports saying that they do not see any
violation of the treaty requirements of NPT by the Iranian
government. … I am at a loss, in understanding what else we need
to do, to provide guarantees. I have said to the dear gentleman
here. That there is no provision in the NPT that says. That we do
not have the right– that, perhaps it says– that we need the vote
or the confidence of the U.S. government to have peaceful nuclear
technology. There is no such provision. … Should Iran shut down
every technological development? In the biological field? And the
medical field? And the chemical field? Because, in any of these
fields, there’s a possibility of dual usage. Possibly a chemical
bomb. So when we speak of justice. We mean that everyone is equal.
When we act within the framework of international law and follow
the provisions of the NPT. … It’s very important to make these
nuclear facilities program a transparent one … there’s no need
to hide such development. …we’ve actually given information to
the IAEA. We’ve invited international world community to visit our
facilities. Now, we are told, by some, that, “You have to gain our
trust and confidence.” But we don’t have any criteria developed
for confidence-building, as such. It may take a hundred years or
more for you to gain confidence, in what we do. What are we
supposed to do given the context that in the past 27 years. You’ve
demonstrated so much hostility towards our nation. …” (Thank you
Amir Ali Companieh for forwarding the whole interview).

* Last week theatrical events at the U.N. were also interesting to
watch. Mr. Chavez (whose personal attack on Mr. Bush is – in my
opinion – unprofessional for a head of a state) received a
standing ovation. The American media showed little alarm at the
world’s anti-American sentiments and explained the support
for Chavez and for Ahmadinejad to be the result of these two
countries large oil reservoirs. This hypothesis is simplistic and
disrespectful of world opinion. And it can be tested. Next time
the Saudi Arabian representative speaks at the U.N., watch the
reception he gets. We need — in my opinion — to be concerned
with the fact that these two politicians (Chavez & Ahmadinejad)
get away with much simply because of their outspoken criticism of
U.S. foreign policy.

Science

* Fortunately, the Iranian President returned home, and we can now
attend to more interesting matters. A very young Iranian American
scientist Nima Arkani Hamed has been in the news lately (I heard
about him thanks to my friend Behfar Dianati). Nima Arkani Hamed,
currently a professor of physics at Harvard is a leading scientist
in particle physics and string theory.  For a short biography and
reference to his work click on:
http://www.anvari.org/iran/Famous_Iranians/Nima_Arkani-Hamed.html
(It looks like I should keep a regular section on Iranian
Americans).

Art/Culture

* How about a cookbook for a starter? I would recommend any cookbook
by Batmanglij, particularly Persian Cooking for a Healthy Kitchen

http://www.amazon.com/gp/explorer/0934211671/2/ref=pd_lpo_ase/102-6161793-5949765
Do scroll down and look at two other titles: New Food for Life and
— particularly if you are vegetarian like me — Silk Road
Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey by the same author. You will not be
disappointed.

* No, I am not resorting to cookbooks because I have run out of
subjects. Just trying to keep this exchange healthy and wholesome.
Since we are on a touristic subjects, let me tell you that Iran is
trying hard to tell the world that it is visitable. Beautiful
hotels are being built around the country. I have chosen one that
is not just beautiful but rather unusual. A traditional building
in a mountainous location in the North Eastern province of
Azerbaijan (close to the city of Tabriz) has been converted into a
hotel. Click here (Mountain Hotel–Tabriz) to see!

* The category we have not approached at all is Persian music.
Most people are not sure if musical activity has continued in
Iran after the ascendancy of the Islamic Republic in 1979.  Well,
attempts were made by extremist groups to curtail music and other
performing arts in the early 1980s. However, it did not get very
far. If anything, it made music a hot topic. Most music classes
keep long wait lists. Persian traditional music remains very
popular. I will at some point introduce you to some contemporary
master musicians of classical Persian music. In this window,
however, I would like to concentrate on the two kinds of music
that most of you would not expect to find in Iran. First, the
Iranian Symphony Orchestra is alive and well and performs
regularly. Last August, it performed in Germany (amid speculation
in the western media that the Islamic republic will not allow the
musicians to perform in the west):
<>http://www.payvand.com/news/06/aug/1331.html

* Even more surprising for non-Iranians is to hear about: modern
Iranian Rock and Pop bands. To read a report on that, click on:
http://www.flyglobalmusic.com/fly/archives/africamiddle_east_features/the_young_iran.html
be sure to scroll down to get to web addresses of individual
groups. Arian is among the most popular Iranian Pop groups and has
two women in the band. Last May, when I was in Iran, I saw at
least 8 or 9 CDs by them in music stores. Here is their web page.
Do click on English for more pictures: http://www.arianmusic.com/

Visual Delight

* And we will follow our tradition of visiting some contemporary
Iranian painters’ studios before closing Window number 7.  Here
are three delightful Iranian women painters and samples of their
works:

First, Nadimeh Abdollahi (b. 1980)
http://www.caroun.com/Painting/IranPainting/NadimehAbdollahi/NadimehAbdollahi.html

The second artist is Sahar Seyedi (b.1972)
http://www.caroun.com/Painting/IranPainting/SaharSeyedi/SaharSeyedi.html

And finally, Miranda Ansari (b. 1971)
http://www.caroun.com/Painting/IranPainting-01/MirandaAnsari/MirandaAnsari.html

I wish you all a very a good week.
========================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatuares
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
========================

Read Full Post »

Windows on Iran 6

Shah Cheragh in Shiraz, Iran (see below for a link to many more beautiful pictures of gardens and palaces in Shiraz).

Greetings to All!

Alright, I am a day late. It has been a very busy weekend. Now you know why, despite all your kind encouragement, I cannot turn this into a blog. There are simply not enough hours in the day! Anyway, here comes window number 6.

I continue to be delighted that you find these windows useful. A quick clarification. Some of you have suggested that I send out the Persian text when I attach a short poem such as the one by Farrokhzad which I sent out about two weeks ago. I have not done so because it can cause problems for those recipients who do not have the Persian software installed in their computer.

Again, please let me know if you have any missing windows. And now to our window number 6:

Current Issues:

* I wanted to start with a report related to Iran’s nuclear
technology, but something more current is the first item: reaction
to Pope’s comments. Yes, there were reactions in Iran. No, they
did not involve burning anything. Yesterday, a group of Iranian
students marched to the Vatican Embassy in Tehran carrying flowers
and a large banner that read: “We respond to the Pope’s violent
words with love.” They stood there in silence, then threw their
flowers at the building and returned. There are pictures at
Baztabs site (courtesy of my friend Mohammad Companieh)
http://www.baztab.ir/news/48459.php Scroll down to see the banner
which reads as I translated.

* The reaction of the Iranian Spiritual leader Khamenei was: “We
don’t expect much from President Bush, but such assertions from a
figure as revered as the Pope are suprising and regrettable.” He
warned, however, that the Pope’s “mistaken” judgments should not
lead to animosity between Muslims and Christians.

* And now to the issue of Iranian nuclear technology. PLEASE
publicize this recent — and important — development particularly
to those who find the news about Iran’s nuclear technology
frightening. Last week, U.N. inspectors investigating Iran’s
nuclear program angrily complained to the Bush administration and
to a Republican congressman about a recent House committee report
on Iran’s capabilities, calling parts of the document “outrageous
and dishonest” and offering evidence to refute its central claims.
Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee, which had issued the report about Iran’s nuclear
capabilities, said his intent was “to help increase the American
public’s understanding of Iran as a threat.”  Privately, several
intelligence officials told the Washington Post that ” the
committee report included at least a dozen claims that were either
demonstrably wrong or impossible to substantiate.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091302052.html?referrer=email

* On a much happier note, an Iranian American Anousheh Ansari
Co-founder and Chair Person of Prodea Systems, will be the first
Iranian-born and the first female Muslim in space. Anousheh was
born in Mashhad, Iran in 1966. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1984.
She has a masters degree in electrical engineering from George
Washington University. If you wish to read more about her, please
click on:  http://www.payvand.com/news/06/sep/1167.html

Art and Culture: A Major Contemporary Poet and Painter

* Last week I promised not to focus on women’s achievements only.
Allow me to introduce you to a master poet and painter from 20th
century Iran: Sohrab Sepehri. Celebrated as a poet of peace and a
nature mystic, Sepehri has continued to be a major influence over
the past few decades. His works have formed a popular topic for
Persian scholarly studies while staying on the best-selling list.
Take a look at his short biography and scroll down to see some
paintings:
http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/ssepehri/sohrab_sepehri.php
And visit this site to see more paintings; you will find a
delightful self-portrait:
http://www.caroun.com/Literature/Iran/Poets/SohrabSepehri/SohrabSepehriContents.html

Suggested Reading: I wrote an article in 1997 which made extensive use
of Sepehri’s writing in the journal Religion & Literature with the title
“The Call to Prayer from the Cypress Tree: Modernity and Redefining the
Spiritual in Persian Poetry.”  The essay’s title is from a well-known
long poem by Sepehri, “The Footsteps of Water.”

* And now back to women! Nazila Fathi reported in New York Times in
2005 “The number of women who have published novels has reached
370… That is 13 times as many as a decade ago, the research
showed, and is about equal to the number for men today.” No
kidding.  I would like to introduce you to one of these great
writing talents Moniru Ravanipur.  Ravanipour is imaginative,
prolific, and outspoken. Her candid writing, interviews, and
public appearances draw large groups of men and women. A native of
southern Iran, Ravanipur lived in my hometown Shiraz for a long
time. Indeed our undergraduate studies coincided in Shiraz
University; she majored in Psychology and I in literature. Click here (Moniru Ravanipur) to get a picture and a short biography of Moniru Ravanipur.

Suggested Reading: Stories from Iran: a Chicago Anthology. For
bibliographical details and a list of authors included in the book,
please visit: http://www.mage.com/authors/anthology_biography.html

Visual Delight

* Since we are closing with my hometown Shiraz, let me invite you to
a slide show of a few of the gardens that the city is famous for
and their reflection in art and architecture. Just as buildings in
Isfahan are known for their blue tile work, in Shiraz wall
decorations consist of fine mirror work (literally hundreds of
fine mirror pieces covering the interior walls to reflect the
light). Click here (Shiraz Pictures) to see.  Enjoy!

Have a good week!
Fatemeh
========================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatuares
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
========================

Read Full Post »

Windows on Iran 3

Jewish wedding in beautiful synagogue in Tehran.

Hello Everyone!

We are officially a listserv now. Welcome to the “Window on Iran”
listserv!  It took just a bit longer than I thought. Now that the list
is up and working, the weekly updates should be back on track. Let us
move to the updates:

Current Issues:

* This week, Iran responded to the package of incentives
aimed at suspending its nuclear program with a 30 page
document which is not public yet. Comments from various
European and American officials point to the fact that the
Iranian government has given signs of interest in starting
“serious”  negotiations while at the same time, it wishes to
save face by not suspending enrichment as a “pre-condition”
to the start of the negotiations. Some experts in Washington
warned against a hasty rejection of the Iranian response and
suggested to open up to Iran’s indication of readiness for
negotiations. Such negotiations should ideally include:
enrichment suspension, the Iranian role in the region, and
keeping Iran accountable for its own human rights record.
You may read more on these at:
http://www.niacouncil.org/pressreleases/press423.asp

* In the meantime, a key House committee issued a
stinging critique of U.S. intelligence on Iran yesterday,
charging that the CIA and other agencies have failed to find
information on Iran’s true intentions for its nuclear
program and its ties to terrorism! It is not clear how the
committee knows about these “intentions” and “ties” if
intelligence agencies are not able to find any information
about them. Here is the article on this in Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/23/AR2006082301309.html?referrer=email

Cultural/Social

A lot questions are asked about Iranian religious and ethnic
minorities in the west. Many people think, for example, that
Jews cannot freely worship. Some even wonder if Jews still live
in Iran. Again, I don’t wish to present ideal conditions for
minorities in Iran. Iranian activists will tell you that legal
reform is needed with regard to minority rights. Furthermore,
modern nation-states are built on nationalistic ideologies that
— despite their rhetoric of national unity — marginalize
racial difference. The 1979 Iranian revolution further
emphasized such differences by fore grounding religion as one of
its organizing principles. Despite all of that, the answer to
the above question is: yes Jews — and other minorities — do
live in present day Iran and are very much a part of the social
and cultural scene. The main problems that the Iranian Jews face
at this point is the antagonistic relations between the two
countries of Iran and Israel. Not being able to travel between
the countries affects their personal lives.

The Jewish Community in Iran:

The current population of the Iranian Jews is estimated
approximately 30,000 (one of the oldest and largest in the
Middle East). The official web page of the Iranian Jewish
Association says:

Synagogues

There are about 100 synagogues in Iran of which about 26 are in
Tehran. Iranian synagogues in terms of the history and place of
construction have a variety of architectural styles. There are
several synagogues in Tehran, Yazd and Isfahan cities, which
because of their antiquity and beauty of architecture have been
ear marked as national historic sites by Cultural Heritage
Organization

The most widely known Iranian Jewish Scholar is Solomon Haim the
author of Persian-Hebrew Dictionary.
This dictionary is compiled by “Solomon Haim” (1889-1968), one
of the most famous Jewish scientists of Iran. He has compiled
the most well known French-Persian, Persian-English, and
English-Persian dictionaries and for this he is of high respect
and prestige among the people of Iran.

You can visit the site at:
http://www.iranjewish.com/Essay_E/Essay_e1.htm to read about
cultural organizations, schools, libraries, journals, community
centers and more.

Suggested Reading:

Esther’s Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews (Hardcover) by Houman
Sarshar (Editor)
<http://www.amazon.com/s/002-3695249-7660814?ie=UTF8&index=books&rank=-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank&field-author-exact=Houman%20Sarshar>

This week’s visual delight:

The paintings of  Yacob Amamepich, a Jewish painter from
Tabriz, was on display in July 2006 in the Elahe Gallery in
Tehran. Please click on:
http://www.elahe.net/thumb.php?gallery=38 to view the paintings.

And please click here to read more about some young members of the
Iranian Jewish Community: http://www.mfjc.org/board_briefings/dec2005.htm .

Fatemeh
========================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatuares
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
========================

Read Full Post »

Windows on Iran 2

The cropped (Left) and real (Right) picture from the front cover of Azar Nafisi's "Reading Lolita in Tehran" (see below for further explanation).

Dear Friends, Greetings,

First:
We have grown too large for a group email list! This is wonderful news
but has a practical implication: I must turn the “Window on Iran” into a
listserv. My colleagues at the university computing services will kindly
assist me in doing so. I am happy with the change because in a listserv
your names and addresses will be safer from possible spam users and you
can unsubscribe at will. I will soon send you the initial message of the
listserv. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THAT MESSAGE NEXT WEEK, PLEASE E-MAIL ME
TO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR ADDRESS HAS NOT BEEN DELETED IN THE TRANSITION.

Second:
Apparently, my link to Professor Inhorn’s excellent article on Iran in
which she observes:  “The Iran I encountered is far from the medieval
theocracy often portrayed in American media” did not work. If you did
not get my “correction” message, here is the link again:
http://www.sph.umich.edu/news_events/pdf/inhorn%20iran.pdf

And now to this week’s Window on Iran:

Current issues

* Iranian chief nuclear negotiator’s statement that Iran reserves
the right to continue its nuclear program “only under UN
inspection” was presented in American and British papers as
“Iran’s defiance of the UN resolution.”
* 15 day visas of about 40 American educated Iranian scientists
arriving in the U.S. last week to participate in a university
reunion in Northern California were revoked last minute without
explanation. Some were held overnight in what one described to a
friend in a brief phone call as “jail conditions” before being
sent  back to Iran.

Science

* Iranian scientists in a Tehran fertility clinic cloned a sheep
successfully. Although the sheep died soon after birth, this first
cloning in the Middle East was hailed by the world media as a
great breakthrough. Iranian scientists described with excitement
the history of their cloning experiments on mice and cow:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1874227.cms It may
come as a surprise to you that Iran’s cloning program, like its
work on embryonic stem cell research, has the blessing of the
country’s religious authorities.

Social/Cultural

* This week I would like to introduce you to one of the most
prominent poets of twentieth-century Iran: Simin Behbahani. Known
as the “Lioness of Iran,” Behbahani has remained an ardent
defender of human rights, free speech, and women’s rights. She
spoke against war and violence even as the Iran-Iraq war raged in
the 1980s. Currently President of The Iranian Writers’
Association, Behbahani has published 12 collections of poems and
has stayed in the public eye before, during, and after the 1979
revolution defying all forms of totalitarianism. Behbahani was
nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature in 1997. For a short
biography of Simin Behbahni, please click on the first link below.
And go to the second link to view the “Lioness” in action, and her
pronounced fashion statements!
o http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/sbehbahani/simin_behbahani.php
o http://www.payvand.com/news/05/aug/1105.html

* Most of you have read, or heard of, the book that vilified
most Iranian men and victimized the majority of Iranian women, the
bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran. The cover of the book depicts
two young Iranian girls with downcast eyes hinting at the
unlikelihood of an active intellectual life. The picture, above
this post, is actually of two girls active in the
Iranian general elections (notice Khatami’s poster in the
background) reading a newspaper.

Have a great weekend!
Fatemeh Keshavarz
========================
Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatuares
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
========================

Read Full Post »