Kamangir (Archer)

American Generals and The Fish in The Persian Gulf

Kamangir | February 9, 2007 | Category Iran

The more fundamentalist fraction of the Islamic Republic, the pro-Ahmadinejads, have increased their anti-American exhibition. In today’s Friday Prayers, Ayatollah Jannati, the secretary of the Gaurdian Council, stated, “today, Iran’s military power is so great the enemy does not even dare to get close to us”. He also emphasized “although the Americans have encircled us, by doing so, they have actually put themselves at our rifle range”. In another development, Basij student members protested in front of Switzerland’s (thanks to Anna for correcting my mistake) Embassy, which represents American interests in Iran. These are some of the banners they carried.

“Hi! Kamangir is speaking…”

Kamangir | February 9, 2007 | Category Iran

I will be doing weekly roundups about Iran in Arabisto. This is my first post there, which I put here to keep my own archive.

Let me be frank. When I got the first email from Nadia, I thought, another place to chat and learn weird things about other cultures and how wrong and simplistic the presumptions of someone living in a dictatorship could be. I have to confess, when I first scrolled down the list of the participants of Arabisto, I told to myself, send an email to Nadia and tell her that due to personal engagements you cannot make it. Well, I made a brave decision to jump into this. I am neither a journalist nor a political analyst or even a sociology student.

I am Arash Kamangir. Arash is my real name, while Kamangir is a pen name, meaning Archer in Persian. I have chosen this nickname because Arash Kamangir is a mystical Persian hero. You can find the whole story here.

I am a graduate student in a Canadian university and I have been living in Canada, with my wife, since September 2005. Obviously, English is my second language and I will do all my best to write intelligibly (I do appreciate if you remind me of the mistakes I ever make). In professional life, my field of research is optimization in telecommunication systems. So, I do blogging as a form of “you know what, I think …”.

Since October 2004, I have been writing in my blog, Kamangir. To me, Kamangir is a place to tell the average non-Iranian how an average Iranian thinks and behaves and more importantly why they do what they do. For that reason, I post pictures form Iran, accompanied by details which exist in the picture but someone not familiar with the history and culture of Iran would not perceive.

Here, I will try to do the same. I warn you that I might make a mistake, but, as also promised in my blog, if anyone catches me telling a lie I will pay them $1,000.

An Old Picture (of A Burnt Prostitue)

Kamangir | February 9, 2007 | Category Iran

IRAN. Tehran. January 1979. A revolutionary mob exhibits the burned body of a presumed prostitute as evidence of the atrocity of the Shah’s regime. The mob had just set fire to the “red light” district in “Islamic Purifying Fire”.

See the picture if you like.