Kamangir (Archer)

“The Accidental Activist”

Kamangir | May 13, 2007 | Category Iran

A good post by Esther, titled “the accidental activist“,

The [Iranian] law is invasive ‎and vague, which is why it is so easy to break. As one friend says, “The law is so ‎arbitrary that you can become an activist quite by accident.” The very ease of breaking ‎the law in Iran means that nearly all adults are guilty of something. Imagine that. ‎Granted, most people who will find themselves under scrutiny are public intellectuals, ‎labor leaders, minority rights leaders, fallen government employees, and self-proclaimed ‎activists, but the message is clear: life is insecure. ‎

Do read the whole piece.

Ahmadinejad and Basij

Kamangir | May 12, 2007 | Category Iran

Ahmadinejad met with the commanders of the Basij paramilitary force. More pictures here, here, and here.

Playboy in TV and Ayatollah against Music

Kamangir | May 12, 2007 | Category Iran

It is official, I am focusing on the funny aspects of the Islamic Republic. Today, Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpaiegani, one of the topmost Shia clerics, stated “donated schools must be used for teaching Islamic sciences”. He continued “these schools must not be used for things like music”. In the same day, the national television, which diligently censors and blurs improper clothing of women in movies, broadcast the Playboy logo. The Sports News in the state-run Channel II interviewed an injured soccer player. Well, the guy seems to have some immodest interests.

Veil and Hypocrasy

Kamangir | May 11, 2007 | Category Iran

“Have you ever been to Iran?” , “I have been to Iran only once.”

A frequent reader of Kamangir, from the states, had talked to me about an interesting observation he had had with one of his Persian learning books, which is published in Iran by a body close to the administration. This morning, he sent couple of scans of the book. Well, let me tell you that you will be arrested in Tehran if you wear like some of these ladies. The book is published three years ago in Iran by a publication which operates under the Ministry of Education and is used in North America for teaching Persian. I should do a research to say I am confident about this, but I can definitely state that the publication is responsible for publishing many textbooks and other stuff for the ministry and is state-run. For more picture refer to the Photoblog.

Ahmadinejad’s Latest Costume

Kamangir | May 11, 2007 | Category Iran

I present you, Dr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with black Taekwondo belt. Apparently, he gave a surprise visit to the national Taekwondo team and was presented with a suit and a black belt (Mehr). More pictures here.

Sugar, Tea and Police Violence in Iran

Kamangir | May 10, 2007 | Category Human Rights, Iran, Islamic Republic, Women

If I was not born in Iran, I would call it an imaginary place they have made up to manufacture fascinating stories for the news networks. Well, looking at these news, it seems that the only unsolved problem in Iran is what people are drinking in the office.

1- The executive deputy of the president published a statement banning the usage of sugar and sugar cubes in government offices. The statement emphasizes the use of alternatives, including dates and raisins, instead (Mehr).

2- The executive deputy of the president mandated government offices to only use Iran-grown tea (Baztab).

However, in the same country, the Police literally kicks a girl into a car. Her “crime” is to take her veil off in public, according to my understanding of the video.

Student Elections Amir Kabir University

Kamangir | May 7, 2007 | Category Iran

City Boy has done a fantastic roundup of the Islamic Students’ Association election in Amir Kabir University. I emphasize that the prefix “Islamic” does not mean that this organization is related to the administration. In fact, parts of the administration, including Basij, did try to interrupt the elections. The elections come right after the recent phony article crisis in the most political university of Iran, Amir Kabir.

The Enemy and the Idiot

Kamangir | May 6, 2007 | Category Iran

Hossein Derakhshan (Hoder) published a post today with a fake time stamp. In that post, he talks about his guess about my real identity. Without talking about the serious danger he is causing for me, it is a silly action from someone who calls himself the “godfather of the Iranian blogsphere” to pretend that he has talked about my real name in his blog in April, while Google Cache shows that he is lying. To keep this for future, I am saving both pages.

His search for my real identity started recently, after he failed to agitate me, and other users of the biggest Iranian community on the web, Balatarin, with his ridiculous comments. As I have mentioned previously, he is not an enemy, he is just an idiot. This might help a bit knowing the cause of his anger.

p.s. To the right is a snapshot from Technorati which shows when he has published that post.

The Three Projects

Kamangir | May 6, 2007 | Category Iran

I admit it. Lately, I have not been posting very regularly, mainly because of three big projects. Finally, I realized that there is no point in communicating with Iranians in English. So, I started a Persian blog, where I write about things which are mainly to the interest of the Persian-speaking audience. On top of that, I started a photoblog. In addition to the photographs I take (or have taken), the photoblog is a good way to organize news-related photographs in occasions when there are many pictures available. A simple example would be when there is a protest in Iran, as there always is one happening somewhere in the country, and I translate the banners. I will create an album for any occasion like this. The last project was moving Azadeh in. She has been writing since last October. Now, she is here and will write more about “A Feminist Skeptical Muslim”. Aside from these, everything is fine. I am going to London at the end of next June and everything seems to be fine. How are you doing?

The Bald Angel and Call for Cultural Revolution (Updated)

Kamangir | May 3, 2007 | Category Iran

A bald angel has caused unrest in Tehran University. What has happened is not very clear but the reality on the ground is that Basij members are protesting and are planning for more protest. There are even mentions of another cultural revolution, after the first one which resulted in expelling many students and professors after all universities were closed for more than a year. That was a few years after the revolution, mainly because rivals of the Islamic administration were operative among students. Now, apparently, an argument on whether or not a Chador-wearing female student is bald has caused the unrest.

There are different accounts of the event. Two are published by a pro-Basij fundamentalist blog which carries the name of IRGC, IR’s infamous

second army, although it is not officially affiliated with it.

Yesterday, a religious and chador-wearing female student was involved in an argument with her prof on the necessity of the veil. At the middle of the argument, and out of the blue, her prof committed a very nasty action. He, while saying “let’s see if you are more beautiful without the veil”, unveiled her. She passed out and was transferred to a hospital.

The blog gives another account which the author calls “the real and more accurate story”,

Tuesday afternoon, Mr … a seasonal instructor in Department of Arts in University of Tehran asked his students to draw an angel. One of the students drew an angel who did not have any hair. The prof asked her why the angel was bald. …. [another female student] said to the prof, because she did not want the angel’s hair to be visible. He looked at her, and she was wearing chador, and said “why do you, a bald person who has covered herself up, say this?” Then he approached her and reached for her hair and unveiled a portion of it. He then said to the students “no! she does have hair!”. The other students burst into laughs and ridiculed her. She was shocked and did not have normal situation for couple of hours.

Subsequently, about 300 students gathered in front of the gates of University of Tehran, on SMS calls, and protested from 12 till 13:30. The protest is reported to have been peaceful. The instructor, who is mentioned to be an eighty-year-old graphics professor, is expelled from the university and the dean of the Arts Department has apologized (source). Pictures and translation of the signs in the photoblog.

Update: Azadeh discusses some of the comments of the readers in the IRGC-named blog: “leave it to us and his throat and a blade”.

More pictures here, here, here, and here.

Top Nuclear Negotiator Charged with Espionage

Kamangir | May 2, 2007 | Category Iran

According to Fars, preliminary interrogation of Mousavian, the former Iranian top negotiator on nuclear deals, began on national security-related charges. His charges also include “communication to foreign agents and exchanging information with them” and he is kept in Evin Prison. Mousavian is also the deputy of the strategic research institute in the Expediency Discernment Council, the head of which is Hashemi Rafsanjani. Fars adds “according to a source, Mousavian has had information exchange regarding nuclear affairs, regarded as espionage, and he will not be freed anytime soon”.

Ahmadinejad’s “Coincidental” Kiss

Kamangir | May 1, 2007 | Category Iran

Fars has a very heroic story.

This morning, while the elite Iranian teachers were meeting Ahmadinejad, a very fascinating event happened. Mrs. Najmeh Gholi Pour, Ahmadinejad’s first grade teacher, was brought in without his knowledge. So, at the middle of the ceremony, he knew her and honored her. He gave her a special gift and kissed her hands, which were covered with gloves. He said “it is a very emotional moment for me to meet my teacher. I’d love to seat and cry for an hour”.

Bahman looks at the story rather differently. The fact that kissing women is against the Islamic Sharia and the fact that “coincidentally” she was wearing gloves, makes him suspicious how much of a surprise this has been. More pictures here.

More on Clashes in Amir Kabir University

Kamangir | May 1, 2007 | Category Iran

More news is coming out of Amir Kabir University (AKU) (for the background see this post).

The whole story began when three articles were distributed on the campus, published on papers which held logos of student publications. The titles of these stories were “No One is Sacred”, “Black Crows [referring to Chador-wearing women]“, and “Where You can find More Prostitutes”. There is a strong belief that the four publications which carried these articles were fake, manufactured by Basij to produce a pretext for attacking student movement (remember how AKU students treated Ahmadinejad last December). According to the personal blog of a person close to Basij, the first article includes these sentences,

Democracy and freedom are not cheap and will not happen just by themselves. Today is the time and tomorrow is too late. We have to rise and we have to overthrow those who fool people in thinking they are sacred [referring to the supreme leader]. Yes! We must rise and we must establish a pure democracy!

This article has reportedly included the cartoon shown to the right. The picture shown here is adopted from a pro-Basij website which has blurred the scan. The author of the second article writes,

I believe too that Chador-wearing girls are not acting reasonably. What is the reason behind covering yourself up in black cloth…This outfit however has a psychological meaning because these girls are quite frequently very ugly…they envy other beautiful girls and so push them to wear the Chador.

The third article reads,

These days the streets of the capital city of the Islamic Republic are quite fascinating. Wherever you go, there are policewomen who argue with girls whom are wearing outfits which the administration does not like. When the policewomen fail to argue with the girls they transfer them to police stations….Before they start to search into our underwear we have to come up with a solution.

Many sources, including Baztab, which has no affiliation to the student groups, have called the event suspicious. A short while after the copies were distributed, Basij members attacked the students and the offices of the publications. The also published a statement which ends with,

There is no doubt that the ineffective administration of the university and the ministry of science have to expel, arrest, and announce the names of those who have committed these actions, as well as their aides, to the Judiciary and all anti-revolutionary publications have to be banned. Any failure in doing so will result in martyr-seeking engagement of Muslim and revolutionary students in the scene of this religious war [translation of a Shia phrase the statement uses].

Following these events, the university administration banned all student publications and promised to prosecute the students. AKU student sources say the administration is working on one of their members they have arrested last week to show up in a television show and confess that they had planned what a pro-Ahmadinejad website calls a political suicide. Kayhan, the state-run ultra-right newspaper, has already started talking about conspiracies. According to student sources, Intelligence personnel have confiscated a computer which belonged to the activist students. If this goes according to the typical pace of events in the IR, we have to wait for more arrests or even an announcement of “enemy conspiracies”. Pictures of the event can be seen here, here, and here.

In the latest development, Fars reports that today has been announced as a public mourning day in AKU and all classes are closed. Also, groups of “students” are approaching AKU for protesting the articles. Finally, the Iranian cartoonist, Nikahang Kowsar, has found the source of the cartoon. What is called to be a cartoon of the supreme leader is in fact one of his drawings of Ayatollah Jannati (seen to the right).

Kamangir in Persian

Kamangir | May 1, 2007 | Category Iran

After failed trials to communicate with Iranians through an English-speaking blog, I finally started a Persian blog. This is the address of Kamangir in Persian and this is its feed. That blog is still under construction so I do not have a blogroll there. Apologies for that. For the good friends of Kamangir in English nothing will change.