Kamangir (Archer)

Video: Arrest for Unknown Reason

Kamangir | September 22, 2008 | Category Features, Human Rights, Lead Story, Video of the Day, Women

(direct link to video)

The video is apparently taken from one or two floors above the street level. The screams of the girl to be arrested are not legible but people around the camera are contemplating why the girl is being arrested and if this has anything to do with the Modesty Police.

9/11: The day of terror and despair

Kamangir | September 11, 2008 | Category Blogging, Features, Iran, Lead Story

Translation of a Persian post commemorating the 9/11 attacks from “The Old Land“,

9/11: The day of terror and despair

September 11, 2001 was a hot day, and I remember that the heat was irritating. I was going home, so I waited in the street to get a [shared] cab. I don’t remember how long I waited for, but it was enough to irritate me even more. Just then, a cab came and I told the driver where I was going. I chose the front seat… I was able to get some air and cool off. I was tired and irritated of the heat when the driver, with his face covered by a big smile, turned to me and said “Is it right that the US is all gone?” Maybe he was not even talking to me. I had a newspaper in my hand and I was opening it to read.

I thought, well, another head of the state has probably found a vacant microphone and has probably uttered some fuss. So, with a smile of sarcasm, I said “Things happen”, meaning “Do your job and drop me where I am going”. He, on the other hand, translated my sentence as “Yes, I heave heard too!”

“And so I have to listen to the details of how the heroes of the revolution have blown up the US”, this was what I imagined. It was boring, we were actually blowing up the US couple of times every day.

I finally got home. No one even turned back from TV when I stepped in. They were watching the national television and all in shock. One was standing, one was sitting, one was pacing. I looked at the screen. The towers were falling down. I had a cold feeling in my stomach. I could not understand it. The towers fell down and fell down and fell down. The tape went on and on and on. This was the only scene I ever watched more than that fantastic goal Khodadad Azizi scored [and led to Iran's admission to World Cup 98 - Wikipedia].

My mom kept crying. She had no idea where these towers were or what the Pentagon was. She was just sad.

9/11 is my mom’s birthday. I will never forget her birthday, ever.

Video of the Day: The Blogging Revolution

Kamangir | September 7, 2008 | Category Blogging, Features, International Bloggers, Lead Story, Video of the Day

Antony Loewenstein’s The Blogging Revolution will be available on Amazon soon. This is how he describes the book,

(direct link to video)