Kamangir (Archer)

The Iranian/Persian blogosphere: Arash Kamangir

Kamangir | October 27, 2008 | Category Blogging, Iran, media

A rather long conversation with Daniel Breslau about blogging in Persian and the Persian blogosphere. Listen to the interview here.

Video of the Day: America’s Secret War

Kamangir | October 25, 2008 | Category Iran, US, Video of the Day

(direct link to video)

Is the US at war with Iran? Fantastic video examining the situation on the Iraq-Iran borders.

Link from Vahid

Six things about Kamangir you did not know!

Kamangir | October 20, 2008 | Category Blogging, Humour, Personal

I got tagged by Tori and this is how the game goes,

1. Post the rules on your blog (kind of recursive, huh?)

2. Write 6 random things about yourself

3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post

4. If you’re tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag (because I am writing this, I have obviously complied with it, sort of recursive again?)

So, enough with the ranting, these are six things about Kamangir you might not have known before, assuming you do care to know of course,

1- I am afraid of the dark. I have always been and I will always be. I just get terrified of the dark. This is quite embarrassing given my age.

2- The best days of my childhood were spent in Taleghan, a rural area two hours west of Tehran. My late grandfather had a cottage there and we used to spend couple of weeks during the summer in the country. There I dug up for bones in an old cemetery which was located on a hill. A road passed besides the hill and they used to crush parts of the hill to make more space for the road. That was how the solitude of the dead would be interrupted and there would come the great discoverer of the dead. The first thing I do, after I go back to Iran, is that I will buy out the cottage from my uncles and renovate it. See pictures from that little piece of heaven here.

3- My GPA in my bachelor’s is horribly low. My current adviser was terribly shocked to see that.

4- Being raised in an irreligious (if not anti-religious) family, I find it rather interesting when I observe “holy temptations” in me. A friend of mine once anticipated that I will become a devoted religious person before I turn forty. She is known to possess psychic powers.

5- I used to not understand what the point of blogging was for a long time, before I started my own.

6- skjhsiu ylkjns l8uy s lkjh sliu ;slk ‘p[oi p[;s ;iuh luy oiy os pou spoi (You need to have the secret key to decipher this item. You have the key if you have the key).

And I tag these great people,

1- Antony Loewenstein

2- Lisa Goldman

3- Shahrzad

4- Bamdadi’s English Blog: The Aurora

5- Terry Glavin

6- Esra’a

And a very special invitation to Nim.

Twit of the Day

Kamangir | October 18, 2008 | Category Human Rights, Iran

Just ran across this fabulous Persian twit and thought you might like it too. This is the twit in English,

Just imagine! It will take little time before you look up a word in the dictionary and, where the description of the word used to be, you see, “Dear user! You are not allowed to have access to this word!”*.

* Mockery of the “page is banned” message in the Iranian filtering system.

I’m coming to eat you!

Kamangir | October 18, 2008 | Category Iran, media

If you have been visiting this blog for some time, I guess you do know that I am a relaxed person and that I do not take offense easily (see: Do not Panic! You are not a Cockroach! for example). But, seriously, what is this? “Iranians eat evidence“? So what? That Iranians are hungry creatures strolling in the streets looking for prey? (and that reminds me of “28 Days Later” by the way) Is this Reuters, or is this a spoof item from The Onion? I guess this is yet another clue how much more relevant a blog-like point of view can be.

This is the English translation of a “Personal Note” written by Ferevertish Rezvanieh, published in Pendar about the mentioned sandwich.

Why We should be Proud of the One-and-a-Half-kilometer Sandwich

In the midst of the rising negative views at Iran in the world media, why should we really be proud of our 1500-meter sandwich?

How is our cinema presented in the world? A student who has lost his school book, a kid with a worn off shoe, a boy who so wants a yellow balloon. We definitely should be happy that we have won the Golden Palm and the Golden Lion and all the other prizes, and that couple of Iranian directors are known around the world. Nevertheless, we have to also be aware of how Iran is portrayed in these movies.

Hollywood has long been selling the US as the “lost paradise” which accepts everyone, from whatever race and nationality they are and whatever their color of skin is. But, is that actually what is happening in the US? People think they have gotten more familiar with a society, its culture and the dynamics in there, after they watch a movie from that region. Similarly, when they watch an Iranian movie, of the kind described in the above, they will think, “So, this is Iran!” They will find Iran a country of deserts where kids run after shoes.

Does the presence of Golshifteh Farahani and Mitra Hajjar lead to a more realistic presentation of Iran in the world? Do you go and watch an Afghan singer and then imagine her as an artist who has fled her land of misery using her talents? Does her fabulous voice help you forget the Taliban and the devastated Buda statues for a second? Or to picture prosperous Afghan cities full of colors?

Some Iranian sources have reported that groups of Iranians complained against the making of the sandwich. Is it really useless to have the name of Iran registered as the host for the longest sandwich in Iran when we own the record for death in our roads? It is correct that the money spent on that sandwich could have been put to use in making a lot of sandwiches for the poor. But, still, is it pointless to not fight against the anti-Iran coverage?

The longest sandwich was prepared on Friday morning in Mellat Park, Tehran, and received a lot of attention in the international media. Just look for “Iran+Sandwich” in google to see some of the reactions.

700 kilos of ostrich, 700 kilos of chicken, 100 kilos of green peppers, 120 kilos of onions, 500 kilos of Mayonnaise, 700 kilos of mushrooms, 700 kilos of mustard sauce, 500 kilos of vegetable oil, 1 kilos of Saffron, and 2 kilos of caraway seeds were put into a sandwich. That was how the people of Tehran were brought together in Mellat Park for the world to see that Iranians do own shoes, and Handy cams, and parks. That they eat sandwiches and ride Hummers. That they do not look for a shoe in the sewage.

Mr Ahmadinejad, So you’re saying I’m free?

Kamangir | October 2, 2008 | Category Features, Iran

Translation of a Persian post by the renowned Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad. In the post, Alinejad announces her plans for the publication of her latest book outside Iran. Interested people are invited to contact her at the email address masih_pooyan@yahoo.com for more information about the book and how they can get hold of a copy.

Mr Ahmadinejad, So you’re saying I’m free?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, attended the UN General Assembly, for the fourth time, and proudly bragged about freedom in Iran. Referring to the treatment of civil liberties in Iran he stated,

Although, there is punishment in the US penal code for offense against the military uniform, there is no punishment in Iran for speaking out against the officials…Freedom in Iran is more inclusive that what you think and criticizing the government officials is absolutely allowed. People will only be punished when they violate others’ rights.*

This is Iran and I am a journalist from the country whose president is so keen to dress up and go to New York every year to show off how much free we are. This is my land, the place which has a president so confident that criticizing the actions of the officials is absolutely free. For the past four years, the fairy tale of freedom has been told by the same person. For the past four years, we have been listening to Mr president when he regularly bashed the international media in the eyes of the world and made us all proud. We are becoming accustomed to thinking that offending the military uniform is in fact a crime in the US and that, us, the inhabitants of this land, are in fact given the gift of absolute freedom and we don’t even realize it.

When Mr president, with his unearthly pride, tells us that there are no political prisoners in Iran and that freedom, beyond imagination, rules in Iran, we, the journalists, try not to remember that Emadeddin Baghi and the other confined journalists did nothing but constructive criticism of the actions of the officials. That of course cost them time in the jail. Closing-off of the newspapers and magazines and banning of the books in fact turned the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance headed by a minister assigned by Mr president into a new form of prison. We have gotten used to no one explaining it to the students, activist women and intellectuals, who are confined in physical or virtual prisons, whether the acts of writing, thinking, publishing articles and books, and giving speeches are in fact illegal and that’s why they are sent behind the bars. The same goes for running a seated strike in a university, attending a calm protest in front of a courthouse, or arguing against a discriminatory law. These are all what the administration interprets as violating the rights of “others” and that’s why they punish the “offenders”. People have been struck by major law suits for the same reasons. Some are sitting in a jail waiting for a furlough and the rest are students banned from attending their classes. There are also the women who are sentenced to jail and lashes everyday. Thanks to the kindness of the Head of the Judiciary the lash sentences are never actually carried out.

This the dilemma that we are facing; why is it that the absolute freedom, Mr president brags about in the US, does not apply for the citizens of my country? The newspapers are banned, websites and personal blogs of the journalist are filtered, and our inquiries are left unanswered. Do the journalists actually break into the privacy of anyone when they use words and pictures?

Nevertheless, he keeps insisting on his claims and we keep being silent, thus practically verifying his claims. I believe we have to break this cycle and actually help him realize what the facts are. Maybe then, we, us the journalists and him, can actually end up showing off how much freedom we have got in our country for real. We have to push the illusion of freedom away and show our wounds. Then, Ahmadinejad or anyone else, when they put Iran and freedom in the same sentence, in front of people from outside Iran, we won’t have to wait for the foreign journalists to ask the questions. We have to have given the answers beforehand.

Our efforts might look minuscule and we might seem not making any progress, but we have to do it to the best we can. If we are not able to fight for others’ rights, let us do what we can do to protect our own rights. We have to do something if we want to be safe from the claws of the “absolute freedom”. Name it a call to action. Instead of trying to argue that the president is not telling the truth and that freedom does not exist in Iran, let’s call on him on that. Let’s make him commit to the claims he is making.

There are many great writers in my country, compared to whom the administration owes me the least. But, based on the absolute freedom that Ahmadinejad has talked about in the UN, I gladly take his words seriously and do not fear to give a hand to him and to the “absolute freedom”, how much little my contribution can be.

I went from door to door in the hallways of Ahmadinejad’s Ministry of Culture for three years to have my book be granted the permission for a reprint. That was after it had already been given the permission for print in the previous administration. The story of polishing that book for publication contains many fascinating chapters.

In my first book, Crown of Thorns (Taaj-e Hhaar), I talked about an MP, who was a clergyman, and how he got mad at me. That book is essentially about the story of acquiring and publishing a copy of the monthly paycheck of the MPs and thus questioning their claims of not having a high salary. One day, I was in the hallways of the parliament and this cleric MP kept insisting that my veil was not proper and that if I do not rectify the problem he will kick me out of the building. I, on the other hand, kept telling him that the few strands of hair on my forehead did not represent poor veil. I surveyed how I looked and after I made sure that I was within the definition of proper covering, I uttered, “So, you are willing to beat me to push these few strands of hair underneath my veil. What are you going to do to the thousands of girls in the wealthy neighborhoods of Tehran and their way of covering their heads?” That was when he got mad and took off his clergyman outfit and turban. It was only the intervention of other men in the hallway that made him calm down. So I wrote this down in the book. Apparently, that was too much, even for a reformist administration, and so I had to change the sentence to refer to “formal clothing” instead of “clergyman outfit and turban”. This was how my book got the permission for print in the first place.

What are you supposed to do when the head of a government states in the UN that inappropriate reference to the military uniform is an offense in the US, and he does not refer to the fact that in Iran you are not allowed to refer to the outfit of the clergymen even when they are involved in improper conduct?

I met Saffar Harandi, Ahmadinejad’s Minister of Culture, in his first year of occupying the office in Tehran Book Fair. Like other conservative politicians, he would stare at the floor to avoid eye contact with the lady who was talking to him. When I told him “I am Masih Alinejad”, he starred deep into my eyes and said “So, you are Masih Alinejad”. Glad that I am having a conversation with him I got optimistic about the fate of my book. Not that he was the minister in a conservative administration. I would have felt the same way if he was Ahmad Masjed-Jamei from the former reformist cabinet.

I had had to accept the removal of some parts of my book in order to have it published when the reformist government was in power. I did that only to save the whole book from being sacrificed. So, I told him the same thing, that I wanted him to tell me what parts of the book he thought should be removed for the book to escape the ban. When three years passed and I got no response from the ministry, I, like all other people in the same situation, realized that I have no share in this absolute freedom, even when I agree to censor parts of my book.

So, what is my share of the absolute freedom? When Manijeh Hekmat, the renowned director of the famous movie “Women’s Prison”, said if her movie does not get approved for the theaters she will sell cigarettes in front the parliament (selling cigarettes in the streets is the illegal petty job for unskilled poor people in Iran), I found it even funny. I was too young at the time, now I know that I will do the same thing if my book does not get published. After all these years, and Ahmadinejad’s men pretending that my book does not exist, I will publish it here in the UK, out of my own pocket and with the help of an Iranian publisher located here. I believe that the sale of my book will be a testimony for everyone, both the public and the administration, that I have not violated anyone’s rights and that I do not deserve any punishment.

If they do not give my share of the absolute freedom, I will take it. The only difference is, I will not be worried about the fear of arrest when I go back to Iran, where freedom rules. I will go back to Iran and I will take copies of my book, which I will title “I am Free”, and I will sell them in the streets of Tehran where the bookstores are. I may even have a venture in front of the presidential buildings in Pastor Sq. This is not a shame. I am also taking all the precautions to avoid that old silly label, that I have received help from foreign organizations. I am going back clean and I am not looking for trouble. It all boils down to one simple fact, “there is absolute freedom in Iran and there is no offence for speaking out against the officials”, as Mr Ahmadinejad put it. I totally obey the law and I am ready for prosecution if I cross the line drawn by Mr Ahmadinejad’s claim. Therefore, it is on the administration to give in to what they have promised for, the absolute freedom to criticize the officials.

Not that I am not worried, I am. But, at the same time, I am relying on Ahmadinejad’s latest promise and so I am planning to go back to Iran, in two months and half from now, and I will be carrying copies of my book “I am Free”, the very ordinary story of a female journalist in the days which led to the ninth presidential elections (the elections which led to Ahmadinejad’s presidency). I am not that brave that I totally forget the fear. At the same time, I am not that strong that I see my book remain on a shelf forever and stay in this foreign land for the rest of my life. The people who have gone through this know that it is impossible to survive here without working for a non-Iranian media sources. These are my only reasons for what I am doing and if they do not start a ruckus to disrupt the sale of my book and do not filter my blog, which I am planning to acquire some of the costs of publishing my book from, I am not looking for anything but publishing my fourth book.

This is my share of the absolute freedom and I believe that each and every Iranian has to ask for their own share from the administration. This is a call for action and I find myself obliged to give a hand to anyone who decides to do the same for their rights. I am in need of support as well. We are not in the illusion of support coming from the outer world, as Ahmadinejad is. We need help and I am counting on all the support I can get.

* The quote does not exactly match what is carried by the state-run Iran News Agency.

The logo of the post reads “Free” in Persian.

Persian Blogosphere: Going Ahead, Slowly and Smoothly

Kamangir | October 2, 2008 | Category Blogging, Features, Iran, Lead Story

I got involved in the blogging experience in here and in English and then moved on to writing a Persian blog. Persian Kamangir, however, progressed faster and farther than what I could imagine and even overshadowed this blog (according to the statistics, Persian Kamangir is now among the twenty most referred blogs in the Persian blogosphere). All this, however, does not mean that this blog will be sacrificed.

The matter of fact is, if anything is to be done for Iran, it will be accomplished through community building and by creating an environment for healthy discussions. The Persian blogosphere, in spite of its vast population, has not yet been able to meet that goal. One of the reasons for this failure, to my understanding, is that blogging can very easily become a venue for individuals whom seek means for satisfying their narcissism. We have suffered from that in the Persian blogosphere to a great extent.

I am just back from Toronto, where we had a panel on the Persian blogosphere and I tried to emphasize on some of the ideas I have also talked about in this article: Do Not Be A Dinosaur Blogger. The head of the Persian blogosphere has gone ahead with using the new technologies, but, nevertheless, there are a lot of people to whom feed and content aggregation are still rocket science.

Struggling with all the bullying and all the “Paris Hilton”s, things are going ahead in the Persian blogoshpere. Recent indications of state-backed efforts to infiltrate into our communities prove that.