Iran: Stop Torture

Sa'adi (1215-1292) Persian (Iranian) Poet:

All human beings are in truth akin;
All in creation share one origin.
When fate allots a member pangs and pains,
No ease for other members then remains.
If, unperturbed, another's grief canst scan,
Thou are not worthy of the name of man.

Today Abbas Amir Entezam and Ahmad Batebi were in my thoughts. If you endorse the Iranians' Appeal to the European Union and UN... please sign this and this petition. Check the Amnesty International's Report from the year 2000.

I read Christian�s blog and I miss Denmark. I miss her long days and the short summer nights. I miss going to the beach and watch maman and dad swim like two lovely dolphins-Mom�s golden hair, dad�s black and white�
To read more about Denmark don�t stop at my blog... read Christian�s. He passionately writes about Denmark and makes me homesick (after all I am a Dane too).
I will be back in a few days-after we (p, the little one and me-the big mama) are settled in our new home and�)

Check Roger's poem on Lilith.

and here I am on Ahooye Se goosh....

  

 

Nine of the university students are sentenced to 21 years in prison. Mortazavi-an extremist judge- told Amery�s parents to get ready for their son�s funeral. If you endorse the Iranians' Appeal to the European Union and UN... please sign this and this petition.

I�ve received an invitation to attend a conference at Harvard. I think we (p, the baby and I) will go for the weekend (... but p and the baby will be spending the weekend sightseeing Boston).


a poem for my mother

Lilith (Is Not My Mother)

Lilith
is not my mother

I am born of the Eve:

When I remain silent
I am in truth scared
When I am in grief
I am in truth in pain

in truth not a woman
not a mother
not a lover
not a daughter
in truth just a human

Yet the wind or the night
will not stop me
cannot stop me

for Lilith
is not my mother

I am born of the Eve
Now

Sheema Kalbasi, edited by Roger Humes
according to some Jewish/Islamic studies Lilith or Lillake was Adma�s first wife (she presents darkness).

Check Babak Shariat's art works (and his persian window and the Fall in Tehran.)

...and I am sure you all know whoman.

  

 

Women on War: An International Collection of Writings from Antiquity to the Present is the latest book edited by Daniela Gioseffi. You can find my poetry next to Anna Akhmatova, Maya Angelou, Simone de Beauvoir, Toni Morrison and many others. (RAWA notified me of the publication of Women on War. My poem For Women of Afghanistan is the one chosen for this collection but my date of birth has incorrectly appeared in the book-I am some ten years younger).

I have received some excellent feedbacks for the poem Roger and I have co-authored. Even P (my mathematician husband who is not much in to poetry) says this is a great poem. Thank you P for your love and support, thank you Roger for writing this poem with me and my thanks to all the readers for sending their beautiful and expressive e-mails.

P this morning: since the first time you cooked for us (means for him and me) you have been experimenting (with your cooking). When do you think you�d stop the experiments and (cook) reappear the ones I've liked so far?

  

 

If you endorse the Iranians' Appeal to the European Union and UN... please sign this and this petition.

P and I took the baby out to a caf� this afternoon and later we went to buy her some cotton-made shirts. While shopping, the baby started flirting with every one and from the looks of it many fell head over hills for the little girl. After we were back home, P (my beloved Iranian husband) helped me to make the baby ready for the bed and encouraged me to go for a night walk. I am trying to lose the 40 pounds I�ve gained during my pregnancy (I used to run/jog for some 80-100 min.) but was so sick while I carried -the baby girl-for the first five months-that when I did get better, I wasn�t sure how/where to start! And my goodness breast-feeding was another disaster. Even having a mother (who has been educated/worked as a mother and child nutritionist, etc.) and stayed -with us- for the first three months didn�t help me to overcome the challenges of motherhood. From breast infection/s, pumping milk, not having enough sleep to being a full time student, they all made me crave for food and more food (am I an emotional eater? I hope not!)

Roger and I got published on the Iranian Times . Check it out.

  

 

Michael Totten: Sheema blogs about Iran, and it is well worth your time to read what she has to say.

Up until now what I have read or seen in Dr. Azar Nafisi�s articles and interviews are nothing but rational. If she becomes available as a candidate for presidency or representing a Democratic Iran, I will vote for her.

Every time my plane lands in Kastrup-K�benhavns Lufthavn (the Copenhagen airport) I know I am home- (I wish I could feel (had felt) the same safety when the plane had landed in Mehrabad -the Tehran airport- a few years ago). The feeling however changes once I start my day as a Danish minority. I�ve studied, worked, paid taxes, served, and lived with the Danes for many years. They are fine people as individuals but as a society they have a long way to go before they can understand and accept the fact that humans come in every race and religion. They are not the only European country presenting an international humanitarian face but mistreating their minorities and to make it worse there is not a single law to protect the rights of the minorities. You can read more on a similar issue on Michael Totten�s blog.

  

 

I wrote this on Thursday, April 10, 2003
In my view, oil cannot be separated from the geopolitical equations of the Middle East. At the same time, however, I believe it is misleading to attribute the roots of this conflict to oil alone. In order to defeat communism or the so-called �evil empire�, the US found weird bedfellows among Islamic fundamentalists and stayed ambivalent about them for almost a decade after the old adversary was defeated. The tragic events of September 11, or in Professor Fred Halliday�s words the two hours that shook the world changed the paradigm of international relations forever. The world of the 21st century won�t be one in which tyrants and fanatics are supported/appeased by democracies. It will be a world built on alliance of democracies, which together deal the final blow to fundamentalism and terrorism. I see Iraq�s liberation as the first step towards that end. The US has come to realize the importance of security in the region and the inseparable relationship between security and democracy in that region. I truly hope that this leads to democratization of the region and peace for everyone just as US intervention in Europe brought prosperity to the continent.

...and I hope: The US has come to realize the importance of security in the region and the inseparable relationship between security and democracy in that region...

Maman (pronounced as momon/maamaan): I don�t want them to open me up. Can you do some research and see what are the latest treatments and/or �for this and fax it to your brother or baba (dad)?
Sheema is sad... Sheema�s answer: sure maman. I will do the research and fax it!
Maman: I didn�t want to take a bath in the hospital-I don�t like it. I have told them I am going for my radio program and come back later tonight! (Mama is a mother and child nutritionist/family planning expert and a health engineer. She has worked for 25 years in the Iranian Ministry of Health and now for the past few years she covers a popular radio (health) program for the Iranians living in Denmark).
Sheema: Maman why don�t you stay at the hospital?
Maman: I can�t. I can�t let my life stop...
Sheema-thinking: Maman can you drive? Sheema-asking: maman is anyone driving you?
Sheema: Maman I love you.
Sheema: maman jun (dearest mama) I love you...
...Sheema is sad�

Lilith

Is not my mother

I am born of the Eve
But I will become
The Lillake
If you die on me
If you die on me, mother
I will become the Lillake

The wind or the night
Will not stop me
Cannot stop me

I am born of the Eve
Now

Sheema Kalbasi
according to some Jewish/Islamic studies Lilith or Lillake was Adma�s first wife (she presents darkness).

Read some of Dr.Esmail Nooriala's poetry...he has written for his wife.

  

 

Maman was released from the emergency but got transferred to� It�s a difficult day. God keep an eye on her please.

  

 

Maman is in hospital. I am sad.

  

 

The baby had her fifteen months vaccination a few days ago and today I had a TV interview with Dr. Pari Esfandiari of Iran Dokht on Channel One TV. The interview was about poetry and my literary works. I sent P and daughter out for a father and baby day. I may have a radio interview next week- I said if I only finish packing before next Sunday- I would do the interview.

  

 

Iran: Stop Torture

I am just one of the millions of victims of the arrogant, tyrannical and uncivilized rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran. They don't dare try me publicly. For the past 16 years, against all laws, they have refused to give me a public trial because they know that I do not care if I die. And that for as long as I live, I will defend my fellow countrymen, whose rights, as well as my own, have been violated.
Abbas Amir-Entezam's Letter to Renate Schmidt, National Parliament, Federal Republic of Germany, 1995.

You see in these photos people're crying their heart out for Ladan and Laleh. You wonder... did they even know the girls... or is it part of a cultural act! What about caring for the ones alive and in prison? Laleh and Ladan were 29 years old with a Law degree, living with their adoptive parents (the adoptive father a medical doctor). They knew the risks but chose to live/die as two free individuals. Their bodies are long buried but Abbas Amir Entezam and Ahmad Batebi are alive. Cry your heart out if you loved and cared for Ladan and Laleh but care for those alive and in pain. They need you to know They Are!

Nothing in this world of ours
Flows as we would have it flow;
What avail, then, careful hours,
Thought and trouble, tears and woe?
Through the shrouded veil of earth,
Life's rich colors gleaming bright,
Though in truth of little worth,
Yet allure with meteor light.
Life is torture and suspense;
Thought is sorrow-drive it hence!
With no will of mine I came,
With no will depart the same.

Omar Khayyam (Iranian/Persian Poet)

Read Pedram Moallemian�s Blogs shall set you free.
I can�t stop reading Peyman Vahabzadeh's poetry. It is hunting me.
...and check Facts On The Ground.

  

 

My latest work MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE - is a poem for The Iranian Women's Studies Foundation (IWSF). You can read it on Raha.

  

 

...and the farrago posts from the Cape Town, South Africa.
My photo's become the latest on Roger Humes' Art Gallery... Check his poems...

  

 

Mr. Khatami�s statement is one of those that make you want to knock your head to the wall (direct translation from Persian). It is not a question of to be or not to be a president. The reformists (Khatamists) and Mr. Khatami are the big bad wolf dressed as the sweet toothless granny�so the question shall be to be eaten or to be eaten or to be eaten or to be eaten or finish the presidency and than be eaten and to be eaten and to be eaten (there is neither a beginning nor an end to what they say).
�Anyways he doesn�t have any power�what is he resigning for? Who cares if he stays or not? He is not the player!



Poet Peyman Vahabzadeh writes:

...When I go out to the street,
I leave my head and heart at home,
to remain anonymous,
and stay alive.
It is hunting me.


... read the rest.

  

 

Shahrzad Sepanlou writes:I received the lyrics to Azadi (Freedom) from my father, Mohammad Ali Sepanlou...

Ever since I saw the link to some photos from Israel on Imshin�s blog, I have been meaning to post it on mine. Today I found the link... I guess cleaning the files wasn�t such a bad idea after all....

  

 

later tonight:


In the spirit of free expression of ideas at the same time as respecting each others� views, Hoder�s today posting (belonging to Mr. Hossein Derakhshan) triggered the following chain of thoughts.

Educated people worrying about a repeat of 1953 coup? How? Mullahs are not Shah, there is no Mossadegh on our political scene, people are different, the generation is different, we have no US-British backed army, it is a different time, it is a different century! The analogy of 1953 coup in the present time will be Mohsen Rezayee-Rafsanjani conspiracy to sweep power, not US staging a coup or invading Iran. Furthermore, the only people who really talk about US invasion of Iran are Iranians! No US administration official has ever indicated such desire. US media have only weakly entertained such possibility on slow news days when they have absolutely nothing else to talk about. When we say Iranians would have loved Bush had it not been for the imminent US military invasion of Iran, what we are really saying is that Iranian people have largely made up a reason to hate US otherwise they would have loved not only US but George Bush! I know the claim I am going to make may provoke a lot of anger but I say it anyways. Putting some State Department statements aside, US has pursued a very idealistic policy towards Iran, a policy well in line with what US would like to be known for and stand for. And that ideal is spreading revolutionary liberal values of freedom and pursuit of happiness in a region of the world where tyranny and indulging in sadness has become a way of life. If Iranians would really like to love the US and embrace western democratic values, now is the time to cast aside conspiracy theories and seize the opportunity, because US idealism, whatever the cause is, may not last long.

I know so little about the new generation because I left Iran in early teenage years; I hope they are indeed tolerant. What we all have seen from the 1979 revolutionary generation points to anything but tolerance. How many of us really cared about prosecution of Bahai�s? Didn�t Mujahedin-e-khalq and communists applaud execution of army and intelligence officers? Didn�t communists applaud execution of Mujahedin? And didn�t everybody else applaud oppression of communists? Who cared about Kurds? What would we have thought about a nation, say in Africa, with such dark contemporary history? Would we call those people tolerant? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I�ve been meaning to sit and write about the current issues�but haven�t had time�between packing and taking care of the baby and everything else-I lack the energy to express my views�I don�t have time right now so I will come back later tonight and work on this� but for now I want to say�Mr. Michael Ledeen is neither a friend nor a foe. He is an American with the U.S. interests at heart. Today it may be in the U.S. interest to help Iran reach Democracy but it can change ten days or ten years from now. To blame non-Iranians, and to think everything is a conspiracy, replaces the positive energy with disaster.

Read Jeff Jarvis' post from July 10, 2003
Notes Of An Iranian Girl: This problem of blocked weblogs isn�t something to be forgotten easily and I think if we don�t do something serious, censure on the Internet will be continued & even get worse.
Dokhi Fassihian-an Iran specialist- can not have the word Iran on her resume!
Katayoon Hadizadeh writes: I arrived for the July 9th anniversary demonstration shortly after 5. The number of people shocked me. There were about 10,000 people with slogans, posters and...United Nations pay more attention

Sima Bina is an Iranian folk singer. I enjoy listening to her voice often-my mother is from Mashehad/Khorasan and Ms. Bina�s voice like Dr. Esmail Khoi has a beautiful Khorasani accent that I so much miss tonight. (Asa, Sima Bina�s eldest daughter was my classmate from kindergarten to the fifth grade. I meet Ms. Bina at the school and some years later attended one of her concerts in Copenhagen). Tonight is Ms. Bina�s music night�

today... Asa Mitooie is a famous designer in Iran.

  

 

Islamic vigilantes seized three students leaders...
...got a call from...there have been many small groups of pro-democracy students... around... Ferdosi University in Mashehad...

An American is out of coma -after some twenty years� he is back after all these years� Iran�doesn�t seem to be recovering from hers� She is still in coma� I don�t have energy to write�am just going to go and continue packing� in three weeks�we are moving to our-new-home...

  

 

The risky operation to separate two adult Iranian sisters (Ladan and Laleh Bijani) joined at the head was fatal. P and I watched CNN�s Dr. Sanjay Gupta's disturbing reports-p was very sad. It would have been a great achievement for Science and for the twines if the operation had been a success. Sepideh (one of my few best friends) sent me an e-mail this morning about the Bijanis� death, expressing her grief. A sad start�

I've just found Opinions from the Bastard... enjoy reading... his blog...

  

 

Happy Iranian-man's day

On Zananeh (Feminine), Ms. Mahshid writes about Ahmad Batebi�s arrest. He has recently been moved to an unknown location. Batebi has never been member of an opposition group and his arrest is based on a photo taken for the cover of the Economist Magazine of 7/13/1999... but He is not the last man to be born of the blood and the fire�

...and I am not the first ever woman to be born of the blood and the fire�Don�t you try to silence me�I am in the middle of my innocence...my devotion is to love�and my passion is the truth�my private side is just a collection of my public dimensions-my displacement has the story of a soul: grooming her roots in a far away land�I am not the first ever woman to be born of the blood and the fire�


P and I took the baby for her first swim. She is 15 months young... I know my parents took me for my first skiing lessons when I was 3-4 years old-and maybe younger than my baby when I was taken for my first swim... How I loved standing on my dad�s shoulders and jumping in the waters of the Caspian sea� I was 3? 4? 5? I remember you dad and your joyful laughter�I love you father� I will cherish our memories to the end of my day� p: your little woman may not remember her first swim but she will cherish you to the end of her day� Iranian man: you are the greatest... Happy Iranian-man's day.

last night...in the middle of my-sweet dream...p wakes me up...and...says...I am falling�can you please move�just a little? I move� I start�thinking: this is a queen size� and the king was falling off the bed!


...ps: Sarzamin Aftab (Land of the Sun) writes about her Anglo Saxon-English husband using this Persian phrase at work�(and that with a straight face) �In the Land of the blinds, A one-eyed-man is the king�-literal translation from �too shahre koora, mard-e yek cheshm, paadeshaah-e� (laughs)


Click here to visit Blogster.Net - Top Blogs!

  

 

Iranian youth are on hunger strike, some 8000 students are arrested and unknown numbers are kidnapped in broad day light �

Bulimic... Night�don�t you follow me�I am crying with head and heart in my hands�night�don�t you follow me�you are cruel at heart�don�t you follow me... don�t you see their youthful eyes? Don�t you see they are on hunger strike? Don�t you see they are dieing�Night�don�t you follow me�I am crying head and heart in my hands�Night�don�t you follow me�tomorrow the sun will die� don�t you follow me�I am a Shinto, a Muslim, and a Jew! I will fight you with all I am�with all the gods on this one side��Night�don�t you follow me�you can never win... I am on their side!

  

 

Students still on hunger strike... more than 8,000 students have been arrested during demonstrations against the religious clerics... is execution the price to pay for wanting Democracy? Freedom? Human Rights?

The first five months of my pregnancy I had severe nausea and vomiting. My condition was troubling my doctor, p and every one around. I walked in my white silk pajamas all day and night... I couldn�t stand the sound of rain and the smell of summer. I craved hot and spicy Indian food and Iranian cake Yazdi* (P's beautiful sister sent me some from LA)... today -more than a year is gone- and I still remember the sounds and the smells but... Again if my sins are to be counted... Again I will make you naked... again and again... I love you baby jan... right now you are sound asleep in your white pajamas... and tomorrow when I wake up from my dreams... you will still remain... my daughter...

*I tried to find a photo from Yazd�couldn�t so I used the zoroastrian�s link instead�


the new issue of Rozaneh is out.

  

 

If you endorse the Iranians' Appeal to the European Union please sign this petition.

Last Saturday on the way back from Boston, P and I were talking about the current events in Iran, i.e. P was talking and I was listening (laughs). He was talking about the delicate difference between leadership and management. Leaders manage change. Managers manage complexity. To be a leader you have to embrace the change, you have to be an agent of change, a catalyst if you will. The Iranian society is going through a lot of changes. The whole generation is an agent of change. But our political figures are disappointing. They are either professional charlatans, or frozen heads still stuck in Mossadegh/Pahlavi era, or Mojahidins and leftist-leaning left and right as the condition of the day dictates. They utter Persian words but don�t speak the language spoken in today�s Persia. And almost all of them are self-proclaimed moral authorities �seeing a hair in others� eyes but don�t see the pole in their own�-literal translation from �moo ro too cheshme baghiye mibinan, tiro too cheshme khodeshoon nemibinan.� More laughable is the elitism demonstrated by former/current extremists. You know, the people preaching here and there that our society is not ready; our youth can�t tell right from wrong; change is only possible if coming from above and paternalistic nonsense of this nature. My God, doesn't it remind anyone of the ape elite in Planet of the Apes?


My baby put her arms around me to give a quick kiss before going for a nap (lala). I thought if a child is given enough love and attention and is not mentally sick, she/he would not grow up to kill fellow humans in the name of Religion, Nationality and so on. What makes a child grow up into becoming a Hitler? What makes powerful men into killing machines? What makes one think he/she is born just to get other people in touch with a/the god/s? Does God want us to have the choice of goodness or he wants us to be chosen for?

More than 8,000 students have been arrested. In order to support the -students/people's- demonstration against the clerics ruling the country...please sign this petition.


check Joanne Warfield.