(Below is chapter 1 of WE ARE IRAN, posted from http:\/\/www.softskull.com. WE ARE IRAN will be reviewed in the upcoming issue.)<\/p>\n
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\nSample chapter from
\nWe Are Iran
\nNasrin Alavi
\nForthcoming in October 2005 from
\nSoft Skull Press (in the US)
\nRaincoast (in Canada)
\nPortobello Books (in the UK and British Commonwealth)
\n\u00a9 2005 Nasrin Alavi
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\n1
\nA Virtual Community
\nIn September 2001 Hossein Derakhshan, a young Iranian journalist who had
\nrecently moved to Canada, set up one of the very first weblogs in Farsi, his
\nnative language. (For the uninitiated, a weblog or blog is a kind of diary or
\njournal posted on the Internet.) In response to a request from a reader, Hossein
\ncreated a simple how-to-blog guide in Farsi. With the modest aim of giving
\nother Iranians a voice, he set free an entire community.
\nToday Farsi is the fourth most frequently used language for keeping online
\njournals. There are more Iranian blogs than there are Spanish, German,
\nItalian, Chinese or Russian. According to the 2004 NITLE Blog Census,1 there
\nare more than 64,000 blogs written in Farsi. A phenomenal figure, given that in
\nneighboring countries such as Iraq there are fewer than 50 known bloggers.
\nBlogging in Iran has grown so fast because it meets the needs no longer
\nmet by the print media; it provides a safe space in which people may write
\nfreely on a wide variety of topics, from the most serious and urgent to the most
\nfrivolous. Some prominent writers use their blogs to bypass strict state
\ncensorship and to publish their work on-line; established journalists can post
\nuncensored reports on their blogs; expatriate Iranians worldwide use their blogs
\n1
\nThe NITLE program crawls through the web using statistical analyses, with an algorithm that
\nidentifies blogs and their languages.
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\nto communicate with those back home; ordinary citizens record their thoughts
\nand deeds in daily journals; and student groups and NGOs utilize their blogs as
\na means of co-ordinating their activities.
\n17 November 2004
\nI keep a weblog so that I can breathe in this suffocating air . . . In a society
\nwhere one is taken to history\u2019s abattoir for the mere crime of thinking, I write
\nso as not to be lost in my despair . . . so that I feel that I am somewhere where
\nmy calls for justice can be uttered . . . I write a weblog so that I can shout, cry
\nand laugh, and do the things that they have taken away from me in Iran today .
\n. .
\nlolivashe@yahoo.com
\nwww.lolivashaneh.blogspot.com
\nThe worst that could happen to a blogger in the West is that they might be
\nlooked upon as self-absorbed \u2018cyber-geeks\u2019 or \u2018anoraks\u2019, but in Iran \u2013 a country
\nthat Reporters sans Fronti\u00e8res called \u2018the biggest prison for journalists in the
\nMiddle East\u2019 \u2013 honest self-expression carries a heavy price. In the last six years
\nas many as 100 print publications, including 41 daily newspapers, have been
\nclosed by Iran\u2019s hardline judiciary.
\nIn April 2003 Iran became the first government to take direct action
\nagainst bloggers. Sina Motallebi, a journalist behind a popular weblog
\n(www.rooznegar.com), was imprisoned. His arrest was just the beginning and
\nmany more bloggers and on-line journalists have been arrested since. As
\nReporters sans Fronti\u00e8res put it: \u2018In a country where the independent press has
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\nto fight for its survival on a daily basis, on-line publications and weblogs are
\nthe last media to fall into the authorities\u2019 clutches.\u2019 They add that through
\narrests and intimidation, \u2018the Iranian authorities are now trying to spread terror
\namong on-line journalists\u2019 (16 October 2004).
\nIntimidation such as the arrest of Sina Motallebi\u2019s elderly father or the
\naccusations of adultery against on-line journalist Fershteh Ghazi. According to
\nReporters Without Borders, five other imprisoned web journalists, \u2018Javad
\nGholam Tamayomi, Omid Memarian, Shahram Rafihzadeh, Hanif Mazroi and
\nRozbeh Mir Ebrahimi are expected to be accused of having sex with her. Some
\nof them are said to have been forced to sign confessions. Such accusations by
\nthe authorities are common against political prisoners in Iran\u2019 (29 October
\n2004). Adultery is a crime punishable by stoning.
\nIn October 2004, while several Internet journalists and bloggers were
\nheld in undisclosed locations awaiting trial, Ayatollah Shahrudi the head of the
\njudiciary, announced new laws expressly covering \u2018cyber crimes\u2019: anyone
\n\u2018propagating against the regime, acting against national security, disturbing the
\npublic mind and insulting religious sanctities through computer systems or
\ntelecommunications would be punished\u2019. This announcement was accompanied
\nby a number of articles in state propaganda newspapers such the Keyhan daily,
\nwhich \u2018exposed\u2019 the Iranian blogosphere as a \u2018network led by the CIA
\nconspiring to overthrow the regime\u2019.
\nSina Motallebi (right of picture) \u2013 the
\nfirst blogger in the world to be
\nimprisoned for the contents of his blog \u2013
\nin the summer of 2002 with colleagues
\nat the Hayat-e Nou newspaper. Soon
\nafterwards the newspaper was closed
\ndown, along with more than 100 other
\npublications. Sina has left Iran and lives
\nin Europe with his wife and son.
\nHowever, according to Reporters sans
\nFronti\u00e8res, the authorities arrested his
\nfather in September 2004 in an attempt
\nto silence the now-exiled blogger.
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\nPhoto \u00a9 Hossein Derakhshan www.vagrantly.com
\nSina Motallebi (above far right) – the first blogger in the world to be imprisoned
\nfor the contents of his weblog – during the summer of 2002 with colleagues at
\n\u2018Hayat-e Nou\u2019 newspaper, that was soon after closed down alongside over a
\nhundred publications. Sina has left Iran and lives in Europe with his wife and
\nson. Yet ‘Reporters sans Frontieres\u2019 reported that the Iranian judiciary had
\narrested his father during the September of 2004, with the aim of silencing the
\nnow exiled blogger
\nThe crackdowns suggest that the regime is determined to curtail freedom
\nof speech in cyberspace. Yet faced with a judiciary prepared to stone someone
\nto death to silence them, an increasing number of blogs are now written
\nanonymously. Additionally, many political Internet sites have gone
\nunderground, making them even more radical and critical.
\nYet despite the very real risks, there are some bloggers who still write
\nunder their own names. Bijan Safsari was editor-in-chief and publisher of
\nseveral independent pro-democracy newspapers \u2013 all of them shut down by the
\nregime. Each time one of his newspapers was closed down, it quickly resurfaced
\nunder a new name. Eventually, this game of cat and mouse got Bijan thrown
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\ninto jail and now that there are no other venues where he can write or publish,
\nhe keeps a blog.
\n18 February 2004
\nThere are those such as [Muhammad-Ali] Abtahi [the Iranian Parliamentary ex-
\nVice President] who have called our virtual community too political and have
\nsaid that we should use weblogs for their intended use . . . that is to say, for
\nclich\u00e9d daily diaries . . . So what if we use our blogs in ways not intended for or
\ndefined during the distant conception of this medium?
\nAt a time when our society is deprived of its rightful free means of
\ncommunication, and our newspapers are being closed down one by one — with
\nwriters and journalists crowding the corners of our jails . . . the only realm that
\ncan safeguard and shoulder the responsibility of free speech is the blogosphere.
\nEmail: safsari@bijan-safsari.com
\nhttp:\/\/bijan-safsari.com\/
\nAccording to data from the World Bank (2001), Iran has more personal
\ncomputers per 1,000 people than the regional average. Estimates of the number
\nof on-line users range from four million to seven million and growing.
\nHowever, experts maintain that these figures do not reflect the current reality,
\nbecause every month thousands more Iranians buy computers and go on-line.
\nThe number of Iranians on-line is likely to more than double again in the next
\nfive years, in a country where two-thirds of the population are under 30 and
\nmany are already technologically savvy.
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\nInterestingly \u2013 even ironically \u2013 thanks to the education policies of the
\nIslamic Republic, those who enter further education tend to be from a wide
\ncross-section of Iranian society; and many of these students throughout Iran, all
\nof them from very different social and regional backgrounds, have access to the
\nInternet at their place of study.
\n20 July 2003
\nHas everyone noticed the spooky absence of graffiti in our public toilets since
\nthe arrival of weblogs? Remember the toilets at university we used to call our
\n\u2018Freedom Columns\u2019?
\nEmail: pythonir@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/python.persianblog.com
\n1 May 2003
\nMy blog is an opportunity for me to be heard . . . a free microphone that
\ndoesn\u2019t need speakers . . . a blank page . . .
\nSometimes I stretch out on this page in the nude . . . now and again I
\nhide behind it. Occasionally I dance on it . . . Once in a while I tear it up . . .
\nand from time to time I draw a picture of my childhood on it . . . I think . . . I
\nlive . . . I blog . . . therefore I . . . exist.
\nEmail: deltangestan@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/deltangestan.com\/
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\n12 January 2004
\nThis is a personal note of gratitude to Hossein Derakhshan, the \u2018Godfather\u2019 of
\nIranian blogs, who opened up the world to a society . . . proving that even a 30-
\nyear-old Iranian, with merely the aid of a notebook and a connection to the
\nInternet, can make a difference . . . So much so that according to a Guardian
\nnewspaper report [18 December 2003] he is deemed one of the top 15
\ninternational figures \u2018whose weblogs have caused the biggest stir both in and
\noutside the blogsphere\u2019.
\nWithin only a two-year period his tireless efforts have led to tens of
\nthousands of Farsi blogs . . . a phenomenon that I believe will eventually
\ninfluence our awareness, our personas and our lives . . .
\nEmail: silence1355@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/shortcut.persianblog.com
\nIn recent decades analysts, academics and journalists have had little or no real
\naccess to Iran. So they have at times relied unduly on partial inquiry and the
\nimages presented by State propaganda. Dan De Luce, the Guardian\u2019s
\ncorrespondent in Iran for more than a year, was expelled from the country by
\nthe Iranian government in May 2004. As he puts it: \u2018Stifling the flow of
\ninformation means that the nuances of Iranian society are often obscured to the
\noutside world. Any foreigner who visits Iran is struck by the gap between the
\nreality of Iranian society and the image cultivated by the regime.\u2019 (Guardian, 24
\nMay 2004)
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\nYet through the anonymity that blogs can provide, those who once
\nlacked voices are at last speaking up and discussing issues that have never been
\naired in any other media in the Islamic world.
\n30 October 2003
\nIslam is compatible with democracy*
\n*Subject to terms and conditions
\nEmail: weblog@ksajadi.com
\nwww.ksajadi.com\/fblog\/
\nIran\u2019s burgeoning on-line communities have been able to evade the cultural and
\npolitical restraints regarding speech, appearance and relations between the
\nsexes; restraints which are strictly enforced in public. As researchers such as
\nBabak Rahimi2 have revealed, websites and blogs have made it possible for
\nyoung Iranians to express themselves freely and anonymously \u2013 especially
\nyoung women. The Internet, \u2018as an advancing new means of communication,
\nhas played an important role in the ongoing struggle for democracy in Iran\u2019,
\nsays Rahimi, and \u2018has opened a new virtual space for political dissent\u2019.
\nVoting Against \u2018God\u2019s Representative on Earth\u2019
\n2 \u2018Cyberdissent: The Internet in Revolutionary Iran\u2019 (MERIA, September 2003).
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\nIn recent years the Iranian people have demonstrated their desire for change by
\noverwhelmingly voting for those parliamentary candidates who promise
\ndemocracy. The Islamic hardliners have a single campaign theme: the principles
\nof the 1979 Islamic Revolution will receive a fatal blow if the reformers are
\nvictorious.
\nIn the 1997 election campaign Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, the Speaker of
\nParliament, enjoyed the implicit endorsement of the Supreme Leader, who is
\ndeemed by the ruling clergy to be \u2018God\u2019s representative on earth\u2019. Nearly 80 per
\ncent of eligible voters participate and a massive 70 per cent of them voted for
\nthe little-known cleric Muhammad Khatami, giving his reform agenda
\nenormous backing, while at the same time voting against Ali Akbar Nateq-
\nNouri, ignoring the endorsement of God\u2019s representative on earth.
\nPresident Khatami gained the overwhelming support of the Iranian
\npeople because of the consistent message of his speeches: \u2018There are those . . .
\nwho concede no change . . . Their God is their meagre and dim perceptions,
\nwhich fight all the people\u2019s demands in the name of religion . . . God forbid that
\none day our people will feel the authorities are not meeting their real demands
\nand that dirty hands have succeeded in disappointing them and thus alienating
\nthem. Then, no military, security or judicial power will be able to save the
\ncountry.\u2019 In two subsequent presidential elections, President Khatami won 77
\nper cent and 70 per cent of the vote, with approximately 20 million votes cast.
\nHe succeeded everywhere, in every demographic group \u2013 he even carried Qom,
\nthe religious bastion of Iran.
\nBut change has been totally blocked by the hardliners who keep hold the
\nreal power through the judiciary and the Guardian Council (a conservative
\nsupervisory body). They have demonstrated their formidable power by
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\nabolishing the reformist press, vetoing parliamentary and election candidates,
\nand arresting, torturing and assassinating many liberals and student activists.
\n8 January 2004
\nYou have heard the story of my generation many times. A generation that grew
\nup with bombs, rockets, war and revolutionary slogans . . . A generation that
\nhad battle-green grenade-shaped piggy banks . . .
\nThe girls of my generation will never forget their head teachers tugging
\nhard at tiny strands of hair that somehow fell out of their veils to teach them a
\nlesson. The boys of my generation will never forget being slapped five times in
\nthe face for wearing shirts with Western labels on them . . . all of us have
\nhundreds of similar memories . . .
\nMy generation is the damaged generation. We were constantly chastised
\nthat we were duty-bound to safeguard and uphold the sacred blood that was
\nshed for us during a revolution and a war. Any kind of happiness was
\nforbidden for us . . .
\nMy generation would be beaten up outside cinema queues or pizza
\nrestaurants . . . punished in the public parks; kicked and punched in the centres
\nof town by the regime\u2019s militia . . . I will never forget the militia\u2019s Toyota vans
\nand the loudspeaker announcements in Vali\u2019Asr Square: \u201cWe will fight against
\nall boys and girls!\u201d \u2013 shouting those exact words!
\nWho can forget? For my generation talking to a member of the opposite
\nsex (something quite ordinary for the new generation) was akin to adultery and
\nits punishments are better left unsaid. These are just partial moments in all of
\nour bitter lives: each and every one of us could write a book about them.
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\nBut I also remember the start of the reform movement. This same
\ngeneration would distribute election pamphlets and posters for Khatami. And
\neven for this we were reprimanded and beaten, but we stood up for him so that
\none day hope might come. It\u2019s unfair to say he did nothing . . . we got concerts,
\npoetry readings, carefree chats in coffee shops and tight Manteaus. But is this
\nall that my generation wanted?
\nIt was also during this time that student activists were thrown in prison,
\nnewspapers were shut down \u2013 and yet Khatamiwas silent . . . it was at this time
\nthat the students of my generation were labeled hooligans and Western lackeys .
\n. . and again Khatami appeared to agree through his silence . . .
\nEven the subsequent parliamentary elections of reformists did not bring
\nany benefits for my generation. Under the almighty shadow of the Guardian
\nCouncil, sometimes hearing the words of the enemy from the mouths of those
\nyou considered friends has been even harder to bear . . .
\nEmail: arareza@Gmail.com
\ndentist.blogspot.com
\nThe unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the conservative
\nclerics and lawyers control the courts, the army, the media, political councils
\nand the powerful Islamic foundations (bonyads) that very nearly run the
\neconomy. In February 2004 the conservatives banned more than 2,000
\ncandidates from running in parliamentary elections, dropping any pretence at
\ndemocracy and reasserting full control over the State.
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\n13 February 2004
\nOne of the greatest blessings of the Islamic Republic has been that we no longer
\nhold anything sacred . . .
\nIn 1935 the monarch Reza Shah, a secular modernizer, issued an edict
\nthat declared the wearing of traditional dress (for both women and men) an
\noffence punishable by a prison term . . . As hard as Reza Shah tried, he could
\nnot have done what the ayatollahs have recently achieved . . . it has gone so far
\nthat today\u2019s burgeoning youth, supposedly ruled by the \u2018representative of God
\non earth\u2019, now even deny the existence of God himself.
\nhttp:\/\/weblog.omila.com
\nThe Children of the Revolution
\nThose who lived through the Islamic Revolution almost a quarter of a century
\nago are now a minority. More than 70 per cent of the nation is under 30, and
\nfor this population, literacy rates for young men and women stand well over 90
\nper cent, even in rural areas. Notably, more than half of those graduating from
\nuniversity in Iran today are women.
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\nYoung Iranians at a shopping centre.
\nPhotos \u00a9 Yalda Moaiery www.kargah.com
\nIran\u2019s younger generation has been completely transformed through the Islamic
\nRepublic\u2019s education policies of free education and national literacy campaigns.
\nParadoxically, this has created an educated and politicized youth with voting
\nrights at 16 \u2013 and they are ready and willing to express their frustration.
\nYet today, just as Muslim women elsewhere in the Islamic world are
\nonce again taking up the veil, it is the norm in Iran to see young women trying
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\nto keep their covering to a \u2018legal\u2019 minimum. They have turned the veil into a
\nmark of protest. Twenty-five years after the Revolution, its boldest and most
\nvocal opponents are the children of the Revolution. The Iranian authorities
\nwant to shield young people from the \u2018cultural onslaught\u2019 of the West, but this
\nhas only made them more curious about \u2013 and almost fixated upon \u2013 the
\nforeign culture they are being denied.
\n\u2018Many Iranians, even those on very limited incomes, own illegal satellite
\ndishes that give them instant access to American television,\u2019 explains the veteran
\njournalist and writer Elaine Sciolino (Persian Mirrors, 2000). \u2018CDs, videos, and
\ncomputer programs are pirated and sold on the streets for a fraction of their
\nprice in the United States. E-mail is more widely available in Iran than in many
\nother Middle Eastern countries.\u2019
\n19 July 2003
\nThere will come a day when every single thing will be put right . . .There will be
\nno censors filtering blogs . . . If they show a veiled woman on TV . . . They will
\nchequer the TV screen . . . Then you and I . . . will walk the streets till dawn,
\nwith a bottle of Champagne . . . That is, if yourmum lets us!
\nEmail: farshiid@gmail.com
\nhttp:\/\/acetaminophen.persianblog.com
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\nIranian girls discussing happenings in the blogosphere
\nCartoon \u00a9 Hamidreza Nasiry
\nFor a quarter of a century Iran has been a laboratory of political and
\nsocial experimentation. It has also experienced what no other Muslim state has
\nexperienced in the twentieth century, namely two decades during which
\nideological, revolutionary Islam co-existed with what could be called a more
\n\u2018secular\u2019 dimension. In this mixed public space debates, inquiries and even some
\nreforms proved possible. By exposing Islam to public criticism, the Iranian
\nRevolution has made possible discussions about religion, values and the
\nrelationship between religion and society.
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\n8 August 2002
\nWhat have the likes of me learned after 12 years of formal religious education?
\nWhat is the outcome of being consistently bombarded with sacred information
\nin this Islamic Republic of ours?
\n1. When you talk about your religion for over 20 years, its problems will
\nbe highlighted.
\n2. Religious education is the best way to create agnostics in the modern world.
\nJust look around at the people you personally know who went to the
\ninfamously strict Islamic schools, like Haghani, Kamal, Moofid, etc.
\n3. Even those most addicted to religion will at some stage overdose.
\n1. 4. The problem is not with Islam but with a few of our radical fellow
\nMuslims.
\nThe other day I saw a construction worker fast asleep next to a cement mixer;
\nhe appeared to have developed a deaf ear to all that noise. After so many years
\nof being bombarded with religious facts you just stop hearing them.
\nEmail: lbahram@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/lbahram.blogspot.com
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\nAfter a visit to Iran in 2002, Professor J\u00fcrgen Habermas said of future social
\ndevelopments there: \u2018Nobody knows . . . You would, for example, have to have
\na greater insight into the thoughts of young women, above all those with an
\nacademic background. Women already comprise over half the student
\npopulation. How many of them would take off their headscarves in public if
\nthey could? Do these heads contain a powder keg that the regime of the old
\nayatollahs has to fear more than anything else?\u20193
\n16 June 2003
\nAt last it\u2019s over. I\u2019ve spent the last five years in the nasty hell-hole of
\nMay\u2019boad.* But it\u2019s over . . . I\u2019ve packedmy things and moved back home.
\nI remember when I started my course at that so-called university . . . we
\nmust have been the first group of single girls entering that God-forsaken place
\nand setting up on our own . . . so many times coming home and washing the
\nspit of passers-by off my clothes . . . they just could not tolerate our shameful
\nheadscarves . . . without exception then, all the native women used to wear
\nchadors . . . They say that things are changing and extremists are getting more
\ntolerant . . . a friend ofmine even thinks that we started a revolution here . . .
\nIt\u2019s been just five years, but the same shopkeepers who would refuse to
\nserve us if we were not wearing a chador now have teenage daughters who
\ndress more provocatively than we ever dared to . . . Looking around this tiny
\ntown, only five years later you see that many of the local young girls have shed
\ntheir black chadors.
\n3
\n\u2018The Unrest Is Growing\u2019, interview with J\u00fcrgen Habermas, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (18 June
\n2002).
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\nWe did not start a revolution here. Our \u2018allegedly Reformist President\u2019
\ndid not bring about a more tolerant society . . . Societies evolve and change and
\nit\u2019s the ordinary people that change them . . . 70 per cent of our population is
\nunder 30 and many just don\u2019t want to live like their parents used to . . .
\nEventually they will have to . . . not just tolerate us . . . but also live by our
\nrules . . .
\nBy Borderline
\n* May\u2019boad is a tiny desert town; as part of the realization of the Islamic Republic\u2019s
\npolicy of \u2018higher education for the masses\u2019, universities have been set up throughout
\nIran
\n21 September 2003
\nWhen most of our people are fed up and, according to the Government\u2019s own
\nfigures, 11 per cent have no income at all . . . And we still don\u2019t know anything
\nabout the state of the students they arrested after last term\u2019s mass
\ndemonstrations and . . . then to be treated with contempt during my
\nregistration at Shahid Beheshty University . . .
\nThe first thing they noticed was my make-up!!! Scrolled across my
\nConduct Form: HEAVY MAKE-UP!!! And started telling me that I would be
\nanswerable for this in the after-life!!! Is wearing make-up cannibalism or
\nsomething?!!!
\nWhat about all our corrupt government officials? Will they ever be
\nanswerable to anyone?!!!
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\nThey\u2019re saying our veils are getting too small. 10 cm is too small? Why
\ndon\u2019t they make the boys with long hair cover their heads!!? Hair is hair!!!
\nAnyway we have to burn these veils!! So don\u2019t bother wasting your money
\nbuying the stuff . . .
\nBy Water Lily
\n20 November 2003
\nYesterday I bought a turquoise ring . . . They say it brings you happiness . . . I
\ndidn\u2019t let my boyfriend buy it . . . I bought it myself.
\nI wanted to be the creator of my own happiness, beauty and freedom . . .
\nThe era of fairy-tale heroes has come to an end.
\nEmail: myownsroom@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/myownsroom.blogspot.com
\n3 June 2003
\nDo you have a fantasy that can never fade away?
\nI want to be with a man who would talk to me rapidly in Italian . . .
\nWhile not understanding a word of it, to know what he means in the depths of
\nhis eyes . . . and to just nod my head in agreement . . . Farsi words have become
\nso shallow for me.
\nI want someone who speaks a different language. I want us to be able to
\nuse our hands, eyes and our heat, as words can be very treacherous. Very.
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\nEmail: khanoomigoli@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/khanoomgol.blogspot.com
\nOne of the major attractions of blogging in Iran is that it enables young people
\nto bypass many of the strict social codes imposed on them by the theocratic
\nregime. The Internet makes it easy to socialize, flirt, tell irreverent jokes,
\narrange dates and keep in touch. Popular young bloggers such as
\n\u2018acetaminophen\u2019 (see below) offer us a snapshot of the underground landscape
\nof their lives.
\n7 December 2002
\nEid-e Fetr at the end of Ramadan is the only Eid when everyone\u2019s happy. For
\nthose who have been fasting for a month and those of you who have been
\nhaving secret tortuous lunches, Happy Eid!
\n22 March 2003
\n\u2013 Darling you look beautiful tonight . . .
\n\u2013 But you\u2019re still the same trash that I\u2019ve had to put up with for a lifetime . . .
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\nI prefer it when my beloved parents at least communicate, as it\u2019s so boring
\nwhen they totally ignore each other . . .
\n24 March 2003
\nDo you have a boyfriend? No I write a weblog instead . . .
\n2 October 2003
\nI dreamt I was Cinderella, everything was going really well until the king\u2019s
\nenvoy appeared and announced to my wicked stepmother: \u2018We must see all the
\ngirls in this household, the prince has been assassinated and the only piece of
\nevidence left by the assassin is this glass slipper.\u2019
\n7 December 2003
\nSin or whatever . . .
\nI’ve fallen in love with myself . . . but I can\u2019t work out whether it\u2019s the real
\nthing or I’ll end up taking advantage of myself . . .
\nEmail: farshiid@gmail.com
\nhttp:\/\/acetaminophen.persianblog.com
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\n21 July 2002
\nThis is my situation.
\nFor my love a suitor has come via her family.
\nBut so that no one can know about our love
\nShe is forced to see him a while before rejecting him.
\nA forced relationship with my hateful rival.
\nAnd I who am privy to all her secrets and the soothers of all her pains
\nAm burning in my lover\u2019s fire.
\nEmail: fiftypercentnormal@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/www.goldoon.com\/
\n8 March 2003
\nMy good deed of the day:
\nI came across a cockroach in the kitchen today (I don\u2019t want any of you out
\nthere thinking we have cockroaches in our house, because we don\u2019t \u2013 it must
\nhave got in through a window or something), but out of the total kindness of
\nmy heart I ignored it and let it escape . . .
\nI\u2019m glad Mum wasn\u2019t in the kitchen to see this as she would have said:
\n\u2018What? Have you fallen in love again?!!!\u2019 Mum thinks the only people on earth
\nwho don\u2019t kill cockroaches . . . are those who have just fallen in love!
\nEmail: z8unak@z8un.com
\nhttp:\/\/z8un.com
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\nCultural Invasion
\nIn recent years social scientists have observed that young Iranians are caught in
\nthe conflict between globalization and tradition. Their formal education and the
\nstate media try to keep them in line, but Islamic revolutionary values are being
\nchallenged by a \u2018Western cultural onslaught\u2019: the Internet and satellite television
\nhave opened the world to Iranians. Twenty-five years after the Revolution, Iran
\nhas a young, educated population \u2013 in particular an assertive generation of
\neducated women who are entering previously forbidden domains.
\nAt home in Tehran
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\n\u00a9 Amirali Ghasemi 2005, amiralighasmi.com
\nPhoto \u00a9 Ramin Rabii
\nThe Morality Police have enforced the rules of the regime: no alcohol, no
\ndancing and no pop music \u2013 bans that are still in force today. The intention was
\nto create \u2018soldiers for Islam\u2019, but now groups of young people who aspire to a
\nmore Western lifestyle have turned such culturally alien events as St Valentine\u2019s
\nDay into a local festival. According to one report on 14 February 2003:
\n\u2018Tehran\u2019s traders were rubbing their hands on Thursday after seeing sales of
\nperfume and other gifts soar ahead of St Valentine\u2019s Day, the new cause for
\ncelebration for young lovers in Islamic Iran.\u2019 Meanwhile, Iranians such as the
\nblogger Massoud Borjian have made the day their own.
\n14 February 2004
\nFor us Iranians who rarely have moments for real tranquillity and calm free
\nfrom turmoil, 14th of February, Saint Valentines Day has become the best
\nexcuse to remember our beloveds…
\nAs Hafez [Persian poet (1326\u20131389)] has said:
\nTruthfully I admit, with much joy and such glee
\nEnslaved to love, from both worlds I am free
\nCongratulation on the Eid of lovers
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\nMassoud Borjian
\nEmail: borjian@gmail.com
\nhttp:\/\/borjian.blogspot.com\/
\nScanning through the Iranian blogs on 14 February, one comes across
\nnumerous references to Valentine\u2019s Day. Iran has been overwhelmed by the
\nrapid growth of this alien tradition and it has been hotly debated in the Press.
\nIn the Sharg newspaper on 14 February 2004, Davood Penhani writes that
\n\u2018Valentine Day or as they say the Day of Lovers, a totally Western tradition, is
\ngradually entering the hearts of the youth of the East. Just glance at the shops
\nscattered around town selling presents for this European celebration and you
\ncan grasp the reality.\u2019 What has happened to a society that at one time was
\n\u2018willing to go to battle for its cultural identity\u2019, but is now so \u2018receptive to the
\ntraditions and customs of strangers\u2019 that it shows \u2018no fear of forgetting its own
\nnational and religious customs\u2019? This is the key question for Iran: is this healthy
\nor is it dangerous for Iranian society and culture?
\nValentines Day in Iran
\nFor we Iranians who rarely have moments of real
\ntranquillity and calm free from turmoil, the 14th of
\nFebruary, St Valentine\u2019s Day, has become the best
\nexcuse to remember our beloved.
\nAs Hafez [a Persian poet (1326\u201389)] once said:
\n\u2018Truthfully I admit, with much joy and such glee,
\nEnslaved to love, from both worlds I am free.\u2019
\nCongratulation on the Eid of lovers
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\n\u00a9 Atieh Noori, www.kargah.com
\nWhile many within the establishment regard such trends as a crisis,
\nothers take a more pragmatic approach \u2013 among them the Iranian reformist ex-
\nVice President and mid-ranking cleric Muhammad-Ali Abtahi, to judge by his
\nown blog.
\n12 February 2004
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\nIt has become a custom of ours to have a day that represents love and life . . .
\nthis custom like many other traditions has been imported to our country. Even
\nthough many have raised objections to this . . . we cannot deny the reality.
\nNonetheless, friendship and love are entwined with our history and
\nliterature . . . and the Islam that I know encourages life and love.
\nhttp:\/\/www.webneveshteha.com\/
\n14 February 2003
\nThese days on every street you are confronted by many shops laden with
\ncountless varieties of cuddly toys piled up in their windows . . . everything
\nplastered with an \u2018I love you\u2019 message for Valentine\u2019s Day . . . with flocks of
\nyoung girls and boys huddled around these shops breathlessly consulting about
\nwhat to get . . .
\nBut what has this Valentine got to do with us? However hard I look into
\nour history I can\u2019t find a tradition, date or anything that is similar to this . . .
\nWe have countless lovers in our stories and poetry, but no day like Valentine\u2019s
\nDay when we express love . . . So because we don\u2019t have such a thing must we
\nborrow from those nearby? Like all other things? Like the way we dress, our
\nbehaviour, dances and music?
\nThis culture of ours is so totally mixed up that I don\u2019t know where it
\nwill end . . . In direct opposition to those in charge, people are now readier and
\nreadier to distance themselves from their own culture, no matter what . . .
\nEmail: awat_hiva@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/awathiva.persianblog.com
\nScience tells us to be detached and objective, but sometimes the truth is
\nsubjective and fully involved in the issues that matter. When so much of the
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\nattention directed at the Islamic world is focused on violence and terrorism,
\nblogs offer outsiders a fresh perspective on the lives of ordinary men and
\nwomen, relaying their experiences \u2013 their fears, dreams, disappointments and
\ninsecurities \u2013 while allowing others to eavesdrop on the clandestine
\nconversations of a closed society.
\n29 October 2003
\nMy daughter wanted to get her nose pierced. I resisted and told her that she
\nwas bound to regret it and that she should wait until she was a bit older and
\nthen decide for herself. She looked at me then and said: \u2018Piercing your nose is
\nno big deal. Maybe I will in the end regret it . . . but that\u2019s not the whole world.
\nIt is a small wish. By banning me . . . you\u2019re turning a small wish into my
\nultimate dream. Why do you want me to have such insignificant dreams? If I
\ncan fulfil these small wishes and not grow up with such trivial dreams, don\u2019t
\nyou think I will have a better life waiting for me?\u2019
\n*
\nWe too had such insignificant wishes and even when we grew up they didn\u2019t
\ncome true . . . There were so many times we wanted to go somewhere and they
\nwouldn\u2019t let us and it became a dream. So many times they even stopped us
\nfrom running. It came to the point that we weren\u2019t even allowed to take small
\nsteps . . .
\nThis is Iran. You hear my voice from the land of the most compassionate
\nmothers . . . mothers who break your legs for fear that you may hurt your ankle
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\nwalking on our very hard pavements . . . Mothers who are more terrified then
\nyou are. They bring you up as cowards and riddled with guilt . . . This is Iran,
\nwhere all our \u2018mothers are destined to the heavens\u2019* . . . and every single one of
\nus . . . when we becomemothers, we turn into the most compassionate mothers
\nthe like of which no one has ever encountered anywhere else on earth . . .
\nmonumental dams . . .In the name of compassion, worry, future outlook . . .
\nThis is Iran. When a mothers says \u2018Don\u2019t\u2019, you don\u2019t leave; and when she
\nsays \u2018Die\u2019, you die.
\nThis is Iran and when you don\u2019t ever\u2026 there is not a whiff of shame or
\nhumanity about you \u2026
\nThis is Iran. Mothers have to worry . . . they have to be anxious . . . and
\nthey have to break your legs.
\nEmail: faeze_am@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/faeze.blogspot.com
\n* A quote attributed to the prophet Muhammad.
\n21 August 2003
\nAt times it\u2019s been hard getting used to being a widow, with the children all
\naway . . . My grandchildren come over asmuch as they can . . .
\nYet at last he\u2019s back \u2013 the two years he\u2019s been away have been hard.
\nStill, he has experienced national service and being away from home . . . now
\nI\u2019m no longer alone and there is someone that I can discuss many things with.
\nThere is a lot of happiness in having a young person at home. Your fridge has
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\nto be full . . . You have to think about cooking, and get to have the sound of
\nthe washing machine in the background all day long.
\nNothing is under your control any longer and you have found a
\npowerful contender . . .
\nAnd when you say, \u2018Give me some peace to write my blog.\u2019 He says:
\n\u2018Look at you, the trendy young rebel, keeping a blog . . .\u2019
\nSiavash, my dear son, welcome home.
\nEmail: badrivahidi@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/hamneshinedel.persianblog.com
\nPortrait of My Grandmother (2003) by Atieh Noori
\n\u00a9 Atieh Noori, www.kargah.com
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\nUpholding Iran\u2019s Morality
\nMuch to the disappointment of the regime, 25 years of revolutionary rule have
\nstill not created those model citizens who were supposed to slavishly adhere to
\nstrict moral laws, dress codes and the rules governing contact between the
\nsexes. In fact, the laws have to be enforced by the Morality Police who roam
\nthe streets of Iran. In the summer of 2002 this force was strengthened with the
\ncreation of Special Units (Yeganeh Vizhe), the newest group among an already
\nlarge number of volunteer, semi-official and regular police organizations that
\nconcern themselves with enforcing public morality. These Special Units are a
\nstartling spectacle: armed men in shiny black four-wheel-drive vehicles all
\ndressed up with smart black berets to match their cars. Their arrival was hailed
\nin the local press as a means of combating what is referred to as \u2018social
\ncorruption among the young\u2019.
\n22 April 2003
\nThe patrol cars that put fear in the hearts of our youth . . . the militia forces
\nthat are there to safeguard national morality . . . the effect has been the total
\nopposite and today our youth hold nothing sacred . . .
\nFor 24 years our youth have lived dual lives . . . the way they have to
\nbehave in schools and official places in stark contrast to their home life . . .
\nprivate lives are the total antithesis of the dictates of the ruling clergy . . .
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\nThis has created dual personalities for many people . . . with the
\nimprovements in modes of communications like video and Internet . . . our
\nawareness and our identity crisis has only intensified . . .
\nNational security in ideological and totalitarian regimes can be
\nendangered even by dressing in a way that is not in harmony with the rules . . .
\nIn a system where the leaders do not have the people\u2019s backing and keep
\npower by force . . . these leaders are terrified of the smallest things . . .
\nWe are all painfully aware of the manifestations of this totalitarian
\nsystem . . . its absolute need to influence every aspect of the life of its individual
\nsubjects, and to produce people of uniform thoughts, while opposing free
\nthought and democracy . . .
\nBlogger Sina Motallebi was arrested and charged with jeopardizing
\nnational security! You have to pity a regime whose national security can be
\njeopardized by the writings of a blogger! Or perhaps laugh . . . Jeopardizing
\nnational security by writing about art and literature!
\nEmail: ranginkamaan2000@yahoo.com
\nhttp:\/\/ranginkamaan.persianblog.com
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\n\u00a9 NafiseMotlaghwww.nafisegallery.com
\nSoon after the Iranian Revolution, observing the hejab (Islamic dress) and
\nwearing the veil became mandatory for all Iranian women. But laws are
\nregularly updated. The Martyr Godousi Judicial Centre\u2019s 1997 dress-code
\nguidelines called for prison terms from three months to a year \u2013 or fines and up
\nto 74 lashes with a whip \u2013 for wearing \u2018stylish outfits, such as suits or a skirt
\nwithout a long overcoat on top\u2019. The regulations ban mini or short-sleeved
\novercoats and the wearing of any \u2018depraved, ostentatious or sparkly object on
\nhats, necklaces, earrings, belts, bracelets, glasses, headbands, rings, neck scarfs
\nand ties\u2019.
\nHere is Atash (Fire) describing her encounter with the Morality Police.
\n25 May 2003
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\nI could feel the searing sun like a piece of burning coal on my veil . . . My veil
\nand my long robes make me smell like a corpse . . . I walk on the street but
\ncan\u2019t see the end . . . Far, far away, a group of trees are doing a choreographed
\ndance . . .
\nAnd I, on the street, I’m walking . . . Passers-by, those in cars, can\u2019t see
\nme, as if I\u2019m here but I’m not . . . Far, far away, I can see a mirror that has
\ntaken up the width of the street . . . And the nearer I get to it the more distant I
\nbecome . . . I\u2019m walking in a scorching heat that rips the breath out of you . . .
\nI catch a glimpse of myself, lighter, lighter and lighter . . . With each step
\nin my mind\u2019s eye, I no longer feel the burden of my walk.
\nI\u2019m wearing a white short-sleeved top, green shorts and a scented straw
\nhat . . . I no longer smell like a corpse or like my grandmother\u2019s damp
\nbasement.
\nI walk freely and am spreading my fragrant sweet dreams among people
\nwho cannot see me . . . They\u2019re running to get away from the harsh, searing sun
\n. . . What ecstasy . . .
\nThere is a hand on my shoulder that abruptly swallows my world . . .
\nThe toxic street voice with rage barks: \u2018Pull your veil forward!\u2019 I hear it, but I
\ndon’t want to hear it.
\nThe street filth put his hand in his back pocket to show that he\u2019s
\nsearching for something . . . His mime does not frighten me. He pulls out a
\ntransmitter from his putrid shirt pocket and this time pointing at his black
\npatrol van, with fury, hollers: \u2018What do you say now?\u2019
\nAs I was stranded between two worlds . . . at high noon . . . I was
\nhungry and thirsty . . . in an endless street where right at the end the trees were
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\ndoing a choreographed dance . . . My veil moved and came forward . . . A few
\nsteps away my veil moved back again.
\nEmail: at_857@hotmail.com
\nhttp:\/\/atash3.blogspot.com
\nThe enforced dress codes for men and women are a symbol of the will of the
\nregime. Iranians are fully aware of these laws, but look around any city centre
\nin Iran at random you will see that many disregard the regulations and use their
\nappearance to make a protest, despite the serious consequences. Girls mock the
\nstrict guidelines by wearing their compulsory headscarves way back over their
\nhead to reveal as much (illicit) hair as possible; meanwhile the obligatory
\nmanteau gowns are getting shorter and tighter, to the point that they are no
\nlonger the black cloaks considered the ideal revolutionary hejab.
\nGirls buying shoes
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\n\u00a9 YaldaMoaierywww.kargah.com
\nThe morality laws also permit judges to mete out discretionary
\npunishments to those who, among other gross infractions such as being found
\nin possession of alcoholic drinks or lying to the authorities, hold hands or kiss
\npublicly . . .
\n28 October 2003
\nDo you have \u2018the Heart\u2019?
\nThis game of theirs started when they were first married . . . Mum and Dad
\nwere making their way home one winter\u2019s night . . . They didn\u2019t have a car then
\nand had to wait a long time by the roadside for a taxi. Apparently, my dad on
\nimpulse had kissed Mum on the lips . . . anyhow, a car had stopped and picked
\nthem up . . . Once inside they\u2019d noticed that the driver was staring at them in
\nhis rear-view mirror and laughing to himself. Well, this had really irritated my
\ndad, so he\u2019d asked the man what he found so amusing. Evidently he had seen
\nthem kissing and was full of admiration for them . . . According to Mum, the
\nwhole journey home he praised Dad so much, telling him he was a true
\nlionheart . . . \u2018You really have heart.\u2019 He told Dad that he was the bravest man
\nin the whole of Iran and had gone on about it so much that for a long time Dad
\nreally felt as though he was the bravest man ever . . .
\nNow for years whenever Mum is in a playful mood in the oddest of
\nplaces she fixes her eyes on Dad and asks, \u2018Do you have the heart?\u2019 They giggle,
\nlook around, weigh up the situation, then they kiss and then they have a good
\nlaugh. My dad always seems to have \u2018the heart\u2019 . . .
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\nRecently we were standing in a long bustling queue outside Cinema
\nSavaz in Karaj . . . Mum was sure that she would get the better of Dad and he
\nwould not have \u2018the heart\u2019 this time . . . She turned to him and teasingly asked,
\n\u2018Do you have the heart?\u2019 Even though Dad at first seemed hesitant, he paused a
\nfew seconds, had a good look around . . . but he eventually turned to her and
\nkissed her on the lips . . . suddenly a couple of people in the crowd started
\nclapping and whistling and soon pretty much the whole queue were applauding
\n. . .
\nMy brother, of course, was fuming (this game of Mum and Dad\u2019s always
\nannoys him), but it doesn\u2019t bother me and I\u2019m happy that my dad always has
\n\u2018the heart\u2019!
\nI wish more men had his \u2018heart\u2019!
\nEmail: z8unak@z8un.com
\nhttp:\/\/z8un.com
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\nA young couple holding hands in Shiraz, Iran, 2002
\n\u00a9 Ehsan Shahin Sefat, www.ehsanshahin.tripod.com
\nAlthough the Morality Police are still very much out in force, in recent
\nyears there has been a dramatic relaxation of the regime\u2019s strict official codes of
\ndress and conduct. The morality laws have come a long way since the early
\ndays when women\u2019s lips were cut with razors in public view to deter others
\nfrom wearing lipstick.
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\n18 October 2003
\nI don\u2019t like to think back to my childhood days . . . there are some things that
\nhappened back then that I am still dodging . . . Still, some memories always stay
\nwith you . . . Between the ages of four and eleven I had a favourite tree . . . Its
\nsturdy trunk and powerful branches were the place for my childhood solace . . .
\nIt was from the top of this tree that I first set eyes on the girl next door, in her
\nsummery outfit and short skirt.
\nBygone memories of my childhood friend, the scent of jasmine,
\nGrandfather, Grandmother . . .
\nAt the age of six I started school . . . My Mother would always clean all
\nthe make-up from her face, pull on thick black tights and cover herself
\ncompletely from head to toe in black before leaving the house . . . I would
\ncomplain: \u2018Why are you doing this to yourself, it\u2019s embarrassing, why can\u2019t you
\ngo out as you are at home?\u2019
\nShe would always laugh and say, \u2018They will arrest us . . .\u2019
\n\u00a9 NafiseMotlagh www.nafisegallery.com
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\nI found out later, that everyone feared being arrested . . . I even
\nunderstood this better when a woman jumped out of a muddy-coloured car and
\nwith a razor took off the lipstick from the lips of a girl . . . a girl who looked a
\nlot like the girl next door . . .
\nDuring those first days we were being transformed . . .
\nNow years have passed and my father and mother\u2019s generation are called
\nthe \u2018burnt generation\u2019, while we are now referred to as the \u2018rebellious
\ngeneration\u2019.
\nBy Underground
\nHezbollah: the \u2018Party of God\u2019
\nAyatollah Khomeini set up Hezbollah or the \u2018Party of God\u2019 a quarter of a
\ncentury ago as the only official party of the ideological state. Ironically the
\n\u2018defenders of the faith\u2019 that control Iran often complain of being marginalized
\nby the \u2018immoral masses\u2019 and appear consistently disturbed by the country\u2019s
\nchanging society.
\nA 2004 editorial in Yal\u2019Saratal-Hussein (an official publication of Iran\u2019s
\nHezbollah) is typical of this hysteria. It is addressed to the security forces, the
\nInterior Ministry and the head of the judiciary, and warns that, \u2018at this speed, in
\na few years, this country will overtake Turkey in the immorality stakes and in
\nthe percentage of women unveiled. Be warned that today we are confronted
\nwith the prospect of drowning in the quagmire of corruption and vice.\u2019 It
\ncontinues:
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\n[[DISPLAY PROSE EXTRACT]]
\nIf you still believe that the veil is the prerequisite of Islamic honour, but
\nyou can no longer deal with the sleazy law-breakers, announce this to
\nthe devout so they can go out and defend the laws of God. Believe us
\nwhen we tell you that those that we see disobeying God\u2019s rules do so
\nintentionally as a fight against a religious government. Believe us that
\nwhat American warships cannot even imagine creating in Iran \u2013 the
\ncontrol of this country and our youth \u2013 the bare arms, the nude legs, the
\nimmoral made-up faces and bare heads \u2013 is already happening here. We
\nask you in the name of everything that you hold sacred to safeguard the
\nhonour of this nation. Deal with this colossal tidal wave of immorality!
\nDon\u2019t keep saying that it\u2019s impossible! Stop saying that we do not have
\nthe resources! All it requires is to hold on to our honour dearly and to
\ndo a bit of thinking.
\n[[END DISPLAY PROSE EXTRACT]]
\nToday many believe it is impossible to hold back the burgeoning youth
\nculture, so the Iranian regime has been forced to grant young people a limited
\ndegree of social freedom. While activities such as holding hands on the street or
\nwearing make-up are still classed as crimes, the authorities sometimes turn a
\nblind eye. Yet the introduction of armed Special Units in their black berets in
\nthe summer of 2002 shows that the ruling clerics remain determined to combat
\n\u2018social corruption among the young\u2019 whenever they can.
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\n16 October 2003
\nI was about to be picked up by the Basij [a volunteer force of religious
\nvigilantes] today . . . a couple of puny guys . . . couldn\u2019t have been older than
\n17 . . .One flashed his Basij card and told me that I was a shameful spectacle . .
\n. that I either take off my make-up and tighten my headscarf or he was taking
\nme in . . .
\nI? A spectacle? A vision of loveliness . . . Absolutely . . . But you know
\nwhat the Basij are like . . . they see beauty in other bearded men . . .
\nFine, I\u2019ll admit it . . . I was a bit scared . . . But I remembered what a
\nfriend of mine had done a few weeks ago. She had started protesting and people
\nhad come to her rescue . . . and I also thought there is no way I am taking
\nnotice of two smelly rats, especially as I was meeting some friends later on and
\nmy make-up was just too perfect for words today . . . (I\u2019m not being big-headed
\nor anything . . . it\u2019s just that I can never spend longer than five minutes putting
\non my make-up and I usually get it wrong . . . but today I looked good.)
\nMirdamad Street was pretty busy. I wasn\u2019t the odd person out . . . they
\nwere . . . So I just started screaming . . . Within seconds, a crowd had gathered .
\n. . The great thing is that no one looked scared and everyone was poking fun at
\nthem . . . a middle-aged couple that I have never met even claimed me as their
\ndaughter and started telling them off. The man was really good and kept
\nsaying, \u2018How dare you even address my daughter, you dishonourable rogues?\u2019
\nAt first they kept threatening that they were going to call for back-up
\nand the whole crowd would be taken away . . . but the crowd just got bigger
\nand bigger . . . so they told my lovely new mum and dad to take their daughter
\nWe Are Iran: The Persian Blogs Nasrin Alavi Uncorrected Manuscript Not for commercial reproduction
\n44
\nand go home . . . So, it ended well . . . but I wish some gorgeous man would
\nhave claimed me as his wife for the day . . . well, that\u2019s life . . .
\nMoral of the story: next time you get stopped, do as I did today . . . the
\nless we give in the more likely they are to leave us alone . . .
\n(But don\u2019t be stupid either . . . make sure they are not armed or the
\nSpecial Units . . . as it\u2019s just not worth it.)
\nBY Arched Brows
\n[[end of chapter 1]]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Below is chapter 1 of WE ARE IRAN, posted from http:\/\/www.softskull.com. WE ARE IRAN will be reviewed in the upcoming issue.) We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs Nasrin Alavi Uncorrected Manuscript Not for commercial reproduction 1 Sample chapter from We Are Iran Nasrin Alavi Forthcoming in October 2005 from Soft Skull Press (in the US) Raincoast (in Canada) Portobello Books […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-book-excerpt-we-are-iran"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2006\/05\/19\/we-are-iran-book-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":0},"title":"We Are Iran book review","author":"admin","date":"May 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWe Are Iran\u201d (Soft Skull Press, Brooklyn NY) By Kent Manthie With all the rumblings and saber-rattling going on in Washington regarding Iran these days, it looks like the media, once again, is complicit in the call to arms that George Bush wants. It\u2019s so badly veiled-the media\u2019s collusion with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12213,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2015\/09\/14\/the-politics-of-discretion\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":1},"title":"The Politics Of Discretion","author":"Reviewer Rob","date":"September 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"[Verbatim]\"I believe it strongly enough I am willing to face the criticism...\"Nathan Fletcher on the upcoming Iran agreement: Rick Perry's campaign manager just called me a \"disgusting disgrace\" for joining a group of veterans at a meeting with the President. 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