Middle-East Linkage

I have lots to write about, but for now a summary of interesting links:

Iran -

Tehran Review has a two part article about the famous film director Makhmalbaf's evolving political life, as written by Ian Buruma:

http://tehranreview.net/articles/9535

Iranian Dervishes get sentenced to jail and flogging after peaceful protests:

http://www.radiozamaneh.com/english/content/iranian-dervishes-get-jail-flogging

Often in the West we focus on the persecution of Jews and Christians in Iran. While the discrimination they face is real, there is a much stricter persecution of Islamic sects who are considered to be heretical. Examples are Sunni (depending on the political climate), Baha'i and various Sufi orders.

Egypt -

Egypt tries to appease the protest movements by firing a large amount of police officers:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/2011713151838644663.html

The revolution inspires poetry:

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/2036/kareem-abdulsalam_teargas-poems

Enjoy...

The waiting artists

The American poet Charles Bukowski once famously wrote about prostitutes and poets that society outlaws the one ignores the other, which should give you an idea about the power they have.

In Iran the poets are not being ignored. Our filmmakers, these current day poets, deal with censorship and repression on a daily basis. The most famous case being that of Jafar Panahi, who was sentenced to six years in jail and a twenty year ban of making films. He's free at the moment (though not allowed to leave the country) waiting for his appeal, but what is waiting life for an artist who's not allowed to create? Below you'll find an excerpt of his "This Is Not A Film":

Music in service of the revolution.

There are different ways in which Iranians are contributing to the struggle for freedom and democracy. One is by the creation of art. If not to convince government supporters to join the cause, then at least to remind ourselves what it is we're fighting for.

Golshifteh Farahani is an Iranian actress living abroad. The song she sings in this clip uses the melodies and texts of old songs every Iranian knows, from political songs to children's texts. The lyrics are updated to refer to today's events.

Here's a translation of the lyrics, made by my friend S.A.:

[Sound of people calling out "Allah Akbar" from rooftops]

Our nights on rooftops
I call out "God is great"
I hold a dream in my heart
and the universe will share our fate

For our children
it's time to sacrifice
thus they will be freed
from this long lasting oppression

This sinister night
will disappear
This country will be free
from sorrow and depression

We will laugh again
We will laugh again
We are united

We will laugh again
We will laugh again
We're undivided

[Silence]

Beautiful girl
It's time that you claim your rights*
to free yourself from oblivion
and the people will cherish you in their pure hearts

Beautiful girl
The flame of your enchanting gaze
your innocent eyes
will illuminate the way for those who fight

[Silence]

Father brought the water**
Father brought the bread**
That man came on a horse,
as soon as the oil was spread.
I will walk to my destiny.

That man is armed,
he attacks the people.
And I'll go on a quest for my destiny.

Stay strong and focus on your final destination
The time has come for sacrifice

[trembling voice:]
Kiss me
Kiss me for the last time
Farewell

*Literally she sings "The voice of justice has summoned you". Voice is "Neda" in Persian, which is the name of the young girl who was shot during the uprising in the summer of 2009.

**These are two sentences from childrens school books and all Iranian children know this by heart.

---

I hope it inspires you to keep involved with the Iranian struggle.

A video in support of the protesters

A group of creative Amsterdammers (Iranian and non-Iranian) performed in the streets in support of the Green movement of Iran. Here's a video registration of their event.

http://www.farhangfilmfest.org/viewvideo/100/documentary/green-silence-sokoute-sabz.html

We've got our own daily internet comic

This is a curious little thing, a daily internet comic about the struggle for Iran. It started about 2 weeks ago:

http://www.zahrasparadise.com/

Back again

So, did we win or did we lose? Even a week after Bahman 22 it's too soon to tell. The protesters are at home licking their wounds, the bullies are sharpening their knives and going over tactics.

What's definately brewing is discontent among workers. Though a public statement by the Tehran bus-drivers in support of the green movement turned out to be false, there is a definite sense that the economic mismanagement of this regime will push workers in the arms of supporters.

Here's just a few of recent items to be found on the subject:

Iranian power industry on the verge of collapse: http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/02/iran-power-industry-on-th.html
Ahmadinejad upset with oil minister for disclosing grim numbers: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/02/iran-ahmadinejad-gunning-for-his-own-oil-minister-for-disclosing-grim-numbers.html
Hormozgan residents suffer from poverty: http://persian2english.com/?p=7073

Not that we should be happy that the country is suffering from economic woes, but it should be obvioius that the opposition has a much stronger case when it not only protests human rights abuses that are a somewhat abstract claim for many of Iran's residents, but it appeals also to the empty pockets and bellies that are legion.

This government is made out of thieves dressed up as pious protectors of the faith. And to support them is to support the misery caused by inflation, joblessness and hunger.

And now for some music, here's a little rap Evin and Tapesh 2012:

Green Timeline

The opening of the Green Timeline exhibition was a great succes. I've you've missed it, no worries, you can still attend in the following weeks.

http://greenexhibition.blogspot.com/

---

In the meantime unrest continues in Iran while everyone wonders what Bahman 22 (Februari 11th) will bring. One of the biggest uncertainties about this situation is that not only the Green Movement is not really a movement at all (it lacks a proper leadership, or even an ideological motor other than "change"), which gives its spontaneous strength, but that there's a few paralel battles being fought.

There's local fights in regions unhappy with the government:
50 detained in Lar: http://persian2english.com/?p=6112 / http://persian2english.com/?p=5969
Kurds are being arrested and even executed: http://persian2english.com/?p=6028
And rest assured that unrest is brewing in the Baluchestan and Ahwaz provinces.

Not only have an immense number of Human rights activists been detained but also regular students. The plan is to scare them from participating in actions and demonstrations, but ironically, students thrown out of school and forbidden to travel have nothing else to do but organise actions. http://persian2english.com/?p=6091

Many clerics are fed up with the ruling class and keep critisizing the government. Amongst them is one of Khomeini's grandsons: http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/02/reformist-cleric-condemns-1.html / http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/02/ayatollah-khomeinis-protr.html

There's also still a reformist faction in parliament (though it gets smaller with each election): http://www.zamaaneh.com/enzam/2010/02/call-for-prosecution-of-f.html

But maybe most important of all is the regular person in the street who's not a cleric or a student, doesn't belong to an oppressed minority, but is simply fed up with his low wage (or maybe isn't paid for months), is unhappy that the banks are not allowing him to withdraw funds, and is worried about the cut in food and gasoline subsidies. They are also increasingly stirring and demanding their rights:

Interview with union leader: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/01/irans-new-labor.html
Massive lay-offs with months of pay yet to be paid:
http://www.iran-resist.org/article5736.html
End of subsidies:
http://www.themilitant.com/2009/7349/734954.html

Art and Executions

If you're an Amsterdam reader of my blog, you might be interested to know that today between 16.00 and 20.00 we'll have the opening of the exhibition "Green Timeline". The exhibition is the visual diary of an anonymous demonstrator, a thorn in the side of this regime. She has walked the streets of Tehran in many demonstrations. She has shouted "Allah-o Akbar" till her voice became hoarse, she has spraypainted slogans and "V" signs on walls in the middle of the night. And all this she has recorded in her own unique way to show the people of Amsterdam.

If you cannot make the exhibition today, send me a mail so I can put you on my mailinglist and let you know what days the Mezrab / Art Cage exhibition space is open. Mails go here: sahand@sahebdivani.net

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In other news: today might be the day 9 political prisoners are executed on Enghelab (revolution) square. http://persian2english.com/?p=5849

Yesterday, in a gut reaction the the first to hangings last week I wrote the following poem. It's still quite raw and unedited:

---


What Hangs there?


Imagine a kite tangled
up in a tree

rudely awakened from the dream
of flying

what hangs there?

when that, which was the beloved,
seeps out through numerous pores

looks back and thinks

"it is a strong rope that
carries all that shame and does not
break"


---

Concert Tonight

There's a nice concert performed tonight in the grand "de Doelen" hall in Rotterdam. The Tehran Symphony Orchestra will perform the "Music for Peace" composition. Only people invited by the Iranian embassy will be able to attend.

Wow, if this is how our government behaves when they want peace (they executed 2 dissidents this week, and many more will probably follow soon) I just fear the moment they want war.

Luckily many of my friends will go to Rotterdam to protest this atrocity.

More info to be found here: http://www.payvand.com/news/10/jan/1296.html

Images that move me.

There's a few impressive green-movement images here inspired by Ashura: http://iranianmoharram.wordpress.com/ (also many cliche ones, but eh...)

Photo essay on the man accused of being responsible for the Kahrizak detention center deaths:
http://www.iranian.com/main/albums/walking-free

One of my favorite sites "Life Goes On in Tehran" had stopped updating. He felt that life didn't go on after the election, the detentions, the killing. I'm very glad massive mail support by his fans convinced him to start again:
http://www.lifegoesonintehran.com/

News update

One of the interesting things to witness in the past few months is to see how mature and professional certain people and media have become. People are producing better work and are teaming up with others to create.

For instance, after three years Radio Zamaneh started publishing English material. Sites such as Persian 2 English moved from blog to a full on site.

Also artists, fueled by a sense of urgency, are more active. Have a look at the video that Mostafa made for Faarjam: http://vimeo.com/8692409

My own happy discovery is this little programme produced by Voice of America. Sorry for not having it subtitled, but it's a Daily Show kind of programme, showing shocking news in a funny way:

Kamran Ashtary Updates

My friend Kamran Ashtary has updated his site with his artful photography:

http://ashtaryonline.com/

I don't know much about art but I know they're pretty pictures.

More Musical Genius

Remember ThruYou, the Youtube mashup musical project? Now there's this site, with pieces sent in to create a song together:

http://www.inbflat.net/

Very nice.

Russian Animations

The Azeri lullaby that I posted earlier this week is part of a Russian series of animations based on lullabies from all over the world. You should check them out, they are really good. Some, if not most, can be found on YouTube.

More info on the project can be found here:

http://www.lull.ru/eng/index.html

Azeri Lullaby

This is extremely cute! A beautifully animated Azeri lullaby...



Thanks to Danial for allerting me to this video.

Happy workers day!

Well, the economy is down the drain, but if it results in serious reforms in the world's economy than it could be worth it. We'll see what the future brings. In the mean time, happy worker's day!

Have some cool pictures in the latest installment of:

http://lifegoesonintehran.com/

Some more Self Promotion

It's not that I've lost interest in the world, but I think some of the stuff I'm involved in is interesting for a some of the people out there. So again, not an update about the sexual revolution in Iran, the plight of the bloggers worldwide, or even new creative outbursts of people other than myself. There's a few new songs on the myspace site of my band "Babak-o-Doestan". Check it out:

http://www.myspace.com/babakodoestan

Gaza

So, the war in Gaza is over and we stopped caring about the place and its people? No more demonstrations or solidarity actions. Let's move on to the next big cause. No matter that the people are still locked up.

Well, at least some people haven't forgotten. Here at http://www.closedzone.com/ you'll find the following animation by Yoni Goodman, the animation director of Waltz with Bashir.

Inspiring Images

My life has been empty ever since the best internet comic in the world ( www.pbfcomics.com ) stopped updating. What is the internet if not a place for genius minds to toil away at new ideas not yet fit to be embraced by the mainstream?

Well, here's some new and exciting things in the world of online comics. First a scetch of an experiment, on the nature of online comics. It pretty much explains itself:


about DIGITAL COMICS by ~Balak01 on deviantART

And now, a comic that mixes cutesy manga girls with superheroes, philosophy, quantum-physics and ancient religions. Yes indeed.

http://dresdencodak.com/

Here's some of my favorites:

http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_006.htm
http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_013.htm
http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_018.htm

(Thanks Shintaro for pointing me to this one!)

The Return of Marx

I'm not sure if it's happening yet, or even whether I should be happy about it, but more and more people are convinced Marx is the come-back kid of the 21st century. It's funny how very few people are aware of the impact of Marx, Socialism and Communism in countries like Palestine in Iran. These are great and inspiring but also sad and dramatic narratives. At least the animation film Persepolis showed some non-Iranians that Iranian Marxists existed and were in fact an important segment of society.

Here's an interested multi-espisode essay on Marxism:

http://socialistworker.org/2009/02/16/return-of-marx

Also, have a browse around the site of my friend Mostafa, a talented Amsterdam based filmmaker:

http://www.mostafaheravi.com/

I will add him to my link bar later, but in the mean time, click on his films, go to 2003 and watch "commercial/indra"