Big Brother Award

The right against unsanctioned invasion of privacy by the government is part of many countries' laws. Even according to Iran constitution this right has been recognized for people. Last week I got familiar with The Big Brother Award given to governments which have done the most to threaten personal privacy. While US is candidate for this Award because of its anti-terrorist phone records by the government, Iranians are dealing with a most simple form of surveillance. Read this story to find out what I mean.

This week Radan, the chief of Tehran police, attended the Police Fair to talk with the citizens and solve their problems. One of the reporters of ISNA (Iranian Students News Agency) asked him about a conversation between one of the police officers and a girl which he had recorded a few days ago. Here are some parts of the conversation. (The girl is arrested inside her car with a young boy beside her.)

Police officer: God has sent me to arrest you and prevent a crime.
Girl: What are you talking about? What crime?
Police officer: You have sat together at this unusual time, inside a dark car, in a deserted area of the city.
Girl: Is it our CRIME? God has sent you for this?
Police officer: yeah, God knows if I wasn't here on time what a scandal could happen to your family.
Girl: It is not deserted here. There are many people there in the park and so may cars pass by here.
Police officer: I don’t know. I just know God has sent me…

ISNA reporter asked about the civil rights of the people and whether the police can treat people like this.
Radan, answer quite unexpectedly "How do you know that officer was not sent by God?"

That Was a Shame

I vividly remember 6 years ago when I was a student. Mr. Khatami announced that he will come to our university. All classes were cancelled and we went to shout approval for our beloved president. The ceremony was so full of life that I hold a picture of Khatami and started waving it in the air. (Later on my friends told me I was on TV!)
The hall was divided into 2 parts: Reformist students on the right and Basijis on the left. They were quarrelling all the time, throwing paper and water bottles to each other. Of course the Basijis were only a minority.
When some students shouted "death with hardliners", Khatami became angry and said "eliminate death from your vocabulary." After that he started talking about tolerance, civil society and other concepts which were quite new concepts for us.
When I compare Ahmadinejad lecture at the University of Tehran with that of Khatami I see a lot of differences. The most important of them is the absent of critics of Ahmadinejad in the hall when he was delivering his lecture. Only Basijis students from other universities were allowed to enter to the ceremony.
Ahmadinejad and his government insist they support free speech and welcome opposition, but in reality they act quite contrary. Outside the hall there was a gathering of protesters but they were scattered by the police force. Ahmadinejad continued his lecture confidently: "when I was at the Columbia University the US government just allowed a selected group to the hall! That was a shame."

Should We Make Another Bomb?

I don’t know you have seen this White House photo by Susan Sterner or not. Here Laura Bush accepts books of poetry by "Turkish poet" Rumi presented by Emine Erdogan, wife of the Prime Minister of Turkey, during a coffee at the White House. You can find this picture on whitehouse.gov website. This is not the first time that I see Rumi, the 13th century Persian poet and mystic philosopher has been introduced as a Turkish poet.

Rumi was born in Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan), and died in Konya, (in present-day Turkey), but none of his poems and works are in Turkish language. Rumi's birthplace, his native language and the themes of his poetry indicate a Persian heritage. His poetry is all in Persian and has been translated into Turkish and many other languages. But why should Rumi be introduced as a Turkish poet?

UNESCO has designated 2007 (the 800th anniversary of Rumi’s birth) as the International Year of Molana Jalaleddin Rumi. After that Turkey’s cultural officials have announced plans to hold special ceremonies for commemorating this famous personality. During last year they had hundreds of ceremonies for attracting tourists to the shrine of Rumi in Konya and for introducing him as a national luminary.

Shortly their activities extended beyond the borders. Buffalo Turkish Center organized "RUMI 800" or "Rumi Reading Club" in US to enjoy Rumi's poetry for one night each month. Unlike Iranian students, the Turkish ones hosted some film screening events at their Universities to celebrate this poet. They invited Canadian filmmaker Tina Petrova to show her movie, "Rumi-Turning Ecstatic", and to share her extraordinary encounter with his poems. After a short time Rumi and Turkish culture were so interwoven that Library of Congress on March 14 celebrated Rumi with an evening of Turkish poetry and music.

But what did Iranians do? Well, Ahmadinejad hosted the holocaust meeting in Tehran. Abdolkarim Soroush delivered some lectures about Rumi at Harvard University but no one heard of it because this man is a critic of Islamic Government. It is a pity that Iranian politicians are busy with some affairs that are none of their business and neglect important issues like this. Maybe we should do something by ourselves againg, may be we should make another Google Bomb?

No comment !!!

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned home Friday evening from his tour of America. He asked people not to come to the airport to welcome his arrival but go to the mosques and say thanks prayer to God for his victories.

TEHRAN Times - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited President Bush to speak at an Iranian university if the American leader ever traveled to the Islamic Republic, state-run television reported Friday. ""If their president plans to travel to Iran, we will allow him to make a speech"" at a university, Ahmadinejad told the IRIB earlier this week before leaving New York to travel to South America.

IRNA - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday evening that displaying Iran's grandeur was the greatest achievement of his tour to the American continent.

Meanwhile, addressing thousands of Tehrani worshipers at Tehran University campus, Jannati focused on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's attendance at United Nations General Assembly, saying that Ahmadinejad scored another victory during his stay in New York. Referring to President Ahmadinejad's presence at Columbia University, Ayatollah Jannati said, "Hurrah Dr. Ahmadinejad who did not lose his temper, did not take revenge by acting similarly, and gave his address modestly, so that the university students attending the meeting kept on applauding him on numerous occasions till the end of the session, which meant pulling the Columbia University Chancellor's leg." He added, "In accordance with the result of an opinion poll conducted after that meeting, 77% of the students believe President Ahmadinejad was right, and this is a document revealing the US and Israeli media and politicians' lies."

IRNA - Iranian lawmakers on Saturday labeled the US army and CIA as terrorist groups.

The Portrait of the dictator as a righteous man

Unlike what Bollinger said at his speech in Columbia University, Ahmadinejad has no "sign of a dictator". To find the characteristics of a dictator in Iran's president one should search deep inside him and read between the lines of his behavior.

It is quite strange that the new dictators of our age (except Putin) do not follow the clichés of dictatorship manner. On the paper, Ahmadinejad and Bush are both good people, highly religious, doing their best to save the world from injustice. Ahmadinejad dines with journalists, speaks for a half an hour about the relationship between man and God and defines the mission of human on earth as pursuit of love, kindness and dignity. We have heard the same lecture from Bush before the invasion of US to Iraq and after huge massacre of innocent Iraqi people.

According to this discourse, filtering of internet is a "moral" act to immune the community from the rotten world and execution of criminals in the public is a virtuous deed.

Nicholas Kamm in his article, "My Dinner with Ahmadinejad" (published on Sept. 25 in TIME) is suspicious about the president, but through his writing you cannot deny his fascination to Ahmadinejad's "calm and fluent words" and "the slightly mysterious smile that never leaves his face" (italic is mine). Kamm's article ends when Ahmadinejad "bows deeply and heads upstairs."

I think Ahmadinejad knows the power of his smile and demagogic behavior. He won the presidential election with the same strategy and there is a possibility of cheating the world with the same one.