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?