Iran

Beyond Mullahs and Persian Party People: The Invisibility of Being Iranian on TV

At first glance, the impending premiere of Bravo’s Shahs of Sunset would seem to herald that Iranian Americans have finally achieved melting pot bliss in the cauldron of American multiculturalism. After three decades of villainy, cultural essentialism, and protagonistic invisibility in American media, six youngish southern Californian (SoCal) adults—who party, shop, and date(!)—are poised to catapult Iranians into the American mainstream as ethnic bon vivants. A short while ago, such an about-face would have seemed like an impossibility. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, being Iranian onscreen was limited to grim news stories detailing the religious fanaticism of ...

American Elections Watch 1: Rick Santorum and The Dangers of Theocracy

One day after returning to the United States after a trip to Lebanon, I watched the latest Republican Presidential Primary Debate. Unsurprisingly, Iran loomed large in questions related to foreign policy. One by one (with the exception of Ron Paul) the candidates repeated President Obama's demand that Iran not block access to the Strait of Hormuz and allow the shipping of oil across this strategic waterway. Watching them, I was reminded of Israel's demand that Lebanon not exploit its own water resources in 2001-2002. Israel's position was basically that Lebanon's sovereign decisions over the management of Lebanese water resources was a cause for war. In an area where ...

War on Iran

Democracy Now! Interview with Toby Jones on "Iranian Assassination Plot"

This is an interview conducted with Toby Jones on Wednesday, 12 October, in regards to the alleged Iranian-backed plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States. The interview addresses the facts that have been revealed thus far, potential explanations for why the Iranian regime would engage in such an an act, as well as questions and problems with the narrative of events that is currently unfolding. The interview also discusses the broader background and implications for both the United States and Saudi Arabia. In a 21-page indictment filed in New York federal court, two Iranian agents are charged with conspiring to kill Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir ...

"Zahra's Paradise" [Part Two]

[The writer Amir and the artist Khalil (both have chosen anonymity for political reasons) began publishing the webcomic Zahra’s Paradise online in February 2010. First Second Books has just published Zahra’s Paradise as a graphic novel. Last week, Jadaliyya interviewed Amir and Khalil on the occasion of the book’s publication. This week, we present a second excerpt from Zahra's Paradise.]  

Popular Protest in North Africa and the Middle East (VIII): Bahrain's Rocky Road to Reform

[The following is the latest from the International Crisis Group (ICG) on Bahrain.] Popular Protest in North Africa and the Middle East (VIII): Bahrain’s Rocky Road to Reform Executive Summary and Recommendations Following a spasm of violence, Bahrain faces a critical choice between endemic instability and slow but steady progress toward political reform. The most sensible way forward is to launch a new, genuine dialogue in which the political opposition is fairly represented and to move toward changes that will turn the country into a constitutional monarchy. In order to create an environment in which such talks could succeed, the regime should take immediate steps ...

Bodies Moving to Memory

antinormanybody. Curated by Barrak Alzaid. Organized with the support of Kleio Projects & International Resource Network. June 23 – August 10, 2011. Kleio Projects: 153½ Stanton Street, New York, NY. I wandered the Lower East Side on a sweaty summer morning in search of Kleio Projects Gallery, curiously located on 153 and a half Stanton Street, feeling like a young Harry Potter on his first visit to King’s Cross Station, trying to find the peculiarly titled Platform 9 3/4. I entered the small, conspicuous gallery after spotting it, feeling disoriented from the heat. I tried to forget about my own uncomfortable body and to take stock of the portraits, both still ...

Letter from Tehran

[This interview was conducted in Tehran by Manijeh Nasrabadi of the Raha Iranian Feminist Collective one year after the green uprising. For more from the Raha Iranian Feminist Collective, see their "Essential Readings: Iran"] On June 12, 2010, the tense one-year anniversary of the post-election uprising that made the color green an international symbol of a people’s democratic aspirations, hundreds of special security forces stood shoulder to shoulder along Tehran’s major boulevards and squares with knives, batons, and walkie-talkies ready. Nonetheless, the evening traffic from Imam Square to Revolution Square swelled well beyond the normal numbers of ...

Focus on Freedom: In Solidarity with Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Panahi

In December 2010, a court in the Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced filmmaker Jafar Panahi to six years in prison for collusion against the government. Even after his body is released from prison, the government wants to control his thoughts, his dreams, his words and prevent him from expressing them in cinematic form. The court also banned him from writing scripts, making films, traveling abroad, and speaking with any media for twenty years. “It’s depressing,” said director Martin Scorsese, “to imagine a society with so little faith in its own citizens that it feels compelled to lock up anyone with a contrary opinion. As filmmakers, we all need to stand up for ...

Egypt's Path Could be Distinct from Turkey's and Iran's

It is striking that as Egypt turns a new page in history, voices as diverse as Financial Times, Le Monde and the New York Times want it to follow the Turkish model. But is the process in Turkey really repeatable? And who would stand to gain if it were taken as a model? It seems that liberals in the West and elsewhere want to use the Turkish model as an example because it shows the possibility of Islamist empowerment without Islamist dictatorship. The “Turkish model” emerged from a split within the (Islamist) Virtue Party in 2001, after which the pro-business and pro-EU wing of the Islamists were joined by politicians escaping the debris of failed center-right ...