Iranian of the Day

Melancholia and Democrocy

It made me very disappointed reading lines trying to glorify voices from Iran who present the same rhetoric that war advocates and official US fanatics offer. Understanding what moderate voices of Iranian intellectuals are expressing, indeed requires a minimum of knowledge of intersections of forces and powers in a transforming society and a minimum understanding of society in general.
People longing for the glory of the past of Iran, or the glory of a Western (so-called) democracy, I believe, need to face their melancholia; mourning for an imaginary loss as Giorgio Agamben may argue! It seems that people critiquing provoking writings of Hamid Dabashi are usually unable to grasp on his simply brilliant and complex ideas and that’s why in a pitiful way they find themselves loosing the battle and start using inappropriate language. Look at: Abarman trying to answer Abarmard or Hossein finding his pride (what a funny word) in seeing Ramin and Roya as successful Iranians. What if I show you a picture of me sitting next to Rosa Luxemburg? Will that turn me into a social activist fighting for Democracy?

very sad choice

This woman is a very disappointing choice for Iranian of the Day. After listening to her ‎horribly distort the facts about Iran during a democracy now interview I completely lost ‎all respect for her. How can someone lack such basic knowledge of how percentages ‎work? (example below) She is a horrible voice for the opposition movement to the ‎current regime.‎

Will someone who knows her, please explain how percentages work

DILIP HIRO: Yes, Amy, let me give you a couple of simple facts. Between 1976 and ‎‎1996 in Iran, the female literacy rate went up three times. It was 28% in 1976, and in ‎‎1996 it was 80....‎

‎ROYA HAKAKIAN: You’re leaving out the fact that the population of Iran has ‎doubled.‎

DILIP HIRO: I did not interfere when you were speaking. Please don’t interfere. Wait for ‎your turn. You know, it’s not a question of—I’m giving you percentage.‎

you can listen or read the rest here:‎

//www.democracynow.org/2005/6/20/iran_preside...

Hakakian as a defender of Iran and Iranians

I wonder whether those who call Hakakian a neocon and criticize her views have ever read her articles, or are just relying on the words of an ideological fraud and vatanforoosh like Hamid Dabashi to judge her.

As a Persian Jew, Roya Hakakian has done more than anybody else to disspell the myth about Iranian antisemitism. Her article in New York Times, immediately after Ahmadinejad's disgusting outburst, was the best defence of Iran and Iranian nation against the charge of antisemitism. I am proud of her as my hamvatan and wish her the best.

Here is her article:
//www.royahakakian.com/newsletter/NYTimes_Hol...

Roya Hakakian and Benazeer Bootoe

I believe these two women are great Iranian women. Ms. Bootoe was the first pakistani politician to congratulate the Late Ayatollah Khomeini on his return to Iran. And Roya Hakakian has also said she was always opposed to the Shah's dictatorial rule. These two women are brave Iranian women. By the way, as I recall Ms. Hakakian is a Jewish Iranian female. And a splendid looking one at that.
Lets us not forget that they 2 women are pro-American.

To Sharareh & Hossein

TO:Sharareh

We all are Iranian no matter what religions and believe we have.

In Iran majority are Moslem but what about Minorities,
hell with them!!!!!!!!!!

Before you post your comments think TWICE.

To: Hossein

Thank you, you said it all.

Peace with you all,
Baharak

TO: Anonymous_usa

If you are going to look at your new Iranian neighbor differently just because of what you read here, I really feel sorry for you. You'r not really much different than people you are criticizing here. You'r generalizing, stereotyping, and discriminating against people just based on their opinion. I don't agree with many of the commnets here, but I still think people are entitled to their opinion. All we can do is share our point of view. It's true that few of the commnets have been racist (some extremely -- like Sharareh's), but most people here who have criticized this nomination, diagree with Ms. Hakakian's idealogies. I personally think, that is irrelevant. Ms. Hakakian is a very accomplished Iranian woman, regardless of her sympathies with neo-cons.

TO: Sharareh

"Iran is a Muslim country and I'm proud that is one of the few that has flourished by keeping its heritage, history and dignity."

Flourished?!!! Talking about which Iran?! Iran today?!...

Iran has flourished many times in its past but it has not been because it is a "Muslim country" but rather because of its tolerance toward its multiple ethnicities and idealogies (both when it's been Islamic and before). This multi-culturism has provided for an environment where great ideas have been interchanged, shared, and blossomed. Whenever we have deviated from this fundamental (like today) we have gone backward.

"I say to any Iranian Jew that unless you open your eyes and face the reality of Zionism and its cruelty, you can suffer because we don't give a hoot about you."

What do you mean when you say "suffer"?! Even the extermists in Iran (like Ahmadinejad) do not preach hatred like that toward their compatriots. You really need help!!!

One Devil versus Another

This woman appears to be another neo-con allegedly supporting the human rights by promoting policies that violate them.

Its no wonder she works with the corporate US media in addition to being a member of the nefarious Council of Foreign Relations which is way ahead of anybody else out there when it comes to murder and mayhem.

Please do not be fooled by these collaborators. Under the guise of the pretty words they seek to replace one dictatorship with another.

This is also quite a shamefully opportunistic photo!

To Sharareh : ....Iran is a Muslim country.....

No Iran is NOT a Muslim country. Iran has a Muslim regime. Islam is simply a dark spot on Iran's face. Your comments are very compatible with the occupying Islamist regime of Iran.

Iran has Jewish population because our father, Koorosh, opened our hearts to them.

You, like most Islamists, use the work Zionist without knowing much about it. Your comments are disgraceful and by no means representative of the REAL Iranian population.

Before your ancestors pushed Islam down the throat of our people with their swards, we had a large population of Jews as well as other races.

Go and live in Palestine with your own people and please stop pretending to be Iranian.

I didn't know how racist Iranians are...

Wow! All this hatred for a woman who has just written a pretty succesful memoir (his true life story)?

I had no idea that Iranians were so racist. I always thought they were educated and liberal or, at least the ones who left Iran to enjoy our freedom and prosperity...Now I am going to look at my new Iranian neighbor differently...

Thanks for info!

What Brand of Human Right Are We Talking About?

"Human Right" is used loosely by any one these days. Even Bush is now championing human right efforts in the Middle East and using water boarding, torture, carpet bombing as his primary tools for promoting his brand of human rights. Now these days we can not start praising anybody's "human Right" effort. We need to look at its brand as well and look at its ingredients. Unfortunately the brand Mrs. Roya is peddling is one that does not set well with the Middle Eastern people. However, it goes well with Fox TV and neocons.

My vote for Mrs. Roya is a BIG "NO".

P.S. Looking at how much it is written about Mrs. Roya amazes me. I guess we (this includes myself) spent way too much time on Internet and waste too much time on topics of zero importance.

Mrs. Roya- Considering all the comments about you, are you upset with my husband for nominating you or was this your own idea?

To the uneducated making the comment ---Ugly Arab Lovers

Iran has Jews because Muslims felt sorry for the displaced as did the Palestinians. However, it is hard to differentiate between Jews and Zionist since it seems that 99.9% of Jews are Zionist. They claim to be victims and are shown humanity then they take with force. I don't give a hoot about Jews but I do care about my Palestinian brothers and sisters that are suffering from the EVIL hand of Zionist like you!

Iran is a Muslim country and I'm proud that is one of the few that has flourished by keeping its heritage, history and dignity. I say to any Iranian Jew that unless you open your eyes and face the reality of Zionism and its cruelty, you can suffer because we don't give a hoot about you.

A question

Does anyone know how she became a Human Rights whatever? What's her credentials besides that she is Jewish? And writing a book is no big deals either especially if you write something against Iran

Well done! Ms.Hakakian

Dear Ms.Hakakian

I Enjoy reading your book(Journey from the Land of No)

Well done!

Regard,
Baharak

Working for who?

If you are against the stream, you normally are ignored. The ones that are all over the news might be the ones that are advertising a point of view fit for warmongers. Think about that. Remember that Shirin Ebadi was interviewed ONCE on the American media and she refused to become a tool for the warmongers and she disappeared from the Western Media all together. You know why? The neo-cons and western media knew that they can’t buy her! Although Shirin Ebadi fights for Human Rights, she realized the realities of Iran and wants the change to be done from within. Not to be a tool for the western media to enforce their ideas of war to the unaware America audiences. Think about it. Abbas Millani is also a prominent figure, but do you know where he works? In the Neo-cons think tank. You need to realize that being all over the western media to preach something that is not against the main stream isn’t heroic. On the contrary, not falling for the main stream and being a Human Rights Advocate who cares for the people and their Rights will probably get you nowhere. Being promoted by the warmongers is not something to be proud of. To you, maybe, just for her being in the media is great. Good for you and good for her. I am sure many think like you, and that’s the point; those who like to demonize Iran in order to get the policies that they want in place, would want her to be the figure that you are speaking about. I am not in agreement with that mentality. I am more in line with people like Shirin Ebadi (To give an example).

Nomination (correcting format)

As part of nomination, one should, perhaps, provide more of the background of the nominee. Here is the brief Wikepedia page on Ms. Hakakian:

"Roya Hakakian (born 1966 in Iran) is a Jewish Iranian-American writer.

In 1984 she fled with her family from Tehran to the United States, where she now works as a poet (For the Sake of Water), journalist (NPR's Weekend Edition), and documentary filmmaker (Her short film, Armed and Innocent, is about the involvement of underage children in wars around the world). In addition, Roya has also served as the associate producer of the NBC program, 60 Minutes

Hakakian's memoir about growing up as a Jewish teenager in post-revolutionary Iran is entitled Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran.

She is a founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, and a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations."

One can see, regardless of her political viewpoints, she is a highly accomplished Iranian woman. I see merite of this nomination not based on the photo with Bhutto but on her long list of accomplishments. Bravo Ms. Hakakian...

Nomination

As part of nomination, one should, perhaps, provide more of the background of the nominee. Here is the brief Wikepedia page on Ms. Hakakian:

"Roya Hakakian (Persian: رویا حکاکیان, born 1966 in Iran) is a Jewish Iranian-American writer.

In 1984 she fled with her family from Tehran to the United States, where she now works as a poet (For the Sake of Water), journalist (NPR's Weekend Edition), and documentary filmmaker (Her short film, Armed and Innocent, is about the involvement of underage children in wars around the world). In addition, Roya has also served as the associate producer of the NBC program, 60 Minutes

Hakakian's memoir about growing up as a Jewish teenager in post-revolutionary Iran is entitled Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran.

She is a founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, and a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations."

One can see, regardless of her political viewpoints, she is a highly accomplished Iranian woman. I see merite of this nomination not based on the photo with Bhutto but on her long list of accomplishments. Bravo Ms. Hakakian...

To: zzzzzzz

Regarding my republished comment, you asked:"And what are the historical "facts"?

 I'll answer, if I may. By historical facts, I mean those events that are agreed upon by everyone, and there's really not a genuine dispute over their factuality. Examples would be :

The Iran-Iraq war started on 1980.

Most Iranians speak Farsi.

Therse are facts.

 In contrast, we have claims or theories, that may , or may not be true:

 This person, or that person, was a British spy.

 The majority of Iranians are supporters of this or that group.

We all have our own theories, but , I'm sure you agree,I shouldn't expect you to take my theory, as an undisputed fact, and vice versa.

You also write:"...claiming to know the facts, and judging other's statements on his/her pre-conceived "facts", is a discredit. You need to begin with yourself! ;) ."

 I suspect you were not talking about what I was saying. I never claimed I know all the facts. In fact -assuming I understand what you are saying, by that -  I agree with you.

 Thank you for your comment, and I am flattered by being quoted by fellow commentator, "Mehan first".

RE: Anonymous1974b

I absolutely disagree with you. I don't need to read Dabashi to know hakakian becuase I have seen her in many interviews. She is what he discribes best though. And if he Dabashi wants to be like Edward Said, more power to him. it's good to follow a humanistic thinker. You are very naive. It's sad to hear you say :" I don't think trying to pressure Iran to improve its Human rights record is bad- even if its at the hands of the neocons." well my friends, neo-cons won't save you. IMPOSSIBLE. And selling yourself to them then trying to justify it won't make the evil good either. I am done about this. You have the literature and her book to be the judge. I do care greatly about Iran and won't accept someone who uses the "Human Rights" records in Iran as a tool to make life harder for the Iranian peope. If you can't understand this simple thing, then be it. Go follow her and praise her work. You have the tools to find the truth...

Abarmard & Daryush

Dabashi is a Edward Saiid want to be. He is on the fringe of things as apparently you are. I don't think trying to pressure Iran to improve its Human rights record is bad- even if its at the hands of the neocons. Anybody who is against this fanatic regime or does anything against this regime is a neocone? This is none sense- so is Dabashi the idiot. Big time idiot.

we all have to shut up since Golriz is here?

first you say shutup then you talk about Democracy. Sure you must be her biggest fan!

No one is against her writing, but you don't realize the actions that this woman and like her have done to harm Iranians. She is under the control of the Neo-cons, if that's OK with you then that's OK with me...Just know that about her. If you are Iranian, go research and be the judge. And never start with a shut up when you put "democracy" as your point of view... CHECK ABARMARD's LINKS...

Oh shut up

So I have read this rediculous thread, and have decided to put in my 2 cents. Ready? I am not Roya's biggest fan, though I can say that Mr. Ramin has won praise in my book. His nomination of his wife is the single most romantic gesture. Therefore let it be. The great thing about being Iranian of the day, is that you get the title for 24 hours not forever. So with that said, yey Ramin! Though I don't agree with Roya's politics, and her specific negation of her identity through her contemporary relations. I do not see a better role model for Iranian women, right now. I can someday strive to be as accomplished as she is.

My last point everyone above has mentioned Democracy. Remember when democracy was the rule of the masses by the masses? Remember those days, so with that being said why don't we ALLOW the Iranians INSIDE of Iran decide their fate instead of playing the game of chance and what if, and let me call my friends in washington. No one will change Iran but Iran itself, Most of us gave up our right Iranian political voice when we left Iran, why don't we support the growing Iranian population by letting them express their voices, instead of stifling them?

can not agree more

can not agree more with Abarmard on the Orientalist neo-cons including Hakkakian and husband; eloquently put.

Roya is a great Iranian.

I want to acknowledge Roya for her great commitment to Iran. Thank you so much for writing your book, and thanks for your courage and unshakable stand for human rights and democracy in Iran.
There are over 4 million of us outside of Iran and you are among the very few who are fully committed to the cause.
I absolutely love your poetry and find you something like Forough. You are great and hope nothing would deter you from making a difference in our country's future.
You are the true daughter of Iran. Thanks.

to Abarmard

Hamid Dabashi is the Iranian regime’s zookeeper at Colombia University. Here is Peyvand Khorsandi's hilarious response to HD's ridiculous views.

Peyvand Khorsandi: Hello professor Hamid Dabashi. Do you like picnics?

Hamid Dabashi: Fanon was right. Any attack on Iran by the United States must be blamed squarely on Azar Nafisi, author of that infamous pedophile’s handbook, Bonking Lolita In Tehran. Instead she focuses on her perverted experience of psycho-sexually abusing her students in Tehran by sharing with them her reading of the literature of the West – from her point of view. Hang HER.

LINK: //iranian.com/PeyvandKhorsandi/2006/Augus...

For those who don't want to read

For those who don't feel like reading a long (but you should) article, here is the point about Roya Hakakian: (H-Dabashi answers:)

As you rightly document this, I am not “suggesting” anything. I am saying
that chapter and verse people like Azar Nafisi have been actively
involved in asking the United States officials for what inside the
Beltway they call “regime change”—and now there are reports that she
and her ilk—people ranging from Abbas Milani and Moshen Sazegara to
Amir Taheri, Roya Hakakian and Ramin Ahmadi—are actually on a frequent
flier program to and from DC, with regular visits to the White House,
the State Department, and Almighty only knows what other doors Elliott Abrams (“the Neocons Neocon”) is opening for them. I am afraid Azar Nafisi’s “friends
in Washington,” as she calls them, are precisely people like Paul
Wolfowitz, Foad Ajami, Bernard Lewis, and Elliot Abrams. This is what
is scary—that the foreign policy of once a democratic republic, now a
predatory empire, are decided by these sorts of people, playing fast
and loose with facts, and thus with a people’s destiny. It is not just
Iranians we need to worry about. We need to worry about Americans even
more. I too live in New York, and I am frightened out of my wits that
people like Azar Nafisi, Foad Ajami, Bernard Lewis, Paul Wolfowitz,
Elliot Abrams, and Richard Perle are looking after my safety.

***
As for her
comparison with Foad Ajami, I think it is wrong of us to keep looking
for the Foad Ajamis and Ahmad Chalabi’s of Iran. There is no
one-to-one correspondence between the Iraq and the Iran cases. One has
to look at the services, both long-term and short-term, that the
Oriental regiment of the US neocons—ranging from Foad Ajami and Azar
Nafisi to Ahmad Chalabi and Abbas Milani, plus the intermediary roles
of lesser figures like Amir Taheri, Ramin Ahmadi, and Roya Hakakian—are
playing and reach for something far more fundamental in this nauseating
game of career opportunism, namely for the absence of any overriding
idea, any imperial imagination corresponding with the carnage that the
US and Israel now perpetrate around the world.

Worth looking at

Dabashi says it best. I think for those who like to see more about this issue, take a look at this and google (Google Dabashi and reading Lolita in Tehran) for more information-I think it's a serious issue to ponder about:

//www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID...

Great Picture : Roya and Benazir have both worked for democracy

For those of you who can't 'understand' the picture, it shows two women who have worked for democracy and freedom; two woman who have Iranian roots and two woman who have suffered from the Islamists.

Roya is well known for her book Journey from the Land of No. If I said, Ferdosi the author of Shahname, would you consider that as advertising?!

Please stop this character bashing. Maybe for once in your life you should think about supporting successful people and wish them well. The fact that Ramin is a businessman or Roya is Jewish is irrelevant.

I respect Roya for her contribution to human rights and more importantly for promoting the picture of Iranians. I personally get a sense of pride to see Ramin and Roya as two successful Iranians.

Good luck to both of them!

Not even Iranian of a single second

Of course, Ramin Ahmadi is free to nominate his wife. But look at the apparent rationale for the nomination (because Ahmadi himself does not give any reason): Hakakian had a photo-op with Benazir Bhutto, nothing less, nothing more. Even Ahmadi himself does not claim anything, other than mentioning HER BOOK! It is not that the two were close friends, or that the two had collaborated on a great project on behalf of humanity or democracy, or that Hakakian is going to start a crusade or anything like that, but that she just had a photo-op. That is it. Why then can anyone blame anybody who thinks that this is nothing but an advertising on behalf of Hakakian's book, regardless of what the book is about, and whether it is a good book or a bad one?

Knowing Ahmadi, it does not surprise me. He presents himself everywhere as a human rights advocate, but all he is is a vengeful, uninformed business man. He and his "group" received a couple of million $$ from the State Department to supposedly work on human rights violations in Iran and their documentation.
And, what did Ahmadi want to do with the money? DOCUMENT THE CHAIN MURDERS of the four killed in Iran during 1998-99, the late Forouhar and his wife, Mokhtari, and Pouyandeh! All he had to do was copying what Akbar Gangi and Emad Baghi had written and deliver them to the State Department as a major piece of work and research on behalf of human rights!!

After being told in the Spring of 2005 by Iran's leading human rights advocate in a meeting that this "project" is totally ridiculous, and told to try to document the killing of over 4000 people who were executed in 1988 at the end of the Iran/Iraq war (even that is not too difficult because there already exists a lot of documents about those murders), Ahmadi came up with a "brilliant idea": he decided to teach classes on how to become a human rights advocate in Iran! He held a series of classes in Dubai. Some innocent Iranians from Iran also participated in them. But, what was taught? How to organize street demostrations! But, aside from the fact that this was not supposed to be the work under the funding (at least not officially); aside from the fact that Ahmadi had no expertise on such matters whatsoever aside from being his arrogant self, and aside from the fact that the innocent Iranians who had participated in the classes had not been told in advancve what they would be taught (so that they could choose not to participate), the classes had been totally penetrated by Iran's Intelligence Ministry. So, after the innocent Iranians returned to Iran, several of them were arrested and thrown in jail!

This was so bad that even a member of the "board" that had supposedly been formed to direct the "project" resigned in protest. But, what has Ahmadi done in response to the disaster and protests? Insisting that what he did was perfectly fine! Of course, he lives in the US, enjoying all the support and money that he needs from the neocons, etc. Why should he care about the poor Iranians that he supposedly wants to help, even if they go to jail over his ill-conceived, ill-executed "plans," about which he has no expertise whatsoever, not even a iota!

Let me make a comment about Hakakian being a Jew, and so how some commentators seem to defend her so vehemently simply because she is a Jew.

True, there should be no difference between any Iranian, Jew, Muslim, Armenian, Bahai, etc. But, let's consider some statistics to see which group and religion has suffered more at the hands of the IRI?

Let's say that since the Iranian revolution 50,000 political prisoners have been executed (this a low estimate, but enough to make the point). With few exceptions, they all have been Muslims, at least nominally (e.g., being from a culturally Muslim family), and almost all of whom were executed by 1988. At that time, Iran's population was about 50,000,000, 98% of whom Muslim. That means out of every 1000 Muslims in Iran one had been executed by then. So, since Iranian Jews consider themselves part of Iran (although many of them, as soon as they leave Iran, become loyal to Israel not Iran), they should ask themselves: have we suffered proportionally also? If we consider the population of Iranian Jews in Iran to be the present number, namely, 25000, that means 25 Iranian Jews executed. if we consider the number of Iranian Jews to be 80000 (which was the number right before the Revolution), that means 80 Jews exceuted. But, HOW MANY HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN EXECUTED? None, zilch, at least I cannot remember one.

I do not even consider the fact that 300,000 Iranian Muslims died in defence of Iran during Iran/Iraq war, and another 700,000 injured, thousands of them badly and for the rest of their lives.

So, we have a situation in which a part of Iranian population feels special about itself, claims all sorts of suffering, claims that it is being discriminated against, whereas in reality, at least when it comes to such statistics, it is the Iranian Muslims (and then the Bahais) against whom the IRI has discriminated. I guess their blood is a little more red than those of the rest of us!

That is why people like me do not believe that, (1) Hakakian and Ahmadi give a hoot to Iran and Iranians, and (2) they are doing "great work" on behalf of human rights. They are not. They are out to make a buck, which is fine, so long as they do not present themselves to us as great human rights advocates who are doing their best to advance the cause of human rights in Iran.

She looks wonderful

She looks great and her book was fantastic. Great work both of you, Roya and Ramin. Keep it up. Continue and keep the antisemtic pro mullah noise makers in constant anger (and fear).