homo sacer's blog

On Homo Sacer

homo sacer — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 23:41:31 +0000

According to ancient Roman laws, homo sacer is an outlaw “who may be killed and yet not sacrificed.” Italian philosopher, Georgio Agamben, contemporized this concept so as to refer to a person deprived of the universal human and political rights enjoyed by citizens of a modern sovereign state – and thus protection of law such as provided by Habeas corpus – yet subj

The Cherry Orchard

homo sacer — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:39:37 +0000

It was our learned essay-writing (“En’sha”) teacher in high school who introduced me to Anton Chekhov’s last play. The Cherry Orchard: A Comedy in Four Acts chronicles six months in the life of an impoverished and aging aristocrat, Madame Ranevskaya, at the turn of the 20th century in Russia, when her patrimonial estate, including a majestic orchard, is being auctioned to pay for her debts. The highest bidder is the son of a peasant.

The Evolutionary Road

homo sacer — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:20:26 +0000

Over the summer break of 1978, my wife and I went back to Tehran to visit our families, to show off our newly born, and to work and earn some needed money, unknowing it would turn into our nation’s summer of discontent. My family lived near the Old Shemiran road. So, when the floodgates of Hosseinieh Ershad were opened to let the black-clad human wave of Shari’ati disciples roll southward, I was among the thousands of spectators who filled the sidewalk, outnumbering the marchers.

“I’m beginning to see why one would want to write a blog.”

homo sacer — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:42 +0000

The above is the opening sentence of the first-ever blog by infuriating-to-many and icon-for-some, the late Norman Mailer (Huffington Post May 17th,2005), who had once opined, “<

Mosaddegh and the Shah

homo sacer — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:15:28 +0000

The anniversary of the watershed event of August 19th,1953 reinvigorated the debate between monarchists and supporters of Dr. Mosaddegh, once again.

Reality check

homo sacer — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:52:31 +0000

In recent past, I have read a few posts on IC bemoaning what is going on in Iran, while glorifying our past Empiredom, as though the past is a viable option today. While I found some interesting points in these posts, I found myself in disagreement with their tone and tenor. My problem is that these writings are mostly nostalgic, escapist and quixotic.