Translator’s Note: During the past few months, several online articles in Persian have attempted to analyze the participation, or lack thereof, by Iran’s Azeris in the Green Movement. Some have criticized the Azeri desire for autonomy as “pan-Turkist.” Others have criticized the leaders of the Green Movement for not working to safeguard the Azeris’ cultural and linguistic heritage. Some who are critical of the Azeris’ pursuit of autonomy point out that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, leading reformist opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi, and many other prominent Iranian politicians, theologians, and secular intellectuals over the past century have been Azeris. A large portion of Iran’s Azeri population of approximately 15 million, however, do not believe that their right to preserve their culture and mother tongue have been honored by Iran’s current leaders. On April 2, 2010, a gathering of 10,000 Azeris near Lake Urmia, located between the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan, protested the government’s lack of attention to the drying out of the lake. The protesters also demanded the preservation of Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage. Over 100 were arrested. Earlier, on February 21, a group of Azeri activists and intellectuals chose International Mother Language Day to issue a statement that addressed the Green Movement. Below is the full statement without the names of the signatories. My glosses are interpolated in square brackets. This translation was originally published by Tehran Bureau on April 15, 2010.
Continue reading Statement by A Group of Azeri Activists & Intellectuals Concerning the Green Movement
Feminist Political Scientist, Fatemeh Sadeghi, Condemns “Temporary Marriage” as Exploitation
Translator’s note: Fatemeh Sadeghi has a PhD in political science and has taught at the Islamic Azad University of Karaj near Tehran. Soon after the publication of her controversial article “Why We Say No to the Compulsory Hijab” [http://iranianvoicesintranslation.blogspot.com/2009/07/fatemeh-sadghi-is-assistant-professor.html] in May 2008, she was suspended from her teaching post at the university. Below are extended excerpts from an article which she recently published in Alborz, a site devoted to a critique of political economy. In this article, she critiques both conservatives and Religious Revisionists who defend the practice of temporary marriage. To find English equivalents for certain terms, I consulted the glossaries in Shahla Haeri’s Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage in Shi’i Iran (Syracuse University Press, 1989) and Janet Afary’s Sexual Politics in Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2009). Following Daryoush Ashouri’s advice, I have translated the term no-andishan-e dini as Religious Revisionists. My glosses are interpolated in square brackets. This translation was originally published by Tehran Bureau on March 15, 2010 (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/03/temporary-marriage-and-the-economy-of-pleasure.html).
Continue reading Feminist Political Scientist, Fatemeh Sadeghi, Condemns “Temporary Marriage” as Exploitation
Shadi Sadr Dedicates Her Award to Imprisoned Women’s Rights Activist
Iranian Feminist attorney and human rights activist, Shadi Sadr has decided to dedicate her Women of Courage Award to Shiva Nazar Ahari, an imprisoned women’s rights activist. Sadr chose not to travel to Washington D.C. on Wednesday March 10 to receive the award from U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Instead she sent a recorded message to be braodcast at the awards ceremony. The U.S. Department of State decided not to broadcast Sadr’s message during the ceremony. Below is the full English text of her message, which was published on the website of Women Living Under Muslim Laws.
Continue reading Shadi Sadr Dedicates Her Award to Imprisoned Women’s Rights Activist
A Response to Danny Postel’s Call for Critical Solidarity with Iran
Danny Postel’s “The Specter Haunting Iran” is a welcome call for “critical solidarity” with the Iranian democratic opposition movement. Unlike those on the Left who have been wary of characterizing the current democratic movement in Iran as a progressive phenomenon, Postel has supported this movement as a completely new and progressive phenomenon or what he calls “a deep-seated shift in the consciousness of millions of Iranians in their ways of seeing and perceiving their political reality.” . . . Given Danny Postel’s grasp of the “deep shift in consciousness” that has taken place in Iran, I am surprised to see him offer Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian economic experiment as an alternative . . .
Continue reading A Response to Danny Postel’s Call for Critical Solidarity with Iran
Is There a Labor Movement in Iran? An Interview with Mohammad Maljoo
Translator’s Note: Dr. Mohammad Maljoo is an Iran-based researcher and lecturer who specializes in political economy. On February 6, 2010, Mahindokht Mesbah of the Persian language Deutsche Welle Radio conducted an interview with him. Translated excerpts follow.
Continue reading Is There a Labor Movement in Iran? An Interview with Mohammad Maljoo
