Persian Heritage
Persian Heritage Vol. 24, No. 94 Summer 2019 www.persian-heritage.com FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK 6 Persian Heritage, Inc. 110 Passaic Avenue LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 8 Passaic, NJ 07055 A Precious Gift 9 E-mail: [email protected] NEWS Telephone: (973) 471-4283 Fax: 973 471 8534 Sadaf Khadem, Iranian Female Boxer 10 The Edinburgh Iranian Festival 12 EDITOR SHAHROKH AHKAMI COMMENTARY
EDITORIAL BOARD Who Owns Iran’s Oil? 13 Dr. Mehdi Abusaidi, Shirin Ahkami (Khosrow B. Semnani) Raiszadeh, Dr. Mahvash Alavi Naini, Mohammad Bagher Alavi, Dr. Talat The Middle East: A 20th Century Neologism... 16 Bassari, Mohammad H. Hakami, Ardeshir Lotfalian, K. B. Navi, Dr. (Mohammad Ala) Kamshad Raiszadeh, Farhang A. Sadeghpour, Mohammad K. Sadigh, M. A. Dowlatshahi. THE ARTS & CULTURE REVIEWS 18 MANAGING EDITOR HALLEH NIA A Brief List of Persian Scientists and Scholars 19 ADVERTISING (Bahar Bastani) HALLEH NIA The Sakas (Michael McClain) 20 * The contents of the articles and adver Pink Martini and Persian Music 22 tisements in this journal, with the exception of the editorial, are the sole works of each Western Persephobia 23 individual writers and contributors. This maga zine does not have any confirmed knowledge (K. Farrokh, S. Vasseghi, J.S. Gracia) as to the truth and veracity of these articles. Triumph of Self-Empowerment 25 all contributors agree to hold harmless and indemnify Persian Heritage (Mirass-e Iran), (Davood N. Rahni) Persian Heritage Inc., its editors, staff, board of directors, and all those indi viduals directly 2019 Sondheim Finalists 27 associated with the publishing of this maga zine. The opinions expressed in these articles Passing of Monir Farmanfarmaian 29 are the sole opinions of the writers and not the Charting the Rise of Modern Iran 30 journal. No article or picture submitted will be returned to the writer or contributor. All articles (Mike Cummings) submitted in English must be typed. * The appearance of advertising in this maga zine does not constitute a guaran tee or en dorsement of the products by Persian Heritage . In addition, articles and letters published do not reflect the views of this publication. Important Notice * Letters to the Editor should be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the above addresses and numbers. All written submissions to The journal reserves the right to edit same for space and clarity or as deemed appropriate. Persian Heritage with the ex Special * All requests for permissions and reprints must pectation of publication in the be made in writing to the managing editor. magazine must include the announcement: PUBLISHED BY PERSIAN HERITAGE, INC. writer’s name, address and tele Contact our A corporation organized for cultural and phone number. When an article literary purposes is submitted we assume the au California based Advertising Cover Price: $6.00 Subscriptions: $24.00/year (domestic); thor has complete ownership of Agent for your ads. $30.00 & 50.00/year (International) the article and the right to grant Typesetting & Layout permission for publication. (973) 471-4283 TALIEH PUBLICATIONS
Summer 2019 5 FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Once again, I am writing this editorial under pressure; poison. I submitted myself to God’s will and drank this poison pressure of the deadline to go to print and pressure from my for his satisfaction,’’ Saddam went on another journey of war diligent staff. I delayed my writing for as long as possible with Kuwait. He wanted to show the United States the power because I was anxiously waiting for the news from Iran. Iran of his military and leadership. Using inaccurate statistics, the is, as we know, a country in turmoil and on the brink of a pos- then United State Secretary of State Colin Powell was able sible war with the superpowers of the world. We have been to convince the United Nations that an invasion of Iraq was publishing Persian Heritage for twenty-four years. Most of justified. There were many counter arguments heard from my editorials have addressed my deepest concerns for Iran Iraq’s Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz. The result was the invasion and Iranians due to the rhetoric coming from Iran’s present and the complete devastation of Iraq. The invasion was led regime. It is the same worrisome war mongering rhetoric we by General Schwarzkopf of the United States, who ironically have heard for the past forty years, post the Iranian revolution. had spent his adolescents growing up in Iran. Saddam ended I understand my comments on the editorial pages are up in a hole, only to be found and dragged out months later. repetitive. I also understand that to some of my dear readers, To the present day, the damage and the destruction endured my words are boring and discouraging. But, because of the by the Iraqis at the hands of the invaders remains visible. The continuous disheartening events encircling Iran and its people, outcome resulted in Iraq’s division into three parts, under one I am compelled to share my deepest feelings, emotions and flag!!!??? thoughts with you, my dear readers. Today the Ayatollahs in Iran are using similar rhetoric In my editorials, I admit I criticize individuals, just as I in defying the world superpowers. The problem facing these am criticized in other publications and or “Letters to the Edi- Ayatollahs is that their rhetoric is not supported by the Iranian tor.” This is called Freedom of Speech, a right and privilege people or the rest of the world. The hope of success for the we have by living in the United States. My writings are my Ayatollahs was the backing of Russia and China. However, opinions. It is unfortunate that some readers who disagree it was not too long ago that Mr. Putin stated that he will not with MY OPINION AND CRITICISM, rename my words as act like a fire department to extinguish the fire that will burn HATE SPEECH. They have tried to make me a public enemy Iran down. This language was unsettling for the Iranian lead- and have negatively labeled me. While these unjustified inter- ers. They finally understood that this “so called” friendship pretations by some emotionally hurt me, they will not change was no “friendship” at all. It was a one-sided relationship that or weaken my opinions when it comes to addressing the abused Iranians by spending billions of Iranian currency on devastation and turmoil the people of Iran are encountering. building nuclear power plants for energy, sales of the Missiles Having said that I do not want to lose perspective on the S-300 that were never delivered and the use of Iranian military current important issue, which is that we are living in a very bases. Finally, they realized that their “so called allies” were dangerous time and the possibility of war between Iran and not and are not going to back Iran in the event of a war with the United States is imminent. the United States. Perhaps the Ayatollahs have forgotten how For many years, I have been an avid reader and con- these same allies were a friend to the enemy of Iran, Saddam tinue to educate myself on the foreign policies of the world Hussein. After 40 years, these Iranian leaders continue not superpowers and the implementation of their policies against to understand the true meaning of leadership. They know Iran and other countries. The current state of affair between only how to rob Iran of its valuable assets, transfer them to the United States and Iran reminds me of Saddam Hossein personal accounts to international banks outside of Iran, when who, because of his own ego, engaged in an eight-year war these assets could be used to ease the suffering of its citizens. with Iran; a war that resulted in the death or severe injury of In the US and other developed countries there is a drive over one million Iranians, five hundred thousand Iraqis, the to make something out of yourself. Becoming successful is destruction of the province of Khouzestan, the cities of Abadan encouraged. Many Diaspora Iranians have worked hard, sac- and Khorramshahr, the devastation of farm and industrial in- rificed and have made names for themselves in many profes- dustries and the ruin of economic and human livelihood. But sions. They have earned their financial success in an honest Saddam did not learn his lesson. Right after the statement of manner not through embezzlement and stealing assets from Ayatollah Khomeini agreeing to a cease fire to end the eight- the people of Iran. They have not profited from the sanctions year war, ‘’Taking this decision was more deadly than taking placed on Iran; they have not profited the grievances endured
6 No. 94 F R O M T H E E D I T O R ’ S D E S K by the people of Iran. The sanctions placed on Iran by the Gulf) stated that the Hawkish members of the present United United States and other countries have only helped aid the States administration are using too strong a rhetoric against the corrupt system in Iran. They have assisted the regime leaders Iranian people and not directing it at the Iranian government, and their children (Agha Zadeh) in buying luxury cars and this is dangerous. This rhetoric is turning American opinion buildings. They have assisted in making the poor poorer and against the people of Iran and not at the ruling Ayatollahs. the Iranian middle-class disappear. Iranians are double victims. They have been victimized How many times must it be said before we all understand by an abusive government and victimized by a world who are the level of poverty plaguing Iran? According to the latest not educated on Iran, Iranians and its history. statistics more than 50% of the Iranian people are living below I certainly pray that the Iranian people will not have to the poverty line. How does this happen to one of the richest endure another experience of war. Iranians living in Diaspora countries of the world? How does this happen to a country should be cautioned. While the Diaspora sit enjoying the fruits once adored and respected by the world? How does this hap- of their financial comfort, PLEASE don’t encourage war. This pen to a country whose history displays the most significant war will be a battle that will destroy a nation and a people accomplishments in the Middle East? New statistics would who have suffered so much. This war will be a battle for the with certainty show that the number of poor continues to destruction of the nation of Iran, it will be torn into pieces. increase. One news source stated that Iranians are more wor- Have a look at Yugoslavia! Every part of it has been divided ried about inflation and poverty than war. Keeping the people into separate territories. Have a look at Syria and Libya! Better under such circumstances and having them suffer in such a yet have a look at Iraq! manner is a despicable act of this leadership. I pray that the current leaders of Iran come to their senses, The forty- year fight of the brave Iranian women to be have pride for their country and its rich history and find the allowed basic freedoms, including freedom of expression (not courage to step down. I pray that they go and settle in places to be forced to cover their heads and bodies) has changed. where they have accumulated their wealth. After forty years Fighting for basic freedoms has been replaced with the fight to of hardship, I pray they will let the Iranian people have a survive. They are fighting for the basic needs of their families. legitimate election to decide their own new leaders. They are fighting to figure out how to afford housing and the I pray for this, I pray for this, I pray for this! high price of meat, potatoes, onion etc. These are the new and additional burdens on the people of Iran. Men and women, fathers and mothers are struggling to provide for their children. The factory worker has lost his job because the sanctions have forced factories to close due to a lack of imports for parts and other resources. The farmer has lost his livelihood due to the drought and the recent floods. Please tell me how these poor The Passing of a Dear Friend souls can find any strength to stand up against powers who have treated them so poorly and exploited every opportunity We are deeply saddened for growth. by the passing of Shok- Many in Iran are hoping for an uprising within the coun- oufeh Mokhtari Saghafi try. They are hoping for peace. They do not want a war with on April 26, 2019. She the United States or any other country. Just maybe this time was an extraordinary the sitting mice will consider giving up the rule in order to person, always true to avoid any conflict with the big elephant in the room, the United herself. Until her last States. Perhaps before any mishaps occur the current Iranian breath she fought, with regime will come to their senses and shift power back to a all the strength and de- more deserving leadership; to a leadership that will have the termination that defined ability to open doors for Iran and Iranians; to a leadership that her so well. allows them to rejoin the world; and to a leadership who will She is survived by her reach out a hand in peace and friendship to the global world. daughter Naz Afarine Iranians have always been a people with morals and values. They have unfairly and unjustifiably been labeled as terrorists, Chiffert and her son-in- when Iranians have never been involved in a terrorist act, in law Guillaume Chiffert, grandchildren Alma, Elsa and any part of the world. I pray that the world understands that Abel, sister Maryam Kiani and brothers Mahmad the actions of a government does not always reflect the desires and Massoud Amirkhalili. of its citizens. The staff of Persian Heritage and the Ahkami family War is not the answer. Even a retired American general extend our deepest sympathy to her family. who spent a long time on assignment, despite his obvious She will be missed. pro-Arab position (referring to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian
Summer 2019 7 L E T T E R S T O E D I T O R A LETTER FROM AN AMERICAN PRISONER have received my letter. متشکرم و خداحافظ، سام ادکینس To the Staff of Persian Heritage Hello! I hope you are not disturbed by receiving a letter from a prison inmate, but if you read on, I think you will be interested * Ps. In case my Farsi was illegible or unintelligible, I rewrote in what I have to say. For the sake of your time, I will try to keep it in English on the back of this page: this very brief. “Therefore I would like to be able to talk to a Persian Before I was arrested, I was a very foolish young man, I speaker so that I can know whether my understanding of sen- developed a fascination with the people, culture, and the nation tences’ construction is correct and also to ask about the culture of Iran. I would watch videos on YouTube about it. One I remem- and people of Iran.” ber was “Travel With Rick Steves” where he took a film crew to Iran and went to Tehran and Qom and Esfahan. I think and I * * * remember how friendly and beautiful the people of Iran were. I Dear Sam decided that one day, I would travel there. As one, who read your letter before anybody else, I would Several years have passed since then, but my interest in Iran like to congratulate your success in learning Persian on your own remains, and I still desire to go some day. So, in the meantime, I so well. Per your wish, I will continue my reply to your sincere have begun to learn Farsi. I really enjoy it! I have a book “Com- words in Persian: plete Persian” by Narguess Farzad that has been very helpful, as سالم سام well as the combined New Persian-English and English-Persian اول میخواهم به خاطر نتیجه تالشی که برای یاد گرفنت زبان فارسی کردی، -Dictionary. These resources have been great as I begin translat به تو تبریک بگویم. هرچند در حال حاضر منیتوامن آنکسی باشم که بتواند در این ing articles of Persian Heritage. However, I am sure that my pronunciation of the words is terrible, and as I am begining to کار، به هر شکلی، به تو کمک کند، اما امیدوارم کسانی بتوانند با ِفرستادن یک try and write out my own thoughts in Persian, I suspect that my کتاب دستور زبان فارسی، و تعدادی کتاب مصور )= با عکس( با توضیحات .grammer is not very good either. And I have no way of checking کوتاه درباره طبیعت و فرهنگ و بناهای تاریخی ایران و همینطور داستانهای کوتاه فارسی، به عشق و عالقهی تو به زبان فارسی و ایران، پاسخ شایسته بدهند. بنابراین میخواهم یک کسی که بتوامن با او گفتگو دارم و از او بپرسم چه همین طور دلم میخواهد،از اینکه در محیط زندان وقت خود را با یاد گرفنت حرفهای من درست هستند. یک چیز خوب، مانند یک زبان خارجی میگذرانی، باز هم به تو تبریک بگویم. این همچنین کنجکاوم درباره فرهنگ و مردم ایران، و خیلی میخواهم یک بهترین و مفیدترین کاری است که یک زندانی باید برای سالمت روحی و جسمی دوست ایرانی که این چیزها به من خواهد گفت. خود اجنام دهد. امیدوارم این کار تو برای زندانیان دیگر هم انگیزهای برای یاد I’m sorry if I have butchered your beautiful language in گرفنت ایجاد کند. یاد گرفنت هرچیز خوب. the above sentences. If it truly is terrible then you see why I راستی، نوشته فارسی تو، با داشنت چند اشتباه، باز هم، برای کسی که .need help My hope is that the reader of this letter will be intrigued by خودش فارسی را یاد گرفته، بسیارخوب و قابل فهم است. what I have said and perhaps connect me with someone who may برایت موفقیتهای بیشتر آرزو میکنم. be willing to help. If for whatever reason this is not possible, I یک ایرانی خواننده نامه تو to let me know you (به فارسی) understand completely. In reply BEAUTIFUL IRAN
آرامگاه حافظ، شاعر مشهور ایران در شیراز، مرکز استان فارس در جنوب ایران ُه ُدهد، پرندهای که در ادبیات فارسی نشانه دانایی و رهبری است. Hoopoe, a bird which is a symbol of wisdom and Hafez tomb, Iranian worldwide fame poet in Shiraz, conscious leadership in Persian litrature capital of Fars province, in the south of Iran.
8 No. 94 L E T T E R S T O E D I T O R
A PRECIOUS GIFT Ryan Saghian یک هدیه استثنایی
As one of todays most cel- ebrated millennial designers, Ryan has built an extensive portfolio of work covering all aspects of design in high end residential, hospitality, and specialty commercial interiors. Recently dubbed “The go-to designer Dear Editor: for creating homes that feel invitingly luxurious,” and a “Rising Star” by مجله را پس نفرستید! Dr. Ahkami I want to extend my Interiors California, Ryan rides the دکتر احکامی عزیز greetings to you and thank you for the wave of designing for the top tier. As با سالم و ارادت. فصلنامه وزین و بسیار پر -extensive and valuable contents of Per a Native Angeleno, Saghian continu- sian Heritage magazine. I receive the -ally incorporates elements of Holly محتوا و خواندنی »میراث ایران« را همواره بعد از wood opulence into his spaces, which انتشار دریافت میکنم و بدین وسیله مراتب تشکر و magazine each quarter and read it with so much pleasure, thank you for this. I also he finds to be a defining aspect to امتنان خودم را تقدیم میدارم. commend you for your tireless efforts what shapes Los Angeles design. At همچنین از زحمات ارزنده و خستگیناپذیر in keeping Persian culture, history and only 26, Ryan represents a new emer- sion of millennial designers, enjoying شما برای زنده نگهداشنت زبان و فرهنگ فارسی و .literature alive. Your work is admirable recognition for accomplishments far کشور عزیزمان نهایت قدردانی میمنایم. خداوند .May God protect you beyond his years. With participations یار و نگهدارتان باشد. I have enclosed a gift for you. In in the Greystone Mansion Showcase من اولین بار که در سال ۱۹۷۶ کشور عزیزمان I left Iran on an Iranian Airlines ,1976 747 to come to the United States. The house for California Homes Maga- را به مقصد آمریکا ترک کردم، با هواپیمای جمبوجت flight was nonstop from Tehran to New zine, to designing a window for the Legends of La Cienega, Ryan has ایرانایر مستقیم از تهران به نیویورک، داخل هواپیما York. Inside the plane there were many become a staple in the Los Angeles مجلههای مختلف ایران وجود داشت. من در ایران Iranian publications. I happened to read .design community مجله »خواندنیها« را آبونه بودم و مطالعه را دوست one called Khandiha, which I subscribed Born in Los Angeles, Ryan داشتم . داخل هواپیما این مجله وجود داشت و من to. When the flight was over I kept the magazine, which is enclosed. received his Bachelors of Science قسمتی از آن را خواندم و برای خواندن بقیه مطالب، I have had it in my possession for 47 degree in Interior Design from the Art Institute of California’s CIDA آن را برداشته و با خود بردم. اکنون که ۴۳ سال از آن years and now gift it to you as I believe design school. From training under تاریخ میگذرد، هنوز آن را حفظ کردهام. .you would enjoy reading the contents -the industries most celebrated design اکنون فکر کردم، شاید شما مایل به مطالعه این It would be interesting for you to ers to studying design in full depth know that the owner, Editor -in-chief and -throughout college, Ryan has devel مجله قدیمی باشید، آن را برای شما میفرستم. ناگفته publisher of this magazine, Mr. Amirani oped the skills many aspire to gain in مناند که در سال اول دگرگونیهای ایران، آقای امیرانی was executed during the first year of the the nations design capitol. In addition که صاحب این نشریه بودند، اعدام شدند در سن پیری. revolution. Again, I thank you and wish ,to creating bold and refined interiors در خامته سالمتی و موفقیت شما و فامیل you and your family health and continued Ryan Saghian now manufactures a -custom wallpaper collection, furni محترم را از درگاه پروردگار آرزومندم .success .ture collection, and candle line ارادمتند، ,Sincerely آذر هژبر بهادری Azar Hojabr Bahadori
Summer 2019 9 N E W S
SADAF KHADEM, Iranian Female Boxer Halts Return Over Arrest Fears
An Iranian who became the first Khadem fought in a green vest and told the L’Equipe newspaper. “I wasn’t woman from her country to contest an red shorts with a white waistband - the wearing a hijab, I was coached by a man official boxing match says she has can- colours of Iran’s national flag in the west- - some people take a dim view of this.” celled her return home from France after ern French town of Royan. The 24-year- A spokesman for the Iranian em- hearing a warrant had been issued for her old had to fight abroad as, despite having bassy in Paris told Reuters news agency arrest. Sadaf Khadem beat the French the blessing of Iranian sporting authori- on Wednesday that he could not comment boxer Anne Chauvin in an amateur bout. ties, it proved too complicated to fulfil on whether Khadem faced arrest in Iran She had planned to fly to Tehran their requirement that the bout be refer- or on her decision not to return to Iran. with her French-Iranian trainer. Kha- eed and judged by women. Khadem had Under Iranian law, women and girls dem was quoted by a sports newspaper been expecting a hero’s welcome when as young as nine years old who are seen as saying she believed she was accused she returned to Iran. But while she trav- in public without a headscarf can be pun- of violating Iran’s compulsory dress code elled to Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport ished with a prison sentence of between by boxing in a vest and shorts. with her trainer Mahyar Monshipour - an 10 days and two months, or a cash fine. Iranian officials have not com- Iranian-born former World Boxing Asso- Iranian sportswomen are required mented, but the head of Iran’s boxing ciation champion who also serves as an to cover their hair, neck, arms and legs federation denied that Khadem would be adviser to the French sports minister - she when competing. Until recently, Khadem arrested if she came home. said they were told that warrants had been would not have been permitted to take “Ms Khadem is not a member of issued for their arrest. part in an official boxing match wearing [Iran’s] organized athletes for boxing, “I was fighting in a legally approved a hijab or a full body form fitting uniform and from the boxing federation’s per- match, in France. But as I was wearing for religious regions. But the Interna- spective all her activities are personal,” shorts and a T-shirt, which is completely tional Boxing Association (AIBA), ama- Hossein Soori was quoted as saying by normal in the eyes of the entire world, I teur boxing’s governing body, changed an Iranian news agency. confounded the rules of my country,” she its uniform rules at the end of February.
In a Memory of Artoosh Avanessian Artoosh Avanessian was born on April 21, 1927, in Tabriz, Iran. His father, Arsen Derovanessian, and mother, Hratchuhi Hacopian, had three children. Artoosh was the oldest of the three. His brother Roubik sadly passed away two months ago, and his sister Sophia passed away two years ago in Paris. When Artoosh was 13 and attending Hayotz Dbrotz in Tabriz, his father secured a new job in Tehran and decided to relocated the family there with the promise of a better life, and better education for the children. In Tehran, Artoosh finished high school and attended the University of Tehran. He earned a degree in Chemical Engineering in 1947, a rare and difficult feat in those days. After college, Artoosh showed great interest in developing Iran’s new sugar industry. He secured a position in sugar production, and his life-long career in sugar began to take shape when he moved to London and obtained a Master’s degree in chemical engineering. He furthered his career in Germany in the late 1950’s and was highly respected for his achievements. He continued his studies and became fluent in six languages. Artoosh returned to Tehran to continue working for a sugar-factory conglomerate operating all over Iran. In 1961, while on assignment in Urmia, he met his soulmate Lousvart Gasparian. The couple were married in Isfahan in 1965. Soon, he rose to the rank of executive in the sugar conglomerate and moved to Shiraz. In 1975, Artoosh moved his family to Tehran and became CEO of Fasa Sugar Industries. He received a medal from the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi. In 1985, the family moved to Bloomfield, New Jersey. Artoosh continued to work in Iran until 1988, when he relocated to New Jersey to be with his family. Education and excellence at work was highly important to him and he always took pride and was a positive force for his children in that regard. He was a symbol of grace, integrity, perseverance and lived a humble life helping many friends and family in need. Artoosh is survived by his wife Lousvart; three children, Aida, Anet and Armen all three born in Shiraz; his daughter in-law Ani; and his two grandchildren, Talia and Aleen.
10 No. 94 N E W S WEARABLE AND IMPLANTABLE THERANOSTICS FOR UBIQ- obtained his PhD degree in biomedical en- UITOUS HEALTHCARE gineering from Ecole Polytechnique Mon- treal, Canada, in 2014. His research focuses on realization of novel wearable/implant- able biomedical devices using low-power SoC ASICs and bio-optoelectronics. He was a research assistant with the Polystim Neurotechnologies laboratory, Montreal, from 2009 to 2014, and appointed as a visit- ing scholar with the MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA, and a research assistant with the Har- vard medical school, Boston, MA, USA, from 2012 to 2015. He was a post-doctoral research fellow and visiting scholar with the biomedical nanomaterials laboratory at POSTECH, Korea, in 2014. Since 2014, he has been with Harvard-MIT health science Progress in advanced materials and nanotechnology paved the way for the realiza- and technology and the Wellman center for tion of the novel miniaturized smart devices for real-time diagnostics and therapeutic photomedicine, Harvard medical school, applications. Technologies to constantly monitor critical biomarkers and point-of-care Cambridge, where he is involved in an ac- theranostics are still in their infancy. However, continuing advances in system-on-chip tive bio-optics project for developing novel design and biocompatible system integration can help define the next generation of innovative technologies by integration of biomedical devices for improving healthcare and spanning the design space from tran- photonics and biological system aiming sistors to the cloud. This talk addresses the main challenges towards realization of the at developing a novel diagnostic optical continuous wearable and implantable systems including extreme on-chip miniaturization instrument for medical applications. He is design, silicon – human body interfacing, RF/EM performance, safety and comfort, a technical committee of IEEE engineer- power scarcity and wireless power/data transfer. Flexible, wearable, biocompatible, low- ing in medicine and biology society on power, low-noise, auto-powered and/or wirelessly powered integrated circuits, will be a wearable biomedical sensors and systems few of the enabling technologies for developing these emerging systems. As exemplary and a member of IEEE solid-state circuits embodiment of the recent progress beyond state-of-the-art cutting-edge technologies, society, the institute of physics, the optical several examples have been introduced and implemented including: a portable long-term society of America, and the international brain imaging system, a smart theranostic contact lens and wireless electronic stents. society for optics and photonics. He was a recipient of 15 awards, including the best BIOGRAPHY: paper awards from CFSC’03, ACFAS’12, Ehsan Kamrani received a BSc degree in bioelectric in 2002, and MSc degree in elec- MIOMD’12, and the 2013 Polytechnique trical-control engineering, in 2005 from SBMU and TMU universities of Tehran, Iran. He research & innovation.
DARBAND, TEHRAN From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , [dæɾˈbænd]), formerly a village closeدربند :Darband (Persian to Tajrish, Shemiran, is a neighborhood inside Tehran’s metropoli- tan limits. It is the beginning of a popular hiking trail into Mount Tochal, which towers over Tehran. A chairlift is also available for those not interested in hiking. The Persian term darband translates to “door of the mountain” (band, a variation of vand and fand, meaning “mountain”). The initial start of the trail at Darband is about 250 metres long and is dotted with a number of small cafes and restaurants. These are quite popular and are busy in the eve- nings, as locals and tourists alike visit the many hooka lounges along the trail. The Zahir-od-dowleh cemetery, where many Iranian giants of art and culture such as Iraj Mirza, Forough Farrokhzad, Mo- hammad-Taqi Bahar, Abolhasan Saba, Ruhollah Khaleqi, Rahi Mo’ayyeri and Darvish Khan are buried, is also located in Darband. At the entrance to Darband Square is a bronze statue of the Amir Shahqammadi (Shahababa). He was born in 1929 in Quchan, Iran. For years he was a climber , skydiver and skier. He arrived to this area at the age of 17. Because of his knowledge and expertise in his sports and the area he is credited with the rescue of passengers and crew of an American plane that crashed in Zardukh Peak.
Summer 2019 11 N E W S IRAN RANKS NEAR BOTTOM ON WORLD BANK’S INDEX OF WOMEN’S EQUALITY Radio Farda: Women in Iran are paid less than three-quarters of the salaries paid to their male compatriots, the World Bank said in a study published February 28. In terms of economic equality for women, Iran ranks 185 out of 187 countries included in the study, behind only Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The study, titled “Women, Business, and the Law 2019: A Decade of Reform,” examined ten years of data, exploring how the economic decisions women make are affected by the law. It examined 35 indicators of equality, covering topics ranging from property ownership and inheritance laws to job protec- THE EDINBURGH IRANIAN FESTIVAL tions and pension policies, as well as rules governing marriage, This festival is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Orga- movement, travel, pay, and personal safety. nization. Its mission is to increase understanding of Iranian In addition to being ranked against other nations, the coun- culture, history and people, hopefully correcting skewed percep- tries included in the study were given scores on a 100-point tions the country’s citizens presently face. Most do not know scale. The Islamic Republic obtained only 31.25 points, while that over 5,000 Iranians make Scotland their home. the global average score is nearly 75. Among the countries, This year the festival celebrated its 10th year and did so Iran fell behind in the scoring are the Democratic Republic of in style. The festival offered a variety of cultural events for all Congo in Africa and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, both of which tastes and age. Opening day was March 1, 2019 with music scored 70 points. by The Persian Celtic Fusion and a musical performance from “If women have equal opportunities to reach their full four wonderful musicians who live in Scotland. Ali Rahmani potential, the world would not only be fairer, it would be more on the Tombak and Daf, Nick Jenkins on the fiddle with two prosperous as well,” World Bank Interim President Kristalina singer songwriters, Farzane Zamen and Lorraine McCauley. Georgieva said in a statement. There was also a special day at the National Museum of The six countries that received a perfect score of 100, Scotland that included Iranian bagpipes, an amazing film at the Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Sweden, Film house, a Shirin & Farhad theater show; Iranian cookery were found to give women and men equal legal rights in the class and a crafts and fashion fair at their own Bazaar located measured areas. However, none of these economies garnered in the Nomad’s Tent. the maximum score a decade ago, indicating they have all implemented reforms in the meantime. The report also shows progress over the past ten years overall, with the average score rising from 70 to 75. The report’s authors attributed this gain to laws and regulations passed over the last decade allowing greater inclusion of women. The report cited 274 reforms in 131 countries. The report found that 35 countries have proposed laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, granting protec- tions to an additional two billion women, while 22 nations have abolished restrictions that kept women out of certain industrial sectors. According to the World Bank, Iran is the second largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region after Saudi Arabia, with an estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016 of $412.2 billion.
12 No. 94 C O M M E N T A R Y
WHO OWNS IRAN’S OIL? Corruption in Iran’s Oil and Gas Sector
2nd & final part
President’s Letter, Khosrow B. Semnani (taken from “Where Is My Oil?”)
“Our path is not the path of oil. Oil does not matter to us. The nationalization of oil does not matter to us. It is a mistake. Our goal is Islam. Our goal is not oil. If some- one nationalizes oil, but puts aside Islam, why follow him?” Ruhollah Khomeini
There is nothing random lower-class Iranians to sub- virtual blackout surrounding to Iran’s development and about millions of Iranians sidize Porsches by purchas- the theft of Iran’s oil. Instead prosperity. Rather than being finding themselves buried ing medicine at black market of honoring and serving the helpless spectators subject to under the poverty line. Bu- prices. While Reza Zarrab Iranian people by arresting the plunder of their natural reaucratic sleaze and sloth and others had unrestricted the hands involved in the sys- resources, as in the Zanjani only explain so much. What access to Iranian gas and oil tematic theft of Iran’s oil and case, making government they do not explain though, is accounts in Turkey, purchas- gas, even tankers and rigs, the accountable and corruption how, in a period of sanctions, ing race horses, hovercrafts government treats the Iranian visible sets the stage for re- when the Iranian people were and yachts with $150 million people as peasants whose only covering tens of billions of subject to severe strain, the commissions, paying $50 care, concern and asset is their dollars in stolen assets hid- Central Bank and key minis- million bribes and distribut- sheep. den outside Iran. Given the tries were facilitating the flow ing $700,000 Patek Phillipe But this is not a time for global nature of criminal en- of millions of barrels of oil luxury watches, poor Iranians lament. It is a time for action. terprises siphoning Iran’s oil and billions of dollars in capi- were effectively locked out An empirical approach under the guise of evading tal out of the country. There is of receiving adequate health to corruption matters. Quan- sanctions, international trea- nothing abstract about these care. Those deaths and debts tification is a basis for rec- ties, institutions and partners figures. count. lamation- systematic action can help Iran’s Central Bank They did more than pinch Revolutionary slogans rather than cheap slogans. track and recover billions hid- Iranians in their pocketbook. and saber-rattling-the un- It is not enough to condemn den outside Iran. At a time when foreign re- relenting calls and chants corruption as a scourge. Reversing the curse of serves were scarce, the Cen- of “death to America” and Once quantified, in the form corruption can unleash enor- tral Bank rigged the game in “death to lsrael”-have masked of a data-base of corruption mous blessings for the Iranian favor of crony capital. Luxury a much more pernicious real- cases, corruption can and has people. The linkages between car importers serving the nou- ity: the corruption of Islam been traced and reversed. Iran’s oil and gas industry and veau riche “aghazadeh class” and the impending death of The World Bank Group and the rest of Iran’s economy are were subsidized with prefer- Iran, not as a sudden calamity the United Nations Office extensive. Based on our anal- ential foreign exchange rates, but as a daily tragedy. on Drugs and Crime have an ysis, using the Iranian Parlia- while the Health Ministry, In an Islamic Repub- established Stolen Assert Re- ment’s own social accounting facing a $2 billion budgetary lic where the judiciary puts covery Initiative (StAR) that matrix (SAM), every dollar shortfall, was charged higher such a high price on sheep allows countries like Iran to generated by the oil and gas rates than the luxury car im- that it turns the amputation work across jurisdictions to sector can be leveraged into porters essentially condemn- of a thief’s hand into a na- prevent money-laundering three or four dollars in the rest ing millions of middle and tional spectacle, there is a and the theft of assets crucial of Iran’s economy.
Summer 2019 13 C O M M E N T A R Y By the same token, every Under the cover of reli- foreign powers, among them oil. And gas. dollar taken out of the sector gion, corruption has taken the the United States, Russia, Our goal and duty is to is the equivalent of three to form of abuse of power, nepo- China, Israel and others. Of- lift this shroud-to make the four dollars taken out of the tism in appointments, bribery ficial communications and operation of Iran’s oil and economy. and kickbacks, divulging se- bank accounts, transfers of gas sector transparent and The math behind corrup- cret information, rigging bids, funds, flows of oil, move- its management accountable tion’s impact is not complex. improper vetting of contracts, ment of tankers, purchases to the Iranian people. As the Even without an investment illegal allocations of oil, sale and movement of material owners and beneficiaries of strategy or a multiplier ef- of discounted oil, foreign can be tracked at a level of Iran’s oil and gas resources, fect, every billion dollars in currency transfers, purchase detail and with an ease hither- every barrel of oil and dollar oil revenues, if distributed as of phantom rigs, illegal and to unimaginable. Quite apart of revenue flowing through cash subsidies, is the equiva- unauthorized withdrawals from the tracking of officials, Iran’s oil sector belongs to lent of approximately 100,000 from accounts, suppression of funds, documentation, com- them, not the thieves of state. salaries at fair wage levels of reports, audits and investiga- munication and oil tankers, It stands to reason, then, $900/month ($10,800/year). tions, judicial whitewashing technological innovations that what makes Iran’s vast Using the World Bank’s of corruption cases and the such as ground -penetrating reservoirs of oil a blessing or a International Finance Cor- amputation of legal and reli- radar (GPR), can detect pipe- curse is neither the chemistry poration (IFC) models, the gious principles for the sake lines several meters beneath nor the conspiracies around oil. multiplier effect of $2.7 bil- of expediency. To this day, the the ground, let alone what It is the character of the Iranian lion could create as many as movement of entire tankers transpires above the ground. people and their leaders. 300,000 jobs at a living wage carrying unknown volumes The destruction of Iran’s But, the fate of the sector of $900/month. of oil remains shrouded in centrifuges in a cyberattack cannot be left to experts and The $2.7 billion alleged- mystery. by the Stuxnet virus showed officials alone. All Iranians ly l.ost in a single corrupt ion Far too often, corruption the level of detail at which have a stake in the health, case, if distributed as wages, is concealed from the public Iran’s most closely guarded productivity and prosperity would have provided 270,000 as a matter of national secu- secret-the nuclear program- of their mother industry. families with $10,000 each, rity. Instead of pursuing cor- had been penetrated. There is Failure to secure Iran’s the equivalent of a living ruption cases, the individuals no reason to believe that the oil and gas supply chain will wage of 3 million tomans/ and institutions charged with operations of Iran’s oil, gas, have dire, and compound- month ($900) for a year. protecting the public interest shipping and banking indus- ing consequences for Iran’s With Iran’s oil and gas act as pirates. Stakeholders- try are better protected than economy. In this sense, own- reserves valued at more than critical institutions and indi- Iran’s nuclear program. Much ership must go well beyond $17 trillion, reclaiming the viduals-participate in govern- the same holds true for offi- demands for accountability sector and restoring the Na- ment to secure their stake in cial communications. Given and transparency at every lev- tional Iranian Oil Company’s the plunder of the nation’s that the NSA can tap the com- el of Iranian state and society. prominence, productivity and wealth. Under the rubric of munications of the German It requires a plan of action. performance as a “national protecting national security, Chancellery-sweeping vast Saving Iran’s oil and gas sec- champion” on the world stage the most elementary legal, fi- amounts of data even from tor depends upon all Iranians is vital to the economic well nancial and reporting require- low priority targets-the notion claiming their right to their -being of the Iranian people. ments are flouted, effectively that the Iranian’s government oil and demanding systematic As with Iran’s constitutional creating an information black- can conceal communications and corrective action at the revolution, such a reclama- out concerning governance of concerning corruption in legal, regulatory, operational, tion, ultimately, depends on the oil and gas sector. Those Iran’s oil and gas sector is a administrative and financial the mobilization of the Iranian who dare to expose and op- pipedream. So is the notion domains. people in a collective struggle pose corruption are attacked that the Islamic Revolutionary In the memorable words against corruption. Transpar- for violating the sanctities of Guard Corps (IRGC) can con- of Afshin Molavi, author of ency and accountability only Islam, for propaganda against ceal billions in illicit smug- The Soul of Iran, the gift is have meaning where and the system, and for insulting gling activity – activities at all not only a geological endow- when a people have a deep the leadership. of Iran’s ports and docks are ment but also a spiritual inher- sense of ownership-an under- The irony, of course, is easily picked up by satellite. itance, a blessing and bounty standing of the value of oil that in this, the age of surveil- The Zarrab case should have that since time immemorial not only to themselves but to lance, information is hard to put that conceit to rest. has lit the heart, the homes their children, descendants, conceal. While Iran’s judi- The irony about conceal- and the temples of the Iranian neighbors and nation. ciary, and other institutions, ing corruption under the veil people: It is this sacred light, Given the scale of unem- do their utmost to keep ma- of national security arguments one that burns in the hearts ployment and the spread of terial and documents classi- is that it puts foreign powers and homes of all Iranians, poverty in Iran, silence before fied, at times by eliminating in a position to secure conces- that thieves of state wish to such a humanitarian catastro- government officials, at oth- sions by bribing and black- extinguish. phe is not an option. ers by muzzling the Parlia- mailing Iranian officials. The Omid for Iran’s sincere The oil mafia’s finger- ment and the press, much of only people left in the dark are hope is that this paper, which prints are everywhere. this information is known to the rightful owners of Iran’s draws heavily on the work of
14 No. 94 C O M M E N T A R Y many scholars, practitioners tion goes beyond investigating sanctions: a spike in prices for ings and recommendations in and journalists, will help raise and scapegoating individuals. everything from foodstuffs to this paper will serve as a basis awareness about the gravity of Restoring accountability and medicine, a collapse of foreign for a much deeper collaboration the theft threatening Iran’s oil transparency depends on good exchange reserves, runs on the for addressing and reversing the and gas industry. More impor- governance: the structural and banks and other forms of insta- crisis of accountability, trans- tantly, we hope it will place systemic reform of institutions bility and mayhem playing out parency, legitimacy and sov- the question of the reclamation charged with managing Iran’s in Venezuela and other failed ereignty in Iran. Towards this of Iran’s oil and gas sector at oil and gas sector. Every city, states. end, Omid for Iran will host a the forefront of debates about town and neighborhood in Iran In short, a new round of series of consultations and con- reviving Iran’s economy. stands to benefit if their elect- international sanctions makes ferences on the governance of By its own account, a the- ed representatives speak out the war against corruption, and Iran’s oil and gas industry. ocracy that negates the sover- against the theft of the people’s thus the governance of Iran’s Solutions are within our eignty of the Iranian people in oil and gas revenues. scarce resources, a matter of reach. There is no lack of edu- the name of religion has turned For our part, we at Omid life and death. More, not less, cation, experience or expertise into a kleptocracy that robs Is- for Iran, recognize the scale of urgent. Our hope is. that the in tackling corruption. And lam of sanctity to conceal the corruption that Iran’s oil and “Where Is My Oil?” campaign there is certainly no lack of corruption of an oil mafia-the gas sector represents a humani- will serve as a nucleus for under- love-we are all willing to do thieves of state. This theft is not tarian catastrophe. The human standing the scale of the prob- our part to secure a better fu- an unintentional blemish on the cost of corruption is many times lem, changing the systems, and ture for Iran. Our challenge is Islamic Republic. It is master- greater than the human cost of securing the benefits of Iran’s implementation: turning love fully organized, systematic and military strikes against Iran’s oil and gas sector for the Iranian into a principle and plan of ac- global. It has no place in Iran nuclear facilities, the subject of people. We are heartened by the tion backed by a government and no justification in Islam. our earlier study, The Ayatol- success of anti-corruption cam- that is transparent and account- As in the past, the Iranian lah’s Nuclear Gamble. Then, paigns and movements around able to the Iranian people-not people will reclaim an inheri- as now, shielding the Iranian the world, including those in beholden to the thieves of state. tance for which so many have people against such threats rec- Iran, and welcome all efforts The exercise of ownership sacrificed so much. Every bar- ognizes no boundaries. It de- by the Iranian people, media depends on a people who act, rel of oil-every drop-belongs mands a national, and indeed, a and government to reclaim and not as bystanders, indifferent to Iran’s children. It is every global response: concerted and restore the National Iranian Oil about the fate of their children, Iranian’s duty and obliga- systemic efforts inside and out- Company (NIOC). but as warriors revolted by the tion to defend this treasure side Iran. It is our hope that the find- abuse of their children’s trust. as guardians of a sacred trust. President Donald Trump’s Justice demands no less. decision to withdraw from the But justice is a collective Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 endeavor- it will not be deliv- makes the task of tackling cor- ered by a divine savior. It will ruption that much more urgent. come only when the Iranian As with the Ahmadinejad era, people take charge of their des- the reimposition of US sanc- tiny and insist on turning their tions affords criminal and cor- suffering into an unyielding rupt actors the opportunity to and total rejection of a culture justify corruption on a grand of impunity and corruption. scale in the name of economic When individuals stand firm resistance and national security. against the indignity and in- Nothing can be farther from the justice implicit in bribery and truth. Given that the Iranian corruption, their actions have people will once again absorb ripple effects that extend from the price of the regime’s ideol- their family and work environ- ogy, manifest as military con- ment to the culture and society flict abroad, accountability and at large. transparency become the key Though Iran’s represen- to securing Iran’s oil and gas tative institutions are terribly resources and revenues against compromised and in many cas- another round of plunder and es corrupted, in recent years, a predation. few notable members of Parlia- Failure to do so may ment have spoken out against benefit war profiteers and the plunder of Iran’s natural economic speculators eager resources. Clearly, key par- to profit from crisis. But it liamentary leaders and com- will ruin millions of families mittees, regardless of faction, who cannot afford and must recognize that tackling corrup- not subsidize the impact of
15 No. 94 C O M M E N T A R Y THE “MIDDLE EAST”: A 20th Century Neologism That Has Run Its Time? Mohammad Ala, OpEd News outlet
expression in the September 1902 issue Propagation of “Middle East” was of London’s monthly National Review, in rapid in the first half of the 20th century. an article entitled “The Persian Gulf and The term invented by Mahan was almost International Relations.” In that article, immediately popularized by Sir Ignatius Mahan wrote “the term Middle East, if Valentine Chirol (1852 — 1929), a jour- Alfred Thayer Mahan I may adopt which I have not seen”. He nalist designed as a special correspondent may not have seen it in his day, but we from Tehran, Iran by the Times newspa- Neologisms, according to Merriam- have seen it far too often, in my opinion, per. Chirol’s article entitled, “the Middle Webster, are new words or terms that and it is a disservice to continue using it. Eastern Question,” expanded Mahan’s are coined to express concepts that ap- Closer examination of this invented version of the “Middle East,” to new ter- pear to lack a word or name. ‘Scuba’, ‘term’ reveals that it has no linguistic, ritories including Afghanistan and even “programming,” “subprime” and even cultural, anthropological or historical Tibet. The situation gets funnier when “Nazi” are all examples of neologisms substance. For example, Iran and most the same or similar authors discuss the that were coined to refer to new activi- part of Turkey are not Arab countries Islamic arts and architecture. ties, jobs and concepts that arose in the but since they are included in the ‘Mid- And of course a newly recognized last century. In contrast, malapropisms dle East’ they are often inferred to be region needs a new political status, thus are also new coining’s of words but they “Arab’”. These regions share a long it should come as no surprise that after are misuses of terms because they are heritage of Turco-Iranian or Persianate WWI, Winston Churchill was chosen not true representation of the concepts civilization. A Persian influence in the to be the head of a newly established to which they refer. They are not really region is evident in words which many “Middle East Department.” innovative or even correct, although they languages use and in the region. Iranians This department redefined Mahan’s may sound right. Trumps use of ‘unpresi- and Turks have strong connection to the original idea of the Middle East to in- dented” when he meant “unprecedented” Caucasus. But what connections do these clude even more territories: Palestine (see Brenden Berry, 2016) is an example, as countries share with other ‘Arab’ states? and the Suez Canal as well as the newly is George W. Bush’s use of “misunder- Not culture, art, tradition and perspec- created states of Iraq, and Trans-Jordan. estimated” when he really meant either tive so much as a geopolitical purpose Interestingly, Tibet and Afghanistan were misestimated” or “underestimated”. for the “West”. eliminated from London’s Middle East The term “Middle East” might seem The power of the invented term Department. Boundaries were re-drawn to be just another creative neologism from “Middle East” and the argument that it based on oil and gas interests in the Per- the last century, but in my view, it is also is a malapropism both lie in the fact that it sian Gulf region. Mal-appropriation in- a malapropism. Rather than reflecting a provided a new geopolitical terminology deed, to coin! true geographic region of the West Asia to a rather ad hoc portion of the world, As the 20th century concluded and this term falsely groups countries and just like the governor of Massachusetts, the 21st century began, Western media oversteps history, misleading people as to Gerry, reconfigured the districts in Mas- outlets, political platforms and entertain- the true history, culture and languages of sachusetts to benefit the Democratic ment venues all used the “Middle East” many countries with diverse population. Party in 1812. when referring to the geopolitically use- The world does better without the use of Governor Gerry was caught and ful countries in what is geographically “Middle East”, in my opinion. hence the name “gerrymandering” to West Asia. The invention of the new term In practice, the expression “Middle describe the practice intended to estab- has led many people, including schol- East” has created many misconceptions lish a political advantage for a particular ars and the media to refer to Iran as an about regional people, arts, and customs group by manipulating boundaries. The “Arab” people or country. Hence it is a that disadvantage the many different “Middle East” is a form of gerrymander- malapropism. peoples living in what is not necessarily ing: By calling attention to itself as an Much of the confusion may be attrib- a uniform part of the world. entity it dictates that there exists a defined uted to the religion of Islam. The notion The history of the expression was region of the world which just happens that many countries are Islamic (even dif- recently documented in the Persian Her- to coincide with portions of West Asia ferent denominations) may have led peo- itage journal (2017, pp. 12-14) by Kaveh where Western political, military, and ple to group the “Middle East” countries. Farrokh and Sheda Vasseghi, who cited economic interests are at stake. The term Then why omit Indonesia, Pakistan or when and by whom the term Middle East reconfigures “West Asia”, especially in even Bosnia and Chechnia for example, was invented in the 20thcentury. They the Persian Gulf region. It is gerryman- from the “Middle East”? The tendency attribute its creation to Alfred Thayer dering, but like a malapropism, sounds to see Islam as a single homogeneous Mahan (1840-1914) who invented the convincing at least at first glance. religion and culture is also responsible
16 No. 94 C O M M E N T A R Y for the tendency to see all followers as imperial administrators, have To paraphrase, the “Middle East” Arabs and speakers of the same language, accepted the basic distinction does not allow the countries in that re- practitioners of the same culture. This between East and West as the gion to express themselves as they are. misconception is wrong and misleading starting point for elaborate ac- It instead projects a regional stereotype. and does a particular disservice to Iran. counts concerning the Orient, The main point of this article is that The neologism “Middle East” confuses its people, customs, “mind,” there is a danger in replacing historical people who are not from the region and destiny, and so on. . . . The facts and names with gerrymandered po- has the potential to make mockery of phenomenon of Orientalism as litically based terminologies. Because of international norms. For example, Jack I study it here deals principally, Western control over media and Internet, Shaheen, discovered that in the 1980s, not with a correspondence be- a neologism can enter the scholarship almost 80% of North Americans believed tween Orientalism and Orient, domains. However, when it becomes a Iranians to be Arabs or Arabic speaking but with the internal consis- malapropism, people are misled and au- people. However, the majority of Iranians tency of Orientalism and its thors lose credibility and factual accuracy speak Persian, a language in its own right ideas about the Orient”despite to regional stereotypes that are not based and not a dialect of Arabic. or beyond any correspondence, in reality. In the landmark textbook “Ori- or lack thereof, with a “real” The wrong term can inappropriately entalism” (1979) by the late Edward Orient. (1-3,5) “ group people who have very separate Said (1935-2003) makes a similar point views of the world and their place in it. through his concept of “Orientalism.” In The use of “Middle East,” I would It is my view that the historical names Said’s words: argue, is also case of ‘Orientalism,’ and a like “West Asia” must not change, espe- dangerous one. As noted in the Amazon. cially terms like “Persian Gulf” which “Orientalism is a style of com summary of the impact of Said’s have been used for thousands of years. thought based upon ontological book: We should not be consumed by our quest and epistemological distinction for war and thirst for oil, like Governor made between “the Orient” and “This entrenched view contin- Gerry was consumed by his zeal for the (most of the time): “the Occi- ues to dominate western ideas Democratic Party. dent.” Thus a very large mass and, because it does not allow Neologisms can have their purpose, of writers, among who are poet, West Asia to represent itself, they show our creativity, our progress. novelists, philosophers, politi- prevents true understanding.” But some neologisms, like “Middle East” cal theorists, economists, and should be discontinued.
Summer 2019 17 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E many others, Bidel is not a court poet. Told that there was not a REVIEWS greater poet in the whole of India, Shah Aurangzeb remarked, “Let him write a eulogy in my honor. HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN CHEESE Once I’ve seen how well he composes I’ll raise his rank:’ John A. Chuback, MD The order, coming from a dictator he despised, so infuriated Bidet Health Communications, Inc. 2019 that he gave up his officer’s commission and adopted the life and Incredible, best describes this book. penury of a wandering dervish. Bidel, also pronounced Bedil, It is short sweet and delivers an impor- is a pen name meaning “without a heart;” i.e. broken-hearted or tant message to the following popula- melancholy. His is a poetry of moral persuasion, but the persua- tions: children, adults and POLITI- sion comes in an idiom of complex, self-aware and unpredictable CIANS. It is my belief that if we all turns that we recognize as baroque. That “broken heart” of his is read this book we are less likely to align a mirror, an image that rings so often, in such contradictory ways, ourselves with one political party and as to be synonymous with the poet himself, “Whenever you face a one way of thinking. After reading this, mirror, think Bidel.’’ There is a doubleness in his poetry, of inside you should be able to discard any ability and out reflecting on each other almost simultaneously, that speaks to be brainwashed by anyone. to the mirror-like aspect of photography. We must become independent I came to this “emissary of the occult” through my friend thinkers, rather than the way our peers, the Persian-Arabist scholar and translator, Michael Beard. While political parties and social media would prefer. As the title sug- spending a sabbatical year in Italy, Michael encountered Bidel gests, you will learn to make your own cheese, because it is the when he read Bausani and met Zipoli and his fellow Persianists in only cheese that is real. It is a message book without psychological Venice. Knowing of my interest in translation, Michael suggested mumbo jumbo. This book reminded me of another life chang- collaborating on the ghazal 1 call “The Prisoner ‘s Garden.” Not an ing book, The Richest Man in Babylon. How to Make Your Own easy poem to decode. At one point, some Iranian ladies explicated Damn Cheese circles around the life of Earl, a little mouse, who is a line to Michael by dancing out its implications. But in the process determined to exit his maze, because he heard that life was greater of trying to give the translation a life akin to what I imagine it car- on the outside. Earl, befriends another mouse (older and wiser) ries in its own tongue, I found myself hooked. who also lives in the maze, his name is Napoleon. Napoleon then When I asked Michael what else of Bidel I might work with, introduces him to four other mice who are able to get Earl to know he directed me to Reza Saberi’s compendium A Thousand Years himself, understand himself and to be the leader of his own life. He of Persian Rubaiyat. There I found accurate translations of some learns the guiding principles that revolutionize his life. He learns 57 Bidel quatrains. A four-line epigram_, often monorhymed, is that rather than chasing cheese, TO MAKE HIS OWN DAMN easier to versify than the distiched sprawl of a ghazal. Bidel’s CHEESE. Buy this for your friends, buy this for your children rubai consist of an initial assertion, aphoristic in tone, followed and buy this for yourself. by a more specific application. Rhyme, when applicable, can bind the disparate segments in a sonic pattern that feels inevitable. All BIDEL the same, it took over a year before I had versions that read like Robin Magowan poems rather than translations. Longhouse Knowing of Bob Arnold ‘s interest in miniature forms, I sent In various areas of Central Asia a batch to his Longhouse Press. He, in turn, selected fifteen that (Persian-conversant India, Sunni Af- he arranged in a Japanese-like accordion format. I then sent a copy ghanistan, and the former Ottoman to Reza Saberi, fully expecting him to be appalled by the liber- Turkey) Mirza ‘Abd al Qader Bidel ties I had taken, hardly a word left intact. Instead, to my surprise, (1644-1720) has long been revered as he invited me to collaborate on a large Rose-Garden of Persian: both a great philosophic poet and the Poetry from the 10th c. to the Present. In the course of that work last exponent of the highly innovative Inda-Persian style. A prolific we tackled the four complete ghazals included in this collection. poet and polymath, his collected poems number more than 100,000 More recently Reza issued Hidden Treasures Selected Verses distichs, not to mention philosophical tracts, an autobiography, and from Kalim and Bidel. His Bidel is a sizable gathering-150 well a scientific treatise on atmospheric effects. Elsewhere Bidel has packed pages of excerpted ghazal verses. It is from this collection not fared well. As recently as 1986, the only edition available in that I have adapted the verse in the concluding section. Iran of his poetry was a mimeographed version from a four-volume While Persian poetry abounds in poets difficult, if not impos- Kabul edition. Nor has he fared any better in the western world. sible to translate, Bidel is notorious for the way his poems refuse to It is only in Venice, Italy, starting in the 1950s with Alessandro divulge their meaning. There is a well-known story about a reader Bausani and continuing with Riccardo Zipoli and Gianroberto who found 70 different ways to interpret a single hemistich; only Scarcia’s indispensable Il canzonieri dell’alba, that the beginnings to be informed by none less than the poet himself, appearing in a of recognition have come. dream, that none of these versions was the right one. Then again, There are reasons for such neglect. A Sunni poet who believes the appeal of this kind of herm etic poetry lies precisely in the way in reincarnation may be too heretical for orthodox Shiite tastes. And that, in resisting interpretation, it teases us to keep coming back to the sheer prolixity of Bidel’s output, untitled as it is, cannot help but it, finding ever newer possibilities and hidden depths. In adapting be daunting. Where are the luminous needles in that 100,000-verse Bidel’s ghazals, I have used a three-or-four stepped line to create a haystack? Add the conceptual difficulty that his enigmatic poems space flexible enough for the imagery to come alive. I hope these pose, with their convoluted syntax and highly compressed imagery, lines, “scraped on the bars of cages,” can help to introduce a poet and you wonder for whom Bidel thought he was writing. Unlike of vast integrity who deserves to be far better known.
18 No. 94 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E A Brief List of Persian Scientists and Scholars Who Had Major Contributions to Knowledge in the Medieval Islamic Era BAHAR BASTANI
Islamic Sciences: Abu Mansur Muwaffaq (10th century), pharmacologist; Ibn Salman the Persian (Salman Farsi, 656 CE), religion com- Sina (Avicenna, 980–1037), a polymath who is regarded as one mentator & companion of Prophet; Imam Abu Hanifa (699– of the most significant physicians, philosophers, astronomers, 767), Islamic scholar, founder of “Hanafi School of Fiqh”; Imam thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. He has been al-Bukhari (810–870) prominent Islamic scholar, compiler of described as the father of early modern medicine; Borzouyeh-i “Sahih Bukhari” hadith book; Imam Muslim (818-875), Islamic Tabib, physician of Academy of Gundishapur; Ibn Abi Sadiq scholar, compiler of “Sahih Muslim” Hadith book; Imam al- (11th century), “The Second Hippocrates”, an Avicenna’s dis- Tirmidhi (824–892), Islamic scholar, compiler of “al-Jami’ ciple ; Esfarayeni (13th century), physician; Zakariya Qazwini as-Sahih”(Jami’ at-Tirmidhi) Hadith book; Imam Abu Dawood (1203–1283), physician. (c. 817–889), Islamic scholar, compiler of the “Sunan Abu Da- wood” Hadith book; Hakim Nishapuri (known as the “Imam of Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy: the Muhaddithin”: 933–1014), Islamic scholar; Mansour Hallaj Naubakht (9th century), designer of the city of Baghdad; (858–922), mystic, poet, a major figure in the Sufi tradition. He Nayrizi (865–922), mathematician & astronomer; Abu Raynham is most famous for his saying: “I am the Truth” (Ana’l-Ḥaqq); Al-Biruni (973–1048) is regarded as one of the greatest scholars Sheikh Saduq (Ali ibn Babawaih: 923–991), Theologian, promi- of the medieval Islamic era in physics, mathematics, astronomy, nent Shia Islamic scholar, the collector of the Hadith book “Man natural sciences, also distinguished himself as a historian, chro- la Yahduruhu al-Faith” one of the 4 most authentic Shia Hadith nologist, and linguist; Juwayni (1028–1085), philosopher; Khaj books; Sheikh Tusi (known as “sheikh al-ta’ifah”): 996–1067). e Nasireddin Tusi (1201–1274), mathematician, philosopher; Theologian, prominent Shia Islamic scholar, founder of Sharafeddin Tusi (d 1213/4), mathematician; Juvayni (1226– Shia jurisprudence, the collector of the Hadith books “Tahdhib 1283), historian; Qutbeddin Shirazi (1236–1311), astronomer; al-Ahkam & al-Istibsar” 2 of the 4 most authentic Shia Hadith Sheikh Bahai (1547–1621) mathematician, architect, engineer, books; Al-Ghazali (Algazel, 1058–1111), Theologian, perhaps designer, astronomer, Islamic scholar, poet; Muhammad Baqir the single most important integrator of Islamic knowledge in the Yazdi (17th century), he gave the pair of amicable numbers first millennium of Islam, he brought Tasawwuf (Sufism) into 9,363,584 and 9,437,056. the mainstream of Islamic sciences; Mahmud al-Zamakhshari (1075–1144), a rationalist theologian, he is best known for Humanities, Philosophy, History, Poetry: Al-Kashshaaf a seminal commentary on the Quran; Sheikh Ibn al-Muqaffa’ (Persian name = Rozbih pur-i Dadoe: Abdul Qader Gilani (al-Jilani, 1077–1166) orator, ascetic, jurist, d 756), Persian translator, a pioneer in the introduction of theologian, the founder of Qadiriyya spiritual order of Sufism; literary prose narrative to Arabic literature; Sibawayh (760- Bahaud Din Naqshband (1318–1389), prominent Sufi master, 796) authored the first book (Al-Kitāb) on theories of Arabic the founder of what became one of the largest and most influ- grammar. He has been referred to as the greatest of all Arabic ential Sufi Muslim orders, the Naqshbandi order; Jalal ad-Din linguists; Al-Farabi (Pharabius, 872–950), philosopher, recog- Muhammad Rumi (1207–1273), Islamic scholar, theologian, nized as “the Second Master Teacher” after Aristotle; Tabari poet, Sufi mystic master, his Masnavi (Mathnawi) is considered Amoli (839–923), a prominent historian; Bayhaqi (994–1066), one of the greatest poems of the Persian language; Mohsen historian; Istakhri (d 957), geographer, gave the earliest known Feyz Kashani (d 1680) Shia Theologian, mystic, philosopher, account of windmills. Hadith narrator. Hakim Ferdowsi (934–1027) the famous poet, compose the famous Persian “Shah Nameh”, a classic poem book that extols Medicine & Chemistry Sciences: the achievements of pre-Islamic heroes of Persia. Jaber ibn Hayan (Geber; 721–815), a polymath who is Abd al-Karim ibn Hawazin al-Qushayri (986–1074), phi- considered the father of chemistry. He emphasized systematic losopher; Nasir Khusraw (1004–1088), Ismaili scholar, math- experimentation, and did much to free alchemy from supersti- ematician, philosopher, traveler and poet; Khaj e Nizam ol-Molk tion and turned it into a science. Tusi (1018–1092), the great vizier; Shahrestani (1086–1153) Zakariya Razi (Rhazes, 854–925), a polymath, physician, historian of religions; Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209), a romantic chemist and physicist, philosopher. He was among the first poet; Hakim Mulla Sadra (Sadr-ol-Mote’allehin;1572–1640), to use Humoral theory to distinguish one contagious disease philosopher, theologian, the single most important and influ- from another, and wrote a pioneering book about small pox ential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hun- and provided clinical characterization of the diseases. He also dred years, founder of Transcendent Theosophy (al-Hikmah discovered numerous compounds and chemicals including al- al-Muta’liyah); Mulla Hadi Sabzevari (1797–1873), poet and cohol and kerosene. philosopher.
Summer 2019 19 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E Hispano-Muslim Sufis who most strongly influenced St. John of the Cross; we can only mention a few; Rumi, Hafiz, Avicenna, The Sakas Attar, al - Ghazzali, as well as a host of others obviously, there is no space here to deal with this vast topic. However, as Luce Lopez Baralt has noted, it is Suhravardi Part nine who is the Sufi - indeed the person - who most influenced the Michael McClain works of St. John of the Cross. Now, Suhravardi was not only a Persian who wrote in Persian, he was, if one may use the expres- The question of Shi’ism in Muslim Spain is too complex sion, a most patriotic to treat here, but note that Shi’a influence is evident in various Persian. In great part his philosophy was, according to his aspect of Spanish Catholicism, particulaly in the celebrations of own words, derived from the wise men of Zoroastrian Persian, Holy Week. St. John of the Cross was also influenced by vari- and the very concept of “Illuminism” (Ishraqi) by which his ous Hispano-Muslim Sufies, notably Ibn Arabi of Murci a, Ibn philosophy is often known, is of Zoroastrian precedence. Masarra of Almeria Ibn Abbad of Ronda and Shakir ibn Muslim There obviously is no space here to detail the influences of of Orihuela (near Alicante) Here we also note that the influence the Persian Sufis in the works of St. John of the Cross However, of Ibn Arabi of Murcia is evident in the works of Dante Alighieri, since it was Suhravardi who most influenced St. John of the Cross, particularly the Divina Commedia Now we shall note Some of we will deal with one aspect of said influence; the solitary bird, the typical Sufi elements which appear in the works of St, John but first an introduction by Hafiz: in my own literal translation: of the Cross: O Royal Falcon of lofty gaze, perched on the Sidra (lotus) tree, 1. The wine of mystical intoxication, so dear to the Persian Sufi Not your nest is this corner of woe poets, the Spanish mystic even using the wine or juice of the From the battlements of the Throne of God they are whistling pomegranate (a glance at an Iranian cookbook will demon- for you strate how much pomegranate juice is used in Iranian cuisine) In this place of worldly snares, vanities and deceptions as symbolizing the unity which us the basis of the multiplicity I do not know what has happened to you. of the grains of the pomegranate. This last is most appropri- ate as we shall see; the Spanish word for “pomegranate” is Below is the translation of H. Wilberforce Clarke: “granada”, so the pomegranate is the symbol of Granada, O Falcon of lofty gaze sitting on the Sidra tree (of lofty degree) where St. John of the Cross lived for six years, and where Not thy nest is this corner (of this world of) he no doubt learned most of his Sufi kore from Moriscos. From the highest heaven’s pinnacle, they utter a cry for thee 2. Then there is the interior fountain where the eyes of the Be- In this snare-place of the world, I know not what (fortune) loved) “The Beloved is, by itself, a Persian Sufi symbol) Has befallen thee (that thou art fascinated with it). appear immediately before the mystical union. In Arabic, “’ayn” may mean “eye spring” (of water), or, less commonly, Here is my own poetic translation: “identity”, and the great Spanish mystic seems to have been O high nesting Royal Falcon of lofty and lordly gaze aware of this. And high degree perched on the Sidra, noblest of trees 3. There is also the lock of hair that serves as a hook to entrap Not your nest is this miserable corner of the world of woe the Beloved, something so typical of Persian Sufi poetry. From the battlements of the Throne of God 4. The foxes and cattle which appear in the poetry of St. John They’re whistling for you to come home of the Cross symbolize sensuality or animal lusts, another In this place of worldly snares, deceptions and vanities typically Sufi symbol. I do not know what dire fate has befallen you 5. In the works of the great Spanish mystic we also find the It has been noted by Luce Lopez Baralt, St. John of the Cross caterpillar which by metamorphosis becomes a splendid but- was author of a treatise titled The Properties of the Solitary Bird. terfly, thus symbolizing the soul’s development. The Sufis Said treatise has been lost, though one may hope that a copy knew this symbol well. may yet be discovered. Fortunately, St. John of the Cross made 6. Nor must we forget the orchard or garden which must be some rather scanty references to the solitary bird in the Sayings watered or irrigated by spiritual waters. How very Persian! of Light and Love and in the prose commentaries of Ascent of 7. Then we have the solitary bird symbolizing the soul in mysti- Mount Carmel and the Spiritual Cantical Luce Lopez Baralt has cal flight, which includes all colors, but us itself colorless, written a monograph on the mentions of the solitary bird in the because it is free of attachment to any created thing How Sufi, extant works of St. John of the Cross, and it is the work of Luce how reminiscent of the Persian Simorgh! We shall have much Lopez Baralt which has inspired me to delve into the question more to say of this solitary bird. of the solitary bird. By far the work of St. John of the Cross. is in prose. However, Says St. John of the Cross in the prose commentary to Ascent the poetic works of St. John of the Cross are of such high quality of Mount Carmel: that many consider him to be the finest lyric poet of the Spanish “Says Psalm CI:8: I was awake and found myself as language. while many Sufis were great poets, this talent is quite a solitary bird on the roof”. “Solitary” means that all rare among Christian mystics. things are abstractions and “on the roof: means that the Annemarie Schimmel says that St. John of the Cross never mind is lifted to the Most High. And so, the soul re- appeared to her to be a strange poet, because she read him as mains ignorant of all things, because it knows only God though he were a Sufi. I also never found St. John of the Cross without knowing why. The bride declares in the Song to be a strange poet, no doubt for the same reason. of Songs (VI: II) that among the effects of her sleeping Perhaps surprisingly, it was the Persian Sufis rather than the and forgetting was this unknowing, when she came
20 No. 94 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E down to the garden saying “Nescivi”, That is to say, I from which the wind blows; did not know. Though the soul in this state of knowing 4. The fourth, that he is of no specific color; appears to be doing nothing and to be doing because it 5. That he sings softly and sweetly. does not work with the senses nor the faculties, it should The same properties must possess the contemplative soul; be aware that it is not wasting time, because, although that that it must fly above all temporal and transitory things, ignor- the soul and its faculties it should be aware that it is ing them as though they did not exist, and must be so enamored not wasting time, because, although the soul and the of solitude and silence that it does not tolerate the company of faculties are no longer in harmony, the intelligence of any other creature; if must point its beak to the breath of the Holy the soul is as we have said. Thus, the bride, who was Spirit corresponding to its inspirations so that the soul makes itself wise, in the Song of Songs answers this doubt herself, more worthy of the company of the Holy Spirit: must not be of saying: “I am asleep in, but my heart is awake” Song any particular color not being arched to nor determined by an y of Songs, (V:2), as if she had said: “Although I sleep thing that is not the will of God: must sing sweetly and softly in according to my human nature, naturally ceasing to the contemplation and love of the Beloved.” work, yet my heart was awake, supernaturally raised in supernatural wisdom.” As Henry Corbin says: In the prose commentary to the Spiritual Cantical, St. John “The “Simurgh”, for example from which all souls of the Cross says: emanate and whose Arabic equivalent is the bird “In this spiritual state, one sees the natural understand- “Anqa”) is also a figure of Gabriel the Archangel Active ing elevates in a strange new way above all natural Intelligence And it is the same attributes as Christianity understanding to the Divine Light, as after a long confers on the white dove as symbol of the Holy Spirit.” sleep, one opens the eyes to an unexpected light. This “Anqa is feminine in Arabuc, as “Saena Meregha” is wisdom tends to lead to understanding the psalmist feminie in Avestan; we have therefore kept this gen- when he said: I opened my eyes of my understanding der in translating the name given in the Persian form and found myself above all natural intelligence, alone “Dimurgh” (we mention above the connections between without them on the rooftop which is above all things the symbol of the “Simurgh” and the Holy Spirit, which here below. And the psalmist says here that he was made is feminine in Aramaic [and Syriac] e.g., the expression to be like a solitary bird, because while the soul id in of Jesus in the (Apochriphal) Gospel According to the this type of contemplation, it was the properties of the Hebrews: “M Mother is the Holy Spirit.” solitary bird, which are five: 1. The first, because the solitary bird generally sits upon the Henry Corbin continues: highest places; thus, the soul in this state is immersed on the “The Simurgh is a mythical bird whose name already highest contemplation. appears in the Avesta in the form “Saena Meregha”. In 2. The second, that the solitary bird always keeps his beak in Persian literature it appears in a twofold tradition, that of the windward direction, the direction from which the wind the heroic epic and that of mystical poetry and prose.” blows, even as the soul turns the beak of its attention and af- fection towards the direction from which comes the spirit of Says c.s. Nott of the Simurgh: eve, which is God. Saena Meregha the great bird. In the Mahabharta, 3. The third is that generally the solitary bird is alone, and will “Garuda” There are two Simurghs. One lives on Mt. tolerate no other bird near him or he will fly away from his Elburz in the Caucasus, far from man. Its nest is of pil- perch. Thus, the spirit in this state of contemplation is removed lars of ebony, sandal and aloe wood. It has the gift of from all things, separated from all of them, nor does it tolerate speech and its features possess magical properties It is anything save being alone with God. a guardian of heroes, a symbol of God. The only other 4. The fourth property is that the solitary bird sings softly and (Simurgh” is a horrible monster which also olives on a sweetly. The soul does the same in this state of contemplation, mountain, but it resembles a black cloud” for the praises which it offers to God are of the gentlest and sweetest love, the most exquisite for the soul and the most Says M. Schwartz: gracious to God. “Hukairya”, the one place retaining its primeval perfec- 5. The fifth property is that the solitary bird has that it is not of any tion, connecting the upper and lower regions, and being defined color. Thus, the perfect soul, which in this excess or a cosmic center from which come light and liquid, may superabundance has no color of sensual affection and sel=love, be seen as the Iranian form of the “Axis Mundi” found nor even of superior or inferior, nor can it speak of this in any in many archaic cultures. Related to this idea of a central mode nor manner, because it is immersed in the fathomless axis or pole is the World Tree (Tree of Life, etc. ...) In wisdom of God, as we have said. Iran, this was located in the center of the Vourukasha In sayings of Light and Love, No. 120, St. John of the (Sea). It is the “well-watered tree on which grow the seeds of plants of all kinds by the hundreds, thousands, Cross says: myriads (Vdevdad V-15). “Properties of the solitary bird are five: This tree, which contained all manner of medicaments, was 1. The first, that he flared to the highest place. also known as the tree of healing. In it rested the giant Saena 2. The second, that he tolerates knop company, not even those bird, whose wing beats scatter the seeds of the tree. This bird is of his own species; the original form of the Simurgh of Classical Persian literature.” 3. The third, that he points his beak to windward, in the direction to be continued
Summer 2019 21 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E
Pink Martini and Persian Music …No not the drink, but the name of a musical group, formed in 1994 out in Portland, Oregon. The members of the group refer to themselves as a little orchestra that crosses the genres of classical, classic pop, Latin music and jazz … AND PERSIAN! The co-lead vocalists are China Forbes Iran Celebrates Sadi National Day and Storm Large. Both women are extraordinary, but it was TEHRAN – Persian literature aficionados and literati from Storm Large’s rendition of “Omide Zendegami” that steals across Iran came together at the mausoleum of Persian poet Sadi your heart. While I could not find any Persian connection in Shiraz to celebrate Sadi National Day. Speaking at the ceremo- with the group, her voice completely grasps the elegance ny, Iranian philosopher Gholamhossein Ebrahimi-Dinani called and emotion of the song and her body movement shows Sadi a poet unique in the power of imagination and wisdom. the grace of Persian dance. One may remember her from The director of the Center for the Study of Sadi, Kurosh the CBS Supernova (2006) where she was a finalist. The Kamali Sarvestani regarded Sadi as the king of words and said, song “Omide Zendegami” was written by Rohani Moayed “If Sadi were never born, the nature of our life would absolutely be different from what it is. Sadi is a celebrated poet whose words Anoshirvan, who was born on July 24, 1939. equal our aims and goals in modern life.” He was born in Rasht, in the Gilan Province. Mr. He said that Sadi believes if mankind is seeking salvation Anoshirvan was also a featured story of Persian heritage in life, he must discover the truth of the time. magazine. Many wonderful singers have performed this Fars Governor General Esmaeil Tabadar, called Sadi the song, including America’s favorite Dinah Shore. Below symbol of Iranian wisdom. are the lyrics and English translation. The celebration came to end with a concert by Salar Aqili who performed a repertoire of Sadi’s songs. Life’s Hope One of the greatest figures of classical Persian literature, *You left me You left my city and homeland Sheikh Muslih od-Din Sadi Shirazi (C. 1213-1291) is famous Oh you the hope of life worldwide for his Bustan (The Orchard) and Gulistan (The From your absence, my peace and composure are gone Rose Garden). Just like the days of youth
*Unaware of my feelings in the passion of drunkenness You left, you broke my sad heart You bound the wings of my bird of hope Until you detached our bond of affection
My house was bright because of your face All night You were my only mate, you were my companion All night
My morning has become night My day like your hair (i.e. black) In the trap has stuck A prey in your way
امید زندگانی * رفتی از کنارم از شهر و دیارم ای امید زندگانی رفت از دوری تو آرام و قرارم همچو ایام جوانی * غافل ِز احوال من در شور مستی رفتی دلم از غم شکستی بال و پر مرغ امیدم را بستی تا رشتهی الفت گسستی روشن ز ِرخ تو آشیاِمن بودی همهی شب تو مونس جان، تو هم زبامن بودی همه شب صبحم شده شام روزم چو موی تو افتاده به دام صیدی به کویت
22 No. 94 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E Professor Avram Noam Chomsky (po- entertainment venues. While a virtual cor- litical scientist, linguist, social critic and nucopia of examples can be provided, note philosopher) noted in an interview on Au- Western Jeffrey Ludwig’s essay in the American gust 25, 2018 that the American “… hatred Thinker (November 10, 2014): “There is of Iran is such a deep-seated part of modern Persephobia: no … tradition of rationality in Iran. They American culture. To eradicate it is going are a deeply disorganized, primitive people to be very hard.” This antipathy is defined A Brief Overview … crude … devoid of … grace, love, faith, as Persophobia (or anti-Iranism) which is and Possible or hope. … Deception, glib talking, and prejudice, hostility, and animosity against sycophantic posturing … hatefulness, rage, (1) Iranians (2) the Persian language and Reasons for its Origins and utterly evil intentions … is the Iranian wider Iranian culture and (3) the Persian norm.” Excepting extreme right-wing and (and wider Iranian) historical and cultural part one white supremacist outlets, would such lit- legacy in Islamic, Turkish, Arabian, Euro- erature have been printed if this had been pean, Indian and Asian civilizations. There Kaveh Farrokh, directed towards any other (non-Iranian) are plenty of examples of Persophobia or Sheda Vasseghi, ethnic and religious groups? It would ap- anti-Iranism in Western media outlets. & Javier Sánchez-Gracia pear that when it comes to one singular These include Ann Coulter’s reference to group (Iranians), the machinations of hu- Iranians as “ragheads (CNS News, Feb.13, man rights and political correctness in 2006), with a cartoon by the Columbus Dis- has stated: “The Iranians…have terrorism Western print outlets stand in abeyance. patch Newspaper (Sept.4, 2007) portraying in their DNA”. James Stavritis, a retired Even the historical legacy of ancient Persia the country of Iran as a sewer out of which four-star U.S. Navy admiral and NATO or Iran are not beyond the reach of Perso- emanate cockroaches (presumably Iranian supreme allied commander wrote in the phobia. It was in June 2008 when major people). This is surprisingly parallel to the Foreign Policy news outlet in 2015 that Western media outlets such as Germany’s Persophobic propaganda of the Baathist Iranians are all endowed with imperial- Der Spiegel Magazine and Britain’s Daily regime of Saddam Hussein which referred istic malfeasance which is “…woven into Telegraph (citing several prominent West- to Iranians and Jews as being equivalent their national DNA and cultural outlook”. ern Iranian Studies academics), wrote very to flies. Several Western government of- One can only imagine the political and hu- strong diatribes against Cyrus the Great ficials have continually expressed profound man rights outcry, if “genetics” were being (r. 559-530 BCE) and even criticized the Persophobic sentiments. What is of sig- used as talking points by the same policy- entire Iranian populace for their apprecia- nificance here is that this discourse makes makers, politicians and military leaders in tion of the ancient king’s legacy. Western no distinction between the people of Iran reference to any other ethnic group. Al- entertainment outlets, especially the Hol- versus the pan-Islamist regime currently most certainly (and rightly) they would lywood movie industry, also regularly ensconced in Tehran. However, it would be be censored by the mainstream media and produce movies promoting Persophobia. mistaken to state that these types of state- then meted out the according punishment While a full tabulation of these are beyond ments solely emanate from the republican by the political and legal establishments. the scope of this paper, a notable example wing. It is notable that despite their sharp However, when it comes to Iranians, these is the movie Not Without my Daughter political differences on a variety of politi- same rules apparently do not apply at this (1991) (presented as a “true story”) which cal, cultural and economic issues, Demo- time. During the 2015 US presidential questions the very civility of Iranians. Not crats and Republicans stand strongly in debates Hillary Clinton (Democrat) made be to be outdone, the 300 fantasy movies parallel with respect to Persophobia. For very clear to her diverse (and Democratic) (2007 and 2014) go as far as to portray Ira- example, instead of specifically identifying audience that “the Iranians” were her “en- nians as non-human – literally as mindless the “Mullah regime” or “the Islamist re- emies”. Again, Clinton made no distinc- automaton-demonic beasts at the command gime”, politicians of both parties routinely tion between the pan-Islamist government of the whip. While its movie writers and direct their statements towards the country versus 80 million Iranian citizens as well producers will undoubtedly disagree, the and people of Iran as a whole. One example as millions of these in the diaspora, includ- 300 movies have been highly celebrated by is Debra Cagan (advisor to US President ing Iranian Americans. While several more extreme white supremacist and Eurocentric George Bush) who directly declared to examples of Persophobia by Western politi- groups. One example is Italy’s apparently British MPs that she “hates all Iranians” cal outlets can be provided, it is remark- neo-fascist and ultra right-wing party, the (Daily Mail, March 6, 2008). South Caro- able that some Western policy makers have Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance). lina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also advocated for the use of starvation and The Alleanza Nazionale has used imag- stated on May 24, 2015 that “I met a lot violence against ordinary Iranian citizenry, ery from the 300 movies for its official of liars, and I know Iranians are liars…” despite their lack of control over Tehran’s poster declaring: Difendi i Tuoi Valori la and equated the Iranians with Nazis. More ruling theocratic establishment. Republican Tua Civilta’ il Tuo Quartiere [Defend your recently, Senator Graham expressed on Fox Illinois Senator Mark Kirk (in office 2010- valour, your civilization and your quarter]. News TV that it would be “terrible” if a 2017) has stated for example that “It’s ok This example is no exception as neo-Nazi DNA test revealed him to have Iranian heri- to take food out of the mouths of innocent groups often use 300-movie imagery and tage. While the Senator’s office attempted Iranians” who have no ties with the Teh- scenery to produce internet YouTube videos to downplay the remarks, Western policy ran regime, and has also advocated for the promoting racialism and hate. Warnings of makers routinely pathologize Iranians at “ruin” and “pain” of the Iranian population. these dangerous activities have been raised the DNA level. Reuel Marc Gerecht of the Interestingly, Persophobia has also by Germany’s Netz Gegen Nazis (Network American Enterprise Institute for example permeated into print literature, media and against Nazis) news outlet which states the
Summer 2019 23 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E following: “Nazis interpret the film [the Roman civilization and pre-Islamic Iran history remains virtually absent in Western 300 movies] as a struggle of good, honor- (Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanians). historiography, movie entertainment and able and powerful Greeks against the wild This has been co-opted into the so-called political outlets. Persian hordes. This is … reminiscent of “War of Civilizations” narrative that has The second explanation (recall Chom- … the struggle of “Aryans” against the allegedly existed between the “East” and sky) for the origins of Western Persophobia “subhumans”. ” It is thus also ironic that “West” for thousands of years (see Far- is traced to the political fallout resulting the name Iran literally translates as “land/ rokh & Sánchez-Gracia, Persian Heritage, from the overthrow of the Pahlavi estab- domain of the Aryans”. What it is clear 85, pp.12-14). This thesis argues that Iran lishment by pan-Islamists in 1979. This is that the 300 movies have been highly has always been an implacable foe of the thesis is based on the fallacy that Western successful in the portrayal of Iranians as West since ancient times. This can be criti- relations with Pahlavi Iran were cordial “subhumans” and of course: the “Other”. cally challenged on a number of levels, and constructive up to the establishment Even fantasy/sci-fi movies and video especially the fallacy that relations between of the Mullah system in 1979. There is games have embraced Persophobia. In the the Iranian realm and the Greco-Roman however, plenty of evidence demonstrat- introductory scene of the 2014 remake of world were solely characterized by war. ing that Western relations with Iran had Robocop, US military robots are seen en- Far less emphasized is the fact that the two been problematic with both Reza Shah and forcing the military occupation of Tehran. realms were often also involved in several his son and successor Mohammad Reza There is also the video game “Battlefield exchanges in the arts, architecture, philoso- Pahlavi. Much like Ludwig discussed 3” in which US forces inside Tehran are phy, culinary arts, sciences and learning, earlier, there are plenty of documented killing Iranians who are labelled as “Ter- etc. (Farrokh, Rivista Internazionale di Stu- cases of Persophobia among high-ranking rorists”. Another video game propelled by di Culturali, Linguistici e Letterari, No.7, Western statesmen during the Pahlavi era Perosphobia is “Assassin’s Creed: Odys- pp.64-124). The terms “West” and “East” (1925-1979). One example is seen in the sey” which targets ancient Iran (in the same are in themselves simplistic. If we are talk- posthumously published memoirs of Brit- manner as “300”) and portrays Iranians ing of the “West” in ancient times, Greco- ish ambassador to Iran in 1939-1946, Sir as eternal enemies of the West. As noted Roman civilization was actually distinct Reader Bullard (1885-1976): “…Persians already, would movies such as “Not With- from the “Barbarian” Celtic, Germanic and have so little moral courage… hopeless out my Daughter” or video games such Dacian realms residing in Western, Central search for signs of nobility of character as “Battlefield 3” have ever passed West- and Eastern Europe. While many contem- in the Persians… The Persians have most ern human rights and political correctness porary European scholars, political and cul- of the wickedness of the Germans, without codes had these focused on any other (non- tural figures may disagree, there have been their courage, ability and energy”. Iranian) ethnic group? In fact as reported significant cultural, linguistic and mytho- The differences between the Perso- by the National Interest journal (December logical links between Celts, Germanics, phobia of Bullard and Ludwig are virtually 30, 2018) the Apple company removed a Dacians and pre-Islamic Iran/Persia (Far- negligible. Despite the late Shah’s status video game app portraying the Afghan Tali- rokh, Shadows in the Desert, 2007, pages as a friend of the West, and a military ally ban as the enemy of the Americans due to 170-175; Farrokh, 2018, Persian Heritage, of the West and the United States against concerns that this ”… targets people from 90, pp.28-30). Less known for example, is Soviet Russia the mainstream media at a specific government or other real entity the fact that Ostrogothic king Witiges who the time, was less than favorable of not as the enemies in the context of the game”. felt threatened by the Romano-Byzantine just the Shah, but even against Iran as a Netflix also obliged, according to a report Empire in actually sent embassies to Sassa- whole. News reports often criticized Iran’s by The New York Post (January 1, 2019) by nian king Khosrow I in 538 or 539 CE. The efforts to strengthen its military capabilities removing a TV program that was critical myth of “Iran as eternal enemy of the West” against the former Soviet Union, whose of Saudi Arabia. In contrast, no (Western) becomes even weaker when one arrives imperial Czarist predecessor had already objections have been raised with respect to into the Safavid Era (1501-1722/1736) of swallowed up Iranian territory in the Cau- “targeting people” against either Battlefield Iran. Few Westerners are aware that Eu- casus in the 19th century. 3, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Netflix, nor rope and Iran were practically allies from to be continued any of the movies, etc. cited earlier. Why the early 1500s to early 1700s against the then is this Western double standard so threat of Islamic expansion into Europe by strongly (and specifically) rooted against the Ottoman Empire, which was the seat Iranians per se? Chomsky argues that this is of the Caliphate up to its dissolution in A d v e r t i s e based solely on the 1979 revolution. While 1924. Examples documenting the Europe- Chomsky is partly correct, we argue that Iran alliance are Shah Ismail’s letter (in the reasons behind Persephobia are much Latin) to King Charles V (r. 1519 –1556) H e r e: more deep-rooted and complex, reaching in 1523, a painting by Gabriele Caliari at much further back in time. the Museum of Palazzo Ducale, Venice il- lustrating the 89th Duke of Venice hosting WESTERN PERSOPHOBIA: ambassadors from Iran and the Cabinet des WHEN AND WHY Estampes depiction of Iranian ambassador DID THIS BEGIN? Reza Beg entering Paris alongside his cav- (973) 471-4283 What are the origins of Persophobia? alry escort carrying the traditional Lion-Sun Three general explanations have been pro- flag motif to a warm welcome by the lo- www.persian-heritage.com posed. The first traces Western Persephobia cal French populace in 1715. Apart from to the long-standing wars between Greco- select scholars, knowledge of this type of
24 No. 94 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E Triumph of Self-Empowerment over Darkened Despotic Tyranny Davood N. Rahni Legend has it that once upon a dis- soil was purified with pristine water from tant past juncture, ZaHawk a mythologi- the glaciers poured down into the valley cal, tyrannical, unjust, and cruel despot, and the prairie, and the fresh air thinned ruled over Persia. Confiscating an am- out all around. bivalent hiatus with his absolute power, he Ecstatically exhilarated by brief peri- crowned himself on the Persian peacock ods of joy, most had not realized that Ezh- throne as if he was immortal and anointed deha, the multi-headed dragon and father by an imaginary vengeful supreme. He of all miseries and the creator of now the reigned with iron fist, suffocating people obliterated ZaHawk, was still alive deep with hegemony and heavy taxations over down the vertical volcanic shaft of Mt. the vast Persian Empire to the fatal detri- Damavand. ment of most inhabitants he mistreated as The nocturnal dragon would unex- his serfs and slaves. His ever-expansive pectedly appear in his targeted communi- territory stretched from the Indus and the ties to instigate catastrophe by kissing the Oxus Rivers of the Orient, to the Nile, two shoulders of a replacement for the past Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers of the beast ZaHawk so two new serpents were Occident. mounted again. Houshang, to be newly Nonetheless, ZaHawk was horrified crowned king of the Pishdadian dynas- of resenting wraths by the masses he had ty had to follow the Ezhdeha back into oppressed; consequently, he had chronic the cave, whereby he threw the biggest insomnia as he feared the disgruntled pop- forever however, Kaveh the Ironsmith, Flintstone at, and killed the dragon. The ulace would at any moment turn up against gravely irate for the well-beings of his Flintstone bounced from dead corpse and him to effectuate his utter obliteration. In compatriots, hung his toughened leather struck another rock. The resulting spark, the meantime, while bipolar comatose and apron the Derafsh Kaviani, over a javelin which kindred spirited a sacred soothing self-sequestered, he was barely alive in a and marshalled forward the disgruntled fire seen and felt cheerfully by all down pitch black, damped and pungently musty populace after the silhouette dawn of Yal- the valley, still burns eternally alive in cavern on mountain Damavand a volcani- da, on the rebirth of the sun. His bravest Yazd today. cally semi extinct roaring peak, so long diehards followed him shoulders to shoul- Hooshang was slayed in the crossfire as his lackeys fed the fresh flesh kill of a ders as a Si-Morgh (metaphorically speak- though, and replaced a bit later by King bright and beautiful young newly married ing 30 birds forming one unified body at a Jamshid Kiani and crowned at Norooz couple each day to two the ugly serpent time) up the treacherous Mountain. the spring vernal equinox and the birth beasts rising out of ZaHawk’s shoulders. There, Kaveh beheaded the three of Zarathustra. And so, the people from ZaHawk knew darn well though that culprits on one body in the cave with his all walks of live lived happily thereafter the two serpents could devour him in a one mighty sword strike, thus eradicat- when they enjoyed as if a loving Valentine lightning annihilation moment before a ing injustice and reinstated equality and every day. midnight if they were not in time fed with happiness in Persia on mother earth. Déjà However, If an when the people be- the two newly wed before one of these vu all over again, Kaveh had in reality came complacent again to see or help their sunsets. reincarnated what his ancestors Cyrus and liberty denied, the Ezhdeha reincarnated In fact, it was a whispered knowledge Mandana, Xerxes and Arianna, and Darius with added an head, reappeared again and amongst the masses, serfs and slaves, that and Anahita of the Achaemenes, delivered again in the same or other vast regions of while they took refuge with the righteous when they had also eradicated injustice Persia and beyond through the end of time Spenta Mainyu the good spirit Faravahar and inequality, and reinstated love, equal- so to bring about chaos through his ever emanating from Ahura Mazda who was ity, inclusivity, harmony, tranquility, and growing strong servants: his linchpins the Lord of light and wisdom, and his sol peace on earth. and lackeys, charlatans and shysters, and invictus Mithra, that ZaHawk was directed And so, with Phoenix (Si-Morgh) hoodlums and hooligans. by the impure fire and filth spitting dragon once again rising out of historical ashes And so, they all lived happily thereaf- Ezhdeha drawn from Angra Mainyu aka of oblivion, the much anticipated and ever ter when they enjoyed and shared infinite Ahriman, who lived deep down the volca- brightened and warmer SUN reemerged love every day. In a while though, and nic shaft in earth mantle. It was Ezhdeha out of the dark chilling clouds and proudly after the people ever became complacent that had grafted the two cannibalistic ser- shone as the most enlightened beacon of again to allow their liberty denied, the pents into ZaHawk’s calves so he could hope and happiness on the hillside of Mt. Ezhdeha reincarnated with added a head outpour misery, famine, disease, pain and Damavand. And for the four fundamental reappeared again and again in the same suffering to people and mother earth. elements of life, and as the eternal fire or other regions, from within or more As injustice is not to remain in place became strong again, along with it the painfully form without Persia, so to bring
Summer 2019 25 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E about chaos through his ever-growing des- In so doing, and by creating a di- of despair and summits of elations in her pots-to enable his charlatans and shysters, versionary smoke screen per se, they in- very long lifespan. and by the evil actions of hoodlums and flict catastrophic devastation of biblical After the Machiavellian chivalries hooligans, linchpins and lackeys. Norooz proportions through instigating wars and by the reincarnated Kavehs, each time celebration was the most effective juncture violence, usury and monetary manipu- light has eventually shone on “Persia” year after year for the people to ward off lations, destructions, trans-migrations, and triumphed over darkness, truth over all evil spirits including the ZaHawks and and mass killings of the innocents, just fallacy, justice over cruelty, equality over Ezhdehas, when communities sprinkled to return later to act as the foster mother cronyism, and all in all ecstatic happiness esfand va kondor, rue and frankincense more compassionate than the real blood over depressing melancholy. over glazed holy fire yielding a strongly mother! Notwithstanding the excreting As narrated by Ferdowsi, the “Hom- aromatic scent from which the beasts es- fact they had slayed masses in the first er of Iran,” this tale from his Shahanameh caped from. place, they offer reconciliations, “pro- wends its wisdom and relevance through No wonder Homa Chehrazad, the just tections” and “reconstructions” at costs tens of thousands of years of Iran’s his- Queen of the Kiani dynasty, emulated the many folds far more exorbitant than the tory, bringing a hope of salvation from utopia paradise on earth for 30 tranquil prior vicious cycles. evils in altruistic acts of courage. Shahn- years in Persia/Iran millennia ago. Through their inhumane and vicious ameh the Book of Persian Kings - an And her descendent Shahdokht the cycle of dismal slavery and serfs, the few epic poem composing 30,000 verses and daughter of Yazdgerd III of the Sassanid self-anointed despotic rulers have only written over the course of 30 years more Dynasty and the legimtite queen to be ran undergone metamorphosis to become far than a thousand years ago, still remains away toward a curvaceous mountain in more devastating than ever while inflict- alive in every Iranian’s psyche heartily. Yazd to take refuge. As she approached, ing more misery against the populace, The patron King Mahmoud who had the mountain opened up and then after she governed without their meager consent. promised the poet a golden coin for each entered it closed. There since exists the If humans possess the capability of verse broke his promise. The improvised drops of pure tears dripping down the deep effectuating justice, why then resort to a Ferdowsi, having instead resided tran- water-well today called Chek-Chek and fatalistic posthumous promise of a never quilly in the luscious rich paraissi style revered as sacred ground by Iranians. In ever seen utopia called paradise?! The (paradise the meaning of his name) of fact, Yazdgerd was slayed and his dynasty only way the masses could propel forward his own imagination, never saw the coins abolished by yet a foreign Zahawk from is to sustain the glimpse of hope alive which arrived by the repented King after the southwestern deserts to occupy Persia. through acquiring education, knowledge, had died. What is excruciatingly ironic is that enlightenment, and self-empowerment. Anchored on trilogy of good thoughts, irrespective of perceived ideological and They must hang their aprons on their good words and good deeds, everyone re- strategic differences among the culprits spears; unite as a Si-Morgh, thirty high affirms their commitment to one or more of all times and places, their thirst for ab- flying birds as one. Only then, they could of the following virtues, namely, volun- solute power and greed to plunder natural eventually beat the oppressors at the cul- teerism, altruism, philanthropy, benevo- and human resources to their own ends, prits’ own games, thereby leveling the lence and above all, to advancing dignified only continues to grow. playing fields toward their earned happy humanism as the pinnacles of life. They exploit and pillage, all the while life and sweet freedom and true peace! The belief in the golden rule of “treat- accumulating wealth and power. Surpris- This is the pinnacle of E pluribus ing others as you would expect to be treat- ingly and tragically, their tactical method- unum. Eternally yearning for sustaining ed” anchored on the tripartite pedestal ology has essentially remained the same the universal justice anchored on love, of good thoughts, good words and good Ezhdeha since antiquity. civility, compassion and mercy, and lead- deeds, conjures up in mind a poem by And thence, the perpetual doctrine of ing to tranquility, harmony, happiness, and the acclaimed Persian 13th century Poet “divide to conquer,” though strengthened peace on earth, we perpetually rise as a Sa’adi: in the more recent postcolonial era, has, Si-Morgh (aka Ghoghnoos)! nonetheless, remained forever as Modus Persia (Iran) has for millennia, and All humans are members of one frame, Operandi of the self-righteous and mega- continues to undergo, turbulent periods Since all at first, lomaniac economic powerhouses and des- of trials and tribulations, and afflicted by from the same essence, came. potic political rulers, i.e., the two sides of evils from both within and without. Iran When by hard fortune the same coin, and ever since the first coin has been gripping with such terms of en- one limb is oppressed, was invented as currency millennia ago. dearments and navigating through troughs The other members lose their desired rest. If thou feel’st not for others’ misery, CORRECTION A human is no name for thee! Please note the following correction to the Summer 2019 edition. On page 25, the last paragraph of the first question that refers to Anthony Bourdain, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed was actually a comment by the interviewer and not the words of Mr. Jahangir. from time to time with the [sweat, tears, The pictures, on page 26, are of Jahanghir Golestan Parast and Rich Bender, and blood] of patriots but especially the Director of USA Wrestling and US Olympic Wrestling Board member. The blood of tyrants.” single photo is Mr. Jahangir. The Zurkhaneh picture, on page 27, belonged to - Thomas Jefferson, Jahangir’s late father in Esfahan. The Cofounder of the ever greatest Nation on earth the US of America
26 No. 94 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E
2019 Sondheim Finalists
Negar Ahkami Phylicia Ghee Cheeny Celebrado-Royer
Jackie Milad Akea Brionne Brown Schroeder Cherry Stephanie J. Williams
The Baltimore Office of Promotion no standouts, in terms of experience or sionately engages the rich visual legacy & The Arts (BOPA) released the names aesthetics. This year’s prize is anyone’s of Iran, and its intersections with global of seven 2019 Sondheim Finalists. Com- game and it’s up to each finalist to use their art and culture. Through a wide symbolic pared to previous years where certain $2500 stipend (the M&T Bank Finalist vocabulary, tactile surfaces and an ex- names have been repeat picks from past Award) to create the best possible exhibi- pressive use of pattern, Ahkami examines competitions, this year’s group is 100% tion, which will then be judged in person fraught and inspiring links between the new and fresh, with none ever having been the day of the awards ceremony. U.S. and Iran, and more broadly, between a finalist before. This is great because it The finalists for the 14th annual Ja- the West and Middle East. gives audiences a chance to appreciate net & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize Her work has explored U.S.-Iranian a new range of regional contemporary are: Negar Ahkami, Akea Brionne Brown, geopolitics, Islamophobia, Orientalism in artists on top of their game and it also Cheeny Celebrado-Royer, Schroeder art and popular culture, and cultural appro- presents a different slice of the region’s Cherry, Phylicia Ghee, Jackie Milad and priation in art history. Ahkami’s work has contemporary art scene, one less insti- Stephanie J. Williams. been shown nationally and internationally tutional and monumental, more personal All of this year’s finalists will par- in group exhibitions in museums and gal- and expressive. ticipate in an exhibition at The Walters leries including Crystal Bridges Museum Perhaps this is because this year’s Art Museum and the winner receives a of American Art, Bentonville AR; North jurors include two contemporary artists $25,000 fellowship “to assist in further- Carolina Museum of Art; The William Ben- who make drawings, Laylah Ali and Wil- ing the career of a visual artist or visual ton Museum of Art, Storrs, CT; The Bronx liam Powhida, as well as NY-based cura- artist collaborators living and working in Museum of the Arts; Stux Gallery, New tor Regine Basha. Regardless, this year’s the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan York; Kravets Wehby Gallery, New York; list offers a range of artists’ styles and me- area.” The winner will be announced live Marvelli Gallery, New York; among others. dia, from drawing and painting to video, and on stage at an award ceremony and She has held solo exhibitions at New performance, and puppetry, and skews reception on Saturday, July 13, 2019 at 7 York’s Leila Heller Gallery and LMAK toward the personal and the narrative, pm at the Walters. The event is free and Projects (Williamsburg) and Virginia’s rather than conceptual and minimal. As a open to the public and is the high point of Cody Gallery at Marymount University group, the 2019 Sondheim finalists appear Artscape for many of us. and Arlington Arts Center, where she is to value process over product, as well as a long-term artist-in-residence. Ahkami’s big and messy questions over neat and More on the 2019 work is included in private and public tidy answers. Janet & Walter Sondheim art collections and has been featured in We are excited for this group of art- Artscape Prize Finalists: numerous publications. ists to bring something vital and exciting to this year’s exhibition and competition Negar Ahkami (Arlington, VA) Akea Brionne Brown (Baltimore, MD) and so far, all seem evenly matched with She is a painter whose work pas- She is an emerging photographer that
Summer 2019 27 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E investigates the implications of historical His works are informed by a broad include: Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia; racial and social structures in relation to sweep of narratives, literature, mythology, School 33 Art Center, Baltimore; Phoebe, the development of contemporary black music, current events and history. His pre- Baltimore; Lycoming College, Williams- life and identity within America. With a ferred medium is acrylic with found ob- port, PA; Gettysburg College; Flashpoint particular focus on the ways in which his- jects on wood. Keys, cowrie shells, glass Gallery, Washington D.C.; Museo de Arte tory influences the contemporary cultural and metal often appear in his works, as de Mazatlán, Mazatlan, Mexico); DiFO- milieu of the American black middle class, well. Although the works tend to have a CUR de Sinaloa Galleria (Culiacán, Mexi- Brown explores today’s African-American storyline, Schroeder appreciates hearing co), Transmitter, Brooklyn; Arlington Arts community as it relates to historical forms viewers’ responses to the pieces. Center; and Goucher College’s Silber Art of oppression, discrimination and segrega- Schroeder’s exhibitions in the Mary- Gallery, Baltimore. tion in American history. land/Washington, D.C. metropolitan area In 2010 and 2016, Milad was award- She received a Visual Task Force include MAXgallery; Hamilton Arts Col- ed an individual artist grant from Mary- scholarship from the National Associa- lective; Fleckenstein Gallery; Maryland land State Arts Council, and in 2018 and tion of Black Journalists. Her work is fea- Art Place; RESORT; The Peale Center 2019, she was a semifinalist for the Janet tured in the Smithsonian’s Ralph Rinzler for Baltimore History and Architecture; & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize. Milad Folklife Archives and Collections, and Artists and Makers Studios; Smithson- was an inaugural resident of the Creative was recently acquired by Los Angeles ian’s Anacostia Community Museum; and Alliance at the Patterson, located in Balti- Center for Digital Art. She was the 2018 Watergate Gallery. Additionally, Cherry is more, and also held a residency at Vermont winner of Duke University’s Archive of working on a series on barbershops. Studio Center. Documentary Arts Collection’s Documen- Milad received her bachelor of fine tarian of Color award. Her series, Black Phylicia Ghee (Randallstown, MD) arts from the School of the Museum of Picket Fences, was acquired for their per- She is an interdisciplinary visual Fine Arts at Tufts University, and her mas- manent collection at the David M. Ruben- artist, photographer and curator. Her art- ter of fine arts from Towson University. stein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. work documents transition, explores heal- Besides her active studio practice, Milad She was also chosen to attend the ing, ritual, ceremony and personal rites of also has an extensive career as a curator 7th annual New York Portfolio Review passage. Taught by her grandfather at a and educator, where she has committed in 2018. very early age, Ghee works in photogra- many years to the education and support phy, performance, video, fiber, mixed me- of emerging artists. Cheeny Celebrado-Royer dia, installation and painting. She earned a (Havre de Grace, MD) bachelor of fine arts in photography with Stephanie J. Williams She is a multidisciplinary artist who a concentration in curatorial studies from (Washington, D.C.) uses detritus from art packaging materials, Maryland Institute College of Art. She is a tinkerer and doodler whose recycled and found objects, as well as stu- Ghee has exhibited nationally and work navigates hierarchies of taste. She dio trash to create intricate wall installa- internationally, including The Baltimore received her master of fine arts in sculp- tions, sculptures, paintings and drawings. Museum of Art, Galerie Myrtis, Balti- ture from Rhode Island School of De- The Philippine-born artist has a bach- more; Egyptian Embassy, Washington, sign, a Sheridan Teaching Certificate from elor of arts in studio art from McDaniel D.C.; The Margulies Collection at the Brown University, Providence, RI, and a College, Westminster, MD, and a master Warehouse, Miami; Studio Arts College bachelor for fine arts from James Madison of fine arts from the Maryland Institute International Florence; Art on the Vine, University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. College of Art (MICA). Celebrado-Roy- Martha’s Vineyard; and Young Collec- In 2017, she was in Fictions, part of er was a Community Art Collaborative tors Contemporary, Memphis. In 2008, the the Studio Museum of Harlem’s F-show member artist from 2016–17 with the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland exhibitions. Additional exhibition venues AmeriCorps Program at MICA, where African American History & Culture com- include |’sindikit |, Baltimore; Washington she served at the Refugee Youth Project, missioned Ghee to create a mixed media Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.; and was an AICAD Fellow for 2017/18 quilt for the museum’s private collection. The Delaware Contemporary; Grizzly Post-Graduate Teaching Fellowship at In 2015, she served as resident healing Grizzly, Philadelphia; the Everhart Muse- Pratt Institute, New York. artist for a citywide campaign called the um, Scranton, PA; and Lawrence Univer- Celebrado-Royer is currently the art- “New Day Campaign.” sity, Appleton, WI. In addition to reviews ist-in-residence for the post-baccalaureate Additionally, in 2017, Ghee was rec- in prominent publications, Williams was program at MICA. ognized by Maryland’s First Lady Yumi a recipient of a DC Commission on the Hogan and the Maryland Department of Arts & Humanities Fellowship in 2019; Schroeder Cherry (Baltimore, MD) Health’s Behavioral Health Administra- a resident fellow at the Corporation of He is an artist and museum educator, tion for her art and activism in raising Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY, in 2018; originally from Washington, D.C. Cherry awareness on issues surrounding mental Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in earned a bachelor of fine arts in paint- illness and substance use. 2016; ACRE Projects, Chicago, in 2015; ing and puppetry from the University of Wassaic Project in 2014; Elsewhere, Michigan, a master’s degree in museum Jackie Milad (Baltimore, MD) Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2014; and education from The George Washington She creates textured works on paper the Vermont Studio Center in 2006. University, Washington, D.C., and a doc- and canvas. Her artwork has been featured She currently teaches stop motion for torate in museum education from Colum- in group and solo exhibitions nationally the Animation Department at the Mary- bia University, New York. and internationally. Select exhibitions land Institute College of Art.
28 No. 94 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E
Iranian Artist Monir Farmanfarmaian Passed Away
Born in Iran in the northern prov- in 2017 The Monir Museum opened in The Iranian Revolution of 1978–79 ince of Qazvin in 1924, Monir wanted Tehran which features over fifty pieces abruptly suspended Farmanfarmaian’s to study art in Paris but this was not of her work. This was the first museum rising career in Iran. When she and her possible because of World War II. Monir in Iran that was dedicated to the work husband went into a self-imposed exile was able to get to the United States and of a female artist. in New York. For the following 26 years, study at Cornell University and at the Her social circle included such art- she worked diligently, making mirror prominent Parsons School for Design ists as Joan Mitchell, Alexander Calder, mosaics and reverse glass paintings for where she received a certificate in fash- Andy Warhol, and Frank Stella. In 1957 her friends and for her own pleasure. In ion illustration. After 12 years in New she returned to Iran to marry Abolbashur 2004 she was able to return to Tehran York she returned to Iran where she ac- Farmanfarmaian, an international law- and open a studio. Public commissions tively participated in the local art scene. yer whom she had met in New York. followed, including a mirror mosaic for A versatile artist Monir participated Farmanfarmaian began to explore the opening of the Jameel Gallery of in the Iran Pavilion at the Venice Bien- her own country’s heritage, assembling Islamic Art in the Victoria and Albert nale in 1958, 1964, and 1966. She also an extensive collection that included Museum, London (2006), and a perma- had solo exhibitions in New York and textiles, Turkoman jewelry, and qahveh nent six-panel installation for the sixth Paris during her distinguished career. khaneh (“coffeehouse”) paintings fea- Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Monir was known for her micro- turing traditional storytelling motifs. Her Art at the Queensland Art Museum in mosaic and glass sculptures, but she also floral monotypes earned a gold medal at Brisbane (2009). In 2014 Iranian direc- worked alongside with Andy Warhol the 29th Venice Biennale (1958), and in tor Bahman Kiarostami premiered his as an illustrator at the Bonwit Teller 1963 she had her first solo exhibition, documentary Monir. luxury department store in the 1950s. in Tehran. Her own experiments with Meanwhile, Farmanfarmaian con- During Warhol’s visit to Tehran in 1976 mirror mosaics began in the late 1960s tinued to work, exploring the inherent Monir presented him with her Mirror after she saw compelling examples of geometric order of pattern, colour, and Ballworks. the technique at various sites on her reflection. In 2015 she had the first com- She did not return to Iran after the travels. Farmanfarmaian was inspired prehensive retrospective of her work 1979 revolution, as many of her works by ayeneh-kari, a traditional decorative in the United States. The exhibition and her home were confiscated includ- technique of embedding fragments of “Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: ing an extensive collection of folk art mirrored glass in plaster. In her work Infinite Possibility: Mirror Works and that she acquired during her vast travels Farmanfarmaian often fused enduring Drawings 1974–2014” was held at the around Iran. Islamic pattern making and a Modernist Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in She returned to Iran in 2004 and exploration of abstract geometric forms. New York City.
Summer 2019 29 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E
CHARTING THE RISE OF MODERN IRAN with Yale Historian Abbas Amanat By Mike Cummings
October 30, 2018 Abbas Amanat, the William Graham Sumner Professor of History at Yale, poured decades of research into “Iran: A Modern History,” his new book charting five centuries of Iranian history and its encounters with the neighboring lands and the Western world. Amanat guides readers through multiple dynasties, revolutions, civil wars, and foreign interventions, culminating in the rise of the Islamic Republic. He provides a detailed examination of Iranian politics, society, and culture that seeks to understand how the religious establishment seized control of the Iranian state and has maintained power for nearly 40 years. The book, published by Yale University Press, has drawn positive reviews in the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Review of Books, and The Times and Sunday Times of London. Amanat, director of the Yale Program in Iranian Studies at the Yale MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, spoke to Yale News about his book. An edited and condensed transcript of the conversation follows.
Why choose the 16th How has Iran’s culture Iran developed a strong poetry tra- century as a starting point for helped the country maintain dition very early. It was enriched over an exploration of the history its national identity through the course of time by mythology, such as of modern Iran? centuries of revolution and “The Book of Kings” by Ferdowsi in the political upheaval? 10th century, and various other examples The 1979 Iranian Revolution repre- that Iranians still revere. In the past, long sented the first time in the modern history I argue that Shi’ism as a belief sys- passages of verse were memorized and of the Muslim world that a movement tem, supported and reinforced by the re- popularized by storytellers in the coffee- dominated by the clergy took control of a gion’s geopolitical complexity, preserved houses. It wasn’t just in the royal court, state. Historically, this is a very unusual Iran’s socio-cultural identity. Yet Iran’s it was popular among the general public. event, not just in the Islamic world, but historical experience also contributed to Sufism — a mystical interpretation of anywhere. its sense of national cohesion. Islam — enriched Persian poetry. Refined I wanted to see whether there are cer- When the Arab armies of Islam in- Sufi themes were expressed in Persian tain characteristics within Shi’i Islam that vaded the Sasanian Empire of Iran in verse narrative and lyrical odes. A great facilitated this rise of the clerical class and the 7th century, Iran ceased to exist as a example of the former is the poet Rumi brought it into a position to control the political entity, but it maintained the Per- in the 13th century and of the latter is the state. Shi’ism was declared as the state sian language. It adopted elements from poet Hafez in the 14th century. religion of Iran at the beginning of the 16th Arabic and changed its script — more As I have tried to show, in modern century. It was extensively, if not fully, or less like the way Latin influenced the times in addition to the above themes, enforced upon the Iranian peoples over the Anglo-Saxon language in the development poetry became an important vehicle for course of the 16th and 17th centuries. This of English. Through the preservation of expressing sociopolitical messages and is not a singular phenomenon. There are the language, Iran managed to preserve especially voicing political protest. One similar examples elsewhere, such as the a collective memory of its past, which is can see it in the Constitutional Revolu- establishment of the Church of England also rather unusual. For instance, Muslim tion of 1905 to 1911 and thereafter. There under Henry VIII. armies conquered Syria and Egypt at the are numerous examples in my book of Shi’ism has played a crucial role in same time, but both adopted Arabic. how poetry becomes part of the political shaping Iran and developing its cohesion Basically, the memory of Islamic discourse up to the present and despite as a country. For a long period — virtually conquest became the foundation myth for the rise of today’s mass media. It was five centuries — the religious establish- the sense of Islamic identity that emerged a major factor in preserving a sense of ment was in coexistence with the state. in Egypt, Syria and eventually Iraq. Iran collective awareness among the Iranian It was patronized by the state, protected was different. It preserved its memories intelligentsia. by it, and materially rewarded by it. Re- of pre-Islamic times and grew quite proud ligion and state were seen as two pillars of them. And music? of stability in Iranian society. That’s why it is important to go back to the origins of What was poetry’s role in Iran preserved its own musical tradi- this historical project and examine what preserving this collective tion, which is based on a modal system, happened since then. memory? but yet it is diverse and adaptive. Over
30 No. 94 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E centuries it attracted numerous melodies state to overshadow them by instituting Islamic law. By doing so it proved to be and tunes of the pastoral countryside as secular public education. successful in attracting certain sectors of well as the nocturnal music of the taverns, the society that were not the beneficiaries royal court and recitations in the mournful What role did oil play in the of the Pahlavi state’s secularization proj- Shi’i ceremonies. Although Islamic law isolation of Iran’s religious ect. As a result, you see the emergence bans music, and there was some degree establishment? of a radical religious establishment led of opposition by the jurists, musical inter- by Khomeini and his cohorts as a means est remained strong in Iran. Likewise, it It was an important factor. Iran’s oil of empowerment. At the same time, the is important to note, that Iran preserved industry was basically a colonial industry Iranian state under the shah became more its own painting tradition, contrary to the created and developed by the British. A repressive in the 1960s and 1970s hence strict interpretation of Islamic law, which massive amount of the revenue went to the closing off avenues to political participa- prohibits production of images. Since the British government while a much smaller tion, such as a free press, the develop- 14th century, if not earlier, one can see percentage went to the Iranian govern- ment of political parties, free critique of Persian miniature book illustrations. There ment. But even that share of the revenue government policies, and absence of free are magnificent examples of it in muse- was crucial for a nearly bankrupt Iranian and fair elections. ums around the world and at the Beinecke state in the post-WWI era. It provided Library. the necessary funds for greater central- How did the state’s repression Finally, Iran — along with the rest ization; for enforcing modern reforms; feed the religious of the Muslim world, but perhaps a bit for strengthening the armed forces; and establishment’s support? more — preserved a culture of leisure. for the creation of an autocratic regime Wine drinking, for example, remained in under the Pahlavis that no longer sought In such circumstances, forces of pop- practice. Much of Iran’s lyrical poetry is the traditional support of the religious es- ular dissent had few other options except about imbibing wine and the ambiance tablishment. resorting to the relatively untouched envi- of the tavern where there was music and The religious establishment no longer ronment of the mosques and annual Shi’i dancing. These, too, ran against strict Is- had the privileges it had enjoyed in the mourning ceremonies. Despite its power- lamic practices with a puritan undertone. past. Some of its endowments were taken ful security apparatus, the government did way. It was impoverished and the younger not succeed in closing down these venues How did the relationship generation of clerical elite was lured to where the clergy could express its veiled, between the religious become part of the state bureaucracy. The but effective, criticism of the Pahlavi state establishment and the state nature and structure of the clerical com- and could blame the shah for its presumed become adversarial? munity thus changed, and as a result it subservience to the West, and especially became more prone to radicalization in the the United States. As Iran adopted selective modern- latter part of the 20th century. It was left As I have shown in my book, as early izing measures in the 19th century, the so- out of the state-modern sphere and even as in the late 1960s the clerical commu- ciety gradually changed. But it was from though it preserved ties to the traditional nity, and especially Ayatollah Khomeini the early decades of the 20th century, under bazaar business sector, it was by and large and his students and cohorts, had managed the Pahlavi rule (1921-1979), that many isolated. to adopt and make their own much of the institutions previously under the control nativist anti-Westernism of the intellectual of the clerical establishment, such educa- How did the religious left, such as Jalal al-Ahmad; the remnants tion and the courts of law, were secular- establishment come to adopt of liberal nationalism of the Mosaddeq ized. For instance, in the course of the its radical political agenda? era; the romantic revolutionary rhetoric 19th century, the Qajar dynasty tried to of the lay Islamists, such as Ali Shari’ati; enforce a European or Ottoman model to There is a paradox here. On the one and the ideology of the Marxist-Islamist create a more state-based judicial system hand as a result of isolation the clerical urban guerilla organizations. but the religious establishment resisted. community became more conservative In the 20th century, as the state became and failed to modernize the Shi’i Islamic How has the religious more centralized and more secularized, it law. It clung to the same arcane curricu- establishment and the Islamic seized control of many of the functions, lum and teaching methods. It remained a Republic leveraged privileges, and institutions that were the medieval system and that — in a curious anti-Western sentiment to its domain of the clerical establishment. fashion — contributed to its radicaliza- advantage? The state created a new ministry of tion. You would have expected that a con- justice and its own secular public educa- servative establishment — the Catholic The radicalized clerical community tion that successfully competed with the Church or Ultra-Orthodox Judaism for even prior to the rise of the Islamic Re- religious education of the old colleges, instance — would not embrace a hardcore public had adopted a xenophobic per- known as madrasas. political agenda. It could have remained spective almost to the level of an ideol- In the West many religious seminar- outside the realm of politics altogether, as ogy. This was partly justified because of ies managed to secularize — Yale is a very in other instances in the Islamic world or Iran’s bitter experiences of twice being good example, but colleges in the Shi’i in the Christian world. occupied in the 20th century by West- world, including Iran, resisted moderniza- Yet for Iran’s religious establishment, ern powers — during WWI and WWII. tion. The curriculum and pedagogy didn’t a radical political agenda became an al- Moreover, twice in recent memory Eu- change. Therefore, it was easier for the ternative to engaging in modernization of ropean and the U.S. interventions un-
Summer 2019 31 T H E A R T S & C U L T U R E dermined Iran’s democratic institutions cause confrontation, or anticipation of Will the regime survive during the Constitutional Revolution and confrontation with a nemesis, that is with another 40 years? again in 1953. the United States, played into its hand. It The Islamic Republic exploited, and gives the regime the pretention of legiti- How will the regime evolve? It re- is still exploiting, to its own advantage macy as the core to national resistance mains to be seen whether it continues these sentiments that Iranians justifiably against Western hegemony and regime to be in a state of flux or, alternatively, harbored because of their troubled his- change. The sense of emergency hence it manages to reform itself through a tory of encounters with the 19th century contributed to its survival. gradual process. imperial powers and the 20th century su- From a historian’s perspective, one One thing is clear: If the current perpowers. If anything, the religious es- thing is apparent: The Islamic Republic regime caves under another popular up- tablishment is against liberal nationalism, has been in a state of influx almost from heaval, the outcome may not be promis- but it saw a political advantage to be had its start. ing at all. The recent Middle East popu- by condemning the West and accusing Moreover, the ruling clergy and its lar movements of political reform, such it of destroying Iran’s democracy. We associated groups, such as the Revolu- as the Arab Spring, have by and large should remember that such condemna- tionary Guards, although a small minority failed. Likewise, any attempt toward a tion, a lip service, comes from a regime devoid of the true support of a majority regime change through military option that is opposed to any of the political of Iranians, survived in power probably or covert operation almost definitely freedoms associated with democratic ide- because of a strong sense of group soli- helps strengthen the regime’s popular als and institutions. darity. Despite their dismal record in im- base. On the other hand, if it is left to proving the economy and developing the its own devices, will Iran become an- How has the Islamic Republic industrial base, and most recently deal- other China? Whether it moves away managed to endure for nearly ing with Iran’s mounting environmental from a hostile ideological position to a 40 years? problems, the regime has been success- more pragmatic regime with capitalist ful in eliminating any organized source economy and friendlier posture toward From a historian’s perspective, one of opposition inside Iran (and outside). the outside world is a matter of specula- thing is apparent: The Islamic Repub- It was also successful in making Iran tion. The recent U.S. departure from the lic has been in a state of influx almost a regional power, a trend rooted in the Five Plus One nuclear deal with Iran, and from its start. It has managed to survive Pahlavi era, and in engaging Iran in po- the impending re-imposition of sanctions, in this state of perpetual crisis — and tentially dangerous enterprises in Syria does not offer a bright prelude for success sometimes even benefited from it — be- and Lebanon. of the latter option.
32 No. 94