Iran

I have been thinking about my own alienation, my own sense of terrible drift, but the larger matters of the world, such as the recent election in Iran and the claims of vote tampering, the resulting street protests, the punitive violence...produce a sense of both tragedy and possibility...


On the web site of Qantara.de, about the prospects for dialogue between Iran and the west (specifically the United States), Peter Philips states, “Too much conflict material has accumulated over the course of the past 30 years and as a result, another four years should not and cannot be allowed to pass without addressing these problems, especially because no-one actually knows what will happen at the end of this period. What is more, grounds for a dialogue already exist: Iran does not want to be told what to do and this is exactly the line that Obama has adopted” (“No Alternative to Dialogue,” June 15, 2009).


The online newsletter Flavorpill’s managing editor Leah Taylor writes of a timely New York exhibit: “The Chelsea Museum presents what has to be one of the timeliest exhibitions in its history: Iran Inside Out. With violence and political unrest roiling in that country, this exhibit takes a closer look at its inherent contradictions, tradition, culture, identity, and struggle — especially as faced by its younger generation of artists. Fifty-six Iranian artists (including those still living in the country, as well as those scattered across the diaspora) present 210 works, organized around themes like gender and sexuality (‘From Iran to Queeran’), or war and politics (the satiric ‘In Search of the Axis of Evil’)” (Flavorpill, June 2009)


Meanwhile, Iranian.com offers the perspectives of some Iranians, those “Iranian expatriates who care about their identity, culture, music, history, politics, literature and each other, as well as friends and family living in Iran.”