Under the Azure Dome Festival

يکي بود يکي نبود، زير گنبد کبود
يک شهري بود، يک جمعي بود مهاجر
جوان داشت و پير داشت، مرد داشت و زن داشت.
هر کسي در گوشه اي کاري مي کرد، گروهي داشت
يکي رنگرزي مي کرد، اون يکي خونه مي ساخت، داداشش کباب مي زد، باجناقش طرفهای يانگ و فينچ صحافي مي کرد

خلاصه چند سالي بود يکي يکي، گروه گروه، مي آمدند،
مي رسيدند

به ياد ايرونشون دور هم جمع مي شدند؛

مهندس ها، معلم ها، دکترها و آشپزها همگي يه جوري باهم بودند

دو فصل پيش، شايدم سه فصل پيش بود که ما جوانها جمع شديم، گروه شديم
گفتيم حالا ديگه نوبت ماست.
حالا که چاق شديم، چله شديم، حسابي پخته شديم بايد بريم سراغ صاحبخانه بهش بگيم
ايران ما هم رقص دارد، رنگ دارد، قصه دارد، موسيقي و شعر دارد.
صاحبخانه که کنجکاو شده بود دروازه ها را باز کرد، فرش قرمز به پا کرد
حالا از شما، از شما ایرونیها مي خواهيم بياييد کمک کنيد، همسايه ها را صدا کنيد،

توي شهر فرياد کنيد که عيد آمد، مردم، بياييد شادي کنيد

To Become Canadian?!

I filed an application, took the exam, made the oath and will have a Canadian passprt in 10 days. Canadian passport is the best traveling document, the Judge said this morning at the ceremony. He himself had two of them! Like most of the other Canadians.

The first holy places to explore are NY, D.C. preceded by Mexico! See you in January!

Are we now citizens of nations? Or villagers of the globe? Except the fact that it eases our travels, what does becoming Canadian mean?

Best wishes for you on this special Aban the 10th

It is a long time since my last presence. During this time I paid a short visit to Iran for a family emergency. I am now back with loads of work to do.

Today (10 Aban) is the birthday of a very special and old friend of mine who now lives in Germany with her lovely husband. I congratulate her on this day. She was the source of all inspirations for the, then, 15 year old Behrang. I have always appreciated being in her circle of friends, she is a smart and challenging friend. Our history goes back to the Tehran bombardement era. My grand parents, my brother and I joined her family in Garmsar to escape the rockets, my parents stayed behind. It was a group of us, I will never forget the Hide and Seek nights, I will never forget how many times my emotions lost to her rationality in our Jenagh-shekastan ha!!! I will never forget the looks we exchanged then!

Although we never got the chance to mutually build any sort of special relationship and never talked seriously about ourselves since university years but I am sure I have a friend to whom I can rely all my life.

بهزاد نبوی را بهتر بشناسیم

اگر اين منافع در تقابل با منافع مردم باشد، چه؟

ما احساس وابستگي به اين انقلاب و نظام داريم. به هر حال روي اين انقلاب سرمايه گذاري کرديم و هزينه داديم. معتقديم کساني پيدا

شده اند که مي خواهند واقعيت انقلاب ما را دگرگون کنند. به هر حال چون ما مي دانيم اصل اين انقلاب چه مي خواست، ما نمي توانيم با جواني که اصلا انقلاب را درک نکرده، امام را نمي شناسد و ... و حالا خواهان برخورد با ارکان نظام است، هماهنگ شويم. ما در

مقابل انحرافات بايد بايستيم، نه اينکه با اصل آن برخورد کنيم. ما حتي نظام مشروطه را هم نظام بدي نمي دانستيم

Behzad Nabavi in Today's Rooz says he and his followers, among the official so called reformers, cannot stand with (suppoert) the youth who has never understood Khomeini and the revolution and are willing for a major social change.

What I have always been confident in claiming is that the reformers in Iran do not possess the intellect to lead the reform, simply see how he distances himself from a huge fraction of the population to secure the throne!

Under the Azure Dome

The Azure Dome is a dome where all the Iranian myths live and flourish.
It is the name of our Festival in March 2006. Read the report.
We are hoping to have the support of the Tehrontonians for this magnificent event.

I am late

It is late. And I am off. Many things to say. Daniel, my supervisor, invited me to his house. I will spend the afternoon with him. Thesis talk and thesis talk! I would like to end this routine and join the profressionals who are performing the art of community development.

All in One

I do not know on "what" to write.
I am presenting at this conference in Aug and I have to send them my paper by next week, I have to write the final paper for the Social Housing course by mid July. Working at TLC is my other time-consuming responsibility.
I have my aunt went through an opeartion to remove her breasts for the cancer she was diagnosed and worse she is now devastated by the loss of Amou Majid.

All of above! Sometimes it is too much that one does not know how to start, right?

Amou Majid smoked his way through the black castle of death!
Fathers, do not smoke! Now that you have sons and daughters to parent, do not smoke. Please, control your crave!

You offical reformers! you all failed, what did you do to sustain your plan to guide reform after your sinking? Did you help people organize? Did you help to change the educational arrangements at schools so that kids could learn about Rights, Citizenship and Civil Society? Give me an indicator that proves me wrong in claiming that you have done nothing to initiate a grassroots move for reform.

Regardless, Ahmadinejad could be a source of inspiration for further action! He might create a global crisis or address the needs of the people, either way, it is people who win! No long-term worries, though, short-term concern is wisdom.

Reform movement could now re-commence by building on what Ahmadinejad claims he wants to do. In order to alleviate poverty, the system required to do community-based needs analysis, system needs to organize the poor. So any better chance you know that could help speed up the process? Go to the people and help them organize to address their needs even local needs, even needs that seem populistic.

As I have shouted all the time, democracy is decentralizing accountable autonomy to people.
Democracy begins in the speher of social and economic relations and then human rights come in to sustain it and guarantee its progress. Democracy is when a cab driver has a say in transportaion system or knows how and where he could put his idea in and how to monitor its effect.

Amou Majid Mord

Majid died. My uncle, at the age of 53, the exact age his father, my grandfather, died. Three consecutive massive heart attacks did not let him live the marriage of his three young daughters. In Insfehan, my father at his bed, he laughed and said a few words before his voyage. It is sad but real it is boiling while calming, it is life. Eight years ago, I lost a collection of best friends in a sudden flood in the North. Since then, death has redefined himself for me, it is scerenity it is life itself, one should water the tears and open up the eyes, one should rethink it. Although massively breaks my heart but I believe it is a return to the ocean; the return of the soul to the eternity or the body to the wholeness of the nature. Death is Truth!

Old Shark Drowns The Dragon Flies! The Reform Rationalize!

It is true that the main opposition is the regime itself, Rafsanjani is now becoming one of them!

Now that all the reform is detached from power, it is time to learn, learning that all democracies commence from the root, from exactly where people live and work. Many friends laugh when I say democracy is at the local with national consequences. Democracy is a social and economic act with political effects. Political development is democratization of social and economic relations!

Now that you have to be housed again, you the official reformers, it is in the book, read, think and reflect. Review the UN documents on democratic intervention, study the successful development programs experienced by the world! Then write and get feedback! Spice up the development literature with some Persian taste! The world is much a head of us, simply because they think prior to action, because they pilot their proposals, write about them and reflect on the feedback! They praxis before final action!

Believe me the reformers lack the intellect for development, of any sort! This is what I have always cried out but Pro-reformer (as opposed to pre-reform) friends always satisfied themsleves with the foam not the taste!

Sibestan Says

هيچ چيز در ايران عقبگرد نخواهد کرد. ما احمدی نژاد را هم با خود به جلو می بريم. ما برنده واقعی هستيم چنانکه برنده تمام سالهای انقلاب هم بوده ايم. زندگی ايرانی از شنبه به بعد همچنان ادامه خواهد داشت. اگر هاشمی را که می گفت هواپيمای اف 14 می خواهيم چه کنيم سياست آموختيم و اگر به مخملباف سينما ياد داديم و اگر آواز و موسيقی جوان پسند را به ساز و دهان خوانندگان تلويزيون گذاشتيم و گرد کرباسچی جمع شديم تا الگويی از تدبير مدينه بسازيم و دموکراسی را به امنيتی ها و بازجوهای سابق آموختيم و حجاب را به شکل خود در آورديم و هزاران کار کرده ديگر، باز هم می توانيم و خواهيم کرد. ما مردمی که مثل ماهی در آب تناقض زندگی می کنيم و مثل آب قصه سهراب و نوشدارو را روان ايم. Wholeheartedly I believe in this paragraph by Mr. Jami, whom I have once met in Toronto! We will defenitely lead Ahmadinejad to our world, although the price would be so high and the life so painful when Ahmadi, Allahkaram and Dehnamaki will be up there ruling our life to a more desparate darkness. But historically speaking, it is us, all of us the Iranians, who are evolving to a secular and rational nation. After all, he and his followers are Iranians, are not they?

ائتلاف اکبر بابا و چهل هزار دزد تهران!

For Hashemi Believers: Hashemi will not initiate any action towards any good! Regardless of the result of the election, there will be no major different consequences for the people. Do you mind if, for sometime, the Hashemis do not execise fully-fledged power? Anyhow, it is your choice and you have all the right to put it into practice!

Ahmadinejad in Tehran and Isfehan!

نگاه کنید: آذربایجان شرقی - مراغه1 محسن مهر عليزاده 95358 2 اكبر هاشمی بهرمانی 8820 3 محمود احمدی نژاد 6307 کردستان - سنندج1 مهدی كروبی 29134 2 مصطفی معين 20340 3 محمد باقر قاليباف 13389 4 اكبر هاشمی 10873 محمود احمدی‌نژاد 3477 استان اصفهان!!!!1 محمود احمدی نژاد 801635 2 اكبر هاشمی 260858 3 محمد باقر قاليباف 198409 4 مهدی كروبی 196512 به نظر شما چرا توی اصفهان احمدی نژاد یک دفعه بالای ۵۰٪ رای میاره در حالی که در میانگین در کل بقیه‌ی کشور منهای تهران و اصفهان زیر ۱۵ ...

Do Not Take Me Wrong

My emphasis on NOT voting for Hashemi does not originate from my ignorance of the consequences of Ahmadinejad. I am well aware of the global crisis he will create!
My point is that Hashemi will not initiate any systematic organization to lead reform, he lacks the intellectual capacity to do so.
On the other hand, the painful crisis of Ahmadinejad might speed up a grassroots movement against the supreme and the structure of power. You know, in countries like ours, crisis might push up things for good. I am not promoting violance but I am confident that the ultimate right in Iran cannot govern and their own throne will cause their death. All this time, the more moderate and rational side of the regime have secured the right, its own chamber.
One last point is that they cannot push back semi-social freedoms-already achieved by women and youth- permanently.
Ahmadinejad will bring a new era and the new chance for the fight for freedom. Hashemi will provide another half-chance for the reformists and keep them in the domain of power. This trend will cause them keep detached from the grassroots and local affairs which to me is the cornerstone of commencing democratic reform.

Vote to Hashemi is a NO to Reform!

The results!!!! How close are we from the realities of everyday life of Iranian Non-Interneters!

Now Hashemi, NO NO NO NO. Although this old vulture has well acted and fooled people by showing rediculous images of him, talking with modern looking youth in a way that we realize he is perhaps different. But he is not. Exactly for the same reasons that Hashemi was boycotted this past friday, he should be again for the friday to come.
In the Ahmadi Nejad era, Ghalibaf and Larijani will be intellectuals!!! Ahmadi Nejad on the throne means the collapse of right in Iran. This will forever break up the right and isolate the very few honest (Ansar) companions of the supreme leader.
Those who voted for Ahmadi Nejad did so, because, in their view, he was at least honest and did not show a different picture of himself as others did. Ahmadi Nejad is a f... believer but looks more honest than the old wolf, Rafsanjani!!!
Although I believe Ahmadi will ruin the country but this will be short time and the crisis will shoot them out of the power forever. Rafsanjani will not initiate any true reform and will constanslty but silently bite the soul of this land.

No To Rafsanjani!!!

I will not vote but this is only personal!

On this Friday (June 17, 2005) Iranians should express themselves through action or inaction. Either is respected as long as one spends enough time and thought to review the principles and evaluate the consequences. It is exactly the principles that inhibit me from voting but it is exactly the consequences that I have encouraged the youth to vote for Moeen.

I have personal problems with Moeen and the majority of his supporters who have for long tasted power within the domain of Islamic Regime of Iran and have been involved in the first decade of tyranny in post-revolution Iran, they have been among the main sources of oppression. But I also believe they have changed dramatically and now believe in some sort of weak democracy as long as it does not challenge their domestic and household rulings!
Unless Dr.Moeen, then the 28 year-old president of Shiraz University, would not analyze his past and does not apologize from all the professors he expelled from the University simply because they were not revolutionists as he was then, I will not trust in him and his supporters. The irony is that it is Moeen himself who has changed and become one of the "others" (sort of).

At the same time, I also believe the presence of reformists in the Iranian politics will keep the environment a bit more friendly for the youth and social activists. Having said that from the bottom of my heart I believe their return to power will not guarantee any major success.
Any one movement promoting democracy, has no other path than local. It is through town hall meetings that endogenous democracy is born and nurtured. It is through education and public participation that the culture of democracy thrives. It is through practicing local democracy that people learn to become a citizen. If these are the indicators to evaluate, what are the achievements of the reform movement in the last eight year of Iran?
-Simply None!

Victories in Two Fronts

1- The tehrontonians celeberating the Victory!

2- Thirty Women did make it and watched the game in the stadium! This implies that we should play the game according to our rules not theirs! Bottom-up pressure shall prevail, eventually.

- What is your idea on Nazli's take on the flag!

Moeen and his cabinet, if this is true!

آق بهمن:
امروز شنيدم (و منبعم هم موثق است) که معين ظرف چهار پنج روز آينده اسامی اعضای کابينه‌اش را اعلام می‌کند. عزت‌الله سحابی (معاون حقوق بشر) و علی‌رضا رجايی، حبيب‌الله پيمان، محمد توسلی، غلام‌عباس توسلی، موسی غنی‌نژاد، کاظم معتمدنژاد و دکتر کاتوزيان وزيران کابينه هستند (چند نفر اول قطعی‌تر از چند نفر آخر است ولی کل لیست تا حد زیادی نهایی شده). قرار است معین اعلام کند که کابینه من این‌ها هستند و همین‌ها را هم به مجلس معرفی می‌کنم و اگر هر کدام را رد کنند، کل کابینه کنار می‌رود. یعنی یا همه‌مان با هم می‌آییم یا هیچ‌کدام

Apparently Dr. Moeen, the reformist candidate, is planning to announce his cabinet after the crucial Iran-Bahrain football game wednesday. In his list, you can see social and political activists who have never been allowed to participate in the domain of power after the revolution.
If this is true, he increases his chance and plus he gets a full credit for his cabinet, which might make it very much painful for the conservative MPs if they do not vote in confidence for the cabinet.

Helping to release an arrested blogger

مجتبی سمیعی‌نژاد، وبلاگ‌نویس 25 ساله و دانشجوی رشته ارتباطات، نویسنده‌ی وبلاگ "من نه منم" و سپس "استیجه"، از تاریخ 11 آبان 1383 تا هشت بهمن 1383 را، "به دلیل انتشار خبر بازداشت 3 وبلاگ‌نویس دیگر" در بازداشت به سر برد. سپس بعد از آزادی موقت در بهمن‌ماه 1383، برای انتشار نظراتش وبلاگ جدیدی ایجاد کرد و همین امر موجب دستگیری مجدد وی، درست به فاصله‌ی چند روز پس از آزادی‌اش گردید که این حبس تا امروز نیز ادامه داشته است. مجتبی سمیعی‌نژاد اینک در زندان قزل حصار در میان مجرمان عادی و خلافکاران به‌سر می‌برد.
حکم دو سال زندان برای مجتبا، رسماً به وکیل وی ابلاغ شده است و جرم ناکرده‌ی او "وبلاگ‌نویسی" است؛ همان‌کاری که همه‌ی ما به آن مشغول‌ایم. این حکم در شعبه‌ی سیزده دادگاه انقلاب به‌وسیله‌ی قاضی سعادت صادر شده است. وظیفه‌ی انسانی و اخلاقی ما وبلاگ‌نویسان و همه‌ی کسانی که به حقوق بشر اعتقاد دارند، اعتراض به این ظلم مسلم است. از تمامی وبلاگ‌نویسان، نهادهای حقوق بشری و انسان‌های آزاده‌ی ایران و جهان خواستاریم تا صدای اعتراض خود را به این عمل غیر قانونی و حکم غیر انسانی بلند کرده و آزادی فوری مجتبا سمیعی‌نژاد را خواستار شوند.

توضیح:
این حرکت به هیچ نهاد، شخص، گروه و ایدئولوژی وابسته نیست و در واقع حرکتی است مستقل و جوشیده از درون خود وبلاگ‌نویسان

Moeen and his Companies

The supporters of Dr. Moeen should also remember that among the so called reformists there are some who are very much in the domain of power and would like to stay. The taste is great!!! who hates power? ha! It is a real world and real temptations! that is why despite the price they are paying they want to stay.

I have made this point clear before, The reformist team does not have the intellectual capacity to do what they preach! Ganji also highlights this fact in his recent interview with Radio France.

Marx and the Story of Moses; مارکس و داستان موسی

فرعون فقط اهرام ثلاثه می خواست توده های مردم از فرسنگها دورتر شاید ازدره های کلیمانجارو تخته سنگهای عظیم می آوردند دربین راه و در کنار نیل در زیر سایه های سنگین سنگ ها مقدمات حرکتی جمعی و شورشی گروهی را برنامه ریختند فرعون پس از پی بردن ماجرا به موسی دسنور داد تا نابخردان را به دوردستها ببرد و سرزمینی موعود را نشانشان دهد بدین صورت بود که هم فرعون خدا ماند و هم موسی پیامبر شد

In my school times in Iran, we never got a chance to view the history of religions from other perspectives! Did you know that it was Moses who by diverting a workers' revolution to a promised land saved the throne of the Pharaoh?!!!

Never mind the truth, it is the imagination that matters!

It is all about imagination! N'est-ce pas????

Election, Moeen and Others!

اگر معین تاکیدمی کرد که در صورت پیروزی در انتخابات شرایط باز نگری در قانون اساسی را فراهم می کند و همچنین وزرای اصلی کابینه را معرفی میکرد شاید بسیار بیشتر شانس داشت البته به شرطی که بر طبق ادعای خود ایشان را از بین دگر اندیشان بر می گزینید

Dr. Moeen could have had more chances to win if he would have claimed that he would facilitate a refrendum upon election! and even more so, if he would have introduced his cabinet before hand! so as to gain the trust of people like me who do not see why we should vote this time.

A friend of mine from Iran informed that the wealthier section of the society and the major owners of industries and engineering world believe that it is the EVIL, himself, who is believed to be the better choice to sustain stability!
I am sorry for Iran, myself and her daughters and sons if we are to see Hashemi on the throne once more.

Iranian Association at University of Toronto

The Iranian Association at the University of Toronto (IAUT) is the home of over 800 members who have contributed, participated and learned from each other and from the events held at IAUT.

Alidad a good friend of mine and a great colleague (we worked together at the IAUT board last year) has refelcted on his experience with IAUT as an Iranian association.

Here is what he has to say:

On the eve IAUT's annual election (tomorrow, Saturday
3:00 pm at OISE 252 Bloor West Rm 4422), the
uniqueness of the organization and its history and
future are worth revisiting.

For about a decade now, I have been interested in the
composition of Iranian organizations in North America.
Unlike many nationalities who are well organized --
Armenian, Israeli, Chinese, etc.-- Iranians abroad,
especially those in the U.S., have not created
substantial organizations that can express their
collective interests and needs. This was on full
display to me in late April, as I attended the two-day
Iranian Diaspora conference at the University of
Maryland at College Park, located in the Washington
D.C. area. A meticulously designed event, it was
addressed by noted Iranian-American journalists such
as Afshin Molavi and Tara Bahrampour, artists, and
community organizers, as well as Jian Ghoemshi and
Heide Moghissi from Toronto. Yet of the close to
100,000 Iranians who live in the D.C. area only about
100 came to the event! Why is this so? What if the
same event had been hosted in Toronto? This is a topic
for research and reflection, especially for those in
academia working on "transnationalism," "diasporas,"
"immigration," or "globalization" studies.

The Iranian community in Toronto is vibrant and on the
verge of establishing organizations that express its
collective interests and will: the list of some
two-dozen orgnizations that made up the Bam-Iran
Earthquake Relief Committee, as well as the dozen or
more organizations that have recently created
"Kanoun-e-Sepas" show that Iranians in Toronto -- and
increasingly elsewhere in this country and, slowly,
this continent, are pooling together their resources,
engaging in team work and undertaking coordinated and
sustained social and cultural projects.

Among all these organizations, however, none that I
know of has the intellectual and creative energy of
IAUT. Given how much the organization has done since
1999, -- the year it was created around Ramin
Jahanbegloo's ideas and philosophy--it is truly
inspiring to take stock of the dozens of conferences,
seminars, movie showings, artistic displays and
musical performances that IAUT's board members and
their affiliates have organized, especially noticeable
in the last two years. In many ways IAUT has become a
key intellectual home for the Iranian-Canadian
community, over half of whom live in Toronto.

I would like to cordially thank the 9 members of the
board of directors for this year-- and the subcommittee members -- for their seminal contributions to the cultural life of Iranians on this continent. We have been invaluably enriched by their
presence and their work: an unprecedented week-long
lecture series with Professor Eslami-Nodushan --
especially the co-lecture on Mowlana by Professor
Shirin Bayani, an energy-filled session with Dariush
on addiction and responses, a choir that attracted
over 600 people to its opening night, the famous
Colours of Iran event at Hart House, and many other
events have given us a boost of spirit. IAUT has
become, in the words of a friend, "an andishgah" of
sorts. I don't think I exaggerate when I say that
without it my own mental life would have been set back
noticeably.

Left-leaning lens watching the election

The sad story about Iran and its politics is that people are so much fed up with the dominant political actors that are fully trapped in the agenda of their game. Even democratic-minded students or Iranians out of Iran often forget to look beyond the surface of politics even if it is serious step, which I believe it is, yet it is a serious game NOT true re-organization for true partnerships for development of the country.

Politics is the means to satisfy social and economic needs, it should either be organized according to such needs or based on regions and their specific local needs. If politics is not grounded on needs and it does solely act for its own sake, as it does in Iran now, then, it can not be accounted as a major step to pursue common good. This is the problem of contemporary Iranian politics, and in this presidential game, no candidate really represents any major socio-economic, class or even regional constituency.

Fariborz Rais Dana is one of those left thinkers in Iran who once in a while points out what I believe could shape the objectives of any democratic movement in Iran. He is an economist and wholeheartedly believes in local participation as a major first step for Iranians to organize themselves to pursue democracy while experientially learning it. Here is an excerpt of an interview with him on the upcoming election:

فريبرز رئيس دانا

به عقيده شما اين تضاد طبقاتي انتخابات نهم رياست جمهوري چيست و اصلاً چگونه بروز پيدا مي کند؟

تضاد طبقاتي به وجود آمده در اين دور انتخابات بيشتر درون طبقاتي است. انحصار سرمايه و قدرت در درون

خودش موجب اين تضاد شده است. البته شايد بتوان گفت گروهي از کانديداها توسط طبقه متوسط سنتي و يا مدرن و نيمه مدرن داراي ايدئولوژي مذهبي حمايت مي شوند، اما آنها مطلقاً نامزد اقشار محروم، کارگران، زارعان، زنان خانه دار، معلمان، پرستاران و حتي سربازان و پرسنل نيروي انتظامي نيستند. اين اقشار اصلاً نماينده اي ندارند، حتي اگر راي هم بدهند. راي دادن به دلايل مختلفي ممکن است اتفاق بيفتد. اما نمايندگي اجتماعي با نمايندگي پارلماني فرق دارد. چون مواضع موجود در نمايندگي پارلماني تا حد بسيار زيادي مهندسي شده است و حتي تحليلي براي کساني که راي نمي دهند صورت نمي گيرد. شما آيا مي دانيد چه کساني در انتخابات مجلس هفتم راي دادند و چه کساني راي ندادند؟

آيا اين هر دو گروه نمايندگان بورژوازي نيستند؟

من اعتقاد دارم حتي طرفداران معين هم در خدمت بورژوازي سوداگر قرار خواهند گرفت. هرچند نه به طور مستقيم، بلکه به صورت غيرمستقيم.
اين بورژوازي سوداگر چه مشخصاتي در جامعه ما دارد؟

اين بورژوازي واردات و صادرات را در اختيار دارد و به صنعت کشور از طريق رانت و مازاد تجارت نگاه مي‌اندازد.
اينکه مي گوييد که همان بورژوازي سنتي بازار است؟تقريباً همان است. بورژوازي سنتي بازار بخشي از بورژوازي سوداگر است، اما به دليل قدرتي که دارد گاهي اوقات همان بورژوازي سوداگر ناميده مي شود. اين بورژوازي در خدمت صنعت به وجود نيامده، بلکه پيشاپيش ريشه داشته است. برخورد آنها با نظام شاه از اين وجه بود. چون شاه هم به دنبال نوسازي اقتصاد بود، اما رهبري آن را به دست بورژوازي کمپرداور سپرده بود که به نوع ديگري ويرانگري مي کرد

اصلاح طلبان نمايندگي چه بخشي از جامعه را برعهده دارند؟

اصلاح طلبي به آن معني که در آغاز دهه هشتاد وجود داشت، ديگر وجود ندارد.

طرفداران معين همان اصلاح طلبان پيش نيستند؟

طرفداران معين شماري از جوانان پشت کنکوري هستند که يک اسم خنده‌داري هم تحت عنوان راي اولی‌ها دارند. در اينها يک وجدان کاذب ايجاد شده که گويا بايد بروند راي دهند. عده اي هم زنان خانه داري هستند که گمان مي‌کنند واقعاً يک آزادي هاي نسبي به وجود آمده است و مي توانند آزادانه تر تا سر خيابان بروند. بعضي هم کارمندان رده پايين هستند که خيلي دل خوشي دارند و نمي دانند که ديگر اصلاحاتي وجود ندارد. هر چند به طور کلي اگر بخواهيم از لحاظ اقتصادي بگوييم بخشي از طبقه متوسط نيمه مدرن و عده اي هم از کاسبکاران به معين راي مي دهند، چون مي‌دانند انحصار قدرت در دست سوداگران مالي باعث کوتاه شدن دست آنها مي شود.
با چه استدلالي از مرگ اصلاحات و ايجاد وجدان هاي کاذب در جوانان سخن مي گوييد؟براي اينکه اصلاح طلبان به رهبري شخص خاتمي حتي به يکي از نيازهاي مردم هم پاسخ ندادند.
حتي يکي؟اگر منظور مسائلي مثل قتل هاي زنجيره اي است که بايد بگوييم اين موضوع تحت فشارهاي بين المللي و افکار عمومي آشکار شد که دلايل آن را هم بايد جداگانه بررسي کنيم.
مطبوعات آزاد و افزايش آزادي هاي سياسي چطور؟ولي با اين شمار مطبوعات هزاران هزار جوان پرونده دار شدند و بسياري هم به زندان افتادند.

BBC and Tehrantonian Bloggers

A couple of weeks ago, as I wrote earlier BBC crew came to Canada and had a friendly session with some of the Tehrontonian bloggers. Here is the link to all of their stories from Canada. In deed fantastic, nice and detail. Good job.

Don't miss the Persian Blogs and Canada

شعور دموکراسی

مدتی است که میخوام درباره شاخصهای شعور دموکراسی در یک سیستم مدعی اصلاحات دموکراتیک بنویسم. اما این درس لعنتی نمیذاره!
تشویق و هدایت و تقویت برنامه های محلی دموکراسی شاید اولین شاخص ارزیابی باشه! آخه مردم ما کجا باید تمرین کنند کجا باید یاد بگیرند شدن یک شهروند مدرن را؟

Imagine there exists a wonderful consititution installed in Iran. Will this on its own democratize our paternalistic culture?
We need local practices of people getting together and make collective decisions on their own livelihood affairs. Of course, the attempt to change the constitution and even better change the damn regime in Iran is the sweetest dream in my life, but we could, within this dark and desparate times allocate our resources to strengthen the bases of local democracy in Iran.
How much of the Reformist agenda reflected this approach? I believe they could have done so much in relation to local practices of democracy without tickling the evil supreme leader. Here, it is well-emphasized that town-hall meetings have been the foundation of today's democracy.

With no practices of petit democracy! Where the hell people could learn that they should respect each other's views and that diversity as existed should be respected and that there are various realities and that there is no one truth!

شاید برای همین هست که حتی روشنفکر های ما هم نمیتونند با هم و در کنار هم در یک تصمیمگیری جمعی شرکت کنند. چون هرگز کار مشارکنی نکردند

Up me down!

I am a bit puzzled! Why I have lost the sense of writing! A writer's block! No, I am not a writer! then what is the problem? Blogging is publicizing the private! Thus, it is not private anymore! It could be a selfish interpretation of private for public eyes.
Perhaps if I had no other commitments, I would have spent all day long to blogging. But before publicizing my interpretations of the world, I would like to appreciate and enjoy the privilige of improved understanding of the word,
I think I am now in the mood to settle down my thoughts, a silent reflection on personal observations!
Having said that, I do believe blogging is a personal experience, which could be a source of experiential learning, it gives you some sort of tacit knowledge that you do not realize you gained....

How many bloggers do you know who tend to learn through the experience and not just write for the sake of writing and to be in people's address books?

If we are changing anything!

Today I met the BBC Persian crew who are publicizing our (Tehrantonians') experience of blogging and exploring how we perceive our action and whether it does influence Iranians in and out of the country. Nazli, NikAhang, Bahman, Sabereh and some other friends made the circle and each reflected on our thoughts on blogging loudly.
I liked Behzad and Mr. Jami (the BBC guys); they were knowledgeable, cool and knew what they were doing.
Despite all the efforts out-of-Iran bloggers make, I believe blogging for the serious bloggers is as Woody Allen puts it a kind of "Intellectual Masterbation"! Not that nothing is wrong about it but we should not imagine this experience beyond what it actually is.

Having said that, I also believe reading each other's thoughts through this virtual medium is a great gift of Technology. I am also confident that blogging is changing us, the bloggers, much more than the readers.

So: From the motivation to designing, to planning, to implementing and to monitoring a personal weblog, I would like to ask bloggers to reply to the following questions.

1- What motivated you?
2- How did you come up with your plan?
3- What do you write on and why?
4- If your weblog evolved from "A" to"B"?
5- How do you monitor it?
6- Did you learn at all through the process? If so, besides from the technology aspects, do you notice that you have other kinds of learnings?

These are some questions that help facilitate the debate on the topic.

I am looking forward to hearing from you and through an analysis, together we could develop an understanding of this new techno-social phenomenon and its broader impact upon us, the bloggers.

You can also email me at behrangfor@yahoo.com

Two teenager girls in Iran killed by...

Sad but real short stories of two teenager girls who were killed in our society called Iran:

One is killed by her own cousin after she rejected his request to marry him, she was choked to death, he used her own scarf (Hijab) as she had it on to (islamically speaking!) prevent the rise of his sexual evil at the moment! He was later sentenced for three years (!) in prison.

The other shaved her long hair to look like a priviliged boy, she was, then, permitted to accompany her dad and join the masculine crowd to watch the Iran-Japan soccer game in the stadium. Leaving the place her father lost her hand, she fell down; Yes she was killed by all these masculine feet rushed over her tiny body! At the same time and from a sperate exit, Japanese women left in peace.

Source: Shargh

مردى كه دختر دايى ۱۵ ساله خود را به دليل رد پيشنهاد ازدواج به قتل رسانده بود، به سه سال حبس محكوم شد.قاضى نو رالله عزيز محمدى رئيس شعبه ۷۱ دادگاه كيفرى استان تهران و چهار مستشارش پس از محاكمه قاتل با توجه به اعلام رضايت اولياى دم، منوچهر (قاتل) را به سه سال حبس محكوم كردند.منوچهر پس از شنيدن جواب رد براى ازدواج با دختر دايى ۱۵ ساله خود به نام حكيمه او را با روسرى اش خفه كرد
------------------------------------
سر تراشيد، دامن در شلوار كرد تا نه بى جا كه بجا در سكوهاى جنسيت بنشيند!
پدر در آينه نگاهش كرد، دختر چه مردى شده بود براى ميدان هاى مردانه
توپ مى چرخيد و «بهناز» مى چرخيد، هورا ايران، هورا وطن آه... دنياى پسرانه چه زيباست، كنار مردان در سكوهاى الفت نشستن و پرچم هاى وحدت چرخاندن و ميدان ها را با شعار عاطفه پرشور كردن، هورا ايران، هورا وطن.
همپاى كريمى ها و هاشميان ها و مهدوى كياها و دايى ها پا به پا در ميدان بودن چه زيباست.
زندگى در كت و شلوار چه مردانه است، چه آسان مى توان در سكوهاى سرد، گرم شد و فوتبال را در گرماى ميدان ها به فرياد كشيد، هورا ايران، هورا وطن.
در گلوى زخم خورده بهناز ايران همچنان ايران است و بهنازهاى ديگر در پشت حصار ميدان ها جامانده هايى به تقصير. به تقصير از جنسيت خويش كه تا شلوار به پا نكنى و كت نپوشى مرد نيستى، مرد ميدان ها و مرد ديدن مردان وطنت در ميدان ها!
•••
پرده مى افتد، بازى تمام مى شود و صحنه خالى و بهناز كه مردترين مرد ميدان است بر زيرپاى هزاران مرد له مى شود.
•••
يكى بود يكى نبود، دخترى بود ۱۳ ساله كه مى خواست فوتبال را در ميدان ها ببيند، درها بسته بود، پدر با سر قيچى قفل ها را باز كرد، گيسوى دختر را بريد و شلوار به پايش كرد و از درها گذشت.
۹۰ دقيقه از ۱۳ سال زندگى چه شيرين بود و در پايان سنگينى دلهره بر قلب رنجور پدر.
نه ديگر توپى و نه ميدانى و نه هياهويى، بهناز در اغماست، همين و تمام.

A Mess Up!

Isn't this our New Year? Why am I feeling so detached from it? Did not we use to get excited and run around and ask for more Eidi from our maman Joun! What is it that we are not even feeling to complete all of our 7 sins for the Sofre! We had only 6 Sins (Ss) this year, which we ended up having it two days after the Eid!!!

The only attempt I made to celebrate the Eid was to free up my self from school for a day and watched 4-5 Woody Allen's!!! I love this man! Is not he the greatest of his kind? Do not you fall for New York and somewhat Paris after watching only one of his videos? It is frankly the same story in all his films. It is him, a woman and a shrink, all in NY and sometimes in Paris! I am sort of falling for him as well. He is so genious and brilliant to vividly project his critiques and words on the contemporary life. Je l'adore!

Roshanak is here with us for a day. She is finalizing her report for the funders of her research. You know, she is modelling the, I do not know some sort of micro-pollutants of the Bay of Quinte South of Kingston. She is in need of some inspiration and energy to warp it up, although she is now a head of her depressing status but could you come up with some thing exciting for her?
Farnoush is now in the kitchen and slicing the damn smelly Pizza. We will have it in less than five min. I should go. I should conclude that I made a special Pizza, a small piece for myself, with pineapple and chocolate with hotdog and muchrooms!!!! Such an innovation.

By the way Farnoush has got a job at Paragon Systems, where she tests all kinds of metals and joints used in Auto industry. She leaves home when I am deep sleep at 6:30 and returns home after 7-8 pm.

Happy New Year to all Bloggers and Blog readers!!!

The Little Black Fish is getting too...

A good and committed friend of mine to this blogging world, Soheil, recently told me to announce the readings for the next week post!!! He simply meant I am too much into my research's theoretical framework that my little black fish is becoming too involved into unattractive streams of life.

He is RIGHT.

I am now finalizing my theoretical framework, when coming accross a new topic I am tempted to summarize it in this blog. I believe as he argues it is too much.
I created this blog to reflect what I think is worth giving it a thought. But it is becoming non-relevant. I believe I should broaden the horizon even within my interactions with the world within the context of my research with Toronto Community Housing.
I should write more Farsi too! It is now more than 4 months that I have not written for Shahrvand and I am badly missing it.

More on Post Modern turn in public administration

Although McSwite introduce the process theory but do not detail any action plan. In relation to each other they propose the alternative task not beyond achieving “the correct existential stance”; regarding us and others at the same time and “in the same moment”. In this approach, trying to do the “right” thing is nothing but meaningless. Reasoned and justified results could mobilize energy and direct social action if is shown to be confronted with unreasoned and illogical results, all of which is founded on one interpretation of truth. Thus pursuing such reasoned and planned results based on our sketch of value and the derived facts; itself ends in authoritarian evil.

Recasting local public management as to aim for the ethos of process rather than achieving anticipated and reasoned results could prevent the universal evil to prevail. What matters, then, is to achieve a fluid status, within which authority is prevented to be dominated by one or few over others. McSwite portrays the reality of human condition as: “I am you” and characterize this fluid status as a transformed reason. A reason as embraces the alternative style of dialogue and assumes the primacy of receiving the other as oneself; or in other words the first step is “to listen”.

An urgent implication of such transformed reason is a pragmatic and collaborative relationship with citizens, better called: citizen-oriented bureaucracy, an active relationships between citizens and administrators should be the basis of redefining public administration. One could claim that encouraging and engendering the role of citizenship in local governance is, at least, partly due to the emerging influence of such post modern thoughts as process theory in response to the existing problematic social relations. It is also through practices of process-focused public management that alternative identity for the now rigid and scientifically reasoned public administration could be developed.

Process Theory in Post Modernism

"Certainty" as an either moral or scientific characteristic could provoke evil in human relations. McSwite (1997) in their influential book on post modern turn in public service argue that unquestionable facts and values, through the medium of moral or scientific reasoning, shape virtual truths and certainties, those, in turn, give rise to evil and has historically produced totalitarianism and social calamities. To identify the "other" and to set the mutual terms of alterity for sharing the ownership of diversified and relative truth, McSwite theorizes human interaction as a "process", which, if proceeds properly, could redefine public service structure and develop an alternative orientation for the exercise of authority. Process theory as a form of collaborative pragmatism, is a basis that is "neither objectively certain nor ultimately tentative".

Sustainable Development

In 1983, The World Commission on Environment and Development was asked to re-examine the critical environment and development problems of the planet and to formulate realistic proposals to solve them. They found failure and success and a range of in-betweens. The outcome was the report, Our Common Future, articulating the urgent need for humans to change the course of their development to move toward “Sustainable Development”. They proposed that it should become the basic, unifying objective of the whole United Nations system. They also defined sustainable development as follows:
“As paths of progress which meet the needs and aspirations of the present generations, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

Sustainable development as a new concept of development does not imply a fixed state. It is a process of change in both means and ends, and aims to induce development paths that are economically, socially and ecologically sustainable. The main attempt now is to make this concept applicable to the human living system. Humans are now looking for new routes to build the basic foundations on which the paths towards sustainability would be constructed.

Popular Education in Iran

Although Iranian society is denied for its rights to political socialization, people participate in informal contexts such as family and religious groups as well as hidden youth/student associations and communities of interests, which provide substitute arrangements for a civil society. Within such informal and less documented spheres, especially in urban settings, mentors and organic leaders are being developed to facilitate social change within private spaces of individual's lives. Thus, in studying popular education and non-formal and informal learnings of adults in Iran, these types of social participation, and its various and objective manifestations should be taken into account. Due to enormous domestic social pressure, even among the highest levels of government, civil society is becoming the subject of intense debate and controversy in Iranian public sphere today. Unlike last decade, terms equivalent to concepts indicating civil society and civic participation in Persian language is increasingly developed and popularized. In fact, contrary to common belief, most Iranians participate in communities of their interests within informal settings.

Cultural Revolution in Iran?

A short reality joke on post-revolution Iran

A man wanted to buy some soap. He was told to go buy it at the neighborhood mosque.
The man replied, "But the mosque is for praying. So then where are the prayers held?"
He was told, "Prayers are held in the university now."
The man answered, "But universities are for studying. So then where are the teachers and students?"
He was told, "The teachers and students are in prison now."
The man answered, "But prisons are for ruthless criminals. So then where are the criminals?"
He was told "The criminals are in power now."

I honestly cannot understand those who took them a decade or so to realize it is the criminals who held onto power in Iran after 1360 (1980).

Democratizing Democracy

Low voter turnouts, low levels of trust in public institutions, and low citizen involvement in societal affairs signal diminishing civic engagement and crisis in Western democracies. Democracy, as an instrument to help us most effectively govern ourselves, has become narrowly associated with territorially-based competitive regular elections. This main mechanism of political representation seems incompatible with the ideals of democratic politics such as reaching political consensus through dialogue, promoting active political involvement of citizens and crafting public policies that create healthy societies. This problem would prevail forever unless our so called "democracy" embraces a more integrated approach in how it sees and understands life.
Life is a whole; therefore, its problems should be addressed in its wholeness. This is a paradigm that Oriental traditions could lend to the atomizing Western rationality; an approach to recognize the interconnected nature of being. This approach rejects any early division of life to spheres of polity, society and economy and division of labour to state and civil society as the elements of a secular mode to govern people and plan for their betterment.
If our democracy would like to victoriously surpass the existing challenges, it should see society as politics and politics as social, it should embrace economy as a social realm and society as embedded in the political grounds of economy

spelling errors?!

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

Public discussion: an activity, which is social, intellectual and creative

Democracy is simply a model of governance by discussion. Values change in the process of discussion and decision making. Value formation is a social process involving public interactions. There is a crucial role of public interaction in the formation of values and ideas of justice. In the making of public policy the agency of the public has to be considered in different perspective. It seems necessary to create conditions for more informed understanding and enlightened public discussion.
Public policy has a role not only in attempting to implement the priorities that emerge from social values and affirmations, but also in facilitating and guaranteeing fuller public discussion. The reach and quality of public discussions can be helped by a variety of public policies, such as press freedom, media independence and enhancement of economic independence and other social and economic changes that help individuals to be PARTICIPATING citizens.

Amartya Sen, a liberal economist, in his influential book "Development As Freedom" chapter 12 brillianlty elaboarets on this, please read the book, strongly recommended for everybody esp liberals.

A clarifying comment on a friend's comment

A Torontonian friend, Mr. Namazi in his comment on my last post advised me to write in simpler language and asked why I do think I know something that others do not know and asked what makes me qualified to help others. Earlier he believes there is a typo in my title by using the word "doing" in "doing graduate studies".
I am grateful for his comment, I stated my mission as helping others learn as a facilitator not as a learned philosopher or teacher. Facilitation does not mean transferring knowledge from a wise person to an ignorant. Instead it implies providing an enabling structure for the learners to reflect on their knowledge and build upon it on their own through dialogue and communication with others within an environment. It is a kind of situated learning.
And I definitely feel I am qualified, since it is a relative term. I am relatively qualified to pursue what I thoughtfully feel I could accomplish. I am not sure what words in my post indicated that I, solely, hold on to the throne of knowledge? In this weblog I reflect on my own life and understanding of it. I, sometimes, prefer to write in English for my practice and pleasure. I am not necessarily writing to satisfy my readers. I am writing now for myself. And as an individual I have the right to have a mission based on my take and paradigm of the world. Is my mission an exclusionary one? Did not I in my last sentence clearly indicated that I am aware of my insufficient knowledge of the subject and hoped to learn through the praxis of my research?

Why the hell diong a graduate degree?!!!

Having bored you with all these words on my political learning, simply, explains why I believe there is no choice other than expanding our boundaries, our critical understanding of the world. That is where I draw my mission as to help others learn from the life and the earth to ultimately remove the unfreedoms now exist in our tiny world. And now I am an immigrant, a newcomer, a FOB! wandering around at UofT in such a dream or peut-etre hope!
A doctoral research, although, would be lost or perhaps disregarded within the shelves and stacks of a library, but, arguably, reflects one’s endeavour to carve his/her definition of meaning onto the mind and soul of his/her future.
I chose to pursue doctoral studies, first, to experience, thus learn, the “critical rationality”, the Western fruit of thought, often lost in the midst of the oriental voyage of the modernization order. Second, to profoundly celebrate the salient turn in engineering of my life; defocusing from the science and techniques of “development” to engaging in the development of mindful arts and conscious comprehension of the term. Where else could have been more inspiring than the circle of scholars and students of OISE/UT and the Program in Planning? Third, I chose to pursue post graduate studies to expand my vision, systematically engender my talent and direct my aspirations to social change. In so doing, I am well aware of my insufficient knowledge of the subject and the language of the context. However, I am determined to progress; learning through the praxis of research is my goal and hope.

A bit more on my learnings

After graduation, I was lucky enough to get an actual engineering career (unlike non-actual engineering jobs, recent immigrant engineers do in Canada) in a high-rise complex in the north of Tehran. The work hierarchy was as high as the building itself. I learned the politics involved in hierarchical technical jobs, where non-engineers are the ones who thoughtlessly should do the job, of course, how they have been told to be. I never enjoyed the opportunity of working with such a famous engineering team.
That is why I voluntarily rushed to UNICEF where I first found myself excited after so many years of being attached to so called "instrumental rationality", what modernization project left behind in my country.
My three years of rural development facilitation was the source of all kinds of aspirations and inspirations for the "critical rationality" side of the modernization coin. I was fully engaged in a participatory rural development project in five pilot areas, among them were nomads, herders, fishers, and peasants, surprisingly, none of us spoke the same language!

And more on political learning

Throughout my 16 years of school back home, I always tried to express my dissatisfaction with the regime in a way or another. I, often, showed it to the symbols of power, be it the teacher, principal, or the dean of graduate studies. Pursuit of such strange feeling materialized in several formats such as disobedience, rebellion and etc. In addition, I tried not to miss any informal meetings held by students of my type. I have definitely learned a lot in those gatherings. Now I feel that I simply wanted to remove the unfreedoms imposed on me by a few ignorant blind authorities who never took the chance to look at the world and re-examine their vision. I am now confident to say that I don’t hate them and I hope one day I will have the opportunity to help them out of such dreadful darkness.

More on Policitcal Learning; When I could cross the street on my own

In my formal education and through early years of school, I had no significant political learnings or better to say nothing considerable within the planned curricula:

Civic, religious, Persian literature and history courses were the formal sources of what I learned about politics. I learned about the legislation, executive, and legal pillars of the Islamic republic with the ayatollahs on top, representing God. Isn’t it funny? A Republic governed not by people but by God's reps, a very fundamental paradox in the very beginning of the constitution! I should say that the word republic is the result of the attempts made by many who actually influenced the power to defend democracy during the very first days of the revolution, of course, they were either escaped from the country or killed in the prisons later.
Our Persian literature is enriched with poetic stories. With no doubt the moral strength of such wordings have influenced and shaped my idealistic worldview.

In the early years of school, stories from Koran and Bible have inspired me, and I should confess that the traces are still there. It explains why I draw my utopian community with people of some sort of faith, an ultimate belief in human rights or goodness. I don't know something that you believe in wholeheartedly!!

On My Political Learning; before the time I could cross the street on my own!

Five years ago I had no clue what Halloween meant. In early October Mona, my little cousin, who has the privilege to live here in Toronto all her life; while watching Cinderella for the nine hundred ninety ninth times told me she would love to have Cinderella’s costume for the Halloween. It was the Disney store on the 3rd floor of the Eaton Center where I walked in to get the costume. Oh God, Look at all these kids, jumping in the teddy pool, having no idea what anything other than their games are, let alone knowing imperialism whereabouts, some kind of toy, candy or what? Frankly, I could have even spelled the word at their age.
The reason is simple; because I was a political offspring, in a huge zoo of political animals, selling papers to those political giraffes who bent down to give me a political hug. On one afternoon, my political mother and I joined the pride of political lions who had got the keys to open up the cage. Soon after, colorful flocks of political birds flew above the beds of tulips grew out of red. There I was in the bosom of the true king, who didn’t survive the crows’ rush to the throne. He asked me why I had been there. “ To fight for freedom and against imperialism”, I replied.
I still remember my grandfather's political stand and his arguments with his two opposing sons. Then, I was sure my grandfather was a socialist. I knew Shah sucks and U.S. was sucking our oil. Later, I got to know that Khomeini sucks too. I knew something was happening in Nicaragua at the same time. I have been told stories of the Palestinian kids who have nothing but stone to defend themselves. I knew they were living in the refugee camps on their own soil. Of course I was aware of the Vietnamese success story and I was sure we, all united, would ultimately win the battle and indeed we won.
But it was no time after the victory that I remember, one day I promised my father not to tell anybody even his mum about all these strangers who join us in our tiny apartment a week or two, some with names and some not. But they all had something in common; they helped me memorize all the countries’ flags before I even could read and write. Later, my political but more spiritual mum told me of some of those roommates who lost their lives for the sake of freedom, not achieved yet, of course.
That seed planted in me during those times never enjoyed Islamic gardeners watering her. Now in another settings, she needs to re-orient her passion and excitement while adding some blue rationality to her original yellow.

On Researching Citizneship

Participation positively impacts policy design and is also assumed to benefit participants (community members) by providing them the opportunities to gain representation, exercise political rights and influence local decision making. The process is guided through communicative action, supporting social consciousness and political community.
Meanwhile it is believed that participants develop a body of tacit knowledge helping them to become more informed and more engaged citizens. To analyze the practice of participation and its hidden curriculum of citizenship learning, a multifaceted analytical tool merging empowerment, collaboration and Habermas' theory of communicative action should be applied.

More On Learning Citizenship

"Learning cannot be designed but can be designed for"*

As I elaborated public policy and civil soceity directly influence our understanding of citizenship. In another words local governance and citizenship education seems to be linked and advanced together. I am interested in reflecting on relevant theories that explain how citizenship education is enhanced in a given society, not within the formal education system but vis-à-vis the governance of the same locale.

Taking the realm of education out of school and integrating it to the realm of local governance requires alternative design and re-arrangement of contemporary governance structure so as to provide opportunities for people to experience this new social interaction and make meaning out of it through reflection. Making meaning does not impact long term changes in knowledge and belief systems unless it is put into practice. Thus, the challenge is to integrate experience and learning or more relevant to say public participation and learning. This suggests there is no specific educator required to educate citizenship but, nonetheless, learning takes place through reflection and participation and respectively, the role of educator should be to provide a space for action and further reflection for people to experientially make meaning (learning) out of this praxis. As you see one can design for citizenship learning to take place within the public sphere.

* Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of Practice: learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

On Little Black Fish

Here is the English version of the story of Little Black Fish.

On Citizenship Learning

For more information on informal citizenship learning within the realm of civil society, I refer you to an artcile by Daniel Schugurensky on "The Tango of Citizenship Learning and Participatory Democtacy".
http://tlc.oise.utoronto.ca/conference2003/Proceedings/

On Understanding Citizenship

Individual's understanding of citizenship is developed through various paths. Civic education programs as part of a formal and planned curriculum constitutes a fraction of individual’s awareness of the civics. Informal learning does contribute a major role in shaping people’s awareness of what it is to be a citizen. The hidden curriculum of social and everyday life within and outside of the schooling system provides under-noticed opportunities for individuals to experientially learn about issues of societal concerns, namely social justice, democracy and economic deprivation. This social curriculum is inter-developed out of the realities of socio-economic relations, cultural norms and power structures. State and civil society are the administrators of this curriculum. State’s sponsored rules and regulations determine the format of civil society and civil society’s social practice, in turn, imposes norms and reshapes the state law. Individual’s informal learning is socially situated within this fluid of state-civil society reciprocity. It is individual’s encounter to this mutual dynamics that helps her develop an understanding of citizenship vis-à-vis state and civil society. People's subjective experience in facing the state's rules and civil society's norms constantly (re)configures their perception of what it means to be a citizen.

On City Management Course

I am just back from a class on City Planning and Management. I simply chose to go there to check it out. The prof was an MBA professional planner who is remotely out of my academic world of radical adult education and community development.

I have taken more than enough courses and all these extra courses slow down my concentration on the damn thesis. But, you know I love to take courses! During a course, you talk, communicate, learn and meet new people. These, you never find while focusing on your research. It is solely a matter of individual endeavor. There is absolutely no social aspect to graduate research.

This is the reason and now I am very much tempted to take the course. He is different from all the other profs I ever had. He is one of the white males, consultant to many city governments worldwide. Sure, I will get other perspectives in his class. There is also a lot of role playing in his course. We will go through the whole City administration and will reflect on real policies and management practices.

Anyhow, I am planning to check this other course out tomorrow, it is on housing policy. I have heard the prof is excellent. Since I am also doing some research on Tenant Participation System in Toronto Community Housing Corporation this course might be helpful in giving some insights. You know for all these years in Canada, I only took courses on developing countries and development challenges wothin the Southern context. These other North-American centred courses might help in my future job search!!!!

On blogging II

Mes Cher amis! I believe my quest to organize a space for reflection and deliberation on our blogging experience was too soon to be of considerable use by Iranian bloggers. However, I would like to hear on your experiences within this complicated virtual private sphere with substantive public implications. Hoder, himself, encouraged me to pursue this.

Anyways, today was the first official day of 2005. I missed my French class! It took us long to get back to downtown. I am a bit down these days, I cannot stop thinking on my school work and the complicated nature of this undertaking. I have problem connecting my Indian research to the recent one in Toronto. The whole thing is getting out of control. I should start actually going to the City (Municipality) to dig into their Tenant Participation System and see if I could arrange something out of it.

Is not it nice to share even your very thoughts with the whole unknown world?