I am constantly surprised by the technical skill levels of ordinary Iranians. Necessity is the mother of innovation, as they say, but it's always reassuring to find that people want to get online and bypass government filtering.
The Haystack network is a new way for Iranians to enjoy their online activities unhindered. It's the kind of things your friends in Iran can make use of.
Here's the trailer for documentary that aims to show another side of Tehran. This is not the Friday prayers crowd, but young people trying find their way in the world.
Around election time in Iran lots was made of the life, values and motivations of basij members. Some were recent additions to the force who, despite their actions, were unprepared for what unfolded. Others were happy to crack a few skulls:
"The revolution and Islam need me. I will give my life in a heartbeat if the regime asks me," Mr. Moradani said in an interview earlier this year at a shop in central Tehran, where he sells Islamic and revolutionary paraphernalia, including key chains, T-shirts and CDs. "Our society is now at the verge of sin and filled with antirevolutionary people."
The founder of Ansar-e Hezbollah weighed in with his views too.
Some small insights into pieces of the Iran puzzle appeared on Sidewalk Lyrics:
Mightier Than has two galleries of everyday photos from Tehran. They include the boring and the mundane, the usual and the occasional - sights from around a city of more than 7 million people.
Iran was already a misunderstood place before this election captured the world’s attention, and as much as the world has now learned about Iran from witnessing these past few weeks, the experience might still lead to an even greater misunderstanding unless we take the time to look deeper. Lost behind the chants of inspiring crowds, the images of bloodied faces, or the grainy chaotic videos, is an Iran much of the world has likely never made the effort to notice.
Highlights include:
A great selection of photos that show there is more to Iran than conflict, demonstrations and protests.
Chogha Zanbil (چُغازَنبیل) is an ancient Elamite ziggaurat complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran. I stumbled across this great set of photographs of the fascinating site on Flickr.
Iran has the highest mortality rate due to road traffic in the world. As a pedestrian, passenger or driver you are more likely to die if you're involved in a road traffic accident in Iran than anywhere else.
The map below shows Iran being 10 points higher than Iraq and Angola, almost 30 points higher than Niger and almost 60 points higher than the USA.
This high mortality rate could be caused by a range of factors:
Some of those are probably contributing factors. But the main cause has to be Iran's driving culture and Iranians' bad driving. Driving in Iran is marked by a selfishness that is rarely seen publicly elsewhere in Iranian culture. Not everyone is a technically bad driver, but even good drivers in Iran have bad habits and are forced into dangerous manouveres by the actions of other road users.
With the evidence above and personal experience, I will say it clearly: Iran has the world's worst drivers. They kill themselves, their families, their friends, their colleagues and they kill pedestrians and other drivers.
Iranians crash into each other and just carry on driving. They don't bother exchanging numbers or getting witness contact information. Nobody gives way to let user drivers into the flow of traffic, so they have to squeeze their cars into tiny gaps. They don't wear seatbelts. They have no lane discipline so on a 3 lane expressway you find cars drifting all over the road. On Vali Asr Avenue in Tehran you find cars five-abreast on a three-lane road as everyone pushes forward an inch at a time, constantly changing lanes and surging forward three metres only to brake sharply behind the car in front or career into the back of them.
As many Iranians don't know what it is like to drive in another country, here are some steps Iran could take to reduce the number of road deaths.
All simple steps that can help improve Iran's driving culture and, most importantly, save lives on the road.
Photo: Philipp C Jahn on Flickr.
The often-monikered “Bad boy” of Persian comedians, K-von whose name means: “Saturn”, in Persian, is by far one of the smartest and funniest Iranian comedians coming out of the West Coast. While he did grow up in Las Vegas, we assure you, you will not sense even an inkling of teardrop-drought while enjoying his side-splitting and constantly overflowing fountain of stand-up.
However, being able to send you into a roller-coaster of laughter via his hilarious comedy sets is not the witty Persian comedian’s only talent. Kayvon Moezzi (his real full name) is half Scottish, but he can also cook and teach you how to make ”Zereshk-polo with Joojeh Kabob” - thanks to his ammeh (aunt: dad’s sister) – on a budget.
Real, good-looking, fresh, and hilarious are just a few words that come to one’s mind when watching K-von’s authentic and unquestionably rare comedic style...
For non-Farsi speakers, the exchange between Limbert and Khamenei here is incredibly interesting. To paraphrase: Limbert politely welcomed Khamenei, who was being treated as a guest since he was visiting the hostages at their “residence” where they were being held. Limbert remarked about the Iranian cultural quirk known as “taarof,” which characterizes the uniquely Iranian version of hospitality, saying: Iranians are too hospitable to guests in their country, when we insist that we must be going, you all tell us “no, no, you must stay.”
Tehran Bureau has been a unique and interesting source of news and information from Iran. During the election unrest it carried a lot of insightful coverage from within Iran, much of it translated from Persian. The website has been relaunched with the backing of PBS Frontline in the States.
