Which culture?

If you could choose any culture in the world to live in, which would it be?

Three years ago I couldn't have answered that, but now I know. And this is what I'd do.

I'd divide my year between three countries, spending a third in each. One part of the year I'd spend in Mexico, preferably in a village in the southern areas. Another part, maybe in summer, I'd spend in the Peruvian mountains, and in both places I'd perfect my Spanish. The third part of the year I would live in Iran, and get to know the people there, and more about their culture and language. Eventually, when I had lived in all three countries, maybe I'd know which one I wanted to settle down in.

Gilan: Ancient Jewel of the North

The Iranian province of Gilan (known as Guilan in Iran) is home to the Gilaki people, whose unique and beautiful culture still thrives. The fertile land lies along the Caspian Sea, making good conditions for the rice paddies grown along the coast. Further inland are mountains and forest, with a climate of much rainfall and humidity, often giving the land a beautiful misty look.





Most people of Gilan still speak the Gilaki language, except among the younger population and the cities, where Persian is often used. Gilaki cuisine is wonderful I've heard, with many dishes of fish, lamb or chicken prepared with distinctly Gilaki flavorings of fruit and spice.



Every year many tourists, mostly Iranians themselves, come to this province to get a glimpse of the fascinating culture and exquisite folk costumes with vivid colors and brightly striped skirts (much the way Americans might travel to Colorado or Texas to see ranches and cowboys, or enjoy bluegrass music.) Here are some pictures to give you a feel of what I mean:









Gilan also has a fascinating history, dating back to the time of the Persian Empire and Cyrus the Great. Wikipedia has a nice article on this.

If my dream of visiting Iran ever turns to reality, Guilan, jewel of the north, is one of the places I want to see for myself.

News Perspectives

Ever gotten sick and tired of trying to find out what's really happening in other countries, particularly those targeted by the U.S. government, and finding only the same biased views on every Western media site?

I have, and recently came up with a solution of my own. I look for news sites based in the countries themselves, and almost always find myself looking at international situations with a new perspective. Of course it helps to know other languages, but many foreign news media have their sites in English as well as their own language.

It started with Venezuela, because of the obvious corporation-bias in Western coverage of that country (and the rest of South America I might add.) The disrepancy between the coverage and what I knew from my cultural studies to be true was great, and thus began my search for foreign media to get international news.

I bookmark the good sites I find, which makes it easy to keep coming back and back to keep up with the news. Currently, my focus is on Iran, because of the constant U.S. concentration on demonizing and provoking a fight with them. Here are a few good news sites (though I'm not done looking for non-US-biased sites about that region.)

Payvand is a good one, with news from several different sites and from different viewpoints. The IRNA is one I often check - Iran's official news agency. I also like reading blogs by people who actually live in that country. I've only found a few so far about Iran and most aren't updated frequently, but here are some of the best I've discovered. The Super Heavy is a gem, with anecdotes and fascinating details about life in Iran, from the perspective of an American woman married to an Iranian. This one, this one, and this one have good photos of Iran for those who want to know what the country looks like.

Enjoy, and I hope you'll look for your own good sources of foreign media to counteract agenda-biased propaganda!

Defeat in the UN

Prepare for the U.S. to throw a tantrum, since the UN failed to give them their way (a Security Council threat of force if Iran didn't stoop to their demands.) Article here. This is quite a triumph! It's not enough yet, but it's sure going to help!

Finally!

Finally, someone in the UN pointing out the hypocracy of talking war over a country that doesn't even have nukes, while the US and other Western powers have thousands on the ready.

Quoting the words of Hans Blix, former chief weapons inspector in the UN:

"While it's desirable that the foreign ministers talk about Iran, they don't seem to devote any thought to the fact that there are still some 27,000 real nuclear weapons in the United States, Russia and other states, and that many of these are on hair-trigger alert.

Nor do the ministers seem to realize that the determination they express to reduce the nuclear threat is diminished by their failure to take seriously their commitment, made within the framework of the NPT, to move toward the reduction and elimination of their own nuclear arsenals."

Read the rest here.

One of Iran's many nomad cultures

The Qashquis are a nomadic tribe who live mostly in Fars, in southern Iran. They are known in the Middle East for their beautiful and intricate saddle and rug designs, and for raising sheep for high quality wool (used in their designs.) Here are some pictures of these fascinating people, dressed in their colorful native costumes.










http://www.qashqai.net/

Iran..

How can people possibly view the Iranian people with such prejudice and fear? The Persian culture is one of the most beautiful in the world - gentle, hospitable to the extreme, cultured and educated, warm and friendly. The Iranians are a peace loving people and quick to open their hearts even to strangers.

To bomb their beautiful country, to destroy their homes and main or kill their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, cousins, to reduce the exquisite cities and peaceful villages to smoldering rubble, to make these people live in horrendous fear of raids or shootings, fearful even to leave their houses -- how could that be anything less than a heartless crime of humongous proportions? And yet this is what we have done to Iraq, without shame or remorse, and what will hold us back from doing this to Iran too?

John Negroponte said "We don't have a clear-cut knowledge but the estimate we have made is some time between the beginning of the next decade and the middle of the next decade they might be in a position to have a nuclear weapon." And according to him, this is why we must invade Iran immediately.

I.e., based on our speculations that are not based in fact, Iran might be in a position in more than ten years from now to have a nuclear weapon, should they suddenly have that desire (in spite of the fact that the Iranian government has said over and over and over that they have no intention of building a nuclear weapon.) And that means we must invade now??????

Add to that the hypocracy in that the United States has thousands of nuclear weapons of many varieties and is the only country that had ever used them on another country!!!! Who has proven themselves the greater threat?

Readers, educate yourselves - learn about the Iranian people, their culture and way of life. Learn how much they're like your loved ones and the people you see all around you, and learn about the beautiful and unique aspects of their culture. Throw aside your fears and prejudices and discover for yourselves the beauty of the Persian culture. And then you will know what a terrible crime it would be to bomb, maim, kill, and occupy them.

And when you have learned this, stand up and your voice to the thousands demanding that Bush leave these people alone. Join a protest, and educate those around you!