Re bloggers in Iran:
Most likely the same old things: how much Iranians look like "us" and long for freedom like "us." They actually love "us" and want to be like "us." (the last point will be observed with some bewilderment - just to negate the mullahs who run the country).
I'm sorry to say that the Iranian bloggers inside and outside Iran are not representative of the Iranian population.
I have never read any piece about Iran in the TIME's without feeling that bitter taste in my mouth. (Didn't Azadeh Moaveni right for them?)
It is no different than the same, age old rhetoric of "you're either with us, or against us". They simply try to portray the first part of that sentence!
Well, Niki, you're only the 9th Iranian blogger I know of....sorry. I've read other Iranian blogs, but yours is the one I read most consistently (and consistently means about once a month or so lately...bah at my laziness!).
I think one reason they go for the Iranians living in the West is they immediately dumb down their speech (consciously or unconsciously - I don't know). Americans, at least, would need to access a dictionary for at least 5 words per Iranian post. And then there's the incredulity factor - my Ivy League daughter actually asked me, "How do you KNOW she's Iranian?" AUGH!!! Well, the kid is related to my Neanderthal ex-husband, and that is not her fault.
As for Deepa Mehta, my German is waaaaaaay to rusty to figure that place out, and I wish I could, because it all looks very interesting. For now, though, I have to learn Spanish so I can participate in commerce with Latino and Tehano Americans who have immigrated to Indiana. In Indianapolis, they make up about 25% of the population...or more.
As always, though, your posts are educational, enlightening and entertaining, and I'll always be coming by to read more.
Niki,I have seen Fire, Earth and Water by Deepa Mehta and liked them a lot (I found them by rec from wsws site). Is there any English-language sourse about her being neo-Orientalist? And of course, the book Reading Lolita in Tehran IS a crap, as much as I read about it
And, by the way, if you want to know how your words looks in Russain - look here http://left.ru/2008/5/nikonova174.phtml
your words are after the second link
Thanks, Alla. Let me get the references for you about Mehta's work (i may need you to remind me!), and thanks for translating my words to Russian. It is such a cool language, I wish I had learned it at some point. More importantly, i think it is very important for Russians and Iranians to be in dialogue right now, especially about regional affairs and the devastating impact of external actors who are trying to cut the region into a thousand different pieces!
Yes, niki, the reason for my translation was exactly thus - to share with Russian-speaking readers the thoughts of a fellow anti-imperialist
Regarding Mehta - I even cited her "Water" as an example of a view of national liberation as a condition for women liberation - in my piece against one Russian-speaking "leftist"- Orientalist, who clamed that British Empire was "good for Indian women"! No more no less.
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