Inside Iran

From today I’m going to use Ecto as a blogging tool. I’ve found out that because of my domain bei ng blocked in Iran, I’m not writing that much in my english blog. It is difficult for me to use TOR (which is great but slow) to login into my blog and update it.

Today I’ve found a solution. Adding a SSL certificate (obviously uncertified) to my blog and using Ecto to update it. I will be able to write offline and post later. Ok… This might only be a test for a tool but I’m going to use it as a motivator. Hope it helps me to change this weblog from a Bad News Center to what I want it to be: A view of an insider to his everyday life.

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I am addicted to the net. I’ve found it in the recent couple of weeks when I did not had access to the Internet from my house and did not went to job (because the government had shut down our NGO). In these two weeks I was war driving trough the city to find a free WiFi zone and “borrow” their Internet :”>
I am going to have my internet from April 21th and I am going to use this one week period to STOP my internet addiction. So I will not be online till Apr 21th. Thank you all and return back in a week

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Oh ! And thank you Monozygote for all of your great English lessons I will learn and apply. I promise!

In the last few days, I did not have (and still do not have) a reliable access to Internet. So I - despite your emails - did not blog about the British Sailors. I do not know if they were in Iran's territory or not. My TV and Radio are controlled fully by the government and say “They were in Iran's waters” all the time. CNN and BBC says “They were not” and both of them show “Proofs” !
I am not going to judge about it as I do not have the proper info and knowledge on Maritime Laws(?) or international laws. No doubt they are complicated But I want and I have to tell my opinion on this issue. I think all of this problem was degrading for me as an Iranian. Many Iranians were concerned about “300″ movie and says “It was defacing Iranian people”. I think it did not. It was a movie and it did not claimed to be accurate. I think this Ahmadinejad is defacing us. In his silly gestures. When he orders some detainees to CONFESS on the TV. It is a routine. When they arrest you in Iran you have to confess on the TV and say “I hate what I did” and “Yes! I was wrong” and … He did the same thing with the soldiers. I think there is no need for this.
My TV also lied a lot. My controlled media did it too. They told me “All the Britons confessed and thanked Iran for its hospitality” and “England sent us a letter and apologized for entering our territories”. I did not check this news yet but it is unlikely to be true.
Ah.. and fuck us because of our hospitality! We arrest people. Do not allow them access phone lines or lawyers. Make them be a part of a show on TV and make them wear those silly suits and scarves. Then we announce “They apologized” and “we forgave them” and give them some gifts and CheloKabab and then release them. Is this Hospitality? Not In my opinion. I think this treatment is defacing.
I am sure in the next months whoever hears the name of “Iran” is not going to say:
   - Iran? yes! I know them from the “300″ movie. That ugly faced, poorly organized army.
but they probably will say:
   - Oh ! I remember them. The issue of Britons! The silly nation who thinks being polite is a good meal and some souvenirs.
I do not like it. And I am sure there are a lot of Iranians who think like me but there are also a lot of them who heard the story like this: “The Britons were in our territory. We captured them. The world accepted that we were right. England apologized to us. We were hospitable and forgave them and even gave them some good meals and souvenirs.” and they are proud of it.
Moral: I have to work more and more for the freedom of expression in this country.

One good friend (Saleh), emailed me about the usage of Farsi vs. Persian, I liked it and found it useful.

I've just read your most recent post in your English blog about Iranian flag,
beside my view about the post I have a comment about word”Farsi” (but not Persian) that you use several times in your article and also in your blog's sidebar please take a look at this post of my English blog and please follow the links at the end of the note, I don't say that I'm right about it
But I just wanna say that take a look at this articles links and then use whatever you want.
http://blog.salehoffline.com/2007/03/13/persian-or-farsi/

As you can see I have added a PEACE FOR IRAN logo designed by RickB. To be honest at first glance I wanted to ignore this logo but on second toughths, I realized that I have to use the logo but ask RickB to change it. Why ?
As you can see, the logo contains a Peace in Farsi and English and a flag of Iran. But this is not MY FLAG.
As most flags, Iran's flag contains three colors:

• Green. two interpretations: 1-color of life, 2-this is an Islamic country.
• White. Peace
• Red. Iranians are ready to die for their flag / country.

I am not a Nationalist and I do not insist that “we are raedy to die for our flag” or anything. Instead I want to talk about the Symbol in the middle of the flag.
In the white area (in the middle of the flag there is a symbol). This symbol represents the eras of Iran's flag. The ancient one had a lion and a sun in it. Have a look youself:

This is not an Monarchy sign but a sign of all eras and many groups agree on it (even communist parties).
After the 1979 revolution, the new ideological regime changed the logo to this one:

It is a combination of Allah (In Farsi letters) and some other symbols (for justice and sword and …). I do not like that it represents ONLY this ISLAMIC REGIME which tortures peoples and censors everything. I do not stand in front of this flag and do not believe in it. my PEACE sign does not have an ISLAMIC REGIMES sign on it. I want peace but without supporting this regime. I myself prefer a simple three color flag, without any ideology on it. I want a flag without the Lion, without Allah and without the Swastika. This does not mean I am against the Lion and Allah but it means my flag should mean Iran and not ISLAMIC REGIME or any other ideology.
RickB ? Are you interested in changing your Islamic Regime's flag to Iran's flag ?

I'm back. After a one week in Turkey and learning about SPIP. Just wanted to inform that I'm alive ! We had internet access in Turkey but because of VERY tough schedule I was unable to write even an email for my wife But everything is OK once more. I'm sure you will face more SPIP sites in Iran and the good point: SPIP is one of the best site to build multilingual sites. You may face more and more English / French / Spanish and … sites soon.

I am in Turkey for a week. I'm attending to a TOT workshop (training of trainers). I'll be back in Iran after a few days and I'm going to start holding workshops on “SPIP” (an Open Source content management system which is used by Le Monde, RSF.org and …). I think the results will be good ! After the workshops, the NGOs will be able to have their own dynamic/potentially active website !
I spend all the day in the workshops or doing the assignments right know it is 2am and I have just finished my home works and I have to sleep soon so I'll be ready for tomorrow's classes. Good night !

Recently Leila and I traveled to Netherlands ans spent 10 days in that beautiful country. We really enjoyed and learned. Thank you all guys ! I really liked the cultural diversity and acceptance of others (cultures and people). I also enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and museum like cities.
And there is one more reason to love Netherlands: RSF.org, Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 :

Northern European countries once again come top of the Index, with no recorded censorship, threats, intimidation or physical reprisals in Finland, Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands, which all share first place.

I know. I know that I've not seen other countries but I really liked this one ! If you are from other countries and jealous, invite me to your country so I'll write my opinion !

Everything was stopped for weeks ! At first I've started this weblog to write about Iran but bad news happend and happend and I wrote bad news and bad news ! In additicion I'm not that good at english (specially at writing english) so I've got tired and stopped.
These days I'm in Netherlands and talked with many many great people. Once more I'm brave enough to continue ! I'll continue this weblog …