Conference on Achieving Democracy in Iran : A Critical Re-Examination

Dr. Mossadegh Leadership Fund & Angelina Pedroso Center for Diversity and Intercultural Affairs at Northeaster Illinois University presented a three days Conference from March 10 to 12, on The Prospects for Non-Violent Transition to Democracy in Iran and Burma, The Significance of Mossadegh’s Symbolism for the Future of Democracy in Iran and The Gandhian Method of Non-Violent Struggle and Its Applicability to Burma, Iran & the Middle East.

Professor Hamid Akbari organizes the conference every two years and invites scholars from all around the world. This year, young generation had a significant role in the conference in bringing fresh views to broaden our perspectives on achieving democracy in Iran.

Among the presenters were Dr. Cyrus Bina the distinguished professor of Economics, Reza Deghati World-Renowned and Award-Winning Photojournalist & Humanitarian and Fariba Zarinebaf, Associate Professor of History.

Democracy and Hypocrisy in Libya

Democracy and Hypocrisy in Libya!

Dream

Dream, Van Gogh's episode by Akira Kurosawa.

Part Two

Nowruz, Earth, War, Peace

Despite all the natural or man-made disasters, tsunamis, tornadoes, invasions and wars, Earth renews herself with sprouting fragrant flowers, the birth of new trees and astonishing dynamic energy for love...
In Nowruz, the first day of spring we look back our past in order to celebrate the future...
Waiting for the symbolic time of the New Year, I can't take an excerpt of Dream by Akira Kurosawa away from my mind: The Tunnel where a man is confronted with his past when entering a foreboding tunnel. I'm still stunned by this film, specifically this episode since I saw it in 1990s.

The Tunnel Part 2

The Tunnel Part 3

Makambo!

Geoffrey Oryema sings Makambo a Zulu story...
Why?
I've been asking for peace
All I got is war!
War!
Why?
I've been asking for peace
All I got is war!
War!
What's wrong with the world?
What's wrong with the people?
Why do we not want peace? Why?

Listen to his song Land of Anaka

Hope

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."
Albert Camus
In the cold and gloomy winters in Tehran a flower grows called "Gole yakh-Ice flower" with a captivating scent which illuminates our dark days. Listen to Edelweiss, a song sung by Farhad.

Edelweiss, Edelweiss,
Every morning you greet me....

Akira Kurosawa the visionary artist predicted today's nuclear explosion

Mount Fugi in Red is one of the episodes of Akira Kurosawa's film "Dreams" on nuclear plant explosion...

"The film's second nightmare sequence. A large nuclear power plant near Mount Fuji has begun to melt down, painting the sky a horrendous red and sending the millions of Japanese citizens desperately fleeing into the ocean. Three adults and two children are left behind on land, but they soon realize that the radiation will kill them anyway."

Japan nuclear plant faces new threat

A woman cries after learning that her mother was rescued from a building in Miyagi prefecture. Photograph: Kyodo/Reuters

Japan nuclear plant faces new threat.

"The emergency cooling system at a second nuclear reactor at the Fukushima power plant has failed, raising fears of serious accident but officials have said the low radiation levels pose no risk to human health..."


Watch this clip!

It's time to re-read Noah's Ark and the Epic of Gilgamesh

Whenever there is a tsunami, I remember the myth of Noah's Ark and the Epic of Gilgamesh. the Epic of Gilgamesh has a number ofparallels to the story of Noah and the flood...

How Did Feminism Get Hijacked and What Is to Be Done?

A great review by Johanna Brenner on Feminism Seduced in Monthly Review...

Hester Eisenstein, Feminism Seduced: How Global Elites Use Women’s Labor and Ideas to Exploit the World! Read More...

Killing Us Softly!

Watch this clip: Killing Us Softly! Advertising Image of Women...

"Jean Kilbourne's pioneering work helped develop and popularize the study of gender representation in advertising. Her award-winning Killing us Softly films have influenced millions of college and high school students across two generations and on an international scale. In this important new film, Kilbourne reviews if and how the image of women in advertising has changed over the last 20 years.

With wit and warmth, Kilbourne uses over 160 ads and TV commercials to critique advertising's image of women. By fostering creative and productive dialogue, she invites viewers to look at familiar images in a new way, that moves and empowers them to take action."

Iranian Theatre Festival

The Hip-Hop Waltz of Eurydice by Reza Abdo

Iranian Theatre Festival at Brick Theatre in New York from March 3-26, 2011.

"The Brick proposes to expand the boundaries of this cultural moment, and collaborate with Iranian theater artists in the US and abroad, by hosting and producing the first festival in New York devoted solely to Iranian Theater."

Victory!

Victory! Illinois Death Penalty is Dead!
“We thank Governor Quinn for taking the final step to end this irretrievably broken system,” said Colleen K. Connell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. “But this action is really the result of tremendous study and advocacy — by members of the bar, law enforcement, victims’ families and residents across Illinois — who made this historic day possible.” Read more....

March 8, 1979 - Iran

With Kate Millett in New York, 2009

In March 8 1979 for International Womern's Day, women rallied in the streets of Tehran for their rights. Watch this clip made by four French journalists. Kate Millett was among us in Iran at that time and spoke with the journalists.


Kate Millett in Tehran, March 8, 1979

America Is NOT Broke

America is NOT Broke! Michael Moore speaks in Wisconsin, Madison:
"The nation is not broke, my friends. Wisconsin is not broke. Saying that the country is broke is repeating a Big Lie. It's one of the three biggest lies of the decade: 1) America is broke, 2) Iraq has WMD, and 3) The Packers can't win the Super Bowl without Brett Favre." Read more...

Watch and read his speech in his website.

"Right now, this afternoon, just 400 Americans—400—have more wealth than half of all Americans combined. Let me say that again. And please, someone in the mainstream media, just repeat this fact once. We’re not greedy; we’ll be happy to hear it just once. Four hundred obscenely wealthy individuals, 400 little Mubaraks, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion-dollar taxpayer bailout of 2008, now have more cash, stock and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined." Read more...

"Thank you, Wisconsin. You have made people realize this was our last best chance to grab the final thread of what was left of who we are as Americans. For three weeks you have stood in the cold, slept on the floor, skipped out of town to Illinois -- whatever it took, you have done it, and one thing is for certain: Madison is only the beginning." read More...

International Women’s Day

Photo by Sergio Dow
Human Rights Equals Women’s Right
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day and in support of Iranians’ struggle for freedom and democracy, there is going to be a joint program by the Committee in Solidarity with the People’s Struggle in Iran and Secular Democrats

1- A Film about the March 8, by Panthea Bahrami
2- A reading-performance of a play, “My Name is Inanna”, written and performed by Ezzat Goushegir and Kristin Lems
3- Songs by Lyricist and singer Kristin Lems

Date: Sunday March 6, 2011
Time: 1:30- 5:00PM
Place: Glenview Public Library,
Conference Room near East entrance
1930 Glenview Rd
Glenview, IL 60025

The program will be open to the public.