The Bride of Acacias in London

These are some pictures of scenes from my play The Bride of Acacias acted in London by I.
Pictures courtesy of Ali Karamali.

Forough: Lies… Lies… Lies…

Forough: No love, but… lies…

Forough: Hi… It’s me! I arrived today. Yes right now… As I promised…(Pause)why are you silent?

Forough:Is love shameful?


Forough: Oh… What have I done?!... In this dark,
Silent room?...

Two Iranian Children in London

These are some pictures of a scene from my play Two Iranian Children acted in London by Parvaneh Soltani, Nahid Nazemi and Ezzat Goushegir.
Pictures courtesy of Ali Karamali.


Mina: ...Why are you still holding onto your scarf? You passed the red zone! Take it off! (She closes the window)
Mina: Let me see your beautiful hair!



Mother: Would you like some more tea Melody?
Melody: Yes mom I would!... thanks!



Mina: I think you forgot about dad!
Melody: No, I didn’t!
Mina: Do you know how our dad was executed? Do you know where he is buried now? Not buried actually, but treated worse than trash!
Melody: Dad is only an image to me! A heart which was beating once when I was a little child!



Nahid Nazemi in a rehearsal scene of Two Iranian Children
Mother: And… I only wished that I was executed by this ferocious savage regime than being there in the middle of nowhere alive with my little daughter...


Parvaneh Soltani, and I in a rehearsal scene of Two Iranian Children

Mina: ...I dyed my hair just yesterday to look like you, blonde and stylish! Let me see your hair…

Parvaneh Soltani, I and Nahid Nazemi in a rehearsal scene of Two Iranian Children


Mina: We have the same eyes…
Melody: The same?
Mina: A little bit different!

October 29, Cyrus the Great Day

October 29, is the day of Cyrus the Great, fonder of Human Rights of Nations.

The Cyrus the Great Cylinder is the first charter of right of nations in the world. It is a baked-clay cyliner in Akkadian language with cuneiform script. This cylinder was excavated in 1879 by the Assyro-British archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam in the foundations of the Esagila (the Marduk temple of Babylon) and is kept today in the British Museum in London.
Read a new translation of the Cyrus Cylinder by Irving Finkel, Assistant Keeper, Department of the Middle East, London.

Iranian Poster Arts

Iranian Poster Arts
For over one hundred years, posters have acted as effective tools to disseminate various ideological messages during periods of revolution and war. Designed for mass distribution and aimed towards a large public audience, they embed social, political, and religious concerns that frequently are articulated through both text and image. Perhaps more so than at any other moment in recent history, posters served as powerful modalities for mobilization and communication during the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88).
These are only a few posters of many...

Occupy Song

Occupy Song...

Endless Tyranny...Endless Resistance...

I believe those who are capable of committing violence are not much different than dictators! The disturbing images of Qaddafi’s last moments of his life made me think about Puyi, The Last Emperor of China who was treated rather humanely as a gardener than being tortured and executed!
The real Power is when you remain human even in the peak of your triumph. With the death of a dictator, tyranny does not end. The ferocious, invisible tyrants are governing the world with their democratic slogans from their glorious offices, standing beside those dictators who are visible.

Hillary Clinton says: We Came, We saw, he died!

Watch a scene of Bernardo Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor



Puyi: You saved me because I'm useful to you!
The Governor of the prison: Is that so terrible to be useful?

Last scene of The Last Emperor.

A clip on Romanian Dictator Nicolae and Elena ceausescu's execution.



And the execution of the last Tzar and his family...Nicholas II of Russia...

The Exception and the Rule

Let nothing be called natural
In an age of bloody confusion,
Ordered disorder, planned caprice,
And dehumanized humanity, lest all things
Be held unalterable!

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German dramatist, poet. The Exception and the Rule, Prologue (1937).

A gift

At Shakespeare Globe Theatre
My friend Parvaneh made a touching video for my birthday after my two shows in London: The Bride of Acacias and Two Iranian Children.


With Darwin at Natural History Museum in London

Youth in a suspect society

Youth Movement in a Culture of Hopelessness
An interview with Henry Giroux

Giroux is the author of, among others, Youth in a suspect society: Democracy or disposability and Politics after hope: Obama and the crisis of youth, race, and democracy, and is a professor at McMaster University.

Al Jazeera English: I want to get into the nitty-gritty of your analysis of the anger that we're seeing in the growing 'Occupy' protest movement, but first, could you describe your first or gut reaction to the protests?

Henry Giroux: This was, for me, very exciting, because while it doesn't guarantee anything, it certainly marks a beginning that upsets, and, in many ways, challenged a liberal-conservative position that young people in the United States are utterly depoliticised, self absorbed and incapable of engaging in collective politics.

Read more...