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December 2000, Week 1 |
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Weather
forcast of 50 cities in Iran
| Iran's Khatami Slams Hardliners | Dec 07 |
| Iran Dissidents to Appear at Revolutionary Court | Dec 04 |
| Film-Iran: the Blackboard of Knowledge | Dec 01 |
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Iran's Khatami Slams Hardliners
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TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iranian President Mohammad Khatami told thousands of student supporters on Wednesday he lacked sufficient power to fully realize his vision of a democratic Islamic system in Iran. Khatami, a popular reformist cleric, attacked his powerful hardline opponents, accusing them of trying to cling to power at any expense. It was the second time in recent days he admitted failure in implementing the constitution in the face of hardline opposition. "I am responsible for the constitution and must have the needed resources to meet this responsibility," he said in a question-and-answer session with students at a Tehran campus. "When I see the law is broken I should be able to stop it immediately and send it for investigation. But I don't have this prerogative. I should have it to do the job correctly." Iran's judiciary, dominated by hardliners, has closed most independent publications and jailed a number of reformist activists, accusing them of trying to undermine the Islamic system. Despite enjoying widespread popular backing, Khatami has not been able to defend his reformist allies, often keeping silent to avoid provoking his opponents, who also control security and the armed forces. But as he nears the end of his four-year term, the president has been more vocal, goaded by students and other radical allies who are growing impatient with the slow pace of liberal reform. "Unfortunately, some press violations have been tried without jury. I have repeatedly served notices, which is all I can do," he said. The students, holding pictures of Khatami and jailed dissident clerics, often drowned out the president's remarks with chants demanding freedom for jailed activists, the resignation of hardline officials and a referendum on the constitution. The event marked Student Day, which dates back to the killing of three students by police during a visit by the then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon in the 1950s. Khatami repeated a demand for greater constitutional powers, a call which has drawn criticism from conservative leaders, who accuse the president of playing politics to ensure his re-election next May. Khatami has suggested he will seek a new term. "There are certain provisions of the constitution which are not respected. We should find a mechanism to make sure the law is not violated," he said. There were minor scuffles between students and a group of hardline activists trying to disrupt the event.
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Iran Dissidents to Appear at Revolutionary Court
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TEHRAN, (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Court will hear charges against two of eight dissidents arrested after they participated in memorial services held for a murdered intellectual, newspapers said on Sunday. Sima Sahebi and Mohsen Hakimi were charged with undermining state security for distributing leaflets at the ceremony, Aftab-e Yazd newspaper said. Sahebi is the widow of a left-leaning translator murdered by what the government called "rogue" secret agents in 1998. The newspaper described Hakimi as an activist and writer. The two were released on bail pending trial, the reformist daily said. The Revolutionary Court said it was not competent to hear the cases of the other six, who were returned to police custody, it said. Other newspapers carried similar reports. The eight were arrested on Thursday after leaving a memorial service in a Tehran mosque for Majid Sharif, whose death, reformers say, was one of a decade-long series of assassinations by intelligence ministry agents. The distributed leaflets were protests from the families and friends of the murdered writers Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh and Mohammad Mokhtari saying they were being pressured not to hold similar memorial ceremonies. Both were killed in autumn 1998. Reformers say that top security officials, including a former minister of intelligence and Tehran's deputy chief of justice, were behind the murders, but the establishment says they were carried out by rogue agents who have all been arrested. One of the 18 suspects, a former deputy intelligence minister, allegedly committed suicide in prison while the others are due to stand trial at a special military court on December 23. Iran's security and judicial apparatus is dominated by hardliners bitterly opposed to the social and political reforms promised by embattled President Mohammad Khatami.
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Film-Iran: the Blackboard of Knowledge
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LONDON, IPS - Iranian director Samira Makmalbaf unveiled her first film at the tender age of 17, delivering a searing attack on the perils of fundamentalism titled "The Apple."
Makmalbaf's second feature, "Blackboards," is an even more ambitious effort. The film looks at the lives of Kurdish refugees living on the perilous Iran-Iraq border and illustrates how knowledge is often the first casualty in times of conflict.
"Blackboards" tells the story of two itinerant teachers who travel this desolate landscape in search of pupils. One finds a group of elderly men and a lone young widow, while the other finds a group of small boys who are smuggling contraband. Both groups are desperately struggling to survive and have little time for learning.
"I really liked the story for 'The Apple', it was very forceful," the director said. "After 'The Apple', I looked for an equally forceful story." "When I went to Kurdistan with my father, the atmosphere (of) the mountains really moved me. We would walk for hours on end. After two or three hours I would come across an old man standing in one place waiting for a plant to grow. I was astonished at such a lifestyle. The more I walked the more I realized that there was life all over the mountains." Makmalbaf found her story in that rocky terrain and made the precarious lifestyle of the teachers her focal point. "I felt the story could be full of meaning." The film is filled with metaphors. The blackboards are rarely used as tools of education, but instead become instruments of survival -- first as shields against aerial attack, then as a splint for an injured child, and then finally as a divorce settlement for a hasty marriage based more on desperate physical need than love. One of the rare moments in the film when the blackboard is used as a learning tool is when one of the teachers tries to teach his Kurdish wife the Farsi words for "I love you." Despite repeated attempts, Haladed, the woman, simply does not understand him. When the group eventually reach the border crossing and the teacher chooses to remain behind, he gives her his blackboard to keep. One of the film's most poignant moments comes when Haladed is walking away carrying the blackboard strapped to her back with the words "I love you" disappearing in the distance. "Blackboards" has already received a great deal of international acclaim. The London Observer called it "astonishing" and the Independent on Sunday compared it to the work of the great British film director David Lean. The film has already won this year's jury prize at Cannes and looks set to further enhance Makmalbaf's growing reputation. Makmalbaf has the ability to take simple stories and give them universal meaning. Her work comments on the problems which Iran is facing today, such as border conflicts, the struggles of a minority community and finally the interpretation of religious law. She also shows that these are not simply Iranian problems, but are instead have a universal resonance. Makmalbaf's first feature "The Apple," concentrated on the true story of 12-year-old twins who had been locked away inside their own home because their father thought that was what the Koran dictated. It is only through the efforts of a tenacious female social worker that the girls are eventually freed and the father is made to see his mistake. Makmalbaf's film is not only exceptional in its thinly veiled attack on the evils of fundamentalism, but it is also remarkable in the compassion it shows to the girls' parents, suggesting that poverty rather then malice was their driving force. The compassion shown in the film seems to have stemmed from the trusting relationship Makmalbaf developed with their father. "I didn't ask him anything. I just listened to him. Maybe I was the only person to do that while everyone else was condemning him," she recalled. "The Apple" came as a surprise to some in the international community given the fact that Samira is the daughter of the acclaimed Iranian director, Moshen Makmalbaf, who was a fundamentalist as a young man. But Moshen Makmalbaf's work, over the years, has moved further and further away from the radical religious views of his youth. And his encouragement and support of his daughter (he has collaborated with her on both her films) shows a very different man. "Blackboards" charts another step on what looks set to be an illustrious career.
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