Tag: iran

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Five repressed women humiliated by men, discover new paths

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Women Without Men, by Shahrnush Parsipur, now 80, we follow the lives of five women against the background of revolution and coups as they find their way to a garden, drawing on recent Iranian history and transcendent elements of Islamic mysticism, Parsipur’s unforgettable novel sees women escaping strict confines of family and society. Five repressed women abandoned or humiliated by men, discover new, sometimes surreal paths for themselves. As societal expectations and the fear of spinsterhood weigh on, Iran tried and failed to silence Women Without Men ( Zanan bedun-e Mardan in Persian) exposed the brutality of Iranian regime and … Continue reading Five repressed women humiliated by men, discover new paths

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Persians in crisis exploring questions of love, money, art and fulfilment

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A captivating Iranian family Valiat’s saga whose fate is intertwined with modern Iran. In Iran they were somebodies, but in America they’re nobodies. We follow, Elizabeth, from childhood to old age, a real matriarch, a lost young artist plagued with a too-big nose, and lost love, who remained in Tehran despite the revolution, while her daughters are Shirin, a flamboyantly high-flying event planner in Houston, who considers herself the family’s future, and Seema, a dreamy idealist turned bored housewife languishing in Los Angeles,  fled to the US in 1979, the year of the revolution. They are kept company with Niaz, her … Continue reading Persians in crisis exploring questions of love, money, art and fulfilment

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Iran’s Rise and fall

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The 1979 Islamic Revolution triggered a cold war between Iran and the United States – former fast friends. Despite the US’s relentless efforts at containment, Iran has risen as a formidable power in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza. Its newfound status not only frustrates the US but has swiftly become a thorn in the side of Israel and Saudi Arabia. How did Iran rise so rapidly and as it faces ever increasing pressure at home and abroad, can it hold onto its power?  Iran is weaker now than it has been since the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, in … Continue reading Iran’s Rise and fall

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Dictators seeking to impose their vision

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Historian and Anglo-Polish journalist Anne Applebaum uncovers the sophisticated networks of kleptocratic financial structures, security services and professional propagandists. The main enemies of domestic demagogues fanning the flames of populism. Foreign dictators who seek to impose their vision of a new international; order and hate our freedoms in George W Bush’s sonorous phrase. Applebaum’s catchy coinage “ Who are these bad guys?” is said to be a group of autocratic regimes, such as Russia, China and Iran, who together operate “not like a bloc but rather like an agglomeration of companies, bound not by ideology but rather by a ruthless, … Continue reading Dictators seeking to impose their vision