نویسنده: شهروند

The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran

“I’m independent, with no money, I have one staff member to support my work and I’m only funded for two trips of 14 days each to Iran to prepare my reports. I’m given two reports per year, 10,700 words . . .

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Yaraghi Delivers in BEA

Bea is like a kid in a jungle gym, she leaps from her bed swinging from the bedpost with the kind of buoyancy and infectious joy that one only sees in young children at play. Her energy is contagious, her joie de vivre radiating across the theatre . . .

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IHRDC: Ahwazi Arabs Subjected to Discrimination in Iran

Iran is home to many different ethnic minorities, including Azeris, Kurds, Baluch and others. One minority that resides in the southwest of the country, and particularly in Khuzestan province, is a sizable Arab ethnic minority with distinct linguistic and cultural practices.

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The Rooster Trademark Paper at TIFF Kids

He has the talent, he has the vision, he has the drive… all he lacks is the paper to draw on. The Rooster Trademark Paper is Iranian director Maryam Milani’s touching children’s film about Amir . . .

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IHRDC: In memory of An Iranian Transsexual Refugee

On April 3, 2013, Marjan Ahouraee—an Iranian transsexual refugee—passed away from complications from pneumonia in Kayseri, Turkey. Marjan—a male to female post operation transsexual—had fled Iran about two years earlier and come to Turkey in search of a better life. Marjan had been accepted by Canada for resettlement but tragically, before she could make it there, she fell sick and died in hospital.

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Cyber Dialogue on Iran

With all due respect to Tunisia, it all started with Iran. No, not with the 1979 revolution as claimed by the Islamic regime’s clumsy PR machine, but with the pro-democracy movement that erupted after the June 2009 Iranian ‘selections.’

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Spring Cleaning – Khoone Takouni

There’s a tradition in Iran, it’s related to how we mark, Nowruz, our New Year. Just before the official celebrations start with Chaharshanbe Suri, the fire festival that launches the festivities . . .

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A Few Words with the Spoken Word Artist

She’s fierce on stage, cutting words and razor sharp wit, she dominates. Needless to say I was a bit daunted to meet her. Rappers are cool and spoken word artists don’t mince words, and I was feeling particularly geeky . . .

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Music for a Rainy Day

I walk briskly (under the rain[i]), head down, trying to prevent the icy cold needles from hitting my bare skin (umbrellas should be closed); only a few more blocks to home. Maybe it’s what feels like a long winter (How my inside is alone) . . .

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Introducing the Band: Neemeha

Have you ever had a crush on a voice? My first voice-crush was in my early teens on Leonard Cohen, I could care less that Cohen was old and wrinkly by the time I first discovered him. He could have had a hunch-back with a single bloodshot-eye, all I wanted was his “Hallelujah” lulling me to sleep; his baritone voice made me quiver.

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When One Billion Dance

It’s a domestic problem, it happens in our neighbourhoods and streets, a city issue, a national story. Some try to pass it off as a problem imported to Canada, but we all know it’s domestic . . .

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Keeping Sepehr Safe

You might have seen him around, maybe at Mel Lastman Square during the annual Nowruz events, at the coffee shop by Sheppard subway station, or at the cinema by North York Centre. He’s the kind of guy you would have noticed in a crowd, broad shoulders, square jaw, the athletic type. His name is Sepher Hajapour and he’s 28 years old.

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Tehranto’s Own MPP Moridi

History was made on January 26th. Kathleen Wynne was elected as the Liberal party’s leader and became the first female Premier of Ontario, and the first openly lesbian leader in Canada

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Creating an Official Record

Documenting doesn’t always come naturally to us; we’re more of a handshake-to-seal-the-deal community. Oftentimes our recent history is told as stories whispered between friends in the wee hours of the night . . .

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All the pieces made it a whole

There’s no denying it Tehranto has its own band. Neemeha’s Strange Fruit concert at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts on January 19 wasn’t just an opportunity to hear great music but also a testament to how art can build community.

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Going out on a Bang not a Whimper

It’s that time of year; for a brief moment we are self-reflective about what we accomplished in the past 365 days. What did we learn? How did we grow? Who did we impact . . .

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Munk Debates Iran

When it comes to a debate, wording is everything. How you frame the resolution makes all the difference. The tenth semi-annual Munk Debate, which faced off Pulitzer Prize winner and FOX News contributor Charles Krauthammer . . .

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An Enterprising Centre

The Women’s Centre of York is hidden in an industrial area in Newmarket, occupied predominantly by factory outlets and company headquarters.

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Mahmoud Drives to the Fringe

“It started as a project in school when I was studying theatre at the University of Toronto,” explains Tara Grammy, a 24-year-old Iranian-Canadian actress, about her one-woman play Mahmoud bound for the Toronto and New York Fringe Festivals this summer.

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Hot Docs Cures My Documentary Blues

Sometimes watching a documentary is akin to sitting through a lecture by the morality police. You sign up for two hours of being talked down to, only to leave the theatre feeling guilty and despondent . . .

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Organizing Tehranto: Bring My Husband Home

“It was in the summer of 1994 or ‘۹۵, I used to be better with dates but this situation has made me worse. Anyway, I’m not the romantic one, Hamid is,” chuckles Antonella Mega nervously as she recounts how she met her husband Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, an Iranian-Canadian man on death row in Tehran’s Evin prison.

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Criminalizing Refugees

“Don’t forget to get rid of the Greek passport on the plane before landing in Canada, Just go to the bathroom and tear it into pieces and flush it down,” whispered the smuggler urgently to my mom the night before we left Rome for Toronto.

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From Red to Blue

I have this distinct memory from my youth, gathering around the television in our small Scarborough apartment with my sister and parents, watching the game show Family Feud.

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Reclaiming Nowruz

It started on Monday with a call from a photographer friend of mine who has recently moved to Canada from Iran. He was interested in capturing images of Nowruz festivities in Toronto and was asking about events and celebrations to cover.

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People in Glass Houses

Well this is embarrassing, it seems we’ve been caught with our pants down when it comes to our electoral system in Canada. In a week when the news about fraudulent elections should be focused on Iran’s March 2nd parliamentary selections the spotlight falls on Canada.

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شناخت بهتر بیمه و چگونگی استفاده از آن/ محمد رحیمیان

بیمه های مسافرتی Travel Insurance در ادامه مقاله قبل پیرامون بیمه ویزیتور به کانادا به این مطلب رسیدیم که چگونه بتوانیم از ۱۰۰ درصد پوشش بیمه (Sum Insured Face Amount) تا سقف مبلغ قرارداد در بیمه نامه ویزیتور به کانادا و بدون...

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Organizing Tehranto: Debating Sanctions

When it comes to Iran, no news seems to be good news. This month has been no exception with reports spreading about the confirmation of the death sentence of 35 year-old Iranian-Canadian web . . .

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Sisters doing it for themselves

It’s mainly a sister act. With the addition of a brother and a few other members lending a hand to create what Melody (AbjeeZooloo) Safavi, the singer/songwriter of the Iranian-Swedish band, Abjeez, calls “Persian World Pop.”

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The Tree is a Keeper

It all started innocuously enough with a one foot nothing fake Xmas three perched in the corner of the dining room of our two bedroom rental apartment in Scarborough.

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Son of Immigrants

If you’re the Minister of Finance you boast about your experience in the business sector – how you were able to grow a company or save a failing enterprise from certain demise. As the minister of Environment you talk about . . .

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More Sanctions Against Iran

Following the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) November 9 assessment of Iran’s nuclear program, the Canadian government has declared a new set of sanctions against Iran.

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Mapping Tehranto – The Promoter

There’s an aesthetic that we’ve learned to associate with Iranian concert promotion. Oversized glossy posters, crowded with texts and heavily airbrushed images of the artist looking twenty years younger than their current age . . .

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Making Science Political

It’s the age of the geek – the eggheads, the nerds; the pocket-protector crowds have officially taken over, no longer confined to their labs, and imprisoned behind their computer screens. Being a geek is now chic.

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The Imperialists Versus The Islamo-capitalists

There’s an old proverb: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This month, the enemy for the protestors of the Occupy Wall Street movement, who gathered in over 1,500 cities globally, were the banks and multinational corporations . . .

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Ethnic Community Votes: E-Day!

Don’t blame the weather – don’t say it was too sunny a day to waste in the voter booth, or that I didn’t want to trek out of my house in the fall rain or through the gusty wind.

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Ethnic Community Votes – Immigrants Save the Debate

There’s a formula in action films deployed to captivate the masses. The shoot ‘em up, action-packed sequence of car chases and explosions is interrupted at the mid-way point. The camera slows down taking a break from the adrenalin packed scene with a romantic interlude.

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Good Bye Offers No Easy Escape

The entire auditorium was holding its breath, eyes glued to the screen, hands clenched, our frenzied thoughts of panic kept in check by the rhythmic vibration of our pounding heartbeats – the scene was electrifying in its simplicity.

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The Girl Has Gone Very Far

The film opens with a punishing winter escape of rolling hills, barren trees and a long stretch of winding road, in the distance dark clouds hover forebodingly as the sound of howling wind pierces through the heavy silence.

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Shahrvand Turns 21

It was hard not to feel jealous growing up next to such a high maintenance sibling; he was the prototypical baby of the family. Always monopolizing my parents’ time and energy. Holidays, family outings, birthdays would all be compromised to accommodate his needs.

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Tirgan Takes a Bow

The anticipation was mounting – week after week, day after day. It’s always like that with big events, years of expectation, months of planning, weeks of intensive work, days of hurried preparation, until heart in hand we wait for the opening night.

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The Legend of Arash

Seven years of war between the forces of Iran and Touran, which had resulted in the siege of King Manouchehr and his army in Tabarestan, had left an ugly mark on Iranians. The peoples of Iran were despaired and heart-stricken, and yet all they could do was to pray at the altar of Ahouramazda

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Countdown to Tirgan Festival: Easy on the Ears

Should music always be easy on the ears? Should it fade into the background like elevator tunes dulling crowd sounds in the shopping mall? Should it lull us into the recesses of our memories recalling nostalgic images of days gone by? Should music be indulgent and pliable?

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Outing Tehranto – Iranians Put Purpose back into Pride

The thirty people strong contingent of Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees members, supporters and allies dressed in white campaign t-shirts flashing peace signs and shy smiles looked a bit somber against the backdrop of barely dressed revelers in feather boas and sequined speedos at Sunday’s Pride Parade

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Our Next Steps

There are so many factors and variables involved in asking what to do next that there is no right or wrong answer. This is simply my view on the Green Movement.

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Now What?

In June 2009 we made an election under a theocratic government count – many decided to vote and dare ask “Where’s my vote?” Even some expats in Toronto, New York, Paris, London and Rome decided to caravan to the Iranian embassies to mark their choice for what many believed was the lesser of the evils.

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Mapping Tehranto: The Tirgan Boys

When I think arts, I think hipsters lounging about in non-descript cafés on Queen West, lanky emaciated boys in skinny jeans and trendsetter girls in vintage-inspired slouchy shirts synched at the waist.

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Ethnic Community Votes: Jack is Back

There was a buzz, people who had never voted before, people who had never even imagined working on a political campaign in support of a party, people who had previously decided to eat their ballots, people who had made voter apathy into a lifestyle, people brandishing tattoos that read . . .

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Ethnic Community Votes: Playing Dress Up

Mine’s in the far back corner of the closet, tucked behind a box containing hardly-used items like a sleeping bag and extra linens for guests, protected by a heavy-duty garment bag – the kind you get when you buy an expensive winter coat from the department store.

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Here’s Your Vote – Now Use it

Let’s be honest Canadian politics is a bit too vanilla, and not that double churned French Vanilla creamy flavour with specs of real black vanilla beans glinting in the butter-cream, but that pasty refrigerator-white low-fat frozen yogurt kind.

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After the Revolution

This was no ordinary International Women’s Day, it was the 100th, but it was so much more than just the centennial anniversary that made this day historic. This International Women’s Day promised to mark the dawn of new revolutionary movements in the Middle East.

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It’s Funny Because It’s True

I have to say folks; Tara Grammy is inspiring in her dynamic schizophrenic performance. Her comedic timing is impeccable and she lights up the stage with electrifying youthful energy. I’m joining the bandwagon; this is one young actress to watch in the next few years.

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Courage, My Love

Fear is a powerful weapon; like religion it relies on blind faith, the total and absolute belief that despite all reason and logic the improbable, unlikely, or impossible, could happen.

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Mapping Tehranto: Organizing Tehranto

A community becomes a community when individuals come together in networks and coalitions. Usually people coalesce in order to accomplish goals that they cannot carry out when working independently. Associations, organizations and groups are organized to meet communal needs.

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Reading Tehranto in Buffalo

The lure of finding a fellow Iranian in this new place motivated me to trek across the city on a very cold and snowy Friday night in search of a piece of Tehranto in Buffalo. To be frank, not just any exhibit featuring an Iranian artist would have motivated me in this way, but I was fascinated by the glimpse I had received into Soheila Esfahani’s work.

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Mapping Tehranto – Tehranto Exchange

For many Iranian-Canadians the foreign exchange companies that sprang up in Tehranto in the late eighties were the only places they felt they could turn to for their daily financial needs.

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An Exchange with the Taheris

It’s a family business like so many others in Tehranto, the father passing on the torch to his oldest son, teaching him the family trade, and stepping back ever so slowly from the daily tasks to allow for junior to take the reigns.

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Mapping Tehranto – Tehranto Reads

Iran, as most Iranians know, has a tragic history of book burning and censorship reaching back to the Arab invasion. Unfortunately, this is a history that has been frequently repeated at the hands of despotic rulers and oppressive governments in Iran, each targeting new books and casting them into the fire.

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Tehranto Reads: Would You Like a Book With That

Super Shayan on Yonge and Elgin Mills in Richmond Hill is not only a place to buy the staples for an Iranian pantry but it also houses Saraye Bamdad; an unexpected bookstore nestled in the back of the supermarket since June 2004.

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Tastes of Tehranto: The New Café on the Block

Unlike its neighbours, B.B.’s Café doesn’t capture customers with a shout, but with a whisper. The café is a stylishly decorated storefront, with walls adorned by a chocolate brown floral wallpaper that envelope the space, tastefully arranged . . .

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Tastes of Tehranto: The Master Bakers at Shirini Sara

Vida gently rolls a small ball of dough on the prep table in the cavernous kitchen behind Shirini Sara’s pastry shop. Although it’s a cold and rainy November morning, the patisserie, which is tucked away in a remote plaza on Leslie, is warm with the smell of baked goods . . .

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Tehranto’s Fourth Estate: Iran Zameen & Pasargad TV

Iran Zameen went on air in 1993 as a weekly Farsi language television program, currently it airs on OMNI 2 TV. It’s a thirty-minute program that reaches an Ontario based audience. Iran Zameen deals with local news and entertainment, medical news,and historical events . . .

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Tehranto’s Fourth Estate

As we stated last week in the next few months Shahrvand will be engaging in an urban geography project to map Tehranto by profiling various individuals, organizations and businesses from within our community. This week we will begin our project to map Tehranto by introducing two of the oldest media outlets that represent the community. In the following weeks we will feature additional interviews with other Iranian publications, television and radio programs in Toronto. Each media outlet will be presented with the same five questions and the responses to these questions will be printed in Shahrvand English.

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