not necessarily a masterpeice, but Water was a good movie to watch to get into the festival mood I think!
It is about the lives of widows in India and how they're supposed to half-die with their husbands. I was shocked to see how women were treated, but then injustice and misery have no limit and for women it has been observed over and over again. Watch it when you get a chance.
I'm excited to see "Heaven on Earth", the new movie from the same director in VIFF.
من دیگه کم آوردم
لطفا گیج زدن های خانم طاهره رحیمی را بخونید و حال کنید! آخه آدم چی میتونه بگه به زنی که همجنسای خودش رو اینقدر دست کم می گیره و ازدواج نکردنشون رو باعث ایجاد شرایط اضطراری می دونه؟
"...حتی اگر تمام عالم را به زن بدهند باز هم زن نمی تواند بپذیرد که شوهرش همسر دیگری اختیار کند چرا که این خلاف فطرت زن است. من معتقدم رضایت زن چه باشد و چه نباشد نه عقلی است و نه شرعی. ماده 23 که شرط رضایت زن را برداشته قانون بهتری است چرا که اگر قرار بر اجرای ازدواج مجدد باشد با مشت و لگد و زور هم که شده زن را مجبور به دادن رضایت می کنند پس رضایت زن معنا و مفهوم ندارد. ..." !!!!!!!!
گلرخ نفیسی این تصویر را به طاهره رحیمی تقدیم کرده: "...که بعد از خوندن مصاحبه ش تصویرش برای همیشه توی ذهنم ثبت شد تصویر آدمیزاد بیچاره ای که زنده بودن را هرگز تجربه نکرده.."
there has been this discussion going on in Iranian blogs on women's point of view in s e x and their stories. It has become a heated debate! I personally think it's about time women write about this stuff. This post has quite a few links that you can check out and see what you think.
Read the rest...so this post is about a month late, and you might have already known about this, but I just found out, thanks to pooya. Apparently, radio Zamaneh had this online festival for international women's day: "the forbidden voice of woman" (my translation, of course!)... it's got some good and some not-very-good music from Iranian women working as musicians worldwide. Take a look if you haven't already.
Read the rest...I have been meaning to watch "shut up and sing" for a while now and tonight I finally got the time to do it. It was as good as I expected it to be, a very strong movie with a pretty good soundtrack!
For those of you who don't know, the movie is about the controversy surrounding the Dixie Chicks because of an anti-Bush comment made by Natalie Maines, the band's lead singer. In 2003,when the band was extremely popular and successful(and the US was starting the war on Iraq), Natalie Maines said (this is not an exact quote) that they were ashamed that bush was from Texas. It is amazing to see how their "devoted" fans suddenly turned their backs on them, and radio stations stopped playing their songs in the years after that. They were being insulted (being called bimbos, just because they're attractive women who accidentally have an opinion too!), and even threatened publicly. But what's more important is how these women dealt with the situation, remained as a united band, and created a best selling album inspired by their experience. 
I'm not exactly a country music fan, and I also do not agree with all the Dixie Chicks girls do and say, but I believe the lyrics for most of their songs on the album "taking the long way" is really amazing and honest. I also found it very interesting that all three of them are married with kids, two of them having twins(!).
Anyway, if you haven't had enough of Bush-bashing movies yet, this one's for you! (although it's really not so much about Bush, but more about media's power over public)and here's their most famous song from the album. This song cleary shows the frustration and anger that Natalie Maines feels for being crucified just for stating her opinion.
I consider myself a feminist or a feminist-to-be at least. I know this is not exactly the most important issue women are facing today (!), but I've always thought it's ridiculous that girls should have to wait for guys to ask them out... but I've asked two guys out in my whole life, both with no luck! so I know how it feels to be turned down, even if you get over it after a few hours, which makes me admire guys' courage for asking girls out left and right! So the question is: should we just leave it to guys to ask and be turned down? or should we step up and face the occasional rejection in exchange for the liberty of asking out the people we like?!
PS- comments that make fun of me will be deleted! :D I'm a very open-minded person too, did I ever mention that before?
So today, on an impulse, I went to watch a documentary in the Vancouver International Film Festival. It was called "Flying: confessions of a free woman". It's actually a six hour documentary that is split in two and there are two 3 hour shows. I only watched the first part tonight and hopefully will get a chance to see the second part next week.
This movie totally made up for the bad weekend! It's kind of interesting that both "10 + 4" and "flying..." were documentaries about the life of the director, filmed by handheld cameras, and still the latter was so much more dynamic, interesting, and enjoyable. The movie has this interesting style of "passing the camera around".
So basically all through the movie, Jennifer Fox (the director) and her friends film each other while talking about relationships, traditions, sexuality, freedom, and lives of modern women. You can relate to so much of what's being said, and the interesting point is that the interviews are with women from all over the world: USA, Europe, South Africa, and India. It's amazing how similar the issues are for the so-called modern women, women that are educated, have careers and are not following the paths of their mothers. It kind of makes you rethink what is "natural" and what is not. Why do all these traditions haunt us although we keep telling ourselves we're free? Just like in day to day lives of women, you see anything in this movie from pregnancy to infertility, from marriage to divorce, cancer to brain tumor, and so on, and that's why it feels so real.
I can write pages and pages about "Flying...", but you should watch it for yourself. I know that it has been sold to some TV channels (like BBC, Arte, and so on) and it'll also be out on DVD next spring. I encourage everyone to watch it, man or woman. In fact, in the Q & A session after the movie, a man (Iranian, I guessed from his accent) made a pretty long speech just to thank Jennifer Fox for the sacrifices she has made in her personal life to make this movie.
Here's the movie's website: www.flyingconfessions.com check it out!
This is my cousin's weblog... she's a very strong and committed journalist that acts on her beliefs and never compromises what she thinks is right. She's been recently banned from all events related to the department of justice in Iran! But I know this won't stop her from doing what she loves. Good luck Sanaz.
Read the rest...حمایت از خانواده چی می گه؟
خوب اینم از لایحه جدید برای حمایت از خانواده! پررویی هم حدی داره دیگه! بابا این که اسمشو هر چی میشه گذاشت غیر از "حمایت از خانواده"...
گزارش محبوبه حسین زاده رو توی سایت تغییر برای برابری بخونید:
" ... مساله مهم دیگر تجویز ازدواج مجدد است که در حال حاضر این ازدواج باید با اجازه همسر اول باشد و در قانون، مجازات کیفری هم برای از دواج مجدد بدون اجازه همسر در نظر گرفته شده بود اما در این لایحه ازدواج مجدد مردان با اجازه دادگاه و منوط به تمکن مالی مرد و تشخیص دادگاه در برقراری عدالت توسط مرد صورت می گیرد. کدام مردی در دنیا پیدا می شود که ازدواج دوم انجام دهد و ادعا کند که همسر اول را به اندازه همسر دوم دوست دارد..."
"... درصد زنان شاغل در كشورما فوق العاده پايين است و بقيه كار نمي كنند و آناني كه كار مي كنند درآمدشان كفاف زندگي در حد استاندارد را نمي دهد بنابراين زنان مجبور مي شوند شوهر پيدا كنند. حتي بسياري از زنان مشكلات را تحمل مي كنند به خاطر اين كه اگر طلاق بگيرند و فرزند هم داشته باشند، مشكلات مالي شان بيشتر مي شود. در اين شرايط دولت، دو متغیر برهم زننده خانواده؛ یعنی ازدواج موقت و ازدواج مجدد، را مطرح می کند باعث می شود که در واقع عنصر خیانت را در خانواده به صورت شرعی وارد می کند و می گوید شما می توانید به همسران تان خیانت کنید و من اين را هيچ جاي دنيا نديدم. از این شرایط قدرتمندان جامعه یعنی مردان نفع می برند و اما برنده دیگر دولت است چون یک وظیفه دولت طبق قانون اساسي این است که به وضعیت آحاد مردم رسیدگی کند. دولت ما به جاي اين كه در مورد زنان مطلقه، بيوه و ...فكري كند مساله مردان را بر دوش زنان مي اندازد و به جاي اين كه كاري براي زنان فراهم كند آنان را سوق مي دهد به سمت ازدواج موقت و ازدواج مجدد. و در اين حال مردان را با يك سري امتيازهاي ظاهری وادار مي كند كه خرج زنان را بدهند..."
All I've been doing lately has been watching TV, doing pointless project work, and reading about women of course. That's why I'm not updating too often... all the great stuff about women are already posted in We for Change and other weblogs, so i don't see a point in repeating them unless they're very interesting. So here's one that made me laugh and feel sorry at the same time:
Parastoo's experience
Also, Shadi Sadr rocks for this!
Let's not forget Nahid Keshavarz and Mahboubeh HosseinZadeh are still in Evin. Read what they have to say.
Read the rest...همراه شو!
کاین درد مشترک هرگز جدا جدا درمان نمیشود...
(ویدیو از وبسایت تغییر برای برابری)
Looks like new year resolutions don't mean much to our government men!
Read the rest...Finally, Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh AbbasgholiZadeh are out of jail.
Read the rest...Read in Parastoo's blog...
and in SibilTala.
Here's a short article that I found interesting. Since we 4 change is filtered in Iran, I put the whole text here as well:
نقاب دروغین / راحله عسگری زاده
جمعه 18 اسفند 1385
دوست و همكاري دارم كه بين باقي جوان هاي همكار به احترام به خانم ها و مهرباني معروف است. چند شب قبل با او و دو دوست ديگر عازم جايي بوديم. در ماشين يكي از دفترچه ها را از كيفم در آوردم و پرسيدم آيا چيزي در مورد كمپين شنيده يا نه؟ ابراز بي اطلاعي كرد. وقتي شروع به صحبت كردم دوست ديگري كه در ماشين بود (یک پسر) شروع به شوخي و دست انداختن كرد كه: «محمد اگه اينو امضا كني فردا ديگه كسي بهت اجازه نمي ده دو تا زن بگيري.» و جو ماشين را به شوخي كشاند.
سعي كردم بحث را تغيير دهم و صحبت كمپين را بكنم. محمد پرسيد چه قوانيني رو مد نظر داريم؟ وقتي قوانين رو توضيح مي دادم سعي مي كرد به همه پاسخ دهد. انگار با توجه به جوسازي اوليه آن دوست مي ترسيد اگر تأييد كند ديگران مسخره اش كنند. مثلا اصرار داشت كه من براي پدر و مادرم بيشتر زحمت مي كشم پس ارثم بايد بيشتر باشد يا... در همين حين صحبت بر سر قتل هاي ناموسي رسيد. محمد به حرف هاي همه گوش مي داد و هيچ نمي گفت. متوجه شدم كه تحت تأثير قرار گرفته. با تعجب گفت: «نمي دانستم كه پدر صاحب خون بچه محسوب مي شود.» وقتي كسي مثال خيانت و روابط زناشويي را پيش كشيد محمد سررشته كلام را به دست گرفت و نطق بلند بالايي كرد در رابطه با اينكه زني كه به شوهرش خيانت مي كند و دو زندگي و خانواده را به بازي مي گيرد بايد كشته شود!!
همه شوكه شده بودند! كسي انتظار چنين حرفي از او نداشت. پس از چند ثانيه سكوت كسي پرسيد :
و اگر مرد خيانت كند ...
مردي كه زندگي يك زن شوهردار ...
نه عزيزم! اگر يك مرد زن دار خيانت كنه چي مي شه؟ بايد كشتش؟
محمد سكوت كرد . همه نگاهش مي كردند . همكار به ظاهر مهربان و به قول معروف خانواده دوست نفس عميقي كشيد و گفت: «نه! اون فرق داره!»
گاهي اوقات در حين جمع كردن امضا و يا صحبت با مردم مي بينم چقدر ماسكي كه ديگران به صورت مي زنند با واقعيتشون فرق داره. بين اين آدم ها كه زندگي مي كني مي فهمي كه ممكنه هر لحظه ماسكشون رو كنار بذارن و از حق هايي كه قانون بهشون مي ده چه سوء استفاده هايي كنن. اينجور مواقع بيشتر از هر وقتي احساس عدم امنيت مي كنم و لزوم اين حقوق رو توي زندگيم بيشتر احساس مي كنم. حقوقي كه بايد براي رسيدن بهش تلاش كرد. حقوقي ساده كه براي رسيدن بهشون راه مشكلي پيش رو داريم.
I act to end all forms of inequality based on gender, sexual orientation,age, ability, race, ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status.
I challenge systems and ideas that reproduce inequalities.
I am committed to individual choice and self-determinantion.
I strive to create an environment where it is safe to question the status quo.
I am continually challenging my own privileged positions.
I am a feminist.
Happy International Women's Day! :)
PS - there are these buttons that UBC Center for women and gender studies give out and I tried to draw a sample one in MS paint (and I didn't do a very god job, of course!). Anyway, This has been a crazy week, I'll be back with my usual posts sometime soon!
PS 2 - the sentences are part of the campaign, I did not make them up!
