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July/August 2006


Zanaan-e Shojaa-e Maa, een Kabootaraan-e Darband

By: Leila Majed


Iranian Woman Blazes Trail Into Space

The worlds first female space tourist - Anousheh Ansari.
by Staff Writers
Moscow (UPI) Jul 24, 2006


Anousheh Ansari, who grew up in Tehran and watched reruns of Star Trek, is set to become the world's first female space tourist. The Sunday Times of London reported that Ansari, who lived in Tehran before the Islamic revolution, dreamed of becoming an astronaut and often told her friends that someday she would "see the stars."

Now Ansari, 39, is a multimillionaire in the United States, having made a fortune from telecommunications software. She recently secured a flight in a Russian Soyuz rocket to the international space station, about 220 miles above Earth.

After passing stringent medical tests, Ansari spent weeks training at Star City space center outside Moscow.

Ansari is scheduled to make the flight, which will cost her about $18.5 million, next year.

Space tourism was pioneered in 2001 when Dennis Tito, a California tycoon, became the first space tourist.

Source: United Press International


 

"A Woman"

This is written in the Hebrew Talmud, the book
Where all of the sayings and preaching of
Rabbis are conserved over time.

It says: "Be very careful if you make a woman
Cry, because God counts her tears. The woman
Came out of a man's rib. Not from his feet to be
Walked on. Not from his head to be superior, but
From the side to be equal. Under the arm to be
Protected, and next to the heart to be loved."


Iranian women shut out at soccer stadiums in Iran
Jun 19, 2006
THE STAR



IRANIAN WOMEN, SIDE BY SIDE

The group of young girls pushed against the wire-fencing that separated them from the training pitch, waving Iranian flags and squealing out their soccer heroes' names.


Hundreds beaten and arrested in Iran women's rights protest
Jun 14, 2006



Seventy people were arrested during a women's rights protest in the Iranian capital, Justice Minister Jamal Karimi-Rad said. "Forty-two women and 28 men were arrested on Monday in an illegal gathering," Rad told reporters. However reporters put the number way higher than what mullahs' Justice Minister announced.


Iran bloggers back women's protest

World media correspondent, BBC News



The sight of women police beating women has caused anger
Iranian news websites and women bloggers have been full of angry comment about the way that policewomen took part in breaking up a women's demonstration for more legal rights in Tehran on Monday.

Pictures on several


Film on Iranian women, arts and freedom wins award at Santa Cruz Film Festival

A documentary film about female artists in Iran has won the award as the best foreign documentary at this year's International Film Festival in Santa Cruz. Feminine Breeze: Women and Arts in Iran, is made by the gifted German filmmaker, Antje Beyen, and provides a fresh perspective on an important aspect of Iranian civil society.


order from amazon

The film shows glimpses of daily life in various parts of Iran -- Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Meshed -- while focusing on interviews with six artists, including a martial arts instructor as well as a filmmaker, a photographer, a poet (Simin Behbahani), a journalist, and a stage dirctor.

Synapsis:


Feminine Breeze: Arts and Freedom in Iran, is an independent documentary focusing on how Iranian women artists use their artistic medium for autonomy and self-exression in a society dominated by political Islam.
The film features in-depth conversations with six prominent women:
- a martial arts instructor, the teacher of the national women Karate team, Afsaneh Bagheri
- the stage director Pari Saberi and her play about Forough Farrokhzad called: The Voice Alone
- a young photographer named Shadi Ghardirian, who has exhibitions throughout the world
- an international well-known filmmaker, Tamineh Milani
- a famous Iranian poet, Simin Behbahani
- the journalist Asieh Amini: her newspaper was shut down by the government four times and has reappeared under different names
At the beginning and conclusion of each episode we get glimpses of every day life in various cities in Iran -- Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashad -- providing visual background to the narrative on the female artists in Iran.

Feminine Breeze is available on DVD and can be purchased through amazon.


THE CHALLENGERS: THE FIVE FAMOUS AFGHAN POETESSES
May 26, 2006
Manouchehr Saadat Noury, PhD - Persian Journal


INTRODUCTION:

According to many human rights activists and observers, the ruling of Taliban in Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001 destroyed much of the country's culture. Nevertheless, the art of poetry not only survived but it developed deeply and rapidly among many groups of the society and particularly amidst women. Poetry is now recited at almost all social events and gatherings, political assemblies or tribal meetings, and the ability to narrate and write poetry is very much appreciated and admired.


 

Grounds 'too rowdy' for Iran women!
From correspondents in Friederchshafen, Germany
June 9, 2006

IRAN captain Ali Daei has hit back at foreign criticism of his country's ban on women entering football stadiums.

Daei, the world's leading international goalscorer, said overnight the ban is an internal matter which should be decided by the people of Iran.

"Every country has its own rules and culture. The United States is different from Iran, we have our own beliefs," said the 37-year-old veteran.

"Currently with the atmosphere in the stadiums, I don't want my wife to be there."

Daei, the first player to reach 100 international goals, said he would prefer to scrap the rule but football grounds are too rowdy for women.

"I personally think they should relax this ban so women can go to stadiums but, considering the atmosphere in stadiums and the respect we have for women, it might not be appropriate at this time," he said.

"There's no danger at all but there are a lot of bad things being chanted and there's a lot of shouting at each other and we have respect for women, we don't want them to see that."

Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made a surprise announcement in April that the ban would be lifted, but the order was vetoed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Daei said "negative advertising" has created a misleading view of the Islamic country in the West.

Advertisement:
"It's as big as the distance between here and sky," he said, when asked about the difference between perceptions of Iran and reality.

"Ninety-nine percent of what you hear is wrong and negative advertising."

Iran has become increasingly isolated over its nuclear program and President Ahmadinejad's controversial views on the Holocaust, with the political fall-out swirling around the team here.

Daei is hoping to add to his international tally of 109 goals as Iran takes on Mexico, Angola and Portugal in Group D.