The Daesh - Who pays?

Stalin,Roosevelt and Churchill, 1943, Tehran, Iran 

A friend of mine has asked me about Iran’s position against the Daesh. “Iran actually is the only country who is in the ground combatting against the Daesh. The US don’t want ro send troops, Europ can not, Turkish priority is the Kurdish forces. Even the Iraqi army don’t have the courage to fight against Daesh.” I said. He asked me if we, Iranians, are going to be allied with Russia against the US. “It is not against the US. Recently we have had serious negotiations with the US and achieved an agreement between us which is going ri reduce the level of our long-lasting conflict.” 

He asked: So who do you prefer? We are going to follow our interests. Iran is at the same time developing his with west economically, and making an alliance with Russia geo-politically. After the 1979 revolution in Iran, our position was that we do not belong to any cold war bloc. “neither west, nor east” was a slogan. Maybe because of this, in the period of Iran-Iraq war both Russia and the US supported Saddam. Even France sold chemical weapons to Saddam which were used against the cities. I argued and added despite all this history we are resolving our conflict and are going to improve our relations. Making the nuclear deal with the US, welcoming Europeans investors to the Iran market, and form an alliance against a disaster like Daesh with Russia, which is no one else actually conforts with any real effort.

During this whole conversations, I was thinking about our history with Russia and US. I was reviewing in my head about all iranian soil which was separated from Iran after Russian invasions or the US coup against our first democratic government. I just feel proud that my country 35 years after the 1979 revolution and with all the dissatisfactions that we have had after, at least we have achieved our independence. It was so expensive however we have paid and we act independently now.

PS: Differents Narratives of Same Facts

A Good Terrorist Group?

I used to work in an office of a friend which was offered to me for a start up project. His Office is just behind La Sorbonne university at Paris. Every time that I am passing by La Sorbonne I see something weird. Something which should not be there. I just ignore what I see and keep going. And What were this weird things?

Leader of MEK as a terrorist organization

Imagine a terrorist group carry out a bombing operation in an Official meeting and kill the President, the Prime minister, some other ministers and some legislator. They continue to organize their terroristic actions in the country and assassinate thousands of ordinary people, randomly or by their appearance, in the street. After all this history, imagine that another country hosts them while internationally they are recognised as a terroristic group. Can you imagine?

The Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), or People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, is an Iranian dissident group that has been formally designated for the last 15 years by the US State Department as a "foreign terrorist organization". When the Bush administration sought to justify its attack on Iraq in 2003 by accusing Saddam Hussein of being a sponsor of "international terrorism", one of its prime examples was Iraq's "sheltering" of the MEK. Its inclusion on the terrorist list has meant that it is a felony to provide any "material support" to that group.

The Mujahedin-e Khalq were hosted in France after numerous terrorist assassinations in the streets of Tehran ( Capital City of Iran) Including attacks on officials such as the president and prime minister of Iran. They were organising these operations and continued to plan even more, while they were in France. To rally understand how this is for us Iranians, let’s imagine another country, let s say Russia, just as hypothetical example, hosts the ISIS militia and the continue their operations. (May seeing Al-Qaeda stands in some country works for Americans friends imaginations as well.)

Are you curious about this surprising true fact? You can find their stand usually at place de La Sorbonne. It is unbelievable. Isnt it? I say unbelievable with this assumption that you don't divide terrorists by good and bad terrorist. Do you?

PS: MEK activities:

The group has targeted Iranian government officials and government facilities in Iran and abroad; during the 1970s, it attacked Americans in Iran. MEK’s past acts of terrorism included its involvement in the killing of U.S. citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on U.S. soil in 1992. While the group says it does not intentionally target civilians, it has often risked civilian casualties. It routinely aims its attacks at government buildings in crowded cities. MEK terrorism has declined since late 2001. Incidents linked to the group include: 

The series of mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids during 2000 and 2001 against Iranian government buildings; one of these killed Iran's chief of staff 

The 2000 mortar attack on President Mohammad Khatami's palace in Tehran 

The February 2000 "Operation Great Bahman," during which MEK launched 12 attacks against Iran 

The 1999 assassination of the deputy chief of Iran's armed forces general staff, Ali Sayyad Shirazi 

The 1998 assassination of the director of Iran's prison system, Asadollah Lajevardi 

The 1992 near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian embassies and institutions in 13 countries Assistance to Saddam Hussein's suppression of the 1991 Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish uprisings 

The 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party and of Premier Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, which killed some 70 high-ranking Iranian officials, including President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei and Bahonar Support for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries 

The 1970s killings of U.S. military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran 

In the early 1970s, angered by U.S. support for the pro-Western shah, MEK members killed several U.S. soldiers and civilians working on defense projects in Iran. Some experts say the attack may have been the work of a Maoist splinter faction operating beyond the Rajavi leadership's control. MEK members also supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.

J’aime bien avoir une barbe

J’aime bien avoir une barbe. Une barbe longue. Par contre dans ma jeunesse, j’avais l’impression que ce n’était pas un choix personnel ou un style individuel. En Iran, une longue barbe, de maniére générale, peut être intrepretée de deux façons:1- Tu es un Basij: une membre d’une milice pro régime. 2- Tu es quelqu’un d’hypocrite qui veut montrer qui il est proche du système et qui profite de ses avantages.

Je me souviens une fois en Iran d’être entré dans un espace où des genscritiquaient le système politique et sont soudainement devenus silencieux. J’étais donc obligé de dire quelques mots pour montrer que ma barbe ne signifiait pas que je faisais partie des “autres”.

une autre solution est d’utiliser des codes vestimentaires differents des conservateurs pour faire un équilibre. Par exemple, tu peux porter un jean et dire “voila, t’inquiete pas je suis pas un barbu comme tu imagines.”

Comme vous pourrez le confirmer cette probléematique des gens barbus est aussi valable en France. En France si tu portes une longue barbe il y a deux interprétations: Soit tu es un salafiste extrémiste, soit tu es un hipster très cool et sympa. Deux intérprertations très divergentes, n’est-ce pas?oui! mais la question importante est la suivante: comment distingue-t-on un hipster d’un salafiste? C’est la race qui détermine. Si tu es blond avec une longue barbe, ça signifie que tu es un hipster mais si tu arabe, ça signifie que tu es salafiste.

ça fait quelque semaines que j’ai décidé de faire repousser ma barbe mais depuis trois jours mes amis iraniens me conseillent de la raser. Ils disent qu’il peut y avoir des répercussions. J’ai dit ça n’a rien à voir. Ils ont répondu “peu importe, tu ressembles à quelqu'un du Moyen-Orient, et en plus avec une grande barbe, ça suffit pour que quelqu’un t’attaque”. Dans tous les cas, je garde ma barbe et je n’ai reçu aucun signe négatif mais aujourd’hui je tiens à rapeller qu’il y a des gens qui sont doublement traumatisés. Des gens qui à la fois risquent d’être victimes d’un attentat terroriste sur la terrasse d’un café et à la fois d’être victimes de certaines réactions suite à ces évènements Mais qu’ont-ils en commun avec les terroristes? Leur position politique? Non! Leur religion? Non! mais quoi alors? Leurs races et leurs apparences. N’est-ce pas?

Des mots qui n’existent pas dans le dictionnaires

J’ai besoin de plus de mots en francais pour bien communiquer. Mais enrichir son vocabulaire n'est pas simple que ca a l’air. Je ne veux pas dire des mots que l’on peut trouver dans le dictionnaire. En revanche les mots plus importantes sont ceux qui ne sont pas dans le dictionnaire. Par exemple des mot que que l’on ne peut pas trouver que dans le codes sociaux. Des signes qui fonctionnent comme des mots parfois méme plus utiles, mais qui n’existent pas dans le dictionnaires. Le langage corporel par exemple. Les signes corporels ne sont pas des signes completement universel. Par exemple serre la main n’a pas la même significations dans toutes les langues. Il y a des langues où serre la main est une geste trés châleureuse toutefois dans d’autres cultures C’est une salutation trés formelle qui marque de la distance.

“Qu’est ce que tu penses?”

Une des avantage de vivre ailleurs est que tu est à la fois trés indépendant et trés autonome. C’est toi même qui doit tout gérer. Tu deviens plus libre. Tu peux faire tout ce que ton cercle sociale- t’empêchait de faire à cause du contrôle social. tu peux essayer n’importe quoi. Mais cet avantage cache aussi un désavantage, tu es, toi même, tout seul face à toutes tes responsabilités.
Alors qu’avant, j’appréciais avoir une grande marge de manoeuvre, aujourd’hui je ressens le besoin d’avoir des gens de confiance, je ressens le besoin d’être entouré de personnes de confiance qui me disent “Non, Hamze ne fais pas ça” ou des personnes à qui demander “Qu’est ce que tu penses?”.