Editor: Myself

Old interview with closed Brazilian newspaper

A few months ago, a Brazilian journalist did the following interview with me. It was supposed to be published in a newspaper called Q!. but it was shut down before the interview was published and apparently for financial problems.

My Brazilian friends speculated the newspaper was just a way to clear some money by the publishers. Who knows.

I thought of putting it here on blog, at least the time I spent on it would have not been completely wasted. It may be useful for someone.

1. What do you think are the most important changes brought by Iranian weblogs to life in Iran? Do you think they can or should still help change some more?

Masoud Behnoud, a veteran journalist and blogger once wrote if blogs were around during the revolution and the war, things would've turned out differently. I think the most important function that blogs have in Iran right now is the public sphere they've created, referring to Habermas's concept. Blogs are now this unique space in which a relatively equal, interactive and collective debate could happen out of the government's control, and among a very influential group of people who are, sociologically speaking, reference groups for a lot of people around them.

There are now 7.5 million internet users in Iran and it's estimated there are over 700 thousand blogs written by Iranians. I can even say that reading or writing blogs is one of the biggest motives for Iranians for paying for Internet access – obviously after porn. According to a blogger, young people now chat less and blog more.

2. What do you make of last month´s summit in Tunis?

If the purpose of such event was for the delegates and participents to meet and exchange cards and do netwroking, I should say it was successful. But if they were supposed to change the way internet is run, I don't think they achieved much. But I think, other than fundamental issues such as digital devide and technical, the information society is now more threatened by governments such as China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Burma, UAE, etc. which are increasingly strengthen their grip on the free flow of information. It's very unfortunate that they so much benefit from the Internet, but don't show any commitment to its very basic ethical principles on which the whole technology is developed, such as decentralization, transparency, freedom of access and information, etc. All depicted in the technical backbone of the internet, TCP/IP protocole.

3. Which issue is more crucial now: Net governance or the digital divide between rich and poor countries? Why? [Some bloggers claim that controlling the web is not really that important; but why then would the US not give it up if it´s not?]

I guess digital devide is more important than net governance at this point. But as I said, internet censorship is even more important than the other two. I think if the countries that limit their citizens' access to online information start having a say in the way Internet is governmed, it'd be a disastor. At least the US, despite its problematc foreign policy, is governning the internet more or less fairly and freely. Imagine China contorling it!

4. From what you´ve seen and done yourself, do you regard independent webloggers [I don´t mean the 'dear-diary-luv-butterflies' type] as a strong, active group whose influence on political debate and other issues might be expected to rise?

Yes, I do. Especialy in countries such as Iran and the US where the goverrnment or big coorporations try to limit or influence the political debate, bloggers would play a significant role. But this would only happen if enough people were familar with blogs and were follwoing them. Blogs could not affect much where they've not become mainstream.

5. You´re travelling all the time and posting from all over the world. After what happened to you in the US boarder, when they googled your name, do you think stuff like that might become a routine? Are you afraid it gets any worse then that for you and other webloggers with similar profile?

I really want to know weather using Google to retrieve information about people at the border is an approved procedure by the US government. Becasue it has very serious implications. It means that they assume whatever is on the internet about people is reliable. So if you don't like someone, you can easily start a blog in behalf of them and write terrible stuff under his or her name. How a border security officer is supposed to different information from misinformation? This is a really serious question based on which civil rights groups, I guess, should demand clarification.

The other general problem which bloggers might be facing is that many of them are doing journalism without being a journalist. They are very vulnerable when they challenge the wealthy or the powerful, without having the protection that rights group provide for mainstream journalists. I think soon these rights groups should let bloggers in their asssociations, or bloggers should start their own protective civil rights groups – although I personally favor the former.

6. Are there many Iranian women blogging, that you know of?

Of course. One of the first female bloggers was actually one of the enthusiastic readers of my column when I was writing in a reformist newspaper in Iran about the Internet. We kept in touch through email after I left Iran, although we'd never met each other. Later, when I started my blog she was a big supporter and soon she became a blogger herself. Her name is Sanam and her blog, Khorshid Khanoom, is still one of the most popular ones becasue of her casual and friendly language and her feminine point of view.

7. Could you name your top five weblogs, those you really follow?

During the US elections I used to follow a lot of blogs written in English language.But now I don't have time to follow non-Persian blogs. But in order to get a sense of what's hot or not in the English-speaking blogosphere I use blogdex and del.icio.us.

However, I check one or two dozens of Persian blogs everyday. Among them these are my most favorites (without any order):

- Zan Nevesht, by Parastoo Dokouhaki, a female journalist

- Zeitoon, by an anonymous young woman in Karaj, a city near Tehran

- Alpar, by Ali Pirhosseinlou, a pro-reform activist

- Khorshid Khanoom, by a female language teacher who now lives in the US

- Sibil Tala, by a female undergrad student, based in Toronto

- Esteshhadi, by Massih Mahdavi, a very young supporter of the regime

What I played on CBC's Here and Now

Being on CBC's Here and Now radio show with Matt Galloway was fun. He's a nice, smart and educated guy with a great taste in music and interest in world politics and technology. I was following his stuff in Now Magazine and really liked what he was doing there.

So he openly accepted to play all my three tracks during the show, although they didn't have time to play the third track. Also, the show's format, as an early evening one when everyone is leaving work on the way home, was too snappy to let me get into much detail on various topics. But I tried my best to be as informative as possible.

For those interested, the tracks I played (or didn't manage to play) were:
# Darvish, music by O-hum, lyrics by Hafez
# Zendegi Khali Nist, music by Kambiz Roshanravan, vocals by Shahram Nazeri, and lyrics by Sobhrab Sepehri
# Ala Ya Ayoha Saghi, music by O-hum, lyrics by Hafez

I can email you all three tracks in MP3 format. Email me (hossein AT gmail DOT com) and let me know please.

Technorati continues to suck

Just go and search for these three widely used words in Persian,
Arabic and Hebrew. You'll get ZERO results:
امروز
عراق
הארץ

How can Mr. Sifry's Technorati be "the authority on what's going on in the world of weblogs," when they can't even show a single result for queries in at least these three languages whose blogospheres could easily be as big as one million blogs in total?

When China supports Californian separatists

Picture this: China invites some radical separatists in exile from Alaska, Cascadia, California, Hawaii , Texas and Puerto Rico to a conference titled 'New America: Towards a more diverse political structure.'

In a one-day event, they provide analysis and solutions to the current situation in the U.S. in which the decision about how to distribute the wealth and knowledge produced in these rich states is made by politicians elected by the entire population of the United States, including states such as Idaho and Wyoming.

Then, after a few months, you see different websites and satellite TV channels, etc. being launched here and there everyday by indirect funds from the Chinese State Department. Then, all of a sudden, you see protests and riots in those states,over a cartoon published in Washington Post allegedly insulting the life-style and values of Northern Californians.

How would the FBI, NSA, and CIA would react to all this?

Now, back to the real world, take a look at this event at the right-wing think-tank American Enterprise Institute, titled 'The Unknown Iran: Another Case for Federalism?' and check out the participants' biographies. Almost all from provinces with different ethnic origins such Azerbaijan, Baluchestan, and Khuzestan.

Then, check out what has happened in Azerbaijan province in Iran this week and why the newspaper that has published a cartoon is temporarily shut down.

I think Iran's intelligence system is doing what NSA would do in a similar situation. What do you expect? To let China separating California?

New email, for now

For strange reasons, I can't use my original email address. Please use the following address instead for the time being:

hossein at gmail dot com

If you have sent me any email in the past few days, please resend them to this new address.

CBC Radio One, tomorrow 4-6PM

I'm going to be on CBC Radio One from 4-6 PM tomorrow (Thursday) on a show called Here and Now.

Although in their brief summary, they've really exaggerated about my blog's popularity, but I think it's going to be a fun discussion.

I'd also be taking some Iranian records with me to play, as Matt Galloway asked me. Do you have any suggestions?

Correcting Toronto Star

I proudly wore 'I love Tehran' t-shirt, when we did the photo shoot in the Iranian neighbourhood near Yonge and Steels

Toronto Star's GTA section editor and one of their staff reporters were extremely nice to me last week.

They published a full-page story on blogging in Iran, along with a rather big picture of me, which I'm sure my ego loves -- and whose doesn't anyway?

However, I can't ignore a couple of rather embarrassing mistakes they've somehow made in terms of some facts of the story.

As if I'm not already under scrutiny about every single word or picture or video I post, these mistakes would really cost me a lot.

The first fact they got wrong was the number of my email subscribers which is eleven thousand (11,000) and not one thousand and one hundred (1,100) which is published in the story.

Similarly, they got the population of Iran wrong: It's seventy million, not seven million. I think they have a problem with zeros.

The other problematic fact is that only forty percent of Persian blogs are written in Iran which is not true. My estimated is that over ninety percent of them live in Iran, simply because almost all of these blogs are located at blog hosting service websites such as PersianBlog or BlogFa etc., all operating inside Iran.

Also, I was not detained for six days during my last visit to Iran last summer. But I was detained for a couple hours at the airport when I tried to leave, which followed several hours of (friendly, I must say) interrogation at the Intelligence Ministry's building in Tehran a few days later, and was only allowed to leave the country after writing an apology and signing it at the airport. (I'd blogged about it before. Also AP had a story about that.)

But overall it was a nicely done report from an interesting angle, different with what the right-wing media usually view blogs as facilitators of regime change in Iran.

Below you'll find the full-text of the article which would soon be buried in Toronto Star's archive:

Blogging is the new revolution

Iranians take to their keyboards to slam politics, social culture under an oppressive regime

Toronto man gives voice to ideas that would be punishable if said aloud. Nicholas Keung reports

May 18, 2006. 01:00 AM
NICHOLAS KEUNG
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER

The revolution will not be televised.... The revolution will be no rerun brothers; The revolution will be live.

— Gil Scott-Heron

And take note: It will have begun in Toronto.

When new arrival Hossein Derakhshan began his Web log here in 2001 and posted a how-to-blog-in-Persian guide on his website, http://www.hoder.com, the native of Iran had no idea he was launching a quiet revolution that would help liberate his keyboarding compatriots from the oppressive reality on the streets of Iran.

Within months, several thousand Persian online journals had popped up in cyberspace, with participants in Iran and outside it ranting on everything from discontent with the dictatorial religious regime to dating experiences between boys and girls (and, for that matter, boys and boys or girls and girls).

The Persian virtual community, with a global population of just 12 million online — more than half in Iran — claims to own 700,000 blogs.

Though it's hard to say how many of those are actively maintained, there is no doubt Persian has become one of the most widely used languages on the Internet. An estimated 40 per cent of Persian blogs are based in Iran, where freewheeling speech of the kind found in cyberspace is severely punishable in public.

In a recent Web poll, three of the top five Persian blogs were based in Toronto, including Derakhshan's and those run by exiled cartoonist Nikang Kowsar and University of Toronto student Nazli Kamvari.

"This trend is still growing fast and strong, because people suddenly find a personal way to express themselves and talk about things that are not publicly spoken in the current political and social culture in Iran," explains Maryam Aghvami, a former Reuters reporter who fled to Canada in 2001 after receiving threats from the regime.

"It's a revolution that we are seeing now among our younger generation."

Dubbed the "Father of Iranian Bloggers," Derakhshan, a keen computer gamer from Tehran, first ventured into "virtual freedom" in the mid-1990s, when he logged onto a local BBS, a precursor of the Web, through a fax modem.

"It really opened up my eyes, chatting with people who listened to Western music and whose mothers and sisters didn't cover their hair with headscarves," recalls the 31-year-old, who married a Canadian in Iran and joined her in Canada in December 2000.

But it wasn't until nine months later, when terrorists flew two planes into New York's World Trade Center, that Derakhshan got hooked — reading the personal blogs of eyewitnesses.

He launched his own on Sept. 25, 2001, in Persian, and his English version that November.

His blog now draws more than 10,000 daily page views and has 1,100 regular subscribers.

"Everyone is just fascinated by the opportunity to be self-expressive in a closed society, where the state controls people even in their bedrooms and talking about private life is deemed political," explains Derakhshan, a self-proclaimed "citizen journalist" who has been travelling around the world over the past year, documenting his experiences on his blog.

"Although only 5 per cent of the (blogs') contents are actually political, the fact that these people are communicating about their personal lives is, by itself, political in the eyes of the Iranian officials."

Derakhshan has his own theories on the popularity of blogging. He describes blogs as: windows through which individuals can show and display things important to them; bridges that connect people miles away in distance, in views and life experiences; and cafés that provide a space for debates and dialogues.

Blogging is particularly popular among Iranian women, believed to run 35 per cent of the Persian blogs.

Samira Mohyeddin began her own online journal (samiramohyeddin.blogspot.com) in 2004 after a visit to Tehran, which she and her family had left more than two decades ago.

"It's just depressing and distressing that you are told what to do, what to wear and where to go and are constantly under scrutiny.

"I looked at the beautiful beach but I couldn't swim in the water because I'm a woman. It's just absurd to me," says the 30-year-old U of T graduate student, whose blog gets up to 600 hits a day.

"Going to bathrooms can be political in Iran because if you use a modern toilet, you are considered westernized and non-traditional," she adds. "It's a schizophrenic society where, outside home, people behave in strange ways. Blogging provides a way of self-expression, where people know that they are not going to suffer any consequences. They just can't hurt us on the Internet."

Although the U.S. Persian population, about 1 million, outnumbers Canada's 300,000, the community here — which mostly arrived after the 1979 Islamic Revolution — tends to be younger, better educated and hungry for freedom, making it especially open to the new technology.

Aghvami, president of Journalists in Exile in Canada and a reporter for Voice of America, says blogging arrived fortuitously in 2001, just when the mullahs began cracking down on the media.

"In a short time, you had 130 papers shut down and people needed to find alternative ways to express ideas. People in this young generation are more computer-savvy, and they are not afraid to speak out because there's nothing to stop them on the net," she says.

Aghvami has noticed more community organizing, especially among Iranian women, who held a rally in front of a stadium earlier this year to push for their right to watch live sports. That wish was recently granted.

Bahman Kalbasi, a student activist from the University of Isfahan, says the Iranian government, fearing the consequences of its citizens' "taste of cyber freedom," has begun trying to censor Persian blogs, a task likely to prove insurmountable.

Recently, officials blocked all sites with the mention of "women" and reportedly set up an office to monitor blogging under the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Over the years, some Iranian bloggers have been arrested and detained by the government for voicing opposition. Derakhshan says he, too, was detained for six days during a recent visit to Tehran.

"But bloggers will always be a step ahead of them. There are just so many of them out there. Most young people there have many different email addresses," says Kalbasi, 27, who started his own blog (bahmankalbasi.blogspot.com) after moving to Canada more than four years ago.

"The government can shut down newspapers, but it can't shut down Web logs. We are a force, a power that can impact things."

Persian blogging has been quick to capture the attention of the world media and the intelligence and academic communities. Over the past year, Kalbasi has been helping scholars studying the phenomenon at the University of California-Irvine and as far away as Germany.

"People are interested in what's going on in the psyche of these people in Iran, and by reading Iranians' blogs, they can get a sense of what's happening behind the veil," Kalbasi adds.

However, exiled journalist and cartoonist Kowsar warns that a blog could also be abused to mislead and misinform.

"You can't really count on all the information on the blogs being accurate. We all have to be our own inspectors to filter out the truth," says Kowsar, 36, who has a cartoon blog (nikahang2.blogspot.com) and a Persian blog (http://www.nikahang.blogspot.com) and recently ventured into blogging in English (nikick.blogspot.com).

"The bottom line is, everyone has the right to express his or her views on their blogs and we can always have all sides of the story."

What long-term impact the blogs will have on Iran is a matter for speculation, but the Toronto bloggers are clear that their goal is not to see a violent revolution.

"Blogging is certainly something for the better, because knowledge is power. And if we can educate our fellow Iranians back home and be their voices outside Iran, we are paving the way for a civil and democratic society," says Aghvami. She adds that the road will be long, as 90 per cent of Iran's 7 million population still doesn't have access to the Internet, and high-speed connections are uncommon.

But it's a good start, notes Mohyeddin, who has received death threats and been called "a sell-out to her country" by people who oppose her views.

"Most people have this monolithic and simplistic view of what's happening around the world, and I think all these blogs are showing the diverse points of view out there," she says. "To me, blogging is fabulous because it's taking journalism to its roots by expressing what's happening, and by doing so, holding governments accountable to the people."

The lonely fight against Bush and Khamanei

The following is a threat I've received by email from a New York-based Iranian woman whose name I'm no going to reveal, but she has strong ties with the neo-conservatives working on Iran and usually introduces herself as an 'expert' on Iran, most likely without visiting it for nearly two decades, I believe.

It's the first time I'm seeing these kind of threats, but this specific one has convinced me that it's time to defend myself against some of the common accusations about my politics, integrity and affiliations.

In the newxt few weeks, I'll try to show how hard it is to be anti-Bush and anti-Khamanei at the same time.

Mr. Derakhshan,

I've been reading your stuff for years; it's excellent for comic value. As you would have also noticed I've never contacted you or ever spoken about you to anyone. SO the story you're about to read has NOTHING to do with me; I was just standing there when I heard it and I'm just going to convey to you what a room full of about 50 of the best-known western intellectuals and journalists are saying about YOU.

A couple of years ago, at a large party of intellectuals in New York City, a very well-known leftist journalist was promoting you as THE interesting Iranian for people to follow. He in fact asked what I thought of you and I simply said nothing. It was very amusing because the man could not have been more adoring and respectful of you at that time. Last night, I was with that same group of people...NOW, that exact same person saw me across the room and came running over to me and said loudly for everyone to hear: "Oh my [...], I must tell you...Hoder is either an agent of the regime OR he's mentally retarded." Then a French journalist who had followed your blog, based on that original praise you had received from the first person, replied: "Oh, Hoder is BOTH...an agent of the regime AND mentally retarded! You cannot be one without the other!"

So you see...even western leftists and liberals see right through you because you have finally managed to out yourself for who you really are...and I didn't have to lift a finger or open my mouth...you did it ALL BY YOURSELF!

Good luck young man. If I were you, I'd find myself a shack in Botswana or the Tierra del Fuego, because I know some people who will want to have a chat with you one day, in the not so distant future.

[signed]

The real story behind the 'badges for Iranian Jews'

My friend Mehdi has translated the recent (quite silly and impractical) bill passed by the Iranian Majlis to limit the influence of Western dress code. This has apparently been the source of all recent uproar on Iran and other religious minorities: (Original text)

1. Encouraging fabric designers and producers in using Iranian and Islamic patterns and styles in producing fabric and dress.
2. Respecting the traditional patterns and lively symbols of Iranian ethnic groups and paying attention to proper body coverage based on Islamic Sharia.
3. Taking advantage of research in obtaining original(to Iran) fabric patterns.
4. Encouraging the public in using the Iranian styles.
5. Supporting local producers of traditional clothes with loans and providing them exposure in clothes fairs and festivals.
6. Helping the public access to traditional clothes by establishing permanent dress fairs on local and regional bases.
7. Organizing regional (international) dress fair for exchanging experiences with other Muslim countries.
8. Inspecting and Controlling the imports of fabric and clothes to prevent the import of clothes incompatible with cultural, Islamic and national values.
9. This draft is written with coordination with the managing body in charge of clothing and dress.
10. Financial support for NGOs, unions, and non-governmental institutions in providing national clothing.
11. Media, in special the national TV, must help in establishing the usage of national clothing and they have to avoid advertising styles inconsistent with our culture.

The National Post has removed the original story from its website and published another one, retracting the initial report.

However, the shame remains with Mr. Amir Taheri, the real source of the story according to the National Post, and his blind hatred for the Islamic Republic.

Wagner on Ahmadinejad's iPod

Read my archives and you'll see how much I dissaprove of Ahmadinejad and his supporters' politics.

But it's absolutely pathetic of the United Press International to come up with a shameless lie just to justify the military attack the nasty right-wing warmongers are dreaming of. It's just unbelievable.

But if that's called journalism, I'd suggest the National Post publish these 'facts' about Iran:

• Ahmadinejad is seen to be reading 'Mein Kampf' on his bus to regional meetings
• He's registered in German classes with a fake name. Our sources say he uses his grandfather's name who was assisting the Nazi's during the second world war and was executed later by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
• In his iPod, covered by anti-Semite symbols and Bin Laden's pictures, our sources, who are not willing to be identified for they'd jeopardize the lives of pigs they were among while crossing Iran's eastern borders, have informed us he has the complete collection of Wagner works. One source has specifically talked about unheard tracks preformed by underground neo-Nazi bands from Westkreuz in Berlin.

Actually, this could make an amazing piece.for The Onion.

Ramin's mother in CCU

The latest news is that according to Rooz, Mrs. Khojasteh Kia, Jahanbegloo's mother has been transferred to the CCU.

Also, there was a gathering today in downtown Toronto demanding the Canadian government to do more for Jahanbegloo, which I didn't manage to attend.

But here is the blog I'm running with help from Dr. Mohamad Tavakoli to keep track of new developments on Ramin's situation: http://raminj.iranianstudies.ca

Khamanei: Oooooh I'm so scared!

I don't really know what's happened to my friend, Eli Lake, who's written this story about this guy and his meeting with Perle. A "leading dissident and author," whom no one knows in or out of Iran. Who are these people kidding?

I bet Kahameni would rush to join Bin Laden in his cave as soon as he knows what a great opposition leader has joined the regime change team of Mr. Shahriar Ahy.

Less than 24 hours after one of Iran's leading dissidents and authors escaped to a neighboring state, the former chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, interrupted his trip to central Asia to meet with him in a cramped hotel room.

The meeting between Mr. Perle and Amir Abbas Fakhravar on April 29, in a location both men have asked not appear in print, may end up being as important as the first contacts between Mr. Perle and the ex-Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky in the 1980s.

More on Ramin Jahanbegloo

Fars News has accused Jahanbegloo of being employed by the US government through the National Endowment for Democracy. This is quite absurd.

Ramin has indeed been a fellow at the right-wing think-tank and I should say I wouldn't do the same thing. Especially since, as you can easily find out, its funding comes from the American tax payers through the congress.

But interestingly enough, Ramin is not the only scholar who's done such thing. There are many Iranians who've spent time in think-tanks and research institutions.

Hossein Bashiriyeh , a professor of Political Science at Tehran University, has recently been at the same think-tank.

Even Abbشs Maleki, a senior figure in Iranian foreign policy system, who has strong ties with the conservatives in Iran, is currently a senior fellow at Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of government.

By the same standard, a lot of people who've participated in any academic event or program would be liable to the same accusation.

Ironically, the research institute Ramin was working with in Tehran was also funded by the Iranian government.

P. S: Fars News has apparently removed that article. Very interesting. I think it's a positive sign.

Correcting Wall Street Journal

I've appeared on VOA Persian TV's talk show with Ahmad Baharloo twice and I enjoyed it very much.

But I have no idea who has given this false information about me to the Wall Street Journal's columnist, Mr. Tomlinson whoi's the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Another program featured the story of Hossein Derakhshan, once jailed in Iran for starting an Internet blog. Upon his release, he managed to get to Canada where he now runs the most popular blog -- in Iran.

Let me correct them:

1. I've never been jailed in Iran, or anywhere else, so far.
2. I started my blog when I had already immigrated to Canada.
3. I don't know if my blog is the most popular blog in Iran, but it's relatively popular and influential.
4. I was detained, summoned and interrogated by Iran's Information Ministry in June 2005, when i was last in Iran. They made me write and apology to let me leave the country.

This, however, doesn't mean I'm against Baharloo's show. In fact, i find what VOA Persian TV is doing quite helpful and very different from the shallow, simplistic, and simplisticwhat other satellite TV channels are doing on the West coast.

On Ramin Jahanbegloo

BBC News confirms the bad news circulating in the past few days. Ramin jahanbegloo is arrested. On charges of spying and posing a security threat, Fars News adds. Kayhan also furthur elaborates.

He has an impressive profile. Aside from his CV on his official website, his biorgraphy on openDemocracy says:

Ramin Jahanbegloo was born in Tehran and studied at the Sorbonne University, Paris. He currently heads the department for contemporary studies at the Cultural Research Bureau, Iran. Prior to this, he was a post-doc at Harvard University. Among his twenty books in English, French and Persian are Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (Phoenix, 2000), and (as editor) Iran: Between Tradition and Modernity (Lexington Books, 2004)

But a lot my Torontonian friends and I personally know him because he'd started a series of weekly meetings on Saturday afternoons at the University of Toronto, in which he and others would present something about different topics each week. He, before I ever got to Toronto, was personally teaching theory and philosophical history.

What I liked about him was his ability to talk about theory without making you feel stupid, his casual attitude towards the group (everyone was calling him by his first name at his own request, which is quite unusual among Iranians who have an obsession with long titles and formal respect.) His energy in persuading everyone to work in the group was admirable. So was his positive energy.

Last time I saw met him was last June in Iran. It was a big surprise. He was married and they were expecting a baby. He seemed very proud of returning to Iran and starting a family life.