Below is a link to an brief NPR interview with Simin Behbahani. I didn't know anything about her until digging out this link. She is considered Iran's national poet. If anybody watched the `Regeh inside Iran' video on the link from yesterdsy they should be familiar with the combination of bluntness and subtlety that Behbahani uses.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/sundaysoapbox/2009/06/irans_national_poet_speaks_out.html
If the flames of anger rise any higher in this land Your name on your tombstone will be covered in dirt.
You have become a babbling loudmouth.
Your insolent ranting, something to joke about.
The lies you have found, you have woven together.
The rope you have crafted, you will find around your neck.
Pride has swollen your head, your faith has grown blind. The elephant that falls will not rise.
Stop this extravagance, reckless throwing of my country to the wind. The grim-faced rising cloud will grovel at the swamp's feet.
Stop this screaming, mayhem, and blood shed. Stop doing what makes God's creatures mourn with tears.
My curses will not be upon you, as in their fulfillment My enemies' affliction also cause me pain.
You may wish to have me burned, or decide to stone me. But in your hand match or stone will lose their power to harme me.
Out of curiousity, I did an LBO search on her first name and came up with a post from Yoshie from July 1, 2007:
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2007/2007-July/012466.html
It is worth the effort to click on the above and read it---it is very powerful.
Basically what she says is that Iran takes its poets and arts seriously. That women have moved to the forefront because they can express the hidden aspects of family life and society. From which I deduce that the constructions and struggles in the cultural space will flow into the political space and become the representation the public `will'. Quoting an interview with Farideh Hassanzadeh:
``Melissa Tuckey: What role do poets play in Iranian society?
Farideh Hassanzadeh: Our great poets like Hafez, Rumi, Saadi, and Ferdousi have the largest circulation in book fairs of Iran, after our sacred book, the Quran. This means poets after prophets rule the heart and mind of my people..''
I would be nice to see somebody in the Obama administration, read Simini B's poem to the US rightwing and necon warmongers screaming for `tough' action on Iran...and as an answer to the endless line of reporters who keep asking the same baited question. Why isn't the President taking a `stronger' stand.
This constant hate mongering nightmare from US reactionaries got us into meaningless wars, caused the death of millions, and has gone a long way to destroying us as nation and as a political economy. Stop it.
Another quote from the Yoshie's posted interview:
``With each bomb the baby inside me tried painfully to take refugee in a peaceful place she couldn't find. In fact during the war instead of the doctor's protective hands, bombs gave birth to many Iranian women's children in the streets. In the past soldiers targeted enemy positions, but now they drop bombs on women and children. My son, before he could experience the fear of his first day of school, experienced the fear of his last breath, his hands gone with the bombs. He never tasted the joy of putting a pencil on paper to write a word...''
What she is referring to in her pregnancy is something that I've seen. The concussion shock wave hammers the outside body and can cause the premature onset of labor. It happened to my wife when she stumbled and fell over on her motorscooter. We stopped the contractions by getting drunk and the baby calmed down. He was going nuts, turning over and crawling around inside. Vodka was cheaper than an alcohol drip at the ER.
CG