Ramazan is ending (whew).

An article on the Alavi foundation and a story about a film made about the flipside of "Not Without My Daughter" - "Without My Daughter", directed by Alexis Kouros. I can't find any of his films on IMDB. But he made "Waiting for Godot at De Gaulle" about the unbelievable story of Mehran Karimi Naseri.

According to Afarinesh, quoted in Iran News Khatami may not speak to Iranian students on Students'' Day, December 7. Who knows when Ramazan will end, that is, when Eid-el-Fitr will be? Will political factors influence it?

Again I was at Sharif. But the student protests have lost their momentum. Apathy has returned.

This morning, I talked to a taxi driver who works 16 hours a day for 300,000 tomans a month ($US375).

It is mourning for Imam Ali time, so the faces of women on billboards have been covered by squares of black cloth. This could have something to do with makeup, or maybe just lipstick - red is a bad colour.

Also, it snowed today for the first time...

In Asia Times, a great article about Iranian democracy. Just as Iranians had to learn about automobiles, so now they are only learning about democracy. "The honorable step for Khatami would be to resign."

One day, a book by Omid Souresrafil, "Revolution In Iran: The Transition To Democracy" will appear. His last book, "The Islamic Success" (!!) in 1996 about Iran, a piece of regime apologia if ever there was one, was not good to say the least... the most obvious question being, if Iran is so great, why does the author choose to live in Sydney? (And where did he learn to write English?) And perhaps by the time it comes out, like by the time the Economist Survey comes out, everything will have changed anyway.

I was at Sharif yesterday, but I didn't see anything strange. However today there was a big gathering there with clashes. But, I would still predict nothing is going to come of it.

From outside Iran, it must seem as if BIG THINGS are happening. But here, life goes on... most people don't care, there is so much apathy, even among the young. It's nothing like the 386 generation in Korea was, otherwise things might have changed by now.

WOW. There are some very courageous people here. Aghajari not to appeal death verdict!!

An interesting and risky move. What is going to happen to this country?

Also of interest, Heritage Foundation's 2003 Index of Economic Freedom. (A way of reading Economist Intelligence Unit reports for cheapskates!) "...Khatami has been hamstrung by opposition from entrenched bureaucrats who permeate the state agencies and by Islamic hard-liners in the judiciary and elsewhere who value ideological purity over economic progress." That will be a recipe for continuing one-way migration.

Wow. Hardliners arrest a leading radical reformist. You can be arrested just for asking questions, so be careful out there!

This article about uppity Iranian women has a realistic picture of what Iranian female students look like at the moment. Similar picture on Iranmania.

The Economist Survey now has the Iran report slated for January 18, 2003. It used to be November 9, 2002. I hope it's not postponed again.

Road accidents kill 20000 people in Iran per year. "[The deputy chief of traffic police] blamed the high figures on ... the scant resources of police to enforce the regulations." Of course, there's plenty of resources to harass young people of the opposite sex who gather together.

I think I've seen at least four articles in the last day encouraging people to invest in Iran... Karroubi, Khatami, Costa, Mazaheri. Sounds like the government is desperate. Remember the Economist Intelligence Unit assessment -
Iran is the second least attractive country in the world to invest in, above Nigeria.

It's starting to rain in Tehran. Last night in Vanak Square, after I finished teaching English, I saw a Paykan which had been involved in an accident being towed by another Paykan. The chain was attached to the bumper/bumper bar on the front of the broken car, which then fell off, blocking traffic on the roundabout. With the wet conditions, traffic will become more dangerous.

I forgot to write about my experiment with Iran News... I downloaded all the English articles since October 2001 (about 15000) and looked for the most common words. The US is mentioned more than Iran, which again points to a lack of self-criticism, although English articles will bias the count.

Is it even possible for me to write something positive? OK - last night, I really enjoyed teaching English for some reason. The school used the Passages book. We discussed the differences between friendship among men and friendship among women to start with, and my class for some reason generally agreed with the Deborah Tannen thesis - men gather together to see sport, talk about cars etc and women to talk about work, family, cooking, gossip. So you see, Iran is not like another world compared to the West!

From SlashDot a report about Saddam's Inbox being hacked.

The Economist Survey has put "TBC" for Iran in 2003, meaning To Be Confirmed, I suppose. I'd like to see their report on Iran fairly early on in the year. In the meantime the best report on Iran, if you want to learn about its politics and the future, is still the International Crisis Group's report.

Travel alerts in the good old days and now.

Mr Bin Laden wrote a will, sounds just like Hitler did before he died.

Reporters sans frontieres publishes their first press freedom index. There's a high correlation between human development, GDP per capita and press freedom. Iceland sounds like a really good place, they've got Bjork, an unspoiled environment, a very high standard of living, and the world's freest press.

I think I'll move there or Japan next. At least I want to visit anyway. It's not surprising all the freak countries (Axis of Evil members, Arab countries) are down the bottom of the list. Israel's (below the PA's!) and Turkey's positions were surprising, the US's less so after September 11 over-reactions. Where was Singapore, though? That's the "surprise" in the UNHDR human development index, so I suspect it would be down the bottom for press freedom.

As for Iran's press, it's "free" but any paper which says the wrong thing gets shut down. RSF has previously reported that Iran is one of the biggest jailers of journalists worldwide. And then there was that recent poll about relations with the US... you get the idea.

Did I forget to say something yesterday? Because of the 12th imam's birthday on Tuesday, Tehran is still nicely decorated with "Christmas" lights, fluoro bulbs, and long lines of colourful beaded lights. Just like Christmas. I should have said something about Alvin Plantinga the famous philosopher visiting Tehran too. Maybe another time.

Montazeri backs Khatami in his bid to cut conservatives' powers. It is difficult to know what this means - Montazeri obviously still believes in the Islamic Republic. At the end of Markus Wolf's book, Wolf said he still believed in communism...

Apart from this, nothing much has been happening. The days are getting shorter of course, Tehran is much colder than it was a few days ago. Otherwise, I don't have much to say.

No wine for Khatami. "Mohammad Khatami, the President of Iran, has declared that he will refuse to sit at the same table as King Juan Carlos of Spain if wine is served during the meal. His initiative has caused a flurry of diplomatic activity." What an arrogant demand. The IR leaders are always going on about cultural imperialism, and now its leader is trying to force his values onto the leaders of other governments. So much for "dialogue between civilizations".

Back from my trip. It was really strange to see Shrek sitting on the end of the Si-o-seh Bridge in Esfahan. Together with the conference on Islamic arts and grafts, I mean crafts, there was an international children's film festival in Esfahan also. I had a really good time on my trip, thanks to the hospitality of the people I stayed with. Some international travellers clued me in to Bradt travel guides, covering Iraq as well as Iran. There's a Japanese guide to Afghanistan which I am eager to look at also!

In English articles, Iranians want democracy too.

Kiss leads to call for crackdown in Iran. "They should give her 10,000,000 lashes and cut off her lips so she won't do it again." -- email correspondent.

In Esfahan. At the airport, there was a sign, which I must scan: "We have the pleasure to welcome all the participants to international congres of Islamic Arts and Grafts". Uh huh, yeah, that sounds like the Iran I know. Also in the Shiraz bazaar, they were selling a "Neda and Nazi" set of twin dolls... what is that, a doll where you pull the string and its right arm comes up and says "Heil Hitler!"?

People were smoking marijuana at some of the Persepolis tombs - it was surprising to me, the minimum jail sentence is six months for possession. A little old American lady was very surprised and flattered by the welcome she received from young Iranian women, even though they didn't know each others' language.

OK, one last thing - popping by the Amir Kabir Hostel, there are lots of complaints in the guestbook (written mainly in Japanese) about dual pricing for foreigners. The most extreme example is still Persepolis, 300 tomans for Iranians, 6000 for any foreigner.
And you can still do an Iraq tour starting from Amman in Jordan - you just need five people! Time is running short!!

Nimrooz this week: Allahu Akhbar, Marg Bar Internet! at the Friday prayers...

Salman Rusdhie comments on the fatwa, Iran reformists, mullahs, September 11 etc.

Not much happening domestically in Iran but I'm going to Shiraz soon. I had a dream last night, bins fulls of rubbish were at the train station. The rubbish I was emptying seemed to be other people's - cigarette butts, and I hate smoking passionately! But then I noticed plastic milk bottles, so it had to be my rubbish. I interpret this as a self-criticism type dream.

"I came back in '85 and the same people who were drinking every night in small bars before the revolution now had big beards and prayed every night in the mosque. People used to have two faces, now they have five. Coming back was a mistake, and I can't blame others for it." Before the revolution, Tohid Square was Kennedy Square; Churchill Street became Bobby Sands Street, and Los Angeles Avenue became Hijab Street!

Since everyone else is linking, MIT Opencourseware will become a great resource. May all universities follow suit.