Iran: Ancient Bam

A few years ago Yuko and I visited the ancient city of Bam, 200 kms south of Kerman in the south of Iran. The surrounding desert is the same ochre colour as Mars and on the morning we arrived rust colored mountains towered in the distance like corrugated sentinels against a glistening azure sky.

A city of 73,000, Bam was devastated in December 2003 when a 6.6 earthquake destroyed over 70% of homes. Many were still in ruins. Crumbling buildings sat alongside rows of metal shipping containers once used for relief aid. They looked empty until I noticed a young girl peering out from one and realized they were actually shelters for families, barbers shops and vegetable stalls.

Bam’s magnificent Arg, or citadel, was once the world’s largest adobe structure, but it was completely flattened during the quake. Built before 500 BC, the government has said it’s committed to its reconstruction, but like the rest of the city it will take years, perhaps decades to complete. Official numbers say the quake claimed 27,000 lives, but locals believe the real number to be much higher. Climbing over the ruins, we looked out over the surrounding desert flushed green in parts with vegetation from the oasis that has sustained Bam for thousands of years. The views are breathtaking. A man approached and identified himself as a security guard. After exchanging a few words, he explained that he had lost his niece in the quake.

When we returned to the car, Sai, our driver, popped in a CD of local singer Iraj Bastami who died in the quake. With Bam receding behind us, his keening voice rose and fell in mournful exultation. We settled in for the long journey north across the Dasht-e Lut (salt desert) to the city of Yazd.

Yazd: Iran's Zoroastrian Heart

Iran. A country misunderstood at best, a nefarious enemy at worst. Yazd is a bustling city of half a million people and a center for the for the Zoroastrian faith for over 2000 years. The Ateshkadeh Fire Temple, dedicated to the prophet Zoroaster, houses a flame believed to have been burning since 470 CE. Zoroastrianism predates Islam and was Iran’s official religion for 1000 years until invading Muslims conquered in the 7th century. Sai, our guide, wears a Faravahar around his neck, the Zoroastrian symbol of a half-man, half-eagle emerging from a disk with wings spread wide. Sai admits he prefers Zoroastrianism to Islam as it connects him to his Persian origins, but he is wary of exposing his pendant publicly. “Etiquette” police charged with enforcing the Islamic republic’s strict dress codes could be anywhere. The current regime views Iran’s pre-Islamic culture with suspicion, frowning on any open displays of support.

Zoroaster

Yazd is also one of the largest cities in the world built from adobe. Everywhere there are windcatchers, the small towers used for cooling buildings. They are a household necessity in a desert where some of the earth’s hottest surface temperatures - 71° Celsius - have been recorded. From the top of the huge Amir Chakhmaq Complex in the city center, countless windcatchers poke up above the rooftops like periscopes in an ocean of bubbled adobe homes.

Jameh Mosque

Yazd’s city center is alive with people rushing home from work. We pass shops selling sugar crystals and bakeries crammed with pastries before arriving at the Seljuq shrine, the city’s holiest Islamic site. Some ninety percent of Iranians identify as Shiite Muslims. There are separate entrances for men and women and I wrap a borrowed robe around my bare legs before entering. Light reflects off the mirrored ceiling and walls and the shrine is bathed in lime green, the Prophet Muhammad’s favourite colour and the one opposition forces adopted in protests that shook the country in 2009.

Yazd is famous for its silk carpets and we step into a shop for a peek of the gorgeous tapestries on sale. I soon get lured into buying one after a bit of bartering and a few cups of tea. Back at our hotel we dine on the rooftop patio in the cool evening with a stunning view of the 14th century Jameh Mosque’s 48-meter high minarets poking above the skyline like two enormous fingers pointing to the heavens. In the distance the muezzin call for evening prayers sounds.

Erik Prince: Onward Christian Soldiers

"I'm an American working for America" - Erik Prince

The Security Industrial Complex of the USA is getting stronger everyday, thanks to the Obama administration. Just when you thought the mercenary torturers and assassins known as Blackwater might have gone the way of Kid Rock and Ed Hardy lids, they spring up in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates reincarnated as Reflex Responses (R2). Erik Prince, a former Navy Seal and the Crusader in Chief of R2, has made explicit his policy not to hire any Muslims because those folks are so darn unreliable they won't kill their own fellow Muslims. Prince has been working with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to set up his band of lawless renegades in the Muslim state for a cool US$529 million. What a patriot!


According to the New York Times and Jeremy Scahill, R2 has been hired by the UAE to help with security in the wake of the Arab Spring, which means part of their task will include crushing any democratic uprisings or demonstrations that might occur. The contractors are mainly Colombian and will receive up to US$150 a day. This represents a huge raise from US$34, the amount they were earning back when they were really dumb and rampaging through Iraq killing innocent civilians and getting away with it, thanks to the Obama administration.



These goons make Rambo look like Justin Bieber as they shred the law into coleslaw. As he has done in the past, Prince is again likely breaking the law by training foreign nationals without the authorization of the US State Department. But not to worry - Obama has got him covered. His administration is doing the unthinkable - normalizing Bush’s worst breaches of international law.

President Obama & the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, April 26, 2011

Part of R2's remit may include Iran, situated just across the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Nothing like a Christian Crusade tucked inside the Trojan horse of the UAE to deliver peace to the Middle East. Unless of course, your industry is the US Security Industrial Complex and your interest is creating a demand for your services. Get your war on.

Banana Leaves & Chutney: Mumbai's Parsis

The feeling was immediate - it was in the air, in the laid back nonchalance of the people. We were no longer in New Dehli. This was Mumbai, the financial and cultural hub for 14 million clinging to the shores of western India on the edge of the Arabian Sea.

Mumbai is home to two-thirds of India's 61,000 Parsi, a relatively tiny minority of India's almost 1 billion population, but they're hugely influential and have traditionally flourished. Queen's Freddie Mercury came from a Parsi family and the Indian version of the Rockefellers, the Tata family, are Parsis. Today their influence is found all over the country from cars and trucks to hotels and tea.



The Parsis (Gujarati for Persian) originally came to the sub-continent over 1000 years ago, arriving from Persia, now Iran. They follow Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Persia, and have been able to freely practice it in India. The center of Zoroastrianism is in Iran, but its adherents face discrimination and are discouraged from any open displays of worship. Nevertheless, most Indian Parsi long for a chance to visit Iran.



We read that Parsi food is delicious and were directed to "Jimmy Boy" restaurant in the Fort area of Mumbia. A seventy-year-old institution, Jimmy Boy is now run by the grandson of the original owner who explained his plans to return to Iran later this year. We ordered cashew vegetables and patra ni machhi or white fish baked in chutney and banana leaves.

Iranian Halloween: A Monster Mash!

I knew it - the Ayatollahs have created a monster...a truly ghoulish Halloween!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Spirit In The Dark: Allah o Akbar!

"Tell me sister, how do you feel?
Tell me my brother, how do you feel?
Move on with the spirit, the spirit
in the dark..."

- Spirit In The Dark
Aretha Franklin

Anyone who has spent time in Iran shouldn't be surprised with the heroism and tact the demonstrators are displaying. They're young, savvy and cunning. They're also determined not to stand idly by while their country is ravaged by corruption and savage brutality. They love Iran too much for that. Many are also under 30, too young to remember the 1979 revolution and the subsequent terror that followed.


Yuko took these photos last summer when we visited Iran. The one above is of the Khaju Bridge in Esfahan, and below is from the ancient Persian site of Persepolis, near Shiraz. It's the mythological bird called the Homa - whoever it landed on became king of the empire. As of today, it's still up in the air...



This remarkable video comes via Nico Pitney at Huffington Post - a stirring reminder of what the dark conceals and what it can inspire...

Iran: A Stolen Election

O, mankind! What has made you be arrogant and rude towards your creator who is the supreme bounteous

**Follow my friend in Iran, Sadaff, on Twitter.**

When we were in Iran last summer we met Sai who taught us a lot about this amazing and complex country. One unforgettable event happened on the outskirts of Yazd on the way to Shiraz when a soldier stopped us at a checkpoint. What was supposed to be a routine check turned a bit more heated when he asked for our passports. After we complied he demanded we open our bags. Sai stood up to him refusing to do so and accused the soldier of overstepping his authority. After a few more words we were allowed to continue on our way. It was a brave act that took guts and demonstrated Sai's willingness to invoke his own rights in a way that I found truly inspiring.

One of the legends that make up the Persian epic, Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, involves the hero Rostam mistaking his own son Sohrab for his enemy on the battlefield. As he cradles Sohrab's dying body he recognizes who he actually is, learning of his mistake only when it's too late.


Today a case of mistaken identity plagues Iran. Over 60% of the population is 28 or younger and they identify more with the Persian elements of their culture than the radical interpretations of Islam that the old revolutionary guard represents. The people we met all fit this description - the women said if they had a choice they would discard their headscarves, while both men & women expressed more interest in pop music, Sufi poetry and Zoroastrianism than in any strict adherence to Islam.

The older generation is holding the younger generation down. Iran is a country where youths are carving out alternative identities and pushing the envelope in dramatic ways; where the average age is 27 and epic poetry is as popular as the Koran. Will they be sacrificed in battle, mistaken for counter-revolutionaries or pro-western dupes?

This message from Hossein Moussavi, Ahmadinejad's opponent, comes via Andrew Sullivan:

"I AM UNDER EXTREME PRESSURE TO ACCEPT THE RESULTS OF THE SHAM ELECTION. THEY HAVE CUT ME OFF FROM ANY COMMUNICATION WITH PEOPLE AND AM UNDER SURVEILLANCE. I ASK THE PEOPLE TO STAY IN THE STREETS BUT AVOID VIOLENCE"

Moment of Surrender: Journey Through Iran

I just made my first video with Apple's "iMovie" and U2's phenomenal "Moment of Surrender." I can't get enough of this song. It's as good as "One" or "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," if not much better. Brian Eno's influence is all over it (along with übermate, Daniel Lanois), as it is on most of No Line On The Horizon. He's always been involved in pursuing a type of secular gospel music, hymns for the galaxy, more recently with David Byrne on Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.

"Moment of Surrender" captures the epiphinal flow of grace in the midst of turbulence...oi!


All the photos were taken by Yuko during our travels last summer - most are from Bam, Yazd and Shiraz.

Norūz: Happy New Year Iran!

March 21 was the first day of Spring and the first day of Norūz, the Iranian/Persian New Year.

The photo above was taken this summer by Yuko when we visited Persepolis. It dates from the 6th century BC during the reign of the Persian Empire and is the Zoroastrian symbol representing the spring equinox. The bull symbolizes the Earth and the lion, the Sun.


We're standing in the shade of a Homa, a bird from Persian mythology. Whoever the Homa landed on became king of the empire. That's me attempting lift-off:


Seems everyone's gettin' in on the Iran action - below is Obama's Norūz message: