دسته: English

An Open Letter to the CJF Board and Executive

We are writing to express our dismay at the inclusion of Hossein Derakhshan as a panelist at a CJF talk on May 2, 2018, entitled Building Trust in the Media. Hossein Derakhshan is not an advocate of freedom for the media — quite the opposite.

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An open Letter to Honourable Mr. Stéphane Dion

Dear Honourable Stéphane Dion,
I write as the former President of the Iranian Canadian Congress and a concerned Iranian- Canadian citizen appealing to the government of Canada to facilitate re-establishing consular services with Iran.

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Arsalan Baraheni in a festival at Gothenburg/Sweden

Arsalan Baraheni is an Iranian born, Canadian filmmaker, based in Toronto. His film, “Exilic Trilogy” recently had another premier in Gothenburg, in Sweden, at the International Exile Film Festival. The last Toronto screening of the film was in Harbourfrount centre

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Tehranto Takes the Stage in SummerWorks

In SummerWorks, the entire festival is juried. All the work is vetted. We spend months reading from over 200 submissions. We’re looking for work that questions our contemporary system . . .

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The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran

“I’m independent, with no money, I have one staff member to support my work and I’m only funded for two trips of 14 days each to Iran to prepare my reports. I’m given two reports per year, 10,700 words . . .

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Yaraghi Delivers in BEA

Bea is like a kid in a jungle gym, she leaps from her bed swinging from the bedpost with the kind of buoyancy and infectious joy that one only sees in young children at play. Her energy is contagious, her joie de vivre radiating across the theatre . . .

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IHRDC: Ahwazi Arabs Subjected to Discrimination in Iran

Iran is home to many different ethnic minorities, including Azeris, Kurds, Baluch and others. One minority that resides in the southwest of the country, and particularly in Khuzestan province, is a sizable Arab ethnic minority with distinct linguistic and cultural practices.

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The Rooster Trademark Paper at TIFF Kids

He has the talent, he has the vision, he has the drive… all he lacks is the paper to draw on. The Rooster Trademark Paper is Iranian director Maryam Milani’s touching children’s film about Amir . . .

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IHRDC: In memory of An Iranian Transsexual Refugee

On April 3, 2013, Marjan Ahouraee—an Iranian transsexual refugee—passed away from complications from pneumonia in Kayseri, Turkey. Marjan—a male to female post operation transsexual—had fled Iran about two years earlier and come to Turkey in search of a better life. Marjan had been accepted by Canada for resettlement but tragically, before she could make it there, she fell sick and died in hospital.

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IAAB Makes Way for the Next Generation

IAAB is a youth-led organization of Iranians living in the diaspora, committed to bridging links among young Iranians across the globe though education and leadership programming.

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Cyber Dialogue on Iran

With all due respect to Tunisia, it all started with Iran. No, not with the 1979 revolution as claimed by the Islamic regime’s clumsy PR machine, but with the pro-democracy movement that erupted after the June 2009 Iranian ‘selections.’

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Spring Cleaning – Khoone Takouni

There’s a tradition in Iran, it’s related to how we mark, Nowruz, our New Year. Just before the official celebrations start with Chaharshanbe Suri, the fire festival that launches the festivities . . .

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A Few Words with the Spoken Word Artist

She’s fierce on stage, cutting words and razor sharp wit, she dominates. Needless to say I was a bit daunted to meet her. Rappers are cool and spoken word artists don’t mince words, and I was feeling particularly geeky . . .

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Music for a Rainy Day

I walk briskly (under the rain[i]), head down, trying to prevent the icy cold needles from hitting my bare skin (umbrellas should be closed); only a few more blocks to home. Maybe it’s what feels like a long winter (How my inside is alone) . . .

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Introducing the Band: Neemeha

Have you ever had a crush on a voice? My first voice-crush was in my early teens on Leonard Cohen, I could care less that Cohen was old and wrinkly by the time I first discovered him. He could have had a hunch-back with a single bloodshot-eye, all I wanted was his “Hallelujah” lulling me to sleep; his baritone voice made me quiver.

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When One Billion Dance

It’s a domestic problem, it happens in our neighbourhoods and streets, a city issue, a national story. Some try to pass it off as a problem imported to Canada, but we all know it’s domestic . . .

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Keeping Sepehr Safe

You might have seen him around, maybe at Mel Lastman Square during the annual Nowruz events, at the coffee shop by Sheppard subway station, or at the cinema by North York Centre. He’s the kind of guy you would have noticed in a crowd, broad shoulders, square jaw, the athletic type. His name is Sepher Hajapour and he’s 28 years old.

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Tehranto’s Own MPP Moridi

History was made on January 26th. Kathleen Wynne was elected as the Liberal party’s leader and became the first female Premier of Ontario, and the first openly lesbian leader in Canada

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Creating an Official Record

Documenting doesn’t always come naturally to us; we’re more of a handshake-to-seal-the-deal community. Oftentimes our recent history is told as stories whispered between friends in the wee hours of the night . . .

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All the pieces made it a whole

There’s no denying it Tehranto has its own band. Neemeha’s Strange Fruit concert at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts on January 19 wasn’t just an opportunity to hear great music but also a testament to how art can build community.

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Going out on a Bang not a Whimper

It’s that time of year; for a brief moment we are self-reflective about what we accomplished in the past 365 days. What did we learn? How did we grow? Who did we impact . . .

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Munk Debates Iran

When it comes to a debate, wording is everything. How you frame the resolution makes all the difference. The tenth semi-annual Munk Debate, which faced off Pulitzer Prize winner and FOX News contributor Charles Krauthammer . . .

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An Enterprising Centre

The Women’s Centre of York is hidden in an industrial area in Newmarket, occupied predominantly by factory outlets and company headquarters.

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Speaking the Language of Human Rights

In one session of the truth commission hearings we heard from the mother of a 15 year old boy who was executed simply because he had a political pamphlet in his pocket.

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Mahmoud Drives to the Fringe

“It started as a project in school when I was studying theatre at the University of Toronto,” explains Tara Grammy, a 24-year-old Iranian-Canadian actress, about her one-woman play Mahmoud bound for the Toronto and New York Fringe Festivals this summer.

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Hot Docs Cures My Documentary Blues

Sometimes watching a documentary is akin to sitting through a lecture by the morality police. You sign up for two hours of being talked down to, only to leave the theatre feeling guilty and despondent . . .

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Organizing Tehranto: Bring My Husband Home

“It was in the summer of 1994 or ‘۹۵, I used to be better with dates but this situation has made me worse. Anyway, I’m not the romantic one, Hamid is,” chuckles Antonella Mega nervously as she recounts how she met her husband Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, an Iranian-Canadian man on death row in Tehran’s Evin prison.

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Criminalizing Refugees

“Don’t forget to get rid of the Greek passport on the plane before landing in Canada, Just go to the bathroom and tear it into pieces and flush it down,” whispered the smuggler urgently to my mom the night before we left Rome for Toronto.

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From Red to Blue

I have this distinct memory from my youth, gathering around the television in our small Scarborough apartment with my sister and parents, watching the game show Family Feud.

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Reclaiming Nowruz

It started on Monday with a call from a photographer friend of mine who has recently moved to Canada from Iran. He was interested in capturing images of Nowruz festivities in Toronto and was asking about events and celebrations to cover.

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People in Glass Houses

Well this is embarrassing, it seems we’ve been caught with our pants down when it comes to our electoral system in Canada. In a week when the news about fraudulent elections should be focused on Iran’s March 2nd parliamentary selections the spotlight falls on Canada.

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Campaigning Against Executions in Iran

In most countries citizens are alerted to the onset of an upcoming election when local politicians and political parties begin to invest greater energy in showcasing themselves.

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Organizing Tehranto: Doubletalk on Iran

Doubletalk is nothing new in politics. We’re used to politicians saying one thing and doing the exact opposite. You can even argue that it’s a part of our political institution.

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Organizing Tehranto: Debating Sanctions

When it comes to Iran, no news seems to be good news. This month has been no exception with reports spreading about the confirmation of the death sentence of 35 year-old Iranian-Canadian web . . .

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Sisters doing it for themselves

It’s mainly a sister act. With the addition of a brother and a few other members lending a hand to create what Melody (AbjeeZooloo) Safavi, the singer/songwriter of the Iranian-Swedish band, Abjeez, calls “Persian World Pop.”

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