Roger Sedarat is an Iranian-American poet whose work explores the cultural distances between Iran & the U.S. & the toll those distances take on families & individuals. He has published one book of poetry, Dear Regime: Letters to the Islamic Republic, & numerous chapbooks & individual poems in magazines such as The New England Review. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor teaching Poetry & Translation in the MFA program at Queens College.
Quote: Roger Sedarat is the author of the poetry collection Dear Regime: Letters to the Islamic Republic, the chapbook From Tehran to Texas, and a forthcoming book on the history of landscape in modern New England poetry. He teaches poetry and translation in the MFA program at Queens College, City University of New York. His poems and translations have appeared in such journals as New England Review, Atlanta Review, Zoland Poetry, Green Mountains Review, and Drunken Boat. http://www.levantinecenter.org/levantine-review/literat...-martrys-iran[/QUOTE]
Quote: The Iranian Revolution (Also known as the Islamic Revolution, or 1979 Revolution ,[1][2][3][4][5][6] Persian: انقلاب اسلامی, Enghelābe Eslāmi or انقلاب بیست و دو بهمن) refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy (Pahlavi dynasty) under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution. It has been called an event that "made Islamic fundamentalism a political force ... from Morocco to Malaysia."[7]
The first major demonstrations against the Shah began in January 1978.[8] Between August and December 1978 strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country. The Shah left Iran for exile in mid-January 1979, and two weeks later Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians.[9] The royal regime collapsed shortly after on February 11 when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting. Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979,[10] and to approve a new theocratic constitution whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country, in December 1979.
The revolution was unusual for the surprise it created throughout the world:[11] it lacked many of the customary causes of revolution (defeat at war, a financial crisis, peasant rebellion, or disgruntled military);[12] produced profound change at great speed;[13] was massively popular;[14] overthrew a regime heavily protected by a lavishly financed army and security services;[15][16] and replaced a modernising monarchy with a theocracy based on Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists (or velayat-e faqih). Its outcome — an Islamic Republic "under the guidance of an 80-year-old exiled religious scholar from Qom" — was, as one scholar put it, "clearly an occurrence that had to be explained."[17]
Not so unique but more intense is the dispute over the revolution's results. For some it was an era of heroism and sacrifice that brought forth nothing less than the nucleus of a world Islamic state — "a perfect model of splendid, humane, and divine life… for all the peoples of the world."[18] On the other hand, some Iranians now believe that the revolution was a time when "for a few years we all lost our minds",[19] and which "promised us heaven, but... created a hell on earth."[20]
Literature on the nature and rule of the Omer Hasn al-Bashir of the Sudan is abundant, and the role of Dr Hasan Abdallah al-Turabi in,first, the 1989 coup that brought the Muslim brotherhood to power, and, second, in the establishment of a religious dictatorship in the Sudan, is well documented. What is still only dimly understood is al-Turabi ideas about Islamic reforms, Islamic government, and the ideal Muslim community he and his brotherhood strongly believe they are endeavoring to bring about. The planned paper critically explores these ideas in an effort to go beyond the news headlines to a deeper and balanced evaluation of this important political and religious figure in the recent history of the Sudan --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revisiting the Turabi/Bin Laden Relationship Ann Lesch Villanova University
Osama bin Laden lived in the Sudan from December 1991 through May 1996. He was invited there by Hasan al-Turabi, with whom he then worked closely in developing his global Islamist network. This paper will examine the dynamics of their relationship during those five years: Who influenced who? Who manipulated who? To what extent did bin Laden's financial network and Afghan Arab cadres bolster Turabi's aims? And to what extent did Turabi influence bin Laden's operations? The paper will explore their complex relationship, opening up ideas for discussion and hypothesizing about their relationship after May 1996, when Turabi acquiesced in the Sudan government's expulsion of bin Laden.
Sudan-Ethiopia Relations & Islamization Policies Solomon Hailu University of South Florida
The central focus of this paper is on Sudan’s islamization policy under Al-Bashire’s regime and its regional impact. In the past, some African countries have officially protested against Sudan's muslim fundamentalism policy while other states have officially broken relations with Sudan and have come close to taking military measures against it. Ethiopia has become one of Sudanese negibours which had her relations severely stained due to Sudan’s cross-border Islamic expansionist agenda. The study will analysis the fact that the quest for Ethiopia’s internal opposition have always been characterized as having fully political motives rather than religious ambitions. It would therefore appear that Sudan's cross-border policy based on radical islamisation principles did not have its root in any realities of Ethiopian politics. It is not so much a question of explaining existing tensions in Ethiopian society, but of hoping to create them in the first place, that draws Sudan's ideological mission within its neighbours territory. mean that Sudan has tried to create . --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sudan's Islamic Revolution as a Cause of Foreign Intervention in Its Civil War: Insights from Balance of Threat Theory William Rose Connecticut College
Sudan experienced an elite-driven, moderately radical Islamic revolution in northern Sudan in 1989. The revolution occurred when Sudan was in the midst of a bloody north-south civil war. Although the causes of the civil war were domestic in origin, intervention by other countries in the civil war has affected its intensity and duration. This paper focuses on the behavior of two of Sudan's neighbors, Egypt and Ethiopia: while both countries intervened in Sudan's internal affairs, only Ethiopia took sides in the civil war. To explain connections between Sudan's Islamic revolution and the varying interventions of Ethiopia and Egypt, this paper explores the uses and limits of Stephen Walt's balance of threat theory-which he used to highlight causal connections between revolution and interstate security competition. The first finding is that the theory provides important and unique insights into relations between revolutionary Sudan and two of its neighbors. Especially important are causes associated with the analytic, policy, and propaganda functions of a revolutionary ideology. The theory links these effects of a revolution to other causes of conflict-particularly the creation of new conflicts of interest and intensified spirals of suspicion-as it explains intensified security competition. The theory explains these observations in Sudan better than any other competing theory or single explanation. Like any theory, however, it has limits. One is that the theory offers insights into interstate relations only when a revolution has occurred. Even when the theory applies, moreover, other causes of conflict as well as constraints on conflict come into play. The second finding is that the revolution did not cause security competition to increase nearly as much as the theory predicts. This latter observation contrasts with Walt's own case studies. A likely reason for this anomaly concerns the setting in Africa, where boundaries delineating states have been more ephemeral or artificial than in other parts of the world where Walt studied revolution. Finally, because the evidence examined was fairly thin, the paper ends with suggestions for further research.
Quote: الثورة الإسلامية في إيران، هي ثورة نشبت سنة 1979 وحولت إيران من نظام ملكي دستوري، تحت الشاه محمد رضا بهلوي، لتصبح جمهورية إسلامية عن طريق الاستفتاء. آية الله أو الإمام، كما هو معروف في إيران، روح الله الخميني يعد مؤسس الجمهورية الإسلامية الإيرانية. وحاول العمل على مد الثورة أو ما أسمته تصدير الثورة إلى المناطق المجاورة، ويرى البعض أن قيام الحرب العراقية الإيرانية كانت من نتائج تلك السياسة، وكذلك الحرب الأهلية الأفغانية.
Post: #13 Title: Re: Iran 1979-Sudan 1989 -Video Author: سيف اليزل برعي البدوي Date: 04-09-2010, 02:54 AM Parent: #12
Quote: Mr. President Obama,
By this e-mail I want to draw your attention to my troubled country Sudan . I am living in Holland since 15 years as a refugee from the extreme Islamist regime in Sudan . I was astonished to hear your envoy in Sudan Gen. Scott Gration saying that the election in my country is going fare and well while a lot of reports -among them of Carter's institute- states differently and criticizing the whole process.
Supporting re-election of president Albashir is a crime against basic human rights and democratic values that the US promotes. A dictator who has murdered more than 2,5 million of Sudanese people doesn’t deserve to be supported. Hereby I strongly request you Mr. President to re-evaluate your policy towards Sudan. The regime there is falsing the elections by allowing his extremists supporters to vote en deny this right to his opponents. A solid example of that is that the Sudanese Government has organized 19 vote location in Saudi Arabia and only 1 cote location in the whole US simply because most Sudanese inhabitants of the US are against this regime.
I hope that your administration Mr. President would take a second look before this disaster of electing this dictator takes place on the 11 of April 2010.