John Says His Piece

As I keep telling you, it is never a dull moment in Berkeley. As I was leaving work this afternoon, I ran into this man, John, who is a nurse at a hospital. On his day off, he is an activist for the rights of workers, he said. In the few brief moments that I stopped by to see what he was up to, he said he believes that true "freedom," "rights," and "liberation" should come from within groups and nations, not handed out to them by others, especially governments. He was walking around good-naturedly, advocating his cause in what was a beautiful sunny afternoon after the fog burnt off. Though there wasn't enough time to really find out more about his message, I thought the picture might convey something about the kind of place Berkeley is. I was grateful he agreed to be photographed, and with a smile at that!

Tea With An Artist

Last week I had tea with Hamed Nikpay, a brilliant young Iranian musician, who lives in Northern California. I would very much like to tell you about him, but I have to wait for a piece I wrote on him to be published first. Here's his website if you want to know more about him. He is brilliant, take my word for it!

Sohrab

خط سهراب سپهري «. . . آدم چه دير مي‌فهمد. من چه دير فهميدم که انسان يعني عجالتا.» From: http://www.parand.se/

Jimmy Carter

Former President, and Noble Peace Prize Laureate Jimmy Carter came to Berkeley this afternoon. He was promoting his new book: Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. In a packed Zellerbach Auditorium, he talked to an audience of mostly students (only 150 seats were made available to faculty and staff). He received a Berkeley Medal of Honor, the highest honor the University extends to dignitaries (Berkeley does not issue honorary degrees).

For me, there were three points of appeal to Carter’s presence at the University: I believe Jimmy Carter to have done very well as a human rights activist (so much better than he did as a US President, I believe). Additionally, he is a man very much hated by a group of Iranians who hold him directly responsible for the regime change of 1979 in Iran. I don’t actually agree with the second point, but it intrigued me enough to want to hear this man talk. The last point is that I believe whether he was good or bad, effective or useless, a servant of human rights or a traitor to them, history will have until eternity to judge Jimmy Carter and other leaders to measure and evaluate them; however, in my limited lifetime, whenever I have a chance to go see major figures of our contemporary history, I never pass it up.

Jimmy Carter talked about his book, and the plight of Palestinians. The overall premise of his book is that while he criticizes suicide bombers and those who "consider the killing of Israelis as victories,” he says "some Israelis believe they have the right to confiscate and colonize Palestinian land and try to justify the sustained subjugation and persecution of increasingly hopeless and aggravated Palestinians." He said Israel will never find peace unless it withdraws from its neighbor’s lands and stops persecuting Palestenians.

He then had a talk with Orville Schell, Dean of Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. Schell asked Carter several questions, including what he thought about US taking military action against Iran, and he replied it would be a catastrophe, worse than Iraq.

Another interesting day in Berkeley, wouldn't you say?

Karim Sadjadpour

Last week I went to see Karim Sadjadpour[1] give a lecture at Berkeley. Karim Sadjadpour is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Religion, Politics, and Globalization Program at UC Berkeley sponsored the event. Sajadpour is an articulate and approachable young man. He presented his analysis of what he thinks is happening in Iran. More than an academic presentation on the politics of Iran, I found his presentation insightful and loving of Iran and the people of Iran. He made sharp observations about the Iranian culture and how it affects political negotiations. The audience connected well with him, and he did an exceptionally good job of answering questions, which always makes me feel good at the end of a lecture. I am continually amazed with the younger generation of Iranians who live, study, and work abroad. They are free of the more intense emotions my generation seems to have about Iran, which could be a very positive thing. My generation was displaced and faced with hardships after the Revolution. This generation, however, were either born into the Islamic state, learning quickly how to navigate their way through its labyrinths of dual, public and private lives, or were born and raised outside of Iran, where they didn’t have to face the obstacles we, as first generation immigrants had to endure. As a generation, they are more objective and less emotional, which helps them be more focused on issues, and that’s important, I think. Sadjadpour was fair, confident, and affectionate towards both Iran and US, obviously preoccupied with finding a way out of the web of misunderstandings and misconceptions. I am glad for that preoccupation and believe that more people need to be preoccupied by the issue. This was a real treat for me. [1] View his profile here: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/experts/index.cfm?fa=expert_view&expert_id=340 . You will notice that the photo he has in his dossier there is a lot better than the one I took, the difference being that this is my handiwork!