Op-ed on article

By Saudi Government permitting women to compete in the Olympics, they are taking a huge step forward towards achieving womens' rights.  Its unbelievable to see how the country with the most religious fanaticism and extremism is permitting women to participate in a public competition such as the Olympics.  

Apparently on July 6, 2012, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia lifted the policy of forbidding women to compete in the Olympics.  Saudi rulers don't normally respond to international pressure or popular demands, but instead they do shift policies at their own time and pace.  With large organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the International Olympic Committe stepping in to pressure the Saudi government to let women compete, it was almost impossible for the government to turn down this invitation.  Women are so eager to participate in athletic events that the women from the Jeddah United basketball team play in track-suit abayas that match their headscarves.  This is an excellent idea for women's athletic gear in Muslim countries, because this sports wear respects Islamic norms.  

Thankfully, Saudi Arabia's present ruler, King Abdullah, is much more secular and liberal than his ultra-conservative brother Crown Prince Nayef, who was supposed to inherit the throne but died.  King Abdullah has been making an effort to work towards achieving reform in Saudi Arabia, but after this event, he layed a milestone in the country's path to reform.  

Saudi Arabia is an extremely Islamic devout country.  Women have many restrictions, but as the government gives them more rights, they tend to bolden up and claim more rights.  Its a human instinct, one is always trying to push for more.  In the case of these women, I think its useful for them to push for more, and seek support from the International community to obtain their rights.  I'm almost sure that after lifting this policy, women are going to seek more rights for participation in public events.  

http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/letting-saudi-women-compete-in-the-olympics-is-a-milestone-in-saudi-politics/ 

Opinion Responses on Pakistani Girl

Article #1:
Its shocking to see how freedom of speech is penalized in Taliban-controlled places such as Pakistan.  A fourteen year old Pakistani girl who wrote a diary for BBC Urdu about life under Taliban rule was shot.  The reason the Taliban's performed this act of cruelty, is because they thought girl has secular, "anti-Taliban views".

This girl named Malala keeps a diary about her life in Pakistan, and the restrictions Talibans used to impose upon the population.  Malala doesn't agree with many of these restrictions, because they are completely unreasonable.  While in power, the Talibans closed girl schools.  Malala's main goal in her campaign is to provide all women with education.  The Talibans took away Pakistani girls' right to education.  Every child has the right to learn and receive an education.  I completely agree with Malala that education is necessary, because I think that it is the key to a successful future.  Without education, these girls won't have the possibility to obtain well-payed jobs.  Another extreme measure that the Talibans took while ruling this area, was prohibiting the playing of music in cars.  I think that this rule is absurd, because playing music in a car doesn't affect anyone or anything.  Talibans have many unreasonable restrictions, but what I consider to be an inhumane action is to shoot a girl (Malala) for expressing her opinion.  The Talibans are forbidding people to have freedom of speech, which is absolutely unfair, because people can't speak up against anything.  People are not allowed to have a voice in anything, because what the Talibans say is what is done and that is it.

I think that Talibans prevent people from freedom in every way.  The Talibans take away people's rights for no logical reason, and forbid them to speak up.  I admire in every way how a fourteen year old girl spoke up against the harsh Taliban rule in her diary, but at the same time I'm disgusted to see that these terrorists shot an innocent girl for telling the truth about their miserable rule.

Article #2:
Malala is a true heroine.  Her bravery and courage to speak up against the Talibans is truly admirable, because she is risking her life to speak for women's rights.  I can tell from reading the article that Malala has a superb amount of motivation, because she continued writing blogs to promote women's rights after her father received death threats.  She knows she can get killed for broadcasting her negative opinion towards the Taliban rule, but as Feryal Gauhar said in the local Express Tribune, "the blood stains on her school uniform shall only feed the conviction that as long as there is breath and life, there shall be struggle".  Malala is making bold statements about female education that as stated in the text, even major politicians have shied away from making against the Taliban.  I think its amazing to see a fourteen year old girl speak up against the Talibans when not even the government is capable of doing so.  Not only is she propagating women's rights, but she is making her country become aware of the the terrible situation many Pakistanis are living due to the harsh Taliban rule.  One of her blogs explains the violence produced by Talibans ("the night was filled with the noise of artillery fire and I woke up three times").  I think Malala is very smart when making the country aware of the situation, because this way she can expand her campaign and hopefully succeed in giving women rights.  For standing up for women's rights and speaking up against a terrorist group she has won multiple recognitions.  I think Malala deserves many awards and much more for her unique, outstanding achievements.  I think that what makes Malala a true heroine is that she stands up for what she believes no matter what.  

Reading Blog: The Veil

Text to personal experience

After reading the first chapter of Persepolis, "The Veil", I can connect certain events from the book to my life.  There is one specific event in the chapter that reminded me of an event that occurred recently in my life. 

In this chapter, one of the major events is when Marjane goes to school and her teacher asks her what she wants to be when she grows up.  Marjane responded with a very surprising yet unrealistic answer.  She said she wanted to be a prophet of God.  This event reminded me of a similar situation that happened to my brother, Lorenzo, recently.  In school, my brother's teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.  Like Marjane, he replied to the teacher with a very weird response.  My brother said he wanted to be a lizard. 

Marjane's classmates laughed at her odd response.  Lorenzo was also laughed at by his classmates for responding so unrealisticly.  The teacher, on the other hand, didn't laugh, but got worried about Marjane's unreasonable answer.  The teacher called Marjane's parents in for a meeting regarding the girl's rare desire to be a prophet.  My brother's teacher took the same measures as Marjane's teacher, because she scheduled a meeting with my parents to discuss Lorenzo's unusual desire to be a lizard.  Lorenzo's teacher didn't think it was normal for a kid to want to be an animal.  

After reading about the event that occurred in this chapter and what happened to my brother, you can see that both situations are almost exactly the same.  They both experience discrimination for having different desires than their classmates.  They both get laughed at and get their parents called in for a meeting, just because they said they wanted to be something uncommon.

Reading Blog: Persepolis

Text to personal experience

While reading this chapter, there was an event in the book that reminded me of something that happened to me.  When Marjane's mother and grandmother were worried that Father had been killed during the demonstration, I immediately remembered the day I thought I lost my Father when he piloted an airplane for the first time.  Like Marjane's mother and grandmother, I too have felt deeply worried about losing a person.  

Marjane's father went out to take pictures of the demonstration, and didn't arrive home until late.  Marjane's mother and grandmother had been waiting for hours for Father to arrive home.  In my case, my father didn't appear on time either. My father's flight was supposed to last two hours, but he didn't call me until two hours and a half later.  I was waiting for my father's call to be sharp on time.  Marjane's mother and grandmother were worried that Father had been shot while taking pictures of the demonstrations.  By looking at the comic pictures, you can infer that they were scared to loose Father.  I almost cried thinking my father had an accident since he hadn't called on time.  At that moment, I felt a big emptiness in me and thought what life would be like without my father.  Like Marjane's mother and grandmother, my face showed signs of stress and worrisome.  

After reading this chapter, I realized that I share feelings with characters from the book.  In both cases, we feel scared to lose  a loved one.  Like Marjane's mother and grandmother were frightened while Father took pictures of the demonstration, I was very stressed out during my father's flight.  Thankfully, Marjane's and my father returned home alive which alleviated us, the worried ones.  

Reading Blog: The Dowry

This is the final chapter of the book.  Like many other books, Persepolis ended in a way that left the reader with a few doubts.  

Below are some of the questions I asked myself while reading the final chapter of the book.

Is the business that Marjane's mother and father have to take care of so urgent that they can't leave to Austria with Marjane? 

What is the business that Marjane's parents have to take care of in Iran? 

Why isn't Marjane looking at the positive side of leaving Iran (She seems to be very sad)? 

Are Marjane's parents going to move to Austria in 6 months? 

Is Marjane going to see her parents ever again? 

Is the revolution going to calm down soon or will it become worse? 

Why can't Marjane's grandmother come along to drop off her granddaughter at the airport?  

Is Marjane going to arrive safe to Austria or will one of the revolutionary officers stop her in the airport? 

Will Marjane be happy in Austria? 

What happened to Marjane's mother in the last page of the book? Did Marjane's mother faint? 

Reading Blog: The Sheep

This chapter reminded me of a movie called Inglorious Bastards.  This chapter and Inglorious Bastards share a similar environment.  Both stories take place in difficult times of war and conflict.  The war in Inglorious Bastards and Persepolis involves discriminating a group of people.  In Persepolis, the communist people are being persecuted, and in Inglorious Bastards, the Jews.  

Inglorious Bastards takes place during World War II in Nazi-occupied France.  At the beginning of the movie, a group of Nazis are searching for Jews to kill in the countryside.  Like the Nazis, the Savacks searched for communists, and killed them.  In Inglorious Bastards, the Nazis stop by a farm where a Jewish family is in hiding.  It takes little time for the Nazis to realize that there are Jews hiding in the house, so one of them begins to shoot everywhere around the house.  A whole Jewish family was killed.  In the case of "The Sheep" a group of Savacks went to Siamack's house to kill him and his family.  His family had already abandoned their house, so his sister was executed in his place.  Inglorious Bastards shows how Jews are discriminated and killed for not belonging to the Aryan race.  In "The Sheep", discrimination is shown, because every person with communist views is killed.

Both stories show that being different can mean losing your life. In both stories there is a clear contrast of good and bad, because you can see that the good are oppressed by the war and the bad are the creators of the war.  Since these stories take place in war times, the victims of discrimination suffer violent, inhumane consequences.

Reading Blog: The Passport

VISUAL VOCABULARY

Regime- 

Picture of the Taliban Regime in Afghanistan

a government, especially an authoritarian one.  

I think its important to know the definition of this word while reading the book, because the main idea or topic of the book is the Islamic Regime in Iran.  The main character is living under an extremist regime.  

Most regimes including the one in the book have strict, unreasonable rules.  The Islamic Regime in the book prohibits people from doing normal things such as playing cards and throwing parties.  Playing cards and throwing parties are symbols of the West or of decadence as the government would say.  The Islamic Regime is extremely religious, so anything that goes outside Islamic law is completely prohibited.  Regimes tend to have harsh consequences on rule-breakers.  In the book, rule-breakers could receive torture or be submitted to execution. People that oppose a regime or demonstrate against it suffer consequences.  In the Islamic Regime in Persepolis, people that refused to follow the regime were executed.  

Nowadays, not many countries are governed by a strict regime such as the one in the book.  Regimes prevent the population from freedom, because people cannot express themselves and their feelings freely.  Living under a regime is an unhappy, miserable experience for any person.

Persecution: 

This is a photo of a person being persecuted.  

To oppress or harass with ill treatment.  

This word is often used throughout the entire book.  This word describes what is happening to the communists, persecution.  They are being treated inhumanely for having different views than the ones of the regime.  In many cases, such as the one of the Holocaust when the Jewish people were persecuted, there is no logical reason for persecution.  The communists are innocent people with different views that are having to suffer harsh consequences for having a different perspective. 

Shah: the title of Persian emperors or kings. 

Shah Reza Pahlavi.  He was the Shah at the time of the Islamic Revolution. 

The understanding of the word shah is fundamental to understand the book.  The Shah was the one that began the Islamic Revolution, by closing down bilingual schools and obligating women to wear veils.  As emperor, he was able to imprison anyone who opposed to his new regime.  Iranians began demonstrating daily against the shah's regime.  The country was becoming dangerous because of the violence in demonstrations.  Eventually the shah resigned and left the country.  More than three thousand political prisoners were released when the shah left.  This shows how harsh his regime was.  Iranians hated the shah.

Communist/Communism: a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

This is a picture of the symbol of the communist party.  

In Persepolis, these are the innocent, oppressed people.  They are being persecuted for execution.  They are victims of the revolution, because they are suffering consequences for having a different opinion than that of the regime's.  Marjane's family is communist.  The eighteen year old girl that was in hiding with Khosro was communist.  She was spotted, arrested, and executed.  

Asylum: The protection granted by a nation to someone who has left their country as a political refugee.  

In this photo, you can tell that the United States is giving help to someone else.  This photo actually represents the United States giving asylum to people around the world.  

In this chapter, Khosro finds his house ransacked by the men who arrested the communist girl hiding in his house.  He got scared of the situation, so he fled to Turkey, and sought for asylum with his brother in Sweden.  Since the regime closed the borders for 3 years, it was difficult for people to find asylum or flee the country.  Anyone who was able to find asylum was very lucky.  During the time, asylum was every communist's dream.  They needed to flee from Iran as soon as possible before they were arrested.  This was the only safe way communists and other persecuted people could leave Iran.