ضمن سفر به هند و بازدید از کمپ ها و همدردی با پناهجویان مسلمان میانماری

کتایون ریاحی، با دالایی لاما دیدار کرد+ گفتگوی کتایون ریاحی با دالایی لاما

ریاحی درباره این سفر گفت: «مثل همیشه انگار صدایی از درونم از جایی به گوشم می‌رسد، و بی‌طاقت می‌شوم برای انسانی که گاهی بشدت درمانده و تنها شده است، چند ماه پیش هم نقل مردمی آواره و بی‌پناه به گوشم رسید و به اینجا فراخوانده شدم، خوشبختانه اینجا با سومالی تفاوت‌هایی محسوس دارد، این مردم آرام و صبور، فقیر نبودند، بلکه آواره از شهر و دیار و کاشانه‌شان؛ و با مناعتی غریب ما را پذیرا شدند و با گفتن درد‌هایشان؛ فکر می‌کنم که تا حدی تسکین یافتند، ما نمی‌توانیم اینهمه مشکل را حل کنیم، و فقط در حد بضاعت خود قدمی برداشتیم، اما من امیدوارم و هدفم بطور کلی اینست که صدای کمک این مردم، به گوش آنان که باید این درد دل‌ها را بشنوند برسد؛ و من می‌دانم که می‌رسد. ما باید امید داشته باشیم.»

در روز اول فروردین، ملاقات نهایی با دالایی لاما بشکل اختصاصی و با حضور تعدادی از همکاران بنیاد کمک صورت پذیرفت؛ ابتدا دالایی لاما، سال نو را به کتایون ریاحی و همراهان ایشان تبریک گفت؛ سپس ریاحی با ابراز خوشحالی از دیدار فوق، پیشنهاد «روز خدا» را طرح کرد: «آرزوى دیرینه من سلامتى و صلح در جهان هست، و فکر می‌کنم که در این زمینه، با هم همعقیده باشیم. من مدام از خودم می‌پرسم چه اتفاقى براى بشریت افتاده که این قدر به فکر جنگ افتادهاست!؟ در حالى که انسان ذاتاً باید که خواستار صلح باشد. من این روز‌ها از کمپ مسلمانان می‌انماری هم دیدن کردم، وضعیت آنان اسفبار است! و در گوشه گوشه دنیا می‌توان تبعیض و فقر و جهل و جنگ را دید! من شما رایکی از مظاهر صلح و مهر در جهان می‌دانم و از آنجا که صلح و سلامتی در جهان آرزوی دیرینه من هم هست، پیشنهادی با خودمهدیه آورده‌ام؛ پیشنهاد می‌کنم در سال، یک روز را هم به نام» خدا «نامگذاری کنیم، که در این روز هیچ خونی روی زمین ریخته نشود؛ نه از انسان و نه از هیچ جانداری؛ جنگ‌ها در این روز آتش بس شوند، اعدام‌ها لغو و هیچ قربانی‌ای صورت نپذیرد. باشد که این روز، اولین روز صلح در جهان شود....»

دالایی لاما نیز با استقبال وزیبا خواندن چنین اندیشه ایگفت: «بسیار ایده و فکر خوبی ست و فکر می‌کنم که سرزمین هند بهترین جا برای طرح آن باشد؛ زیرا هند مظهر همجواری و همزیستی زیبای همه مذاهب و قومیت‌ها و نژادهاست؛ من این ایده را دریک مراسم و یا کنفرانسی با حضور سران کشور‌ها، و با افتخار مطرح خواهم کرد و حتما عنوان می‌کنم که این فکر را از دوست ایرانی‌ام کتایون ریاحی دریافت کرده‌ام. من از فعالیت‌های شما در زمینه کمک رسانی به محرومان مطلع شده‌ام، تبریک می‌گویم و از آنجایى که شما را خیلى مشتاق گسترش مهر و صلح می‌بینم، تقاضا دارم بیشتر در این زمینه‌ها فعالیت کنید.»

دالایی لاما در ادامه افزود: «متاسفانه در تمام تیره‌های مذهبی و قومی، جنگ و بی‌عدالتی دیده می‌شود، و ما از دیدن اینهمه درگیری در جای جای جهان ناراحتیم، باید بیشتر بکوشیم و بیشتر انرژی صلح را در جهان گسترش بدهیم؛ من واقعا امید دارم که سرانجام بشریت یکی شود و بسوی صلح حرکت کند، ما همه انسان هستیم و در احساسات با هم مشترکیم؛ من هم به صلح امید بسیار دارم.»

منبع:  سینمانگار

 نوشته شده توسط علی بیدار در یکشنبه 93/1/17 و ساعت 1:17 عصر | نظرات دیگران()

گزارش لوس آنجلس تایمز از وضعیت اسفناک دریاچه ارومیه

Dying Lake Urmia reflects a broader problem in Iran

In the words of a former agriculture minister, water shortages are making Iran an "uninhabitable desert."

 By Ramin Mostaghim and Alexandra Sandels

An eerie and forlorn tableau greets visitors to the arid shores of this once-vast lake in Iran"s far northwest. Rusting ships sit wedged in deep black mud. Stray dogs nibble on rotting planks from long-discarded beach chairs and derelict bungalows.

Lake Urmia, long counted among the world"s largest saltwater lakes — almost 90 miles in length and stretching 34 miles at its widest point — is today a pitiful shadow of its former self.

Vast expanses of the onetime holiday haven have been transformed into stretches of sunbaked mud so solid that "pickup trucks and tractors can drive on it for miles," saidHojjat Jabbari, a scientist working in the environmental department in Urmia.

In the last two decades, experts say, a toxic combination of wasteful irrigation practices, the damming of feeder rivers, prolonged drought and a warming climate has accelerated the decline of the storied lake, noted in the historical accounts of various civilizations dating back millenniums.

Today, according to experts at Iran"s environmental agency, the lake, in a broad plain flanked by steep mountains, contains only 5% of the amount of water it did just 20 years ago.

The decline is part of a broader problem facing the Islamic Republic, much of which is already desert.

Some analysts suggest that water rationing may have to be imposed in Tehran, the densely populated capital and metropolitan area home to more than 12 million people.

In January, the centrist Iranian newspaper Shahrvand reported that 517 of more than 700 cities and towns in Iran were "on the verge of a water crisis" that could result in drinking water shortages, especially during the parched summer.

In recent years, several large Iranian rivers have dried up, as has Iran"s third-largest lake, Hamoun, in the southeast.

"Iran is becoming an uninhabitable desert, and do not think it will happen in the future — it is happening already," Iran"s former agriculture minister, Isa Kalantari, said in remarks published last year in local media.

With economic and security concerns dominating official discourse, environmental awareness has been slow to take hold in Iran. The Islamic Republic finished 83rd among 178 nations ranked recently on the Environmental Performance Index, which tracks various indicators of environmental, public health and ecosystem vitality. Severe air pollution in Tehran and other cities regularly forces the closure of schools and offices.

Experts say future water shortages are likely to be felt most keenly by Iran"s agricultural sector, which accounts for about 13% of the nation"s economic output and almost one-quarter of its employment. Environmentalists have warned that toxic salts leaching from Lake Urmia"s desiccated shores could taint nearby farmland.

In some instances, water policies and the effects of shortages have fueled public protests, a development authorities eye with dismay. Demonstrators clashed with police in Varzaneh in Esfahan province, in central Iran, during more than a month of protests last year against the government"s diversion of water to other regions.

In 2011, police arrested dozens who rallied to save Lake Urmia, a source of pride among many of the 3 million people who live nearby, many of them ethnic Azeris. Officials said the protesters were detained for demonstrating without a permit, but some activists suspected hostility toward the Azeri population.

Two decades ago, Lake Urmia was still a popular destination for vacationers. Tourists marveled at the flocks of flamingos, pelicans and other bird life that gathered on its shores. Bathers immersed themselves in the saline waters and smeared their bodies with its legendary black mud, said to help heal stiff joints. Some called it Iran"s version of the Dead Sea.

"I remember how my late grandmother told us that nobody was in danger of drowning as you couldn"t sink in the salty water," recalled Ameneh Saeedi, 33, a secretary in Tehran, who vacationed at the lake regularly with her family. "We used to stay up until the small hours laughing and swimming."

Today vehicles can reach many of the lake"s more than 100 small islands that were once a signature feature, havens for wildlife and humans on holiday.

Environmentalists are divided as to whether Lake Urmia"s fate can be reversed. Mohammad Darvish, an official with the national environmental agency, remains optimistic.

"It may takes 10 years, but the salty lake can be saved," he said in an interview. "If the rain and snowfalls are managed well, we can direct enough water to the lake to be revived."

However, the cash-strapped central government has shown no sign of embarking on a massive, costly campaign to restore the lake to its former glory. Many Iranians seem resigned to its demise.

For some, Lake Urmia"s death march serves as a dark allegory for the bleak future facing a generation of young, well-educated Iranians with few viable career prospects. A recent theatrical production in Tehran, "In the Salty Land," compares the "dying salty lake" to fading hope that Iran"s moribund economy will rebound, despite vows of better times to come from President Hassan Rouhani, who was elected last year.

Gazing out at the blackened basin of Lake Urmia from its gloomy shores, it"s difficult to envision a rebirth anytime soon. The pelicans and other birds that used to enliven the scenery have moved on to more hospitable homes, leaving behind a forbidding landscape and ghostly quiet.

"The migratory birds are taking refugee in the wetlands for now," said Jabbari, the local scientist, who still harbors hope that the shriveled Urmia may one day recover its vitality. "They"re gliding over the dying lake less and less these days."

source: http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iran-lake-20140321,0,7538950.story

 نوشته شده توسط علی بیدار در شنبه 93/1/2 و ساعت 2:33 عصر | نظرات دیگران()

آنها اضافه می کنند ایده تحریم به تصویر کشیدن پیامبران در آثار فرهنگی همچنان اجتهادی از سوی فقهاست.

در بخشی از بیانیه "جبهه خلاقیت" و در پاسخ به اظهارات فقهای الازهر آمده است: آن کس که ستاره سینما "راسل کرو" را در خیابان ببیند و معتقد باشد او پیامبر نوح است نیازمند روانپزشک است. تعامل صحیح با فیلم با ممنوعیت آن برای میلیون ها نفر دارای ذهن و روان سالم و قابل فهم از ماهیت سینما صورت نمی گیرد.

جبهه خلاقیت در اوایل 2012 و به دنبال قدرت گرفتن گروه های افراط گرای اسلامی و اخوان المسلمین در مصر و اعمال محدودیت هایی بر هنرمندان و اهالی فرهنگ تشکیل شد و شامل صدها نفر از اهالی فرهنگ و هنرمندان، رؤسای سندیکاهای هنری و کارگردانانی از جمله داوود عبدالسید و خالد یوسف و بازیگران مشهوری چون محمود حمیده و نبیل الحلفاوی است.

الازهر مصر هم در بیانیه ای اعلام کرد: امام بزرگ الازهر، هیات علمای بزرگ و مجمع تحقیقات اسلامی مخالفت خود را با نمایش هر اثری که پیامبران را تجسم کند اعلام می دارد. این اقدام به احساسات مومنین ضربه می زند و برخلاف مبانی شریعت اسلامی است.

الازهر یکی از عالی ترین مراجع دینی مسلمانان سنی مذهب شناخته می شود.

در بیانیه الازهر اضافه شده است: نمایش این فیلم به لحاظ شرعی، حرام و نقض صریح مبانی شریعت اسلامی است. ما خواهان عدم اکران این فیلم هستیم.

اکران فیلم نوح به کارگردانی دارن آرونوفسکی و بازی راسل کرو (در نقش نوح پیامبر)، جنیفر کانلی، داگلاس بوث، لوگن لرمان، اما واتسون،  آنتونی هاپکینز و ری وینستونا از 28 مارس 2014 در آمریکا آغاز می شود.

این فیلم با هزینه 130 میلیون دلاری ساخته شده است.

در این فیلم داستان حضرت نوح که در کتاب های مقدس آمده به تصویر کشیده شده است. او کشتی می سازد و با جمع کردن یک جفت از هر موجود زنده ای، آنها را از طوفان نجات می دهد.

نماینده شرکت تهیه و توزیع فیلم باراماونت گفت: سه کشور عربی بحرین، قطر و امارات نیز به همین دلیل، اکران این فیلم را ممنوع اعلام کردند.

منبع: عصرایران به نقل از رویترز

 نوشته شده توسط علی بیدار در یکشنبه 92/12/18 و ساعت 1:5 عصر | نظرات دیگران()

 گزارش زیر در روزنامه نیویورک تایمز در تاریخ 31 ‍ژانویه 2014 درباره دریاچه ارومیه چاپ شده است.

 Its Great Lake Shriveled, Iran Confronts Crisis of Water Supply

 By THOMAS ERDBRINK JAN. 30, 2014

LAKE URMIA, Iran — After driving for 15 minutes over the bottom of what was once Iran’s largest lake, a local environmental official stepped out of his truck, pushed his hands deep into his pockets and silently wandered into the great dry plain, as if searching for water he knew he would never find.

Just an hour earlier, on a cold winter day here in western Iran, the official, Hamid Ranaghadr, had recalled how as recently as a decade ago, cruise ships filled with tourists plied the lake’s waters in search of flocks of migrating flamingos.

Now, the ships are rusting in the mud and the flamingos fly over the remains of the lake on their way to more hospitable locales. According to figures compiled by the local environmental office, only 5 percent of the water remains.

Iran is facing a water shortage potentially so serious that officials are making contingency plans for rationing in the greater Tehran area, home to 22 million, and other major cities around the country. President Hassan Rouhani has identified water as a national security issue, and in public speeches in areas struck hardest by the shortage he is promising to "bring the water back."

Experts cite climate change, wasteful irrigation practices and the depletion of groundwater supplies as leading factors in the growing water shortage. In the case of Lake Urmia, they add the completion of a series of dams that choked off a major supply of fresh water flowing from the mountains that tower on either side of the lake.

"Only some years ago the water here was 30 feet deep," Mr. Ranaghadr said, kicking up dust with each step on the dry lake bed. In the distance, spots of land — once islands where tourists would spend vacations in bungalows overlooking the blue waters — were surrounded by plains of brown mud and sand. "We just emptied it out," he said with a sigh, stepping back into the car.

Iran’s water troubles extend far beyond Lake Urmia, which as a salt lake was never fit for drinking or agricultural use. Other lakes and major rivers have also been drying up, leading to disputes over water rights, demonstrations and even riots.

Major rivers near Isfahan, in central Iran, and Ahvaz, near the Persian Gulf, have gone dry, as has Hamoun Lake, in the Afghanistan border region. Dust from the dry riverbeds has added to already dangerously high air pollution levels in Iran, home to four of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, the United Nations says.

But nowhere is the crisis more pronounced than at Lake Urmia, once one of the largest salt lakes in the world — at 90 miles long and roughly 35 miles wide, it was slightly larger than Great Salt Lake in Utah. Environmentalists are warning that the dried salt could poison valuable agricultural lands surrounding the lake, and make life miserable for the three million people who live in its vicinity.

Along what used to be a lakeshore boulevard, worn-down snack bars and dressing rooms are testament to the days when people from across Iran would come to water-ski on the lake or cover themselves in its black mud, which is said to have healing powers.

About two decades ago, a local villager, Mokhtar Cheraghi, began to notice the water line receding. "First a hundred meters, then two hundred meters. After a while, we couldn’t see the shoreline anymore," he said, standing in what was once his thriving cafe, Cheraghi’s Beach. "We kept waiting for the water to return, but it never did."

Most people in the area blame the half-dozen major dams the government has built in the region for the lake’s disappearance. The dams have greatly reduced the flow of water in the 11 rivers that feed into the lake. As an arid country with numerous lofty mountain chains, Iran has a predilection for dams that extends to the reign of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

Dam construction was given renewed emphasis under Mr. Rouhani’s predecessor as president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who as an engineer had a weakness for grand projects. Another driving force is the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which through its engineering arm, Khatam al-Anbia Construction, builds many of the dams in Iran and surrounding countries.

Half an hour’s drive into the mountains above the city of Urmia stands the mighty Chahchai Dam, collecting water that would otherwise have reached the lake. The dam, finished during Mr. Ahmadinejad’s first term, now holds a huge lake itself, which local farmers use for irrigating their lands.

"Some of Urmia’s water is here," said Mr. Ranaghadr, raising his voice over the howling winds that blow down from the surrounding snowcapped peaks. "The people here need water, too, is what they say."

Besides producing badly needed electricity, the dams are intended to address the water shortage. But too often, the water is wasted through inefficient irrigation techniques, particularly spraying, Mr. Ranaghadr and other experts say.

In recent decades, the amount of land dedicated to agriculture in the region, the country’s heartland, has tripled, with many farmers growing particularly thirsty crops like grapes and sugar beets, Mr. Ranaghadr pointed out. His department has calculated that about 90 percent of all the water that should end up in the lake is sprayed on fields.

In a 2005 book that he wrote on national security challenges for Iran, Mr. Rouhani estimated that 92 percent of Iran’s water is used for agriculture, compared with 80 percent in the United States (90 percent in some Western states).

"They turn open the tap, flood the land, without understanding that in our climate most of the water evaporates that way," said Ali Reza Seyed Ghoreishi, a member of the local water management council. "We need to educate the farmers."

The lake has also been attacked from underground. As part of the government’s drive to promote local agriculture, large landholdings were divided into smaller plots, and most of the new owners promptly dug new wells, soaking up much of the groundwater.

"There are around 30,000 legally dug wells and an equal amount of illegal wells," Mr. Seyed Ghoreishi said. "As the water is becoming less, they have to dig deeper and deeper."

Climate change, particularly rising temperatures, has played a role. Average temperatures around Lake Urmia have risen by a little over 3 degrees Fahrenheit in the past decade, official statistics show.

A long drought in the region seems to have ended two years ago, with rainfall levels returning to normal. But the increased rainfall has not made up for the other factors that are draining the lake.

"We are all to blame," Mr. Ranaghadr said. "There are just too many people nowadays, and everybody needs to use the water and the electricity the dams generate."

Back in his office, the Department of Environment, officials sounded like soldiers on a doomed mission. They had drawn up no fewer than 19 plans to save the lake, ranging from the sensible (educating farmers in new irrigation technologies) to the fanciful (seeding clouds to increase rainfall).

"We can start now," said Abbas Hassanpour, the head of the office. Flanked by his assistants, including Mr. Ranaghadr, he said his department had created "task forces and models ready to implement."

While Iran is shooting monkeys into space to advance its missile program, the Rouhani government, low on funds because of the impact of the international sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program, has not made any money available for efforts to restore the lake.

Even if it did, officials say, it is probably too late to save Lake Urmia. All the money in the world can be poured into the lake, one said, but in the most optimistic projections, it would take decades for the water to reach its old levels, assuming it even could. There are simply too many problems, too many competing interests, for the rescue to be feasible.

Not doing anything, or not enough, will still create many problems. In 2010 and 2011, violent protests over the lake erupted in Urmia, and security forces had to be flown in to restore order.

"We are not allowed to speak of the lake," said Morteza Mirzaei, who lives in Urmia. "But they built their dams, and now everything is gone." Others said ordinary people are also to blame, but "the government is the steward of the country," said Mushin Rad, who sells printer equipment. "They are responsible."

Mr. Ranaghadr, who grew up around the lake, said he spends free time battling poachers in the hills around it. "You know what the real problem is?" he said. "Everybody across the world is only thinking of money. We did, too, and now our lake is gone."

A version of this article appears in print on January 31, 2014, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Its Great Lake Shriveled, Iran Confronts Crisis of Water Supply.

 SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/world/middleeast/its-great-lake-shriveled-iran-confronts-crisis-of-water-supply.html

 نوشته شده توسط علی بیدار در چهارشنبه 92/11/16 و ساعت 1:16 صبح | نظرات دیگران()