Essay
Collective Trauma in the Cinema of Jafar Panahi
Panahi’s latest film is a political black comedy with a mystery at its core. Its subject is both grim and peculiar: the enduring bond between torturer and victim in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Essay
Essay
When Hope Outpaces Calculation, Mechanisms of Collective Perceptual Error in a Moment of Protest
On 8–9 January 2026, nationwide protests in Iran culminated in one of the deadliest crackdowns in recent history. This essay explores how symbolic power, media framing, and distorted risk perception shaped a collective perceptual error.
Essay
Iran Is Being Silenced Again: What to Expect Next?
by Mahtab Mahboub Tuesday 13 January 2026 Iran is undergoing an escalation of repression by the government: a nationwide internet shutdown—now extended to satellite services such as Starlink—is being used to erase visibility while security forces kill protesters and extort families for the return of bodies. This strategy
Essay
Gaza Beyond Metaphor: On Hamid Dabashi’s Civilizational Ethics
Dabashi’s power lies in rewriting the genealogy of colonial violence and binding it to the present. Still, his critique falters when it treats “the West” as an essence or "civilizational instinct" rather than a shifting system of power and institutions.
Essay
The Ascent of Life: A Narrative of Iran After Jina
The Islamic Republic regime is weakened but still poses a threat to the Iranian people. The recent short conflict with Israel revealed the country's vulnerabilities and the helplessness of its citizens. How can domestic tyranny be dismantled without succumbing to foreign warfare or internal chaos?
Essay
The Current Deadlock of Politics in Iran
What steps in domestic politics could keep us from sliding into an external military aggression, a coup, civil war, and economic–environmental ruin?
Essay
Nationalism, War, and Affection for One’s Homeland
A sense of belonging to one’s home is a human feeling; it does not inherently require allegiance to any particular state or fixed borders. Home is where you work, toil, build a life and a house.
Essay
Peace with the Devil
“The Great Satan”, a label once wielded by the founder of the Islamic Republic to describe the United States, has long faded from Iranian discourse. Today, few Iranians remember the revolutionary fervor that once infused the phrase.