The Great Battle of Our Time over Personal Boundaries; In Conversation with Ehsan Shahghasemi/ Matin Mostafaei

The discussion of “citizenship rights” has had many ups and downs throughout history, starting with political rights in ancient Greece and later evolving into cultural, social, and civil rights. Recently, with the expansion of digital technologies and virtual space, the topic of citizenship rights in the digital and virtual realm has gained attention. For years, […]...

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Hossein Ansari Rad, representative of the parliament’s eras: Mandatory hijab is forbidden for Muslims / Ali Kalaii

CCTV cameras and their use for monitoring individuals who do not wear mandatory hijab have become a challenging issue. Some consider it as a replacement for the morality police, while others have spoken out against its legality. Hossein Ansari Rad, representative of the first and sixth sessions of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, tells Khat-e-Solh magazine […]...

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Human Rights in the Era of Digital Authoritarianism/ Amin Qazaei

Does emerging technology strengthen individual freedoms or make authoritarian governments more capable of controlling and monitoring citizens? In response to this issue, there has always been a simple analytical framework: on one hand, information technology, with the emergence of the internet and later social networks, facilitates and accelerates the free flow of information and increases […]...

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“Balancing Security and Privacy: Lessons from Iran’s Surveillance Tactics / Alireza Goodarzi”

The real world is not like a movie or a novel. In the real world, there are no spies with small devices taking pictures from behind tall walls, and no “big brother” watching inside our homes, lest someone have secret notes. At least our imagination is that we have not yet reached that point. But […]...

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The Struggle for Anonymity in Iran / Abdullah Bai Lashki

With the advancement of technology and increase in global communication, the sanctity of privacy and the shield of anonymity are facing unprecedented challenges. This struggle is nowhere more evident than in countries where government surveillance casts a shadow over everything. Iran, with the use of a powerful surveillance apparatus, appears as a focal point for […]...

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Censorship and Censor; A Journey Traveled / Seyed Mohammad Sahafi

1- In 43, I was six years old when they took me to Savak Qom to visit my father who was in temporary detention at the branch of this organization on Station Street in Qom. They had taken him there to punish and intimidate him because he had been selling and distributing the banned book […]...

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Internet Execution Season/ Barbod Mirage

The chain of deliberate and unintentional events in the government of Ebrahim Raisi has led to the satisfaction of the internet in Iran reaching its lowest level. The 34% increase in internet prices was the final link in this chain that brought us to this point. But why have governing institutions, especially the government, raised […]...

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Freedom of thought and resistance against cultural limitations / Mehrdad Naghibi

The dismissive and belittling approach towards independent intellectuals was not limited to the post-revolution and the rule of the Islamic Republic, but even before the revolution, independent intellectuals were also subjected to ridicule and threats from the ruling government. The approach of negating intellectualism has not only been promoted and justified by the government, but […]...

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Why is cultural criticism necessary? / Mehrdad Naghibi

Criticism of culture is a necessary matter for social dynamism. For over a century, Iranian society has been firmly rooted in various efforts to maintain ancient structures of tyranny, and its extent has reached a critical stage. In such a situation, whether willingly or unwillingly, the issue of cultural analysis becomes necessary, as cultural crises […]...

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Publishing industry, under the oxygen mask; conversation with Hassan Kiaian, manager of Cheshme publishing/ Matin Mostafaei

The circulation of books in the country is decreasing and bookstores are going bankrupt or changing their profession. Newspapers and written media in Iran have also been struggling to survive for several years. Sometimes they have not published one or two issues for various reasons, or have reduced the number of pages. At times, they […]...

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Publication Manager of Baztab Negar: Censorship in the book industry is more prevalent than in other fields / Ali Kalaii.

“We are both private and bear the burden of government surveillance. This is a statement from a publisher who has been active in the field of publishing for years. According to him, the publishing industry, specifically independent publishing in Iran, does not receive government subsidies or financial aid, but is heavily controlled by the government […]...

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A few brief reflections on the crises of books in Iran / Reza Najafi

Book and reading in Iran are facing multiple crises because, on one hand, they are inheriting global problems such as the decline of the book market due to the emergence of powerful competitors like cinema, television, virtual space, and various computer games, as well as new media such as audio works, and on the other […]...

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