Opinion – Page 5 – Alex Shams

Next Year in Tehran

February 20, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on The New Inquiry on Feb. 20, 2014. An Iranian intellectual’s trip to Israel in the 1960s revealed the strange appeal of secular republicanism to religious ethno-supremacists In March

Iran Opinion

From Tehran to Newcastle: “I Am Nasrine” and the Politics of Telling Migrant Narratives

February 10, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on February 10, 2014 by Ajam Media Collective. “I Am Nasrine” is the first feature length-film from Iranian-British Director Tina Gharavi. Newly available on DVD, the BAFTA-nominated film

Iran Opinion

15 Ways Sanctions Hurt Ordinary Iranians

October 3, 2013 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on October 3, 2013. Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has been placed under increasingly harsh rounds of sanctions by the US, the European Union, and the United

Opinion

Picturing the Iranian Everyday: An Interview with the Photographers Behind “Humans of Tehran”

August 10, 2013 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on August 10, 2013. It seems that just about every other week another Western journalist “discovers” Iran and its “manically welcoming” people (actual quote), explaining to

Opinion

Filming America 1979: Iranian-American Memories of the Year Our Lives Turned Upside Down

August 1, 2013 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on August 1, 2013. The first part of the following piece is written by Ajam Co-Editor-in-Chief Alex Shams and is an introduction to guest contributor Lila

Opinion

From Tehran to Homs: Musical Solidarity & Revolutionary Culture in a Time of Siege

February 23, 2013 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on February 23, 2013. The Syrian Revolution is approaching it’s first anniversary and the situation is looking bloodier by the day. In a not

Iran Opinion

Seeing Through the Haze: the Politics of Reporting Sanctions and Smog in Tehran

January 24, 2013 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on January 24, 2013. This winter has been a particularly rough one in Tehran. For the third year in a row, air pollution has

Opinion

Ferdowsi’s Legacy: Examining Persian Nationalist Myths of the Shahnameh

January 17, 2013 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on January 17, 2013. A tribute to Ajam Media Collective’s name and inspiration, this post was written by Ajam’s editors, Alex Shams, Rustin Zarkar, and Beeta Baghoolizadeh.

Opinion

Rising Palestinian Resistance

November 16, 2012 by Alex Shams

Originally published in the Harvard Crimson. Co-authored by Giacomo Bagarella. Two weeks ago, our group, the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee, partnered with the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance to

Iran Opinion

No, Iran Didn’t Just Ban Women From Universities.

August 22, 2012 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on August 22, 2012. I awoke yesterday morning to a barrage of excited, fearful, and shocked emails and messages demanding to understand why Iran had