A Voice of Two Cities

“Welcome, Business Associate #2 and 4, you will now begin transformation to a BRAND NEW YOU! Lol! I know! Isn’t it amazing?! We’re going to give you both free GOLD coins ‘cause we CARE! LOL! ”

(this picture is from AntiGQ . Thank Him)

Being easily deceived by the flash of anything resembling gold, and easily won in by anyone who can talk faster than my brain spends registering what is being said, I would not doubt the power and the money that has been circulating through Multi-Level Marketing firms throughout the world (Probably running in the billions).

MLM schemes began in the United States, as far as I know, and have now infiltrated almost all countries in the world, including Iran.

A few days ago, a friend was approached by a business associate of E-Parsian, an MLM firm that competes with another, Goldquest, in Iran. After a lot of persuasive talk, ranging from a bright future with E-Parsian, to an opportunity for change in a penniless environment, to the bright vision of Tomans (or Dollars) raining like cats and dogs on her head, she confessed to being completely enamored by this presentation.

First of all, business associate, sales associate, recruiter, and investor is the title given or leant to anyone who joins these MLM companies as well as being given the job of recruiting other people as members (You must pay 44,000 Tomans to E-Parsian before joining). These recruits of the recruiter or “downliners” are the foundation for the pyramid scheme plans; as the number of downliners’ increases the more members join, increasing the marketing of the company geometrically. E-Parsian requires two people to join the first recruiter before giving Recruiter#1 6,000 Tomans; For each new downliner that each new recruit brings under the wings of E-Parsian, 6500 Rials are given, or transferred to a special bank account for Recruiter#1.

The bank account mentioned above has a few options and a few strings attached to it, such as 5% of the deposit that the company makes into the bank account being taken by the company itself. Somehow, this may seem all too detectable, all too fishy smelling. Well, as in most of the world, these companies that are stationed in Asia know what to do to make their company appear legal, at the least. Once an MLM begins offering products or selling services to the members, it can be considered legal, a business of sorts. A few of them offer retail prices, or half-prices for the products and services that are offered. A little padding, you could say, to legitimize the fall.

However, these companies will still argue that their aim is not for members to pay high prices as well as having the privilege of recruiting friends and family, but that the opposite case is true. They “offer great services and products at low prices which compensate for the payments from downliners as well as the time and money put into recruiting and distributing E-Parsian’s products and services”.

Because of the heady rumors running about against Goldquest and such companies, it becomes an uphill climb for anyone trying to discern between facts and fiction. The government and the ministry responsible for the control and allocation of rights to these companies have only just begun to practice authority over these firms. The news headlines claim that these companies are absolute frauds but without exposing their REAL business plans, I doubt the people will listen. But, in recent weeks, these companies have suffered some losses, and that is a slight stagnation in their members. For each company, the case is an individual one that needs to be tackled by government officials, journalists, researchers, economists, administrators, and watchdog groups.

Does anyone else actually see what I’ve seen so far? Is it not the fact that there has to be an END to this scheme somewhere; an end that doesn’t come from the actions of the government but from the very plans of the MLM firm? I suppose a few of you have already calculated what this geometric growth and the socio-economic issue that relates to it will culminate to. As for me, I see a growth into the millions in Iran, if the government does not get involved; as soon as it reaches a couple million, it will become apparent that the whole infrastructure, the whole pyramid, was being built on the weakest of foundations. Most people who join these companies, the majority of them as I know it, are hard-working people who earn money in the 100-200 thousand Toman range, a month. This is below the poverty line, and assuming that these products range from; laptops, to subscriptions, to household appliances; I can imagine that someone who earns 150,000 Tomans a month (who has to pay 6,000 Tomans for meat!) will not necessarily be willing to rush for a brand new laptop, even if it is half-price and has no CD-drive.

The downliners steadily and quickly increase, and yet, most of them, including me, cannot afford to buy more than one of their services and products. The real people, the real money-makers, are the “upliners”. Recruiter#1.

So, what are these companies actually doing? Waving their products and services like a white flag in the face of those who would find out the truth, seems like a poor but real way of hiding something in these MLM firms’ pyramid- scams (ooops! I mean schemes)

Earning up in the hundreds of millions, I think it’s about time a decision was made on this issue.

(If a distributor could grant the rights of selling products and services directly to the sales/business associate, it could be considered a more legal approach; a number of products and services that a member has to sell and profit from, plus the percentage paid from downliners could actually make an economical profit for the upliner, instead of basing all of his/her sales on the recruitment of downliners, and so on. A substantial amount of the money an associate receives should come directly from recruitments as well as product and service profits)

Adios.

*To love the people in peace.

To: Love, the people in peace.

To love; the people in peace.*

huh.

Nothing has changed in Iran’s traffic and pedestrian culture for quite a while now; two decades is quite a while. One can fly an hour and some minutes over the gulf of Persia to take a good look at the driven culture ( pun intended) of the Arabic communities in their major cities.

In Saudi Arabia, under the reign of HM the King (and descendants, and brothers, and brother-in-laws) a driven culture was enforced with violence. You might ask how, some accounts tell of police-men breaking windows, or scratching a car with batons and keys if a law was broken; breaking laws, like running a red light, could cost a car-owner a light or two, plus the expenses of a towing machine.

These accounts are firsthand eyewitness reports, drawn up from various sources, but you can imagine how quickly these incidents sparked an upward cultural shift for drivers in Saudi Arabia. It should be mentioned that, in Dubai, the driving is comparable to the civilized streets of Europe and the U.S. Now, that is, after years of hard, dedicated work.

In Tehran, we struggle with the words “Stop”, “traffic”, and “Police”. You wouldn’t catch anyone driving in the wrong direction on a one-way road in Tehran where traffic police is stationed. Because there is a system that can be similar to a grassroots movement called rebellion. Many drivers and even pedestrians will venture to WARN other drivers if an officer is standing at the end of the one-way road. For instance, any cars going the RIGHT way will warn cars going the WRONG way that they’re in for nearly 15,000 Tomans of a ticket by flashing lights or even waving their arms to slow down then warn other drivers.

You could almost laugh at the biting sense of irony.

Here are some headlines from the darkest of such ironies, concerning pedestrians and drivers having very little to do with the hard-working officers of this country.

It was gross, it was sad, and it was pretty damn funny for a moment. Those of you who have heard of rare and dark happenings are probably not surprised by this marvel of Nature. On a pretty normal day, on a pretty normal highway (The Tehran-Karaj Autobahn) a young man in his white pride hits a “pedestrian” who decided to cross the highway. For those of you fellow Americans who can’t imagine J-Walking in your otherwise nicely suburban neighborhoods, try visualizing this on an Interstate with cars going…hmmm…120-140 Km/h (that would be probably around 90/100 Mi/h!) Shiiiieeeeeettt. The driver ran from the scene, unaware that the dumb, and apparently dead, pedestrian was caught on the roof of his car by his clothes. 10 minutes later the Pride was caught by policemen, and taken away.

Our second headline came sometime ago, on a pretty normal day, on a pretty normal highway (again, the Tehran-Karaj Autobahn) Because of Tehran’s heavy outgoing and ingoing traffic, it gets quite hot trying to control them, let alone the big-rigs and trucks. One such day, as mentioned above, a big-rig which looks something like a garbage truck but bigger, with nearly 48 inch wheels plows into 5 men, who happened to be doing the Daytona 500 J-Walking Act, as is also mentioned above, killing 3 immediately and injuring the other 2. According to the article that Mr. Taxi-Driver read me, a Pedestrian-Only bridge (which is usually painted BRIGHT RED) was only a few dozen meters away from the accident.

If it is the government’s aim to control the traffic and driving culture of the major cities, it would have to be Ruin, Resolve, Regain.

Ruin is a strong term, but it can be a shock-label for what needs to be done in the higher positions of the government, such as the ranking Officers taking responsibility for the slackness with which this issue is being pursued. According to a Taxi-Driver, “there’s nothing to be done because nobody wants to do it”. One could claim that none of these management issues are affecting the people, but that would be a joke; a below-the-belt one at that.

Resolve is to push those responsible to either step down or push up their sleeves and get to work. They aren’t getting paid to sit on their asses, are they? In order to try and create this new law-abiding system, they’ll need to build a good foundation; communications and leadership. These qualities in any of the ranking officers will make strong effect on both the lower officers and the cause which people and money would gladly rally behind.

Regain is when the biggest urban project of Iranian history would begin. Not only does the culture of traffic and driving change the image of the capital and other major cities, it opens doors for a great new sphere of administration in terms of urban construction. Taking back what has been slowly deteriorating the health of city-dwellers and Tehran and erasing its damage is regaining a position of wealth, in all meanings of the word.

If you think of any thing to add, or have your own completely different thought or project pertaining to this, you can let me know with a link or a message. It was very easy writing this because I’m not the one with the details, at least not yet, and neither are they. This is good enough at the moment, even if I wish it weren’t so.

Most people could challenge the decisions that some administrators and some Mayors have made over these years, but the point is to show where they can improve as well as stripping it down to the nitty gritty for all to see. I didn’t think this article was nitty or even gritty, it was merely a little bit of dust in the eye.

You could probably go on for me, but I need some rest, before doing some more brain hacking. One could almost say that, this issue is impossible to R&R&R, for obvious reasons, you know?

Huh.

*To love the people in peace.

To: Love, the people in peace.

To love; the people in peace.*

huh.

** A note from a friend, read this, then reach out and help, go take a look at the websites, or google the movement against this, or send the Senador a nice email- For those of us on the other side of the world, it shouldn't matter where it is that other side is, the forests of Brazil are our forests, whether in the Middle East or in Sao Paulo. **



This is a huge request I have for you all and, probably, if it was not that important I would not be sending this. yes, I know, it may seem a desperate action but this truly is a desperate situation. Fot all of those that may have read my journal, you know what I am talking about, for those who haven't then you'll know what this is all about in a few lines, since it is all explained in the nest paragraph. I am asking you to, please, forward this text to all your e-mail contacts and to put it on your journal if you are with this cause. There is no much time left, we have only until the 20th September and something needs to be done. I would also ask you that if you speak any other language besides english or portuguese to, please, translate this to that language, it is easier to get near more people like that.

Thank you so very much in advanced.


*Mehrunnisa


Dear Friends,

Last Tuesday, 13 of September, the Brazilian politicians discussed the new law project about the exploration of the public brazilian forest (the major part is constituted by the Amazonian rainforests). In the meeting there was basically industrial and politic representation. There were no indigenous people invited for the meeting. We investigated this weird fact, because more or less 14% of the brazilian territory belongs to them and the answer was that they were not invited for the discussion our have been informed about this law project! As we all know, the indigenous people are one of the few cultures that opposes to the cruel exploration of the nature so, it means they are a barrier.

The objective of this journal is to divulgate and discuss the law project, to emphasize the importance of the representation of the rainforest people and to pressure the politicians to preserve the forest instead of destroying it. We couldn’t translate the law project to English, and we are looking for possible translations of this text and the law project to other languages so we can reach more people.

About the law project, we feel that is an effort to regulate, in a central law, the disperse regional and municipal laws. But instead of just order the fiscalization and the preservation of the forest, it allows its exploration. The law project has some interesting paragraphs about the creation of sustainable zones in the forest, but if you rent it for 40 years to an industry or to a multinational, what do you imagine that will happen? Even if you have penalizations, what will they solve when you had already destroyed the forest? Also if you live in Brazil you will know that they are no penalties for the riches and for the corrupts. So in a meeting concerning the laws to be applied to the forest, where the goals are the development of the country represented by the commercial, political and industrial sector, with no representation of the forest people, what can we expect? 50% of the forest will be available to explore in this new law! The enrichment of Brazil is one of the reasons presented to support the law project, but who do you think is going to get the profits from this? And there are already multiple examples of the exploration of the forest by big companies! Can you imagine the pollution damages and the tree devastation?

Talking practically, "exploration" is a contract that the employees sign in order to be able to work for those companies, and that’s it. So this attitude of allowing the exploration of the forests because they cannot control the devastation, doesn’t make any sense. It’s like approving the legalization of crimiminality because you can’t control it. How can you believe in a project that was made by the same persons that were responsible for the fiscalization of the forests in the past and didn’t stop the destruction? So Mother Earth will thank you if we preserve it.

Preservation is the only solution.

You can pressure the following persons by sending them emails to:
1) Preserve and fiscalize the rainforests instead of allowing the exploration, has offered by the law project "SUBSTITUTIVO AO PROJETO DE LEI Nº 4.776, DE 2005";

2) Legitimate the participation of the rainforest people in all this process and for their representation inside the parliament.

We are running out of time and this is really something important. Please, if you wish to help, do hurry, we have only until 20th September.

Ministry of the Ambient: marina.silva@mma.gov.br bazileu.margarido@mma.gov.br

Phone numbers: Call outside of brasil 005561 + 4009-1057/1058/1289 4009-1422/1059

IBAMA: marcus.barros@ibama.gov.br inah.guatura@ibama.gov.br
ISA: isadf@socioambiental.org

Senadores (responsible politicians): ana.julia@senadora.gov.br jefperes@senador.gov.br flexaribeiro@senador.gov.br leomar@senador.gov.br


_{P.S.- I will try to translate this law project soon.}

Tehrangeles?

It was definitely the strangest video I’d seen yet to come out of Iran. I was staring at a group of young men cavorting around Tehran, and naming their video “Tehrangeles”. Obviously, there was no correlation between Tehrangeles of Los Angeles, because the city was Tehran. I’ve tried as I might, but I don’t find Tehran a silicone heaven, except for the Barbie-like noses.

The strange part was that these young guys openly show their faces, and do absolutely nothing grand or exciting except to scream and “holla” at the camera. There’s a scene where the director, or so, stands in the middle of a Tehran boulevard and sort of wiggles his body; exciting as it was for him, [probably] it was no fun for us watching.

This was being broadcast on one of the Sat.Chans and that was pretty weird too. I guess the point was that, yes, we do have jackass even in Iran. I hope they do something more exciting if they aren’t going to do anything else. Maybe jump off the Milad Tower and skydive into the huts on Imam Ali Highway.

There is an excellent excuse to live in the most beautiful capital of the middle-east, comparable to Beirut; in terms of people, and mostly the female side, and my watchful eyes, there are no more garment-gaga and nose-snubbing people than in Tehran.

Take a stroll anywhere from mid-to-north Tehran and you'll be surprised at what you don't see...And, of course, it's practically heady for the guys, they can't keep themselves from licking their fingers, and theres no drought of girls either.

It seems, some say, a body covered but hinting at its shape is much more vulgar than a body unleashing its contours to the world...so, I suppose, a little cover-up is more than a little casual.

It's pure fact that self exotication is a cultural stigmata of women in the middle-east, the more you paint your face, the more hues you smear on your clothes the more youthful you are. Anything to be young, and men here, they don't mind young, they like em while they're still fresh, once it gets too....anyways, you get my point? There's rules to these games too, you wear the fashion trends, and you ALL wear them, and the guys like them as they come, the higher the nose, the rounder the cheeks, the blonder or the paler the better. and clothes, well, they keep coming.


.....venture otuside of major cities with these clothes....tsk-tsk

I forget how many days at a time pass before having to update this madness. I think it is a natural human condition to waste so much thought and so much emotion without having to share it with the rest of mankind. It is not a crime to consider mankind incapable, as a whole, of digesting and associating with such feelings of life, and loneliness.

Presumably, the society as a whole; the television, the movies, the fiction books; focus much needed attention on children, in the wrong direction. Some say, “Right place, wrong time”. Everybody notices the propaganda, although in the best intentions, trying to paint the family picture of Iran. The children join their families, in happiness and sorrow, with an obedient, even conditionally compliant innocence, without any mention of creativity or individuality. Creativity and individuality are associated with religious fervor, and may or may not have recently begun to accept the more western ideology of children and their position.

I am aware of the violence in these shows, but it seems incomparable to the reality of life as it is run here. Cussing is considerably a daily regimen of attitude for Iranians, as well as slapping around siblings, so my problem is more with the fantasy of reality that’s portrayed, where one would like to see the reality portrayed in fantasy.

The child trend is innocence, of course, and mild absences of intelligence. Most children are shown to be very kind, very respectful, and full of mercy for others; often, an act of salvation could be associated with the child or siblings in the soap operas and movies. Incredibly rare. I’ve seen children fare off like wolves in each other’s presence, kicking and swearing, in public display, but I’ve yet to see an innocent that is so clearly depicted in those theatrical flops.

Really, children here are brought up as separate entities, the older males the dominant, the younger the subservient and the girl veiled. Frankly, children are more often brought up dull and vulgar, rough on the edges; I don’t see them growing up acting any other way, here, where it fits the environment.

There is no one person to blame, and it is a cancerous attitude that fills many of the youth of these lands, and these mountains, and even though there is the usual untapped beauty, it’s hard to say it is so, those children who are sweetest seem to get eaten up and…wasted by the arid weather and the hungry beasts.