8th of March

Eighth of March, as you may know, is the international women's day.
In recent years, a circle of feminists in Iran organize demonstrations on 8th of March which
are quite controversial. Like many other activities in Iran, the 8th of March programs are mostly oriented towards politics.
(However, unlike many other activities, women's activities are not purely political which in my opinion deserve appreciation.)
In fact, 8th of March was originally political, organized by socialist women about
hundred years ago. However, these days in different countries, women and men
commemorate it in different ways: In some countries, with flowers; in others with
slogans, fists and clubs. For a brief review see this website


It is always said that there are many similarities between Iranians and Italians.
However, when it comes to 8th of March I always remember the following verses by Hafez (what a pity I do not have Farsi fonts here!):


Jam-e mey-o khoon-e del, har yek be kasi daadand

dar daayere-e gesmat oza@ chenin baashad

dar kaar-e golaab-o gol, gesmat azali in bood

k-in shaahed-e baazaari v-aan parde-neshin baashad.


I am not judging which one is better. I am personally quite content with my
own providence. I did not wish to be born anyone else or anywhere else!

I wrote this long introduction to point out that, apart from nations, the
sub-cultures within a nation sometimes have their own way of celeberating 8th of March. The high energy physics community has also its own way of commemorating this day.
I will write about it in my next post.



The above photo
of the "siah chashm Kashimiri" is the courtesy of this website.