Iranian friendship fuels research

Mohammad Zarifi Eslami, 31, and Shahin Zarghami, 31, talk about how friendship enhances their PhD project as well as the challenges they face being young Iranian men in the world today.

They met in Stockholm while studying for their master’s degrees in computer science at KTH University. Now they are together again at the UT Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, working with two other PhD candidates on the U-Care project, an integration platform that will offer customized service to help the elderly live independently at home.

While Zarifi comes from Tabriz, located in a mountainous corner of Iran tucked between Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Zarghami was born and raised in Teheran. They are both married and their wives are good friends. Besides their U-Care project, they also share an office together, holidays to Paris, day-trips to the Keukenhof Garden, and the four-kilometer walk back-and-forth to work everyday. One spring afternoon, we sipped tea in a Zilverling office. In hospitable Eastern style, they kept offering me more sweets while we chatted.

Can you tell me about your U-Care project?

SZ: ‘We hope it will help elderly people to live at home as long as possible. We are developing a services layer for integrated homecare systems that can provide tailorable and non-intrusive services. I am working on the platform that will shield application developers from having to understand the underlying software and network technologies.’

MZ: ‘What makes the U-Care project unique is that elderly and their caretakers will be able to tailor the U-Care services to their daily lives and specific needs. This customization of services, or service tailoring, is what I am working on. Services can also be activated by sensors that detect a person’s activity level, heart rate, and blood pressure. Other sensors determine the actual physical room ambiance like temperature and humidity. We are planning to implement a pilot project at a care center, called Orbis Hoogveld, in the Netherlands in 2012.’

How did you end up here at the UT?

MZ: ‘While in Stockholm, an Iranian friend of mine told me about the UT. I checked out the website and saw that there was an interesting project and applied.’

SZ: ‘I applied to universities in Paris and Scotland, but once Mohammad was here, I felt this was the place for me. I wanted to live in a peaceful, small town and also knew I could count on Mohammad’s support.’

MZ: ‘Yes, he has learned from all my mistakes! (laughter)’

SZ: ‘Mohammad should really open up a consulting service for PhD students. But honestly, it can be time-consuming to come up to speed on a new project. Since we walk together everyday, we have much time to review our work. And we can discuss things in our native Persian which also helps a lot.’

You do seem to spend a lot of time together. Aren’t you sick of each other?

MZ and SZ: ‘Not yet!’

Have you experienced any culture shock in the Netherlands?

MZ: ‘In Iran, the vertical distances between professor and student are very large. To speak to your professor, you have to go through many layers first. We also stand up when a teacher enters the classroom. We never shake hands with someone older unless he first holds out his hand. So I was shocked one afternoon when my professor loaded my refrigerator into his car and helped me move it!’

SZ: ‘The social hierarchy here is more horizontal and friendly and, at the same time, nobody misuses it. This is a very good thing.’

MZ: ‘Everything here is in order, like the traffic and any official business you need to do. But I do miss the mountains.’

How is it to be Iranian in the West?

SZ: ‘It’s a pity. I always say that people should go inside Iranian society to see the real situation.’

MZ: ‘It is difficult to tell people that I am from Iran. Everyone thinks of bombs and terrorists. There is so much negative media attention on my country.’

SZ: ‘And there has never been a suicide bomber from Iran! We are the only country that has two diverse views—the government’s and the people’s. Our country also has separate national and religious events and celebrations.’

The June 12 elections were nearly a year ago. What about the call for democracy in Iran?

SZ: ‘Ten years ago I was hopeful for democracy in Iran, but now...democracy in Iran is like seeing the sun in the Netherlands…it takes a long time.’

MZ: ‘If we didn’t have oil, we would be lucky. Oil is the main barrier to democracy, because we don’t need tourists or other governments to survive economically. I love my country and accept all its problems. It holds a lot of memories for me.’

SZ: ‘Mohammad and I were both born in 1978, the year of the revolution. We are called the “burnt generation.” “Burnt” in Persian refers to someone who has suffered the most. We suffered the revolution, and then two years later, we suffered eight years of war with Iraq. And after the war ended, we suffered economic sanctions. Our generation is more realistic about democracy, but people don’t want another revolution. It only brings suffering.’

MZ: ‘I remember as a child watching the bombs drop on my city. Now, when I think of my son Araz who is two-years-old, I want to give him a better life. Maybe when I finish my PhD, I will return to Iran. But maybe I won’t.’

Photo caption/foto bijschrift (3047):

Zarghami (right) spent nine years working as a system analyst in Iran and Malaysia before joining the UT. Esalmi worked as a technical expert of computer networks. They take time to stop and smell the blossoms! (Photo: Gijs van Ouwerkerk)

Iranian Oil, Suicide Bombers and the Burnt Generation

Oil was discovered in Iran in 1908 and controlled by the British until 1954. With the CIA coup, the U.S. then took control of Iran’s oil until the Iranian Revolution in 1978-79. Iran holds 10 % of the world’s proven oil reserves and 15% of its gas. It is OPEC’s second largest exporter and the world’s fourth oil producer.

None of the 9/11 hijackers nor the London or Madrid bombers were Iranian. In his book Suicide Bombers in Iraq, Professor Mohammad Hafez identified the nationalities of 124 bombers who recently attacked in Iraq. None were Iranian.

Pinning down the nationalities of suicide bombers can be tricky because they leave few physical remains, and extremist groups often don’t claim the attacks until much later. The U.S. military says it performs DNA testing to investigate bombers’ identities.

Yoursef Sanei, the Iranian scholar and Grand Ayatollah, is a renowned theologian and Islamic philosopher. He is particularly noteworthy for issuing a fatwa in which he declared suicide bombing as haram and a terrorist act.

However, during the Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988) male Iranian children from the age of 12 could enlist at the front without their parents’ permission. Tens of thousands of adolescents poured into the war zone. Some cleared minefields by running ahead of the troops and others attacked Iraqi tanks as suicide bombers. By the end of the war, more than one and a half million war and war-related casualties occurred—estimates are one million people died, many more were wounded, and millions were made refugees.

The Burnt Generation is the Generation X of Iran, born between 1963 to 1979, and affected by the revolution, Iran-Iraq war, and political and social consequences. After the Iranian Revolution and the Shah’s exile, the clash between various political groups and the new government created a suspicious environment that deeply affected their beliefs and values. The name Burnt Generation is coined from the Iranian film Nasl-e sookhte (1999) directed by Rasoul Molla-Gholipour.

Another event that influenced this generation was the shutdown of universities for several years. After the universities reopened, every applicant had to pass an interview with a government approved committee and women were allowed to apply for certain limited majors.

The Burnt Generation are characterized by a lack of optimism for the future, skepticism, political apathy, a sense of insecurity, alienation and distrust in traditional values and institutions. Their most common values include loyalty to family and friends, compassion, and high work ethics.