Shervin Malekzadeh
@swarthy-bastard.bsky.social
Pitzer prof. Former kindergarten teacher, & sometime swarthy bastard. I work on democratic movements and the politics of postrevolutionary schooling in Iran.
“It would be much better to educate [our students] here in the country where they are going to live, and with whose progress they must inevitably be concerned. But we do not yet have the necessary machinery…I don’t want to turn the Persian into a bad copy of a European.”
![“It would be much better to educate [our students] here in the country where they are going to live, and with whose progress they must inevitably be concerned. But we do not yet have the necessary machinery…I don’t want to turn the Persian into a bad copy of a European.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mo3udds7fbejja3xyafe26mg/bafkreiboa723u3rfln2zsgdhkqynltszhwxl3hm6kpbg74cdf4dy7ixjka@jpeg)
November 15, 2025 at 4:50 PM
“It would be much better to educate [our students] here in the country where they are going to live, and with whose progress they must inevitably be concerned. But we do not yet have the necessary machinery…I don’t want to turn the Persian into a bad copy of a European.”
“The secretary’s pencil suddenly stopped scratching on the paper”
Arthur Koestler, “Darkness at Noon”
Arthur Koestler, “Darkness at Noon”
November 13, 2025 at 8:50 PM
“The secretary’s pencil suddenly stopped scratching on the paper”
Arthur Koestler, “Darkness at Noon”
Arthur Koestler, “Darkness at Noon”
Might be time to pull out that old Lenin quote about decades and happenings
November 13, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Might be time to pull out that old Lenin quote about decades and happenings
Hey y’all, fuck ICE!
November 9, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Hey y’all, fuck ICE!
Pinochet famously proclaimed that “not even a leaf falls in [Chile] without him knowing about it.” That is, until it became inconvenient for him
November 9, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Pinochet famously proclaimed that “not even a leaf falls in [Chile] without him knowing about it.” That is, until it became inconvenient for him
that he managed to get published is the first sign that the regime is cooked. For my money, MTG is our Golam, our weathervane Whether she's sincere or not doesn't matter. 2/2
November 6, 2025 at 5:13 PM
that he managed to get published is the first sign that the regime is cooked. For my money, MTG is our Golam, our weathervane Whether she's sincere or not doesn't matter. 2/2
Kapuściński features a character named Golam in his elegiac book on the Shah's downfall. He's a court poet and all-around kiss-ass, the sort of person who blows with the prevailing winds ("hezb-e badi" in Farsi). A Shah devotee until he isn't, Golam's enthusiasm over a "subversive" poem...1/2
November 6, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Kapuściński features a character named Golam in his elegiac book on the Shah's downfall. He's a court poet and all-around kiss-ass, the sort of person who blows with the prevailing winds ("hezb-e badi" in Farsi). A Shah devotee until he isn't, Golam's enthusiasm over a "subversive" poem...1/2
Impunity is a democracy-killer
November 4, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Impunity is a democracy-killer
No rhyme, straight to Go.
I wonder if there’s anywhere we can turn to for a counter, a cautionary lesson?
I wonder if there’s anywhere we can turn to for a counter, a cautionary lesson?
November 4, 2025 at 9:22 PM
No rhyme, straight to Go.
I wonder if there’s anywhere we can turn to for a counter, a cautionary lesson?
I wonder if there’s anywhere we can turn to for a counter, a cautionary lesson?
Guys, seeking aristocratic order in an advanced democracy is “controversial!”
November 4, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Guys, seeking aristocratic order in an advanced democracy is “controversial!”
Halloween 2025 went hard
November 1, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Halloween 2025 went hard
A way to make it more so
November 1, 2025 at 4:46 AM
A way to make it more so
Gather round, kids, let me tell you a tale about the 90s curdling into shit
October 30, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Gather round, kids, let me tell you a tale about the 90s curdling into shit
Reading the coverage from 9 years ago is like stepping out of the DeLorean and into a completely different America (Trump is the only one who hasn’t changed)
October 23, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reading the coverage from 9 years ago is like stepping out of the DeLorean and into a completely different America (Trump is the only one who hasn’t changed)
On par with his October 20, 2016 promise to accept the November election results “if I win.” A direct line from the past to the present.
October 23, 2025 at 1:28 PM
On par with his October 20, 2016 promise to accept the November election results “if I win.” A direct line from the past to the present.
