Talk:Mohammad Gholi Majd

COI tag (November 2021)

A Single purpose account has been carrying out a lot of what seems to promotional edits on pages linked to this person. Dom from Paris (talk) 22:33, 21 November 2021 (UTC)

To put matters in proper perspective, it is necessary to examine Domdeparis's record of adding and removing tags on this page. The article on Mohammad Gholi Majd was created by Pahlevun on 10 December 2019.

On 24 February 2020, Domdeparis had added a Notability tag at 9:45 and had removed it a minute later at 9:46. But the act had been recorded.

On 21 November 2021, Domdeparis had added a Conflict of Interest (COI) tag at 22:23, a Notability tag and a Self-Published tag at 22:35. At 23:07, he had removed the Notability and the Self-Published tags, but had added a Criticism Section for good measure. Finally, to top it off, at 23:08, he had added a One Source tag.

Judging from the talk page on the 1917-1919 Iranian famine, Domdeparis's ostensible reason for displeasure with Mohammad Gholi Majd is the accusation of genocide by famine in 1917-1919. Is he equally upset with Irish and Indian historians who have also accused Britain with genocide by famine? Moretonian (talk) 01:09, 9 January 2022 (UTC)

Criticisms

Abrahamian has called Majd's estimate of WWI famine losses an "exaggerated discussion," and the accusation of genocide by the British a "wild accusation." The first is from Abrahamian's (p. 196) 2008 book [1] and the second from his (p. 26) 2013 book.[2] But, when adding a "Criticisms" section, Domdeparis cites Willem Floor's 2005 review of The Great Famine and Genocide in Persia, 1917-1919, as his source.[3]

Abrahamian (2013, pp. 26-27) also alleges that Majd "accuses the British government of 'covering up' this 'genocide' by systematically destroying annual reports. In fact, no annual reports on Iran were written from 1913 to 1922". The statement reveals that Professor Abrahamian had not read Majd's book and was criticizing it without having read it.[4] For if he had read it, he would have known that no such accusation is made in either the 2003 or 2013 version of the book. What Majd had actually said was that the British had refused to declassify War Office records pertaining to Iran for 1914-1921. The accusation that the British had destroyed documents, according to Afkhami, first surfaced on Ayatollah Khamenei's website in 2015.[5] And not having read the actual book, Abrahamian had simply assumed that it came from Majd.

Floor's 2005 review of Majd is very sarcastic. In 2003, the same year The Great Famine and Genocide in Persia was first published, Floor wrote a 700-page book entitled Agriculture in Qajar Iran.[6] The word "famine" does not appear in the index of Floor's book. The book apparently contains nothing on the two historical 1869-1873 and 1917-1919 famines in Qajar Iran. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Moretonian (talk • contribs) 02:33, 3 January 2022 (UTC) Moretonian (talk) 02:37, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

Not a usual contributor so I don't know the proper process for this, but I noticed that Cormac O Grada's book was quoted somewhat dishonestly. The paragraph the quote is taken from reads:

"Excess mortality, or at least the threat of excess mortality, is a defining feature of famine. The death toll, or the excess death rate relative to some noncrisis norm, is the single most popular measure of a famine’s gravity. For most historical famines, however, establishing excess mortality is impossible. In the absence of any hard evidence, it is not possible to take literally claims such as that during the Ch’in-Han transition in China (ca. 209–203 BC) famine killed 80 to 90 percent of the population in some areas; in AD 967 a flood in Egypt caused a protracted famine that “left six hundred thousand dead; the great Bengali famine of 1770 killed one-third of the population; East Prussia “lost forty-one per cent of its population to starvation and disease in 1708–11”; or Persia lost two-fifths of its people to a genocidal famine in 1917–19.4 Such claims are usually rhetorical, and sure signs of a major disaster, but poor guides to actual mortality.”

O Grada wasn't making any sort of judgement or claim about the accusation of genocide or even the scale of death. And he certainly wasn't making any comment on Majd's claims directly.

The line's only purpose is to slander Majd by inserting a nonexistent criticism into Cormacs mouth. 2601:58C:200:7BD0:11D7:D80D:1521:6D5B (talk) 17:10, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

Birth

1946 or 1964? Rathfelder (talk) 19:05, 30 March 2022 (UTC)