Trove of papers analysing social issues etc.

Besides the Baha'i International Community's statement library found here, below find a wealth of research done on miscellaneous social and development issues. The original website can be accessed here.

 

 

Association For Bahá'í Studies in Southern Africa

 

 

Welcome to the homepage of the Association For Bahá'í Studies in Southern Africa (ABS-SA). The Association For Bahá'í Studies in Southern Africa was formed in April 1999. 

 

The Association is an agency of, and operates under the guidance of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa. Its daily business is conducted by an Executive Committee and it has an Advisory Board.

 

 

[ Bahá'í World ] [ Bahá'í Faith  in South Africa] [Bahá'í Faith  in other African Countries ]

Home Page
The Association	Annual Conferences
Message from the Universal House of Justice Introduction Purpose of the Association Activities of the Association Constitution of the Association Guiding Principles Membership Form Annual Report of the Association, April 2003 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, February 2004 Annual Report of the Association, April 2004	First Annual Conference: Windhoek, Namibia, Dec. 1999, Papers, Programme, and a brief Report Second Annual Conference: Cape Town, South Africa, Dec. 2000 Third Annual Conference: Swaziland, Dec. 2001 Fourth Annual Conference: Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Dec. 2002 Call for papers for the 5th Annual Conference, Johannesburg, Jan. 2004 Fifth Annual Conference, Johannesburg, Jan., 2004 Call for papers for the 6th Annual Conference, Cape Town, Feb. 2005 Seventh Annual Conference, Bloemfontein, Dec 2006 ABS-Conference News-Bloemfontein Dec 2006
Web Pages for Distance-Education Courses Offered Via Email	Courses and Study Guides
A Study Course on Baha'u'llah's Kitab-i-Iqan, The Book of Certitude (There is a large collection of course materials and scholarly papers associated with this course) A Study Course on the "Century of Light" A Study Course on Abdu'l-Baha's "Secret of Divine Civilization"	Kitab-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book Lessons from the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf Tablet to the kings Tablet of Ahmad The Vision of Shoghi Effendi Confronting Controversial Contemporary Issues A course on Islam Message of the Universal House of Justice to the 2nd Baha'i World Congress, and its outline Principles of Bahá'í Consultation, and a Workshop on Consultation The Vision of Race Unity The Prosperity of Mankind An Introduction to the Writings of the Bab
Papers from the Annual Conferences	Papers from the Annual Conferences
Windhoek, Namibia, December 1999: Ø      The Universal House of Justice, Geoff Marks Ø      Ethics in African Culture and its Relationship to the Baha'i Faith.,  Mojgan Derakhshani Ø      Principles for Baha'i Scholarship, Robert Sarracino Ø      The Fundamentals of a True and Lasting African Renaissance, an Introductory Baha'i Perspective, Enos Makhele Ø      Reflections on Baha'i Teachings on some aspects of the Basotho culture, Khoeli Pholosi Ø      My Perfect Dance Partner, Barry Thorne Ø      Evoke the African Soul - Accelerate entry by troops, Mokone Nakedi Ø      Characteristics of Baha'i Administrative Order and Liberal Democratic Notions, a Comparative Study, Farzin Aghdasi Ø      Youth Enrichment Programme, Parvaneh Farhangpour Cape Town, South Africa, December 2000: Ø      Proofs of the Existence of God, Robert Sarracino Ø      The Information Dispensation: The Baha'i Faith and the Information Age, Philip Christensen	Swaziland, December 2001: Ø      Divine Philosophy and the Gift of Understanding, Robert Sarracino Ø      Gender Equality Based on the Teachings of the Baha'i Faith, and its Application in Southern Africa, Farhad Aghdasi Ø      Ethics and the Relationship of African Traditional Belief with the Baha'i Faith, Mojgan Derakhshani Port Elizabeth, December 2002: Ø      Creating a Culture of Learning, Sylvia Kaye Ø      Science, Religion and Development, Farhad Aghdasi Ø      The Mystery of Sacrifice – A Dramatic Presentation, Nava Bastani Ø      The Concept of Religious Democracy: An Introductory Bahá'í Perspective on the Democracy of the Conscience, Enos Makhele Ø      Health, Healing in the Baha'i Context, Parastu Meidany Ø      The Internet and Knowledge Management for the Baha'i Faith, Roy Steiner Ø      Music: a Ladder for the Soul, Sylvia Schulman
Presentations and Talks	University Campus Seminars
Who is Writing the Future, Farzin Aghdasi Who is Writing the Future, Robert Sarracino Who is Writing the Future, Philip Christensen Service Oriented Leadership, Sylvia Kaye Valuing Spirituality in Development, Farzin Aghdasi Characteristics of Baha'i Administrative Order and Liberal Democratic Notions, a Comparative Study, Farzin Aghdasi Equality of Women and Men, Issues of the 21st Century, Sylvia Kaye	Campus Seminar at the University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana Campus Seminar at the University of Lesotho, Roma, Lesotho Campus Seminar at the University of Transkie, Umtata, South Africa Campus Seminar at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Campus Seminar at the University of Zimbabwe, Hararae, Zimbabwe Campus Seminar at the National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Campus Seminar at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Other Papers	Some Reference Documents
Community Development Using Spiritually Based Indicators in The South African Baha'i Community, Farzin Aghdasi and Abbas Shaker, A paper presented to the Rural and Urban Development Conference organized by the National Institute for Economic Policy (NIEP).and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 18-19 April 2002. Color Conscious – The Political Morality of Race, by K. Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann, Reviewed by: Farzin Aghdasi	Compilation on Scholarship Issues Related to the Study of the Baha'i Faith Aspects of Traditional African Culture Africa in the Baha'i Writings
Golden Jubilee Celebrations and Historical Photos	News Articles and Photos with Historical Significance
Jubilee Celebration in South Africa Jubilee Celebration in Zimbabwe Jubilee Celebration in Zambia Jubilee Celebration in Malawi Jubilee Celebration in Lesotho Jubilee Celebration in Swaziland Jubilee Celebration in Namibia Jubilee Celebration in Botswana	Publication of Bahá'í Books in Setswana Long Term Pioneer from Zambia is Elected to the Universal House of Justice
Useful Links	Photo Gallery
Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), is a service of the United Nations Organization, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It carries detailed news of the current humanitarian issues around the globe, and has a special section on Southern Africa. It can be reached at http://www.irinnews.org.	Photo Gallery from Campus Seminars and Annual Conferences in 2000 and 2001 – this is a large file Pictures from Seminar at the National University of Lesotho, Roma, September 2000 Pictures from Seminar at the University of Transkie, Umtata, October 2000 Pictures from Seminar at the National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 22nd March 2001 Pictures from Seminar at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 28th March 2001 Pictures from Seminar at the University of Zimbabwe, Harare, 10th May 2001 Pictures from Seminar at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, August 2001 Pictures from the Annual Conference of the Association held in Swaziland, December 2001 Pictures from the Annual Conference of the Association held in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, December 2002

 

 

The gift of CONSULTATION - how to use it

 

Principles of Baha'i Consultation

 

Farzin Aghdasi

 

The Perspective:

 

The oneness of mankind is the pivot of all Baha'i teachings. To realise such an all-encompassing oneness, a cohesive world community must be established. The currently fragmented peoples and races of the world will be fused together in a permanent world peace. The guarantor of the continuation of world peace is justice. The Baha'i Faith has a detailed plan for the establishment of justice at all levels of the society. This plan has at least three components:

 

i)                    the creation of a new race of men: proclamation of the healing name and the message of Baha'u'llah, and the execution of the teaching and consolidation plans lead to declaration of the Faith of individuals, singly at first, then in 'troops', and finally en masse; the transformation process creates an ever increasing number of fair-minded people of highest ethical standards;

 

ii)                  promotion and implementation of a wide range of social policies and practices --the Baha'i social teachings-- that free humanity from the shackles of prejudice, and provide encouragement and opportunities for accelerated growth of individuals in all aspects of our physical, mental, and spiritual faculties;

 

iii)                establishment of a just form of government, based on the pattern of Baha'i Administrative Order. The modus operandi of this form of government is the consultative process.

 

The Practice:

 

Baha'i Consultation is practised at all levels. Its use is encouraged in all matters in the family, among friends, and even for arriving at decisions that are the prerogative of individuals. It is a tool for seeking the truth, and for better decision making. The hallmark of Baha'i consultation is the unfettered operation of our conscience, aided by the power of our rational mind, and illuminated by the divine teachings.

 

The Principles:

 

i)                    Universal participation: everyone within a body (such as a family, an Assembly, or a Convention) should participate. It is the collective responsibility of each body to ensure that everyone has the opportunity and the necessary encouragement to participate. A broadly based consultation is a healthy barrier against the opinions of the forceful.

 

ii)                   Objectivity: prayers to set the tone and perspective; clear statement of the problem; spirit of objective (scientific) enquiry; establishment of the facts; investigation of the relevant spiritual principles; full and frank discussion; consideration of alternative solutions, including the unconventional; converging to the 'best' solution; preference for unanimity; the apparent truth; offering of resolutions and voting if necessary;

 

iii)                 Detachment: the group acts as one composite mind; the ideas do not belong to the speakers; therefore no one has a 'position', no one offends, and no one takes offence; one may speak against ones own previously stated opinion.

 

iv)                 Unity: as a prerequisite of effective consultation and in subsequent support for implementation of the outcome; the final decision belongs to the body, not to any individuals; even though the decision may have been made by a majority vote, there are no minority opinions; unity in support of decisions is more important than correction of a possible short term mistake; appeal procedures seek to correct by further consultation;

 

 

The Growth Path:

 

i)                    To study and grasp the spirit, and the detailed workings, of Baha'i teachings on consultation;

 

ii)                   To evaluate the quality and effectiveness of current practice;

 

iii)                 To chart a course for getting to there from here.

 

 

Some Quotations:

 

"The Great Being saith: The heaven of divine wisdom is illumined with the two luminaries of consultation and compassion. Take ye counsel together in all matters, inasmuch as consultation is the lamp of guidance which leadeth the way, and is the bestower of understanding."                                      Baha'u'llah

 

"Say: no man can attain his true station except through his justice. No power can exist except through unity. No welfare and no well-being can be attained except through consultation."                                                                                                                                                                            Baha'u'llah

 

"Consultation bestoweth greater awareness and transmuteth conjecture into certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leadeth the way and guideth. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of perfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through consultation."                                                    Baha'u'llah

 

"Such matters should be determined through consultation, and whatever emergeth from the consultation of those chosen, that indeed is the command of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting."                                                                                                                                                         Baha'u'llah

 

"In all things it is necessary to consult. This matter should be forcibly stressed by thee, so that consultation may be observed by all. The intent of hath been revealed from the Pen of the Most High is that consultation may be fully carried out among the friends, inasmuch as it is and will always be a cause of awareness and of awakening and a source of good and well-being."                                                                                                                                  Baha'u'llah

 

"It is incumbent upon everyone not to take any step without consulting the Spiritual Assembly,..."                                                           Abdu'l-Baha

 

"The prime requisites of them that take counsel together are purity of motive, radiance of spirit, detachment from all else save God, attraction to His Divine Fragrances, humility and lowliness amongst His loved ones, patience and long-suffering in difficulties and servitude to His exalted Threshold."      Abdu'l-Baha

 

"The first condition is absolute love and harmony amongst the members of the assembly. They must be wholly free from estrangement and must manifest in themselves the Unity of God,...Should harmony of thought and absolute unity be non-existent, that gathering shall be dispersed and that assembly be brought to naught. The second condition:-They must when coming together turn their faces to the Kingdom on High and ask aid from the Realm of Glory. They must then proceed with the utmost devotion, courtesy, dignity, care and moderation to express their views...The honoured members must with all freedom express their own thoughts, and it is in no wise permissible for one to belittle the thought of another,..."                                                                               Abdu'l-Baha

 

"Let us also bear in mind that the keynote of the Cause of God is not dictatorial authority but humble fellowship, not arbitrary power, but the spirit of frank and loving consultation. ...They should never be led to suppose that they are the central ornaments of the Cause, intrinsically superior to others..."      The Guardian

 

http://www.bci.org/bahaistudies/courses/consult_principles.htm

US Congressman SERVES in Afghanistan - analyzes US's involvement

A simple, eloquent and penetrating statement on the role of the US in Afghanistan, by a congressman who chose to PARTICIPATE.

 

January 9, 2009

My Service in Afghanistan

With a president to inaugurate and a troubled economy, we can overlook the sacrifice of our troops in Afghanistan. This conflict, overshadowed by Iraq, often feels like the Forgotten War. Last month, I became the first member of this House to serve in an Imminent Danger Area since 1942. Members of this House served in all of America's wars from the Revolution through World War II. The Defense Department's policy of 1943 blocked reservist-congressmen from serving in Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Kosovo or Iraq. Senator -- and Colonel -- Lindsay Graham broke through this barrier two years ago and I became the first member of the House to also serve. While our country moved from a draftee military to an all-volunteer force, I think it is still important for as many Americans as possible to share the burden of our troops. Our military is strongest when it pulls into its ranks Americans from all races, creeds and colors -- especially from all walks of life. It is important for members of this House -- where the Constitution places the power to declare war -- to serve alongside our troops. I voted for the deployment of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan and was honored to be the first one of us to then join them in Afghanistan. As a naval reserve intelligence officer, I deployed to southern Afghanistan to support NATO's International Security Assistance Force (or ISAF) at the headquarters of Regional Command (South). I served in the command of a Dutch Major General, Mart de Kruif, on the staff of his American Deputy for Stabilization, Brigadier General John Nicholson. I can report to the House that the morale of our troops is high. For the Americans that I joined, they feel this is the right mission in the right place. Just because this effort is ten times harder than we first thought, it remains the place where we can best support the safety of the American people. Our headquarters was located at Kandahar Airfield, known as "KAF." We were located just a few miles from Tarnak Farms where Osama bin Laden trained many Al Qaeda operatives. A few miles further away was the palace of Mullah Omar, the murderous leader of the Taliban that protected bin Laden. We face some real challenges in Afghanistan. Our mission has stretched to seven years and can wear thin with the Afghan people. As we look at Senator Barack Obama becoming our Commander-in-Chief, it is important to look at what we have accomplished in Afghanistan, its differences from the Iraq mission and what remains to be done. First, it is important to note that Afghanistan is not Iraq. Both countries are predominantly Muslim with over 25 million people. There the similarities end. Iraq is a country that has had a strong central government. Afghanistan has always had a certain lawlessness - even during the Soviet dictatorship. Iraq has an oil industry and a middle class. Afghanistan has neither. The Iraq mission was carried out by America and Britain. Few other allies helped. Afghanistan is home to a NATO mission with the large majority of troops from outside America. Finally, the insurgency in Iraq was sustained by Syria and radical Iranians. In Afghanistan, the principal income of the Taliban is heroin, generating billions in profit. Our troops accomplished a great deal in Afghanistan. We destroyed Al Qaeda's bases and then deposed the Taliban dictatorship that protected them. We organized elections and then protected a new democratically-elected government under Hamid Karzai. These missions were no small feat in a country that proved to be the graveyard of the Soviet military for a country that had seen no elections for three generations. Since 2006, the mission has stalled as the Taliban morphed into a new and more deadly force. The tenants of Islam are generally anti-narcotic. The Taliban at first eradicated poppy and heroin production but then changed its practice. Once they no longer had easy access to bin Laden or Saudi charity money, they went into the heroin business, big time. Today, they are more accurately described as the Narco-Taliban, backed by at least $500 million annually in drug profits. Some of Afghanistan's wealthiest warlords are Taliban leaders who produce heroin to support jihad and terror against the elected Afghan government and nations of the West. The Narco-Taliban are not evenly distributed across Afghanistan. They are concentrated in the Heroin Heartland of the Helmand River valley and the nearby city of Kandahar. There is a growing misconception that the war in Afghanistan is fiercest near Pakistan's border. While that may have been true last year, the key fighting this year is long the heroin river of Helmand in southern Afghanistan. The Afghan government and NATO are fighting pitched battles in their strategic rear where support and funding for the Taliban are greatest. Our effort there is expensive in blood and treasure. The efforts of our allies is also expensive. While the US lost over 80 soldiers in our area, the Canadians lost over 90 and the British over 110. I cannot emphasize enough the dedication and professionalism of our troops and those of our allies. I personally served with British, Canadian, Dutch, Danish and Romanian soldiers. Along with our service men and women from the Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy, they are the most young, idealistic and dedicated people I have ever served with. I worked with heroes who I admire and miss. I thought that I might serve as a "Fobbit." A Fobbit is a person who works on a Forward Operating Base or FOB and never leaves its border. Thanks to my command, I spent a lot of time outside the wire in Kandahar, Geresk, Lashkar Gah and Qalat. It gave me a much greater understanding of the opportunities we have with NATO in Afghanistan. With all of this effort, we should ask: what is at stake in Afghanistan? Should we pull out, stay put or double-down? What is at stake is the safety of American families, especially in target cities like New York, Washington or Chicago. The dream of many Talib and foreign fighters is to depose the elected government and then move jihad back into the cities of Europe and America. Most of the NATO troops I met remembered not just 9/11 but also the Madrid metro attack, London bus bombing and murder of intellectuals in Amsterdam. They believed as I do that it is best to face the Talib here with Afghan allies that know how to fight them best. Should we keep the mission as it is today? If we do, we risk a bloody stalemate that can protect the capital of Kabul but would surrender much of the countryside to the Talib. The Taliban now attacks girls who dare to enter school with acid and assassinated Afghanistan�s only female police chief. We know who they are � brutal dictators that want to set society back to the 13th century. As Americans, we cannot go back to the 13th century - our culture embraces modernism. Most Afghans support that reform while many others simply want to be on the winning side. Our job is to show that the winning side is the elected government of Afghanistan. Should we double-down? NATO allies clearly believe that we should but are waiting for a call from the new American President. Our best allies, the UK, Spain, France and others, already plan to add to their commitment. Others, like Canada and the Netherlands, need to be asked before making the painful decision to hang in their. Most expect the US to send 20,000 more troops to attack the heroin production heartland of the Taliban. If this happens, we can expect some hard fighting and casualties. The Taliban cannot survive without its heroin money. If we succeed, then we will rip the financial engine out of the Taliban, securing a future for Central Asia that does not include terror. What is our exit strategy? Currently, the Afghan police and army are much smaller than their counter-parts in Iraq, a country of equal numbers. We need to double the size of Afghanistan's police and army to take this mission from NATO so that we can wind up our effort. It will take two to three years to accomplish this - which is why our troops are needed now. I want to thank the men and women that I served with. Our Dutch allies send us General de Kruif and British allies sent us Brigadier General Hook of the Royal Marine Commandos. I want to especially thank the men I served most closely with - Majors Will Daniel and Fred Tanner of the US Army. I think of them and their dedication each day. I especially want to thank my boss, Brigadier General John Nicholson, USA. I count myself lucky at this later stage in my life to have served, briefly, with such an inspirational leader. To the moms and dads of this country, I would say that if you son or daughter serves in southern Afghanistan, they will work under one of the most able military leaders that I have ever met. As we leave Iraq, it is likely that Afghanistan will no longer be the Forgotten War. Members of this House should take note of what our troops have already accomplished there and what remains to be done. For my part, I am honored to have served there and will be the voice of the troops for as long as we have Americans stationed in that land far above the Khyber Pass.

 

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/il10_kirk/My_service_in_Afghanistan.html

Irani Irony: International War Crimes vis-a-vis Internal Peace Crimes

This is indeed an astonishing spectacle!

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Irani Irony: International War Crimes vis-a-vis Internal Peace Crimes Posted: 28 Feb 2009 02:56 PM PST By Dr. Christopher Buck Editor's Note: The following essay is an invited editorial and Iran Press Watch is deeply grateful to Dr. Buck for this remarkably brilliant piece. On Sunday, February 22, 2009, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented a bill to the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) to grant the Iranian Judiciary power to invest special courts in Tehran with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals charged with committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially against Muslims, anywhere in the world:  http://tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=189890. If the Majlis enacts, the Guardian Council endorses, and the Iranian regime enables this new bill, the newly created war crimes courts will enforce a law that was previously promulgated in January—which commands, in substantive part: [M]assacring people or depriving them of basic necessities and blocking the supply of humanitarian assistance with the aim of exterminating all or part of a population because they practice a particular religion or inhabit a particular region are all considered genocide and those convicted of such offenses will be sentenced to death or receive a prison sentence ranging from 15 years to life. (Emphasis added.) Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Iran's judiciary chief, tasked the Islamic Republic's general prosecutor to commence lawsuits filed by more than 5,700 Iranian lawyers against Israeli leaders for allegedly committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Taking the lead in prosecuting Israel rather than individual Israelis, Tehran, in early March, will host a conference of prosecutors from across the Islamic world to consult on how best to effectively seek judicial redress for the putative "genocide" in Gaza Strip. Jurisdictional issues apart, a grim irony obtains here: If depriving persons of the bare necessities of life—with intent to exterminate a population because it practices a disfavored religion—is tantamount to genocide, then what Iran proposes to prosecute internationally should first be prosecuted internally. The reason is simple: Iran, for the past 30 years, has prosecuted a systematic campaign to deny Baha'is rights in what independent scholar, Dr. Moojan Momen, has termed, "suspended genocide." See Moojan Momen, "The Babi and Baha'i community of Iran: a case of 'suspended genocide'?" Journal of Genocide Research 7.2 (June 2005): 221–241. If Dr. Momen's thesis has merit, which I believe it does, then, as Iran looks outside its borders, Iran should also consider the "suspended genocide" taking place inside its borders—in what may be thought of as ongoing "endo-genocide" concomitant with the "exo-genocide" allegedly being perpetrated against Muslims abroad. While Iran wishes to prosecute the alleged perpetrators of exo-genocide, it continues to perpetrate its own "endo-genocide" by prosecuting its systematic persecution against its own citizens, the Baha'is. Under Iran's juridical standard setting forth the requisite elements of the "war crime" of "genocide," those responsible in the government of Iran should arguably prosecute themselves for their role in the "peace crime" of "suspended genocide" or "endo-genocide." Prosecutors can make out a prima facie case by matching the facts with the essential elements of a viable claim of internal genocide, to wit: the accused allegedly have engaged in (1) the act of "depriving" the Baha'is "of basic necessities"; (2) "with the aim of exterminating all or part of a population"; (3) "because they practice a particular religion"—the Baha'i Faith. Presumably, state immunity permits state actors to persecute Baha'i citizens and leaders with impunity, even though, under Iranian law, these same actors could arguably be charged with the crime of genocide. The following objection will be raised: How can Iranian state actors be charged with genocide, when their actions do not constitute "war crimes? Iran, after all, is not in a state of war. Although Iran is technically in a state of peace, the Republic's actions, taken together, represent an internal campaign against the Iranian Baha'i community. True, this is not an overt war. But, to the extent that Iran is executing a systematic campaign to eradicate the Baha'i community—or at least to make life miserable for them—such a campaign may be analyzed as a covert war. This covert war is an open secret. Here, context (of "depriving" the Baha'is "of basic necessities") and pretext ("because they practice a particular religion"—the Baha'i Faith) combust with element #2, which is the mens rea, the criminal mind, the culpable intent. If prosecuted for its own persecution of the Baha'is, those in the Iranian regime "convicted of such offenses" should, under their own proposed penalties, be "sentenced to death or receive a prison sentence ranging from 15 years to life." If consistency is a criterion of credibility, then this proposed system of justice is incredible. How can a government prosecute "international war crimes" while perpetrating what may be characterized as "internal peace crimes" or what alternatively—and perhaps more accurately—be described as "war crimes" in the course of a covert war against the Baha'is? This is a non sequitur. International law is informed by a set of universal norms. These norms are transnational, that is, beyond the state, and are constituted in the United Nations and emerging regional human rights systems. By setting up separate Islamic courts to do the job of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, however, Iran, seeks to impose its own code of retrograde and communalistic traditionalism in the name of justice. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was adopted and opened for signature, ratification, and accession in December 1966, was ratified by Iran in June 1975. As a signatory state, Iran entered the Covenant into force in March 1976. While the Iranian government, under the Shah, was subsequently overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, at no time has the Islamic Republic of Iran sought to revoke its ratification of the treaty. Nor has Iran promulgated any official declarations or expressed any reservations about any of the Covenant's clauses. Thus, as the signatory's successor state, the Islamic Republic of Iran remains fully bound by the terms of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects, inter alia, freedom of religion. In contrast, Article 13 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians as the only legally "recognized religious minorities" and, as such, these are the only religious minorities who "are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies," "within the limits of the law." By specifying that Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are the only protected people, people from other faiths are, both in principle and in practice, without constitutionally mandated protections. This is particularly true in the case of the Baha'is, Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority. The naked truth is that Baha'is are outside the penumbra of constitutional protections and rights. Not only are the Baha'is not "free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education," they are not free even to pursue university education. Article 14 purportedly protects the human rights of non-Muslims who do not engage in "conspiracy or activity against Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran." In principle, non-Muslims are entitled to be treated in conformity with the canons of Islamic justice. But the Islamic regime can easily circumvent Article 14 by declaring that Baha'is have engaged in "conspiracy or activity against Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran." By invoking this exception to Article 14, Baha'is may thereby be stripped of their human rights. This twisted logic helps explain recent events. On February 11, 2009, the deputy prosecutor-general of Tehran announced that the Revolutionary Court trial of seven Baha'i leaders was imminent. The charges against the seven members of a national Baha'i coordinating committee—who were arrested in March and May of 2008 and have been held in Tehran's Evin Prison—are pretextual. They are transparently actuated by religious hatred, pure and simple. Baha'is are ideologically despised—not because they are anti-Islamic—but because they are post-Islamic. While the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects freedom of religion (without any stated exception), the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran protects freedom of religion only if the religion in question is a recognized religion. By design, under the council of 75 experts who originally the drafted the document, the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran fails to enumerate the Baha'i religion. To make matters worse, the human rights provision of the same Constitution provides for the suspension of constitutional protections under the anti-Islam/anti-Islamic Republic conspiracy/activities exception. Thus there is a clear conflict between the Constitution and the Covenant. With respect to international law, those powerful Iranian clerics who sanction state action against the Baha'is are Covenant-breakers—violating the very Covenant to which Iran is a signatory. (For the preceding analysis, I relied heavily on Jennifer F. Cohen, "Islamic Law in Iran: Can It Protect the International Legal Right of Freedom of Religion and Belief?" Chicago Journal of International Law 9 (Summer 2008): 247–274.) Ironically, Baha'is are strong and vocal supporters of international law. Baha'is advocate peace among all nations, religions and races. Baha'is are strong advocates of interfaith ecumenism and in what scholars call "transconfessional affinity"—and would be the first to defend the rights of Muslims wherever they exist as religious minorities. Iran wants to prosecute Israel for genocide, yet President Ahmadinejad has consistently denied the genocide called the Holocaust. This retrospective negationism is complemented by a proscriptive negationism. While Iran wants to prosecute Israel for genocide, President Ahmadinejad turns a blind eye to the endemic and pandemic genocide of the Baha'i minority under his watch, if not under his auspices. This is the Irani irony.

Iran’s Secret Purges: Renowned medical doctor shot dead in 1981; and today?

Iran's Secret Purges

Posted: 06 Feb 2009 01:00 AM PST

Two weeks have passed since I heard the alarming news: Aziz Samandari, my cousin in Tehran, was arrested in a pre-dawn raid by Iranian intelligence officials. To date, no formal charges have been framed, and he has been denied both access to a lawyer and visits by relatives.

As I read the email sent by his wife, I burst into tears. I cannot help thinking about my grandfather, Professor Manuchehr Hakim, a renowned medical doctor, shot dead in January 1981 in his practice in Tehran. I was two, at the time living in Switzerland, and still too young to grasp the scale of the tragedy unfolding.

I also think of my uncle, Bahman Samandari, the father of Aziz, executed by Iranian authorities in March 1992, a day after being summoned for questioning. I was thirteen, and was told the terrible news by my father in Paris.

Why are my family members targeted? What crime have they all committed?

The answer is simple: they are members of the Bahai community, Iran's largest religious minority, yet the most persecuted. The followers of this religion have been targets of systematic persecution in Iran since the inception of the Bahai Faith in the middle of the 19th century.

In 1979, with the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the persecutions took a new direction, becoming official Government policy. Since then, more than 200 Bahais have been executed, hundreds imprisoned, and tens of thousands deprived of jobs, pensions and access to higher education. Holy places and cemeteries were confiscated, vandalised, or destroyed.

Bahais, who have great love for their country, are deeply committed to its development, and don't get involved in partisan politics, are persecuted solely because of religious hatred and their faith's progressive position on women's rights, education and independent investigation of truth.

There are 300,000 Bahais in Iran. Yet they have been deliberately omitted from the list of the three religious minorities recognised in the Constitution, and are classified as "unprotected infidels".

Time has passed, circumstances have changed. I am no longer a teenager. I now live in India. However, the brutal reality is still the same: my cousin is at great risk in the hands of the authorities of the Islamic Republic solely because of his belief in a religion — a religion whose main purpose is to promote world peace and harmony, and emphasises the underlying unity of the world's spiritual traditions!

[By Caroline Samandari, Columnist at the Indian Express]

 

30 years of Iran's revolution - What is There to Celebrate?

What is There to Celebrate?

Posted: 15 Feb 2009 11:52 AM PST

By Shahrzad Arshadi

Editor's Note: Iran Press Watch is pleased to publish the following learned essay by one of its readers, Shahrzad Arshadi.  This eloquent and informative essay was first disseminated on 11 February 2009 under the title, "What is there to Celebrate?  For the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran".

11 February 2009 will mark the 30th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution!

I cannot believe it has already been 30 years!  Only thinking about these 30 years makes me cry.  My heart is aching!

There are nights I wish that when I opened my eyes in the morning, I could take a deep breath and say to myself, whoa, what a nightmare!  Unfortunately, what happened to Iran is a horrible reality!  I am not dreaming!

I was not sure if I wanted to write anything related to the 30th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution.  A couple of days ago, I was surfing on the Internet to read news about Iran and to learn what is new in my country of birth.  To make a long story short, I saw that the Government of Iran is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the revolution for twelve days, from February 1st to the 12th.

Thus, I decided to write something about it to remind myself about the reality of these past 30 years.  I must try to clarify what the Iranian government is really celebrating! What history did they create in the past 3 decades, which makes them so proud that they must celebrate for 12 days?

Allow me to go back to the beginning of the revolution, or maybe a little bit before.

It was 1978.  The Iranian revolution was in full swing.  I was a teenager full of life and passionate about a big change, like so many young people during that period.  We were all ready to get rid of the monarchy and bring justice and equality to our country.  The future was so bright and it was right in front of us; we could be free from the hands of a dictator!

Finally the time had come: 1979 was glorious.  The Shah left the country!  However, the glory of the 1979 revolution did not last long for many Iranians.  Women were the first to be targeted by the new regime.

• On 3 March 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini announced that women were not allowed to be judges.
• On 6 March 1979, Khomeini announced that women should wear the "hijab" (the veil) in the workplace.
• On 8 March 1979, international women's day turned into a protest against Khomeini's announcements — this was the start of Hezbollah's attacks on demonstrations.
• On 29 March 1979, Khomeini announced that beaches and sporting events would be segregated by sex.

Women with no hijab were under constant attack on the streets and in public places. There were cases where acid was thrown on the bodies and faces of these unveiled women on the streets. Finally in June of 1980, with Khomeini's "Enqelab-e Edari" or "Administrative Revolution", the "hijab" became mandatory for Iranian women regardless of their religious beliefs.

Right from the beginning, Iran's Islamic regime started celebrating its power by executing people from every range of the old regime.  But the killings did not end there.  The new government started arresting everyone who did not want to be governed by religious fanatics.

Iran's prisons were flooded with political prisoners of every age, gender, religion and ideology.  I will never forget the morning news from those early revolutionary times.  Every day, the news started with a list of the opposition members who had been executed the day or the night before. Thousands had been killed in prisons all around Iran.  Imagine your day when it starts with such morning news! Things changed for us drastically.  We had been betrayed.

The Islamic government had no respect for any ethnic or religious minorities, most particularly members of the Baha'i faith.  Right from the beginning of the1979 Islamic Revolution, Baha'is were reviled for their beliefs.  In the Islamic Republic's new constitution, passed in 1979, Baha'is had been denied any rights as citizens of Iran.  A good Muslim could attack and kill a Baha'i with complete impunity.  From mid-1978 to 1979, a great number of Baha'is were attacked and killed by mobs.  In 1980, at least 24 Baha'is were killed — half of them were members of Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies.  In the past 3 decades, 207 Baha'is have been killed; thousand have been imprisoned and tortured.

Since the Islamic regime has been in power, Baha'is have been prevented from obtaining higher education — this discrimination is still going on.

On 19 August 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini declared Holy War against the Kurdish people of Iran.  After Khomeini's order, armed forces attacked Kurdistan in order to destroy the Kurdish people's democratic and popular movement.  Thousands were killed.  Many young men and women moved to the mountains to organize a struggle against the Islamic government's armed forces.

In June of 1980, universities were shut down.  The Islamic Cultural Revolution was on its way.  According to the new government, since opposition to the Islamic regime dominated higher education and academia and because they are influenced by non-Islamic thought, university's systems must be changed completely.  The Cultural Revolution forcefully took over university campuses.  Students and professors tried to resist the Islamic Cultural Revolution control; many were injured, arrested and killed. Universities were closed for almost three years.  After reopening in September of 1982, many books were banned.  Many students were denied access to education and many faculty members were denied access to academic sites in universities.

1980 to 1983 was when elimination of opposition groups occurred.  According to Amnesty International reports, more than 6000 were executed in Iran between 1979 and 1983.  However, imprisonment and execution did not end in 1983.  In 1988, thousands of political prisoners were brutally murdered by the Iranian government (estimates range from 8,000 to 14,000 executions).  In the summer of 1988, the massacre started right after Ayatollah Khomeini's "Fatwa" [i.e. religious ruling]: execution of all political prisoners, those whom the Islamic Republic of Iran called "moharebs" (meaning those who war against God) and "mortads" (apostates from Islam).

The 1980's were a decade of execution of members of the opposition and of war!  The government executed thousands of political prisoners of every age, gender, and ideology.  They never provided any information about how all these prisoners were killed; also they never acknowledged these executions.  Khavaran on the south east side of Tehran is one of the cemeteries that have been used as a mass grave for the bodies of political prisoners executed in 1988.  Even though many families do not know where their daughters, sons, husbands, wives, mothers or fathers are buried, in the past 20 years Khavaran has become a place for thousands of families to get together to grieve for their great loss.  However, the Islamic government cannot even let the dead rest in peace, as they are doing everything in their power to destroy this mass grave.  During the past month, in the winter of 2009, the Iranian government dug up Khavaran's mass grave in order to remove the remainder of the bodies to an unknown place.  They have changed the soil and planted trees! They hope that maybe with the destruction of Khavaran, the blood from their hands will be washed away.

As I am looking at what I have written until now, through almost two and half pages, almost twelve hundred words, I cannot find a single word or reason to make me believe that this revolution deserves a celebration.

Through three decades of violence, abuse, discrimination, torture and execution, Iran has lived and still continues to live in fear!

Art was another victim of the new government.  According to the new government, only art related to the Islamic Revolution was worth creating.  Music was forbidden unless it was a tool for Islamic propaganda.  Almost all the popular singers in Islamic Iran had no right to sing, because their music supposedly promoted western and non-Islamic values, from which only the devil could benefit.  Hundreds of thousands of music albums and films were confiscated from radio and TV stations. Studio productions and even private collections in people's houses were not safe.  Women's voices became the property of the Islamic government according to their belief that no man should hear women singing!  Women were completely banned from being singers, unless they sang in a chorus with men.

The new reality was even harsher for dance!  Dance had been forbidden for men and women. All dance schools were shutdown.  No one was allowed to dance in Iran during those years!

The spread of fear and the killing of Iranian dissidents was not only inside Iran's borders. The Iranian government secretly orchestrated a "Committee for Special Operations" outside Iran.  Several Iranian dissidents have been killed in Europe and Asia.

• Shahrokh Misaghi, a member of the student opposition, was killed in Manila, The Philippines, on 14 January 1982.
• On 8 June 1982, Shahram Mirani, a Kurdish Iranian student and a member of the student opposition to the Islamic government, was attacked on the streets of Aligahar-India at night, and beaten to death.
• On 10 September 1982, Abdol Amir Rahdar, a member of the student opposition to the Islamic government, was killed in Bangalore, India.
• In 1990, Kazem Rajavi was killed in Switzerland.
• In 1991, Shahpur Bakhtiar, the last Prime Minister under the Shah, was found with his throat slit at his house in France.
• On 9 August 1992, Fereydoun Farrokhzad, a famous Iranian singer and poet, an outspoken artist who spoke against the human rights abuses of the Iranian Islamic government, was stabbed to death and beheaded with a knife at his home in Bonn, Germany.
• On 17 September 1992, Iranian Kurdish dissidents and opposition leaders Sadegh Shahafkandi, Fattah Abdoli, and Homayoun Ardala were assassinated at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin, Germany.  The killers were arrested but set free and sent to Iran after a while.  The German federal prosecutors during the trial directly accused Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader, and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani for ordering and approving the killings.

The list goes on!

The 1998 serial murders of Iranian dissident intellectuals were a series of murders and disappearances of Iranians who had been critical of the Islamic Republic. Among them were Mohammad Mokhtari, a great Iranian philosopher and poet, Mohammad Jafar Poyandeh, a philosopher and translator, Ms Parvaneh Eskandari, Dariush Forouhar, Majid Sharif and…. No one ever gave any answers about these crimes.

The 1990's were the beginning of independent student rallies against the government and against university policies.

On 9 July 1999, police and hard-line vigilantes attacked a dormitory at the University of Tehran.  One student was killed and twenty were injured by the attackers. Not long after that, the Government of Iran banned street protests.  Many students were arrested and tortured for the simple gesture of asking for better treatment for students.

Hundreds of newspapers and magazines were shut down and banned from ever being published again.  Many Internet sites and blogs were disrupted and their creators arrested.

In spring of 2003, university student's rallies hit the streets of Tehran and other big cities.  It was during that time when Ziba Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian – Canadian photojournalist, happened to be in Tehran. On 23 June 2003, she had been arrested in front of Evin Prison while she was taking photographs of the demonstrations.  She was tortured and murdered while she was in the custody of the Iranian government.

These recent years are not different from past years.  Farzad Kamangar, a 33 year old Iranian Kurdish teacher and trade unionist, was sentenced to death by the Iranian Revolutionary Court on the 25 February 2008 after a trial which took place in secret and lasted only minutes. His execution could take place at any moment. Many Kurdish activists have been arrested and killed during the past few years.

On 15 May 2008, six Baha'i leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison.  They are still in jail without having gone through a trial.

On December of 2008, Islamic authorities shut down the Centre for Defenders of Human Rights led by Shirin Ebadi, and raided her private office, seizing her computers and files. Furthermore, on 1 January 2009, pro-regime "demonstrators" attacked Ebadi's home and office.

On 15 January 2009, at least six Baha'is were arrested, including a woman who worked at the Centre for Defenders of Human Rights and who was connected with Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi.  The six were arrested after government security agents raided the homes of 11 Baha'is.  They also confiscated Baha'i books and other items, such as computers and photographs.

The list of human rights abuses in Iran is longer than anyone can imagine.  On 12 June 2006, a peaceful demonstration organized by women activists to demand changes to discriminatory laws against women turned  violent, no thanks to  Islamic government officials and supporters.  Seventy women were arrested during that demonstration in Tehran.  A great majority of these women were not looking for a big change or to overthrow the government, as they had emphasized in a "Million Signature Campaign".  These women specified that the demands of their campaign were not in contradiction to Islamic principles.  They were looking for a change in the current system. Regardless, even a simple demand for change to the discriminatory laws — by only collecting signatures — is a big threat to this totalitarian government.

On 15 October 2008, the Iranian Ministry of Information arrested Esha Momeni, an Iranian-American student at California State University/Northridge.  She went back to Iran to make a documentary about women's rights activists, but to this day she is trapped in Iran, because officials have confiscated her passport and have forbidden her to leave the country.

Alieh Eghdamdoust was transferred to Evin prison on 31 January 2009, to serve a three-year prison term in relation to her participation in the peaceful protest of 12 June 2006.

Nafiseh Azad was arrested while collecting signatures in support of the Million Signature Campaign on 30 January 2009.  She is now under interrogation at Vozara Detention Center. On 3 February 2009, security officials from the Special Security Branch of the Office of the Prosecutor of the Revolutionary Courts stormed the home of imprisoned activist Nafiseh Azad and seized her personal property as well as the property of her housemates.

This is what the Islamic Republic of Iran is celebrating!

I understand there is so much more that I have to add to this text, but let's stop here.  However, this is a brief version of these events!  This is only a part of what the Iranian people have been through since the Islamic government came to power!

For that reason, let us not forget what happened to Iran in the past three decades! Let us remember the thousands and thousands who lost their lives over the past three decades! Let us remember those who are in prison because of their beliefs! Let us remember those who are being stoned to death because they make love outside the Islamic framework and laws! Let us remember those who live under constant abuse because of their sexual orientation! Let us remember…! Let us remember in order to prevent the same thing from happening again!

We need to narrate what happened to us. We need to remind ourselves that oppressors may be able to confiscate many things from us, but they can never confiscate our hopes and dreams.
Two weeks ago, I participated in a demonstration to support the people of Gaza.  The slogan that was mostly repeated by participants was; "Silent accomplice!"

I think it was for the same reason that the great Martin Luther King Jr. said: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

[Shahrzad Arshadi is a Montreal-based human rights activist, photographer and filmmaker.  She can be reached by email at info@shahrzadarshadi.com.]