Inside My Suitcase

A powerful question

2011-10-11T18:24:00.001-03:00

A Necessary Framework

2011-07-19T06:52:00.004-03:00

Here's something I wrote for Freedom Lens:

This past summer, I had the chance to attend a seminar organized by The Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP). There, through discussion with individuals coming from different parts of the world, I started to rethink my ideas about human rights, freedom, equality, governance, technology, religion, science and many other concepts. As we read and discussed different documents, I started to realize that what was changing was the framework, or the lens, through which I saw and analyzed the world.

In our everyday lives, we come across an endless amount of information. This happens through our conversations with the people we interact with, through the web, TV, radio and other media. Information is great and it makes us more aware about the world around us, but what happens after we have taken in all this information? How do we fit them into the millions of other pieces of information and knowledge we have? How do we organize our minds so that we can properly use all of these useful and useless messages we constantly receive? How do we use them to improve our lives and the lives of the people around us?

I think one of the most important and necessary tools we must have in this age is a framework through which we think about the world. This framework is one which is constantly developing and being renewed. It is consistent but never stagnant. Always progressing but not influenced and changed with every situation. It is not just a mindset but rather an ever existing guide that directs our thoughts, decisions, and actions. Knowledge is a prerequisite for a framework that seeks to find the truth in a world where there is no “one” truth, where everything is seen to be relative and where certainty lies in the words “doubt what you hear and see”.

In order to build this framework we must first identify the purpose and elements that direct our thoughts and actions. An overarching purpose which would fit into the consistent framework we are trying to build is the two-fold responsibility of every individual to develop their own capacities and contribute to the construction of the society around them. This should be guided by the principal of oneness, the idea that we are all affected by each other’s happiness and misery. The functioning of the human body is a perfect example of this unity and interconnectedness. In one of ISGP’s documents called Reflections on Governance, it explains the example in this way:

“Much like the human body, the increasingly interdependent body of humanity is composed of diverse elements whose well-being can only be achieved through integration and coordination. No cell or organ lives apart from the human body, and the well-being of each cell derives from the well-being of the whole. At the same time, it is the unity and interdependence of the body’s diverse cells and organs that permits the full realization of the distinctive capacities inherent in each.”

The realization of this type of unity is interesting because it suggests that we are in fact one body. We each contribute to the well-being of the whole while realizing our distinctive capacities and carrying out our different responsibilities. In this view, human beings possess many potentialities and are able to transform themselves and the world around them. You may have seen the following video called The Empathic Civilization. Jeremy Rifkin, the speaker, uses scientific studies on animals and humans to show that human beings are actually wired to feel each other’s pain or joy and feel the same emotions when they see them in other people.

He says that the ability to empathize develops as one gets older and realizes that every human being’s natural destiny is to be born and die and so he is enabled to feel others’ struggles in life. He also suggests that if throughout history we have gone from empathizing with those of the same blood ties, to tribes, to nation states, then we are able to extend this empathy to the whole human race.

This ability to unify and think of the world as interconnected is one of the most important elements of a framework that seeks to analyze its surroundings with a fair mind. We have heard many times that what is needed for change at the root of most problems is the “mindset”, the way things are perceived. This mindset can be responsible for bombing an airport or building a school, for imprisoning innocent individuals for expressing their opinions or beliefs or creating programs that enable people to formulate their own thinking. Thus, before we can have a discourse about human rights, equality or freedom, we must first start to build or reconstruct our frameworks. We should focus our efforts on unity and oneness – to see ourselves as distinct individuals with inherent potentialities and the human race as extensions of our families for whose well-being we each have a responsibility.

Tsunami in Japan

2011-03-13T16:24:00.004-03:00

You have all heard of what happened in Japan.

Japan Crisis Wort since World War II

Hm...an effort to modernize religion?

2011-02-09T18:35:00.000-04:00

Catholic church gives blessing to iPhone app

Pope Benedict XVI has said Catholics should use digital technologies responsibly

The Catholic Church has approved an iPhone app that helps guide worshippers through confession.

The Confession program has gone on sale through iTunes for £1.19 ($1.99).

Described as "the perfect aid for every penitent", it offers users tips and guidelines to help them with the sacrament.

Now senior church officials in both the UK and US have given it their seal of approval, in what is thought to be a first.

The app takes users through the sacrament - in which Catholics admit their wrongdoings - and allows them to keep track of their sins.

It also allows them to examine their conscience based on personalised factors such as age, sex and marital status - but it is not intended to replace traditional confession entirely.

Instead, it encourages users to understand their actions and then visit their priest for absolution.

“Start Quote

Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology”

Patrick LeinenLittle iApps

"Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology," Patrick Leinen of developer Little iApps told Reuters.

The launch comes shortly after Pope Benedict XVI gave urging to Christians to embrace digital communication and make their presence felt online.

In his World Communications Address on 24 January, he said it was not a sin to use social networking sites - and particularly encouraged young Catholics to share important information with each other online.

"I invite young people above all to make good use of their presence in the digital world," he said.

He warned them to keep in mind that digital communication was part of a bigger picture, however.

"It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives."

The app guides users through different elements of the sacrament

Confession's developers, who are based in Indiana, said they took the Pope's words to heart when they were preparing the application for public consumption.

"Our goal with this project is to offer a digital application that is truly 'new media at the service of the word'," said the company.

The firm said the app was developed with assistance from several priests and had been given the church's imprimatur by Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne in Indiana.

A spokesperson from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales told BBC News the app was a "useful tool to help people prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation".

"The Church believes in embracing new technology and this creative app will hopefully help people to make a good confession."

It is thought to be the first time the church has approved a mobile phone application, although it is not entirely unfamiliar with the digital world.

In 2007, the Vatican launched its own YouTube channel.

Two years later created a Facebook application that lets users send virtual postcards featuring the pontiff.

Light in Darkness

2011-02-04T05:35:00.004-04:00

The following picture was posted on Facebook by a friend who is currently in Egypt amidst the chaos. I have also posted her caption under the picture.

Christians protecting Muslims during their prayers in Tahrir yesterday. Their turn to repay the favor after Muslims turned up to protect Coptic churches on their Christmas Mass after the Alexandria bombing. In the darkness, we find the meaning of light...

Loneliness is 'hidden killer' of elderly

2011-02-01T15:37:00.001-04:00

By Sean CoughlanBBC News education and family correspondent

Loneliness is the "hidden killer" of elderly people, says a campaign group, which is calling for greater recognition of the link between isolation and ill-health.

A group of charities is launching the Campaignto End Loneliness.

It warns that lonely older people are at increased risk of depression, lack of exercise and bad diet.

The campaign says that almost one in 10 elderly people suffers from "intense" loneliness.

The campaign group wants loneliness to be recognised as a public health issue - and has published a survey claiming that fewer than one in five people is aware of the link between poor health and loneliness.

The campaign has been set up by Independent Age, Age UK Oxfordshire, Counsel and Care and WRVS and funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Trapped

While people are aware ofthe emotional problems of loneliness, the campaign says few recognise thephysical damage.

It warns of elderly people trapped in their own homes by a lack of mobility and the loss of family and friends.

A tenth of elderly people see their friends or families less than once a month, says the charity

A lack of social interaction can make old people more vulnerable to depression and to problems such as excessive drinking, poor diet and a reduction in exercise.

The campaigners say that "loneliness adversely affects the immune and cardio-vascular systems" and a lack of social interaction is linked to the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

"The problems of loneliness and isolation need to be put on an equal footing with any other condition associated with ageing. Ending loneliness should be part of the solution to the challenge of reforming care and support," said campaign director Laura Ferguson.

The campaign wants to highlight the importance of loneliness in the lives of the elderly.

More than half of people over the age of 75 are living alone - and about one in 10 says he or she suffers from "intense" loneliness.

According to the campaign, almost one in five old people sees family, friends or neighbours less than once a week - and about one in 10 of them experiences such social interaction less than once a month.

A spokeswoman for the campaign says that there is a need for informal and formal attempts to tackle such loneliness, either through organised befriending schemes or through neighbours helping one another.

She said that it was a problem that was often overlooked and which could manifest itself in other ways, such as health problems.

The Last Dance

2011-01-27T05:54:00.002-04:00

If this kid can smile, so can you.

2011-01-22T07:18:00.003-04:00

Source: http://9gag.com/gag/69681/

Geneva

2011-01-22T03:32:00.014-04:00

So, I have recently moved to Geneva, Switzerland for work. I haven't had a chance to update this blog much but a friend (ahem Emad ahem) complains that I don't post enough so here it is.

Last weekend, a friend took me around the city and showed me a bit of Geneva. It is a very beautiful city, with the old town giving a glimpse of the centuries of history that happened here and the newer buildings and shops representing the more modern times.

One of the places we went to was Saint Peter's Cathedral, built between 1115 and 1230. The Cathedral is best known for the sermons John Calvin gave in it during the mid 16th century. John Calvin, Martin Luther and other Protestants were responsible for "The Reformation", a Christian reform movement that established Protestantism as a branch of contemporary Christianity at the time. They protested the rituals and structures of the Roman Catholic Church and created new national Protestant churches.

John Calvin who was a French theologian, developed a brand of Protestantism called Calvinism. This ideology redefined the role of the church in daily life and human beings' relationship to God. Calvinism advocates five main points which you can read about here.

It's very interesting walking around the city and thinking about the conflicts that happened years and year before us in the same sites that are now so quiet and old. One can't help but think about the very different lifestyle people in those times lived and the problems they faced everyday. I'm sure one day, centuries after us, people will be asking the same questions. Except, thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and etc etc they'll know exactly what we were doing not only on a daily basis but minutely through our "status" updates and "tweets".

So, we went to the top of the church where you can see a beautiful panoramic view of the city. I took some pictures which really don't do justice to the beauty of it.

The stairs we had to walk up for 10 minutes (it was very hard) to get to the top.

View of Geneva from the top of the church.

Here, you can see the Alps mountains.

Iran forms cyberpolice to confront “modern crimes”

2011-01-19T10:03:00.002-04:00

Tehran – Iran has formed a cyberpolice unit to confront what it calls ‘modern crimes,’ which include online activities by political opposition groups, the ISNA news agency reported Friday.

ISNA quoted Iran’s deputy police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, as saying that ‘as traditional crimes have become modernized, there is the need for forming modern units for confronting such crimes as well.’

He also said that ‘as in the political riots in 2009, the rioters availed themselves of the web, there is also the necessity to confront these offenders and prevent any misuse.’

Radan was referring to protests following the 2009 presidential election, which was overshadowed by allegations of fraud and eventually led to the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The web and especially social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter were at that time used by opposition leaders, dissidents and protestors inside and outside Iran for coordinating the protests and exchanging information.

The internet in Iran is restricted with various websites filtered, including the popular Facebook and Twitter sites, either for political or for ethical reasons.

Many users, however, break the filters with software, most of which is produced in China.

The Iranian police also plan to battle information leaks by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, which have included US diplomatic cables about Iran, such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain urging the United States to halt Iran’s nuclear programme by any means, including a military attack.

The cables also included information by an unnamed Iranian source that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has incurable cancer.

Article from Freedom Messenger

Hafiz on love

2011-01-12T09:00:00.009-04:00

Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a
Stranger,
Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.

-Hafiz

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-25T12:24:00.005-04:00

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone!

Another quote!

2010-12-24T17:10:00.005-04:00

The quote below is from the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP), an organization "dedicated to building capacities in individuals, groups and institutions to contribute to prevalent discourses concerned with the betterment of society.":
"The Institute [ISGP] does not hold the romantic view that human beings will spontaneously rise to the high standards that mature structures and processes require. On the other hand, neither do we accept the view that human beings are incorrigibly corrupt, selfish, and aggressive, and therefore incapable of developing the mature attributes that effective governance requires. Human beings embody the potential for both egoism and altruism, conflict and cooperation. Which aspects of human nature are more fully developed and expressed depend largely on our cultural environment, including the training and education we receive. Human attributes, in other words, can be cultivated."

The Cutest Little Puppy

2010-12-09T18:28:00.018-04:00

So, I usually post very "serious" entries about different issues. But, today, I decided to make a post about our cute little puppy named Pambeh, which means cotton ball in Persian.

I have to say that I used to be very anti-pets. Very. For one thing, I felt terrible for the little creatures who have to be imprisoned at home for our pleasure and joy. I was especially against having a dog. I blame this on the fact that I spent my childhood in Iran and its culture, which is very much influenced by Islamic teachings and views domestic dogs as unsanitary, made me see them as unclean and not belonging at home. In fact, I remember, one couple in our building used to own a dog and her neighbors complained that they could not say their daily prayers knowing there is a dog in the building. So the couple had to get rid of it.

Ever since we got a dog, though, I've kinda started to think differently. We got it because of my brother's insistence for the past 10 years. I still wash my hands a lot, but I've gotten so attached to him. He is so friendly, loving, sweet and most of all incredibly cute. So, I'm posting a few pictures of him here.

Letter to Iran's Head of Judiciary

2010-12-08T18:14:00.006-04:00

The Baha'i International Community has written a letter to the Head of Iran's Judiciary. It's a very powerful letter that not only asks for justice for Baha'is but for all Iranian who live under oppression. In one of my favorite paragraphs it says:

"The Bahá’ís are not “others” in your country: they are an inseparable part of the Iranian

nation. The injustices meted out to them are a reflection of the terrible oppression that has

engulfed the nation. Your respect now for the rights of the Iranian Bahá’ís would signal a

willingness to respect the rights of all the citizens of your country. Redressing the wrongs

suffered by the Bahá’ís would bring hope to the hearts of all Iranians that you are ready to ensure justice for everyone. Our call, then, is in reality a call for respect of the rights of all the Iranian people."

Please take some time to read the letter here.

In Search of Equilibrium

2010-12-04T13:28:00.015-04:00

Definition of Equilibrium: The condition of a system in which opposing influences are balanced.

An article from the New York Times, written by Jeffrey Sachs:

The best idea of 2010 came from the Himalayan mountain kingdom of Bhutan. Standing before world leaders in the United Nations General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley asked the decisive economic question of our time: “As all our people rise above the threats of basic survival, what will our collective endeavor be as a progressive society?”

He proposed an answer. Let us, he said, make “the conscious pursuit of happiness” a new pillar of global cooperation, the “ninth Millennium Development Goal.” Watching from the side of the hall, I was delighted as spontaneous cheers and applause rippled across the assembly for the first time in a long day of speeches.

The world, indeed, is long on worries and short on happiness. The problem, as Prime Minister Thinley incisively explained, is not really a shortage of material goods, even in a year of economic recession. The world is richer than ever before in history; that is certainly the case in the richest countries, even those in a cyclical downturn. Happiness, according to Bhutan’s great tradition of Himalayan Buddhism, comes not from the raw pursuit of income but, in Thinley’s words, from a “a judicious equilibrium between gains in material comfort and growth of the mind and spirit in a just and sustainable environment.”

On that score, the world is far from equilibrium. As much as economists try to restore equilibrium to aggregate supply and demand, or to the relative values of national currencies, the imbalances in our societies are much deeper than the quirks of macroeconomic aggregates. There is little that is judicious in our present balancing of material gain and the growth of mind and spirit. Still less has humanity yet demonstrated the capacity to balance production and environmental sustainability. The great challenge for 2011 and beyond is to find that new judicious equilibrium.

The sense of imbalance is nowhere greater than in the United States. With all of the very real problems of a housing bubble gone bust, high unemployment and a budget deficit out of control, the United States remains the world’s most productive and dynamic economy. The long lines, day and night, outside the Apple megastores in Manhattan reflect an economy that can still churn out the latest thing and watch it spread like wildfire across the nation and the world. Yet Americans are down in the dumps more than ever before. Goods are plentiful but happiness is in very short supply.

Part of the problem, of course, is that goods are plentiful on average, but not so for the tens of millions of families in poverty or teetering precariously on the edge of poverty. America’s income inequality is staggering: The net worth of the wealthiest 1 percent of households is equal to the net worth of the poorest 90 percent. America’s gaudy inequalities today surpass those that preceded the Great Depression, and probably the excesses of the Gilded Age of the 19th-century robber barons.

The bailouts of the bankers as well as the banks during 2009 reminded Americans that gaudy wealth brings gaudy political manipulation as well. That was cause enough for a serious bout of unhappiness, and a serious need for political and economic reform.

But the problems go even deeper. America walked into its own trap, willingly and with grown-up consent. Americans have voted for candidates promising to cut taxes for the rich, to slash welfare payments for the poor and to defeat legislation to combat human-induced climate change, to which America is one of the world’s main contributors. Americans strongly supported the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, until they saw those violent misadventures turn sour. American households borrowed to the hilt, until market reversals led to an epidemic of housing foreclosures and personal bankruptcies.

And it’s not just America, of course. The world is the author of its excesses and growing imbalances. In its quest for superhuman economic growth, China has despoiled its air and rivers. Brazil and Indonesia have accepted an intolerable destruction of the world’s remaining rain forests....

Read the rest here.

A Quote

2010-11-17T11:07:00.012-04:00

We've all seen people who are too comfortable to leave their little box, their comfort zones, for experiences that will change their lives. We may also have been those very people who decided to take a step. Or we may still be in our comfort zones wanting to get out.

Every time I come back home, I see lots of people around me who complain about where they are, what they're doing, about the little box and the frustrations they face because of it. But it's interesting that as much as they complain, none are willing to leave it and see what's out of the box. For sure, if they knew, they would never be happy where they are. They could never come back with the same conception about themselves.

I think this quote describes nicely why change is uncomfortable, and what's needed to make it happen. It was shared on Facebook by a friend and I thought I'd share it here too.

"Change isn't easy. Changing the way you live means changing what you believe about life. That's hard. When we make our own misery, we sometimes cling to it even when we want so bad to change because the misery is something we know. The misery is comfortable..." - Dean Koontz

Study: Alcohol 'most harmful drug,'

2010-11-01T16:16:00.006-03:00

London, England (CNN) -- Alcohol ranks "most harmful" among a list of 20 drugs, beating out crack and heroin when assessed for its potential harm to the individual imbibing and harm to others, according to study results released by a British medical journal.

A panel of experts from the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs weighed the physical, psychological, and social problems caused by the drugs and determined that alcohol was the most harmful overall, according to an article on the study released by The Lancet on Sunday.

Using a new scale to evaluate harms to individual users and others, alcohol received a score of 72 on a scale of 1 to 100, the study says. It was compared to 19 other drugs using 16 criteria: nine related to the adverse effects the drug has on an individual and seven on its harm against others.

That makes it almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco, according to the article, which is slated to be published on The Lancet's website Monday and in an upcoming print edition of the journal.

Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine were the most harmful drugs to individuals, the study says, while alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the most harmful to others.

In the article, the panelists said their findings show that Britain's three-tiered drug classification system, which places drugs into different categories that determine criminal penalties for possession and dealing, has "little relation to the evidence of harm."

Panelists also noted that the rankings confirm other studies that say that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy."

The study was funded by the London-based Centre for Crime and Justice studies.

Women As objects

2010-10-19T01:15:00.002-03:00

"You almost never see a photograph of a women considered to be beautiful that hasn't been photoshopped...we grow up in a culture where women are constantly turned into things, into an object."

A Girl With a Smile of Her Own

2010-10-15T13:19:00.003-03:00

Tell Your Story

2010-10-04T22:21:00.003-03:00

"On October 10, 2010 (10.10.10), across the planet, documentary filmmakers, students, and inspired citizens will record the human experience over a 24-hour period and contribute their voice to the largest participatory media event in history.

Founded in 2008, ONE DAY ON EARTH is creating an online community, shared archive, and film. Together, we will showcase the amazing diversity, conflict, tragedy, and triumph that occur in one day. We invite you to join our international community of thousands of filmmakers, hundreds of schools, and dozens of non-profits, and contribute to this unique global mosaic. Through the One Day on Earth platform, we will establish a community that not only watches, but participates."

One Day on Earth Participant Trailer from One Day On Earth on Vimeo.

Devil's Dinner

2010-08-30T18:24:00.004-03:00

A poem about heroin written by Sahand.

She is the devil's dinner, angel's poison
She takes thin and makes it thinner, takes the sun from the horizen
She is the reason I wake on the street, with no shoes on my feet
With a lack of heat, not a vegetetian but still got no meat
She promised me a way to escape, she promised this was my fate,
And soon my lack of love would turn into a heart full of hate,
She promised me a pass through the gate, she promised me she wouldnt be late

She promised me the world, she said she'll keep me warm when I'm cold
She promised to turn everything into gold, and stay by me and watch me grow old
She promised to take me to the big city, she promised to dress extra pretty
She told me there was so much more than I saw, so much more than a government law
She said I would be in awe as I watch the world around me stay so raw.

She is the reason I'm lost, looked down more to than nixon or frost
does destiny come with your fingers crossed or do you buy it at a cost

She is the reason I'm down today with no way up,
I see water everwhere but I got no cup
She is the reason my best friend is dead, she is the reason a mothers got a tear that needs to be shed
She is the wrong leader to be led. She starts from your head and starts to spread.
She is a one time only, regret with a wish that she was only a one time only.
She is the reason so many die lonely
She is a puff or a sniff, a pill or a needle, she is more than just evil,
She is the devil' dinner, angel's poisen.

Re-thinking Human Identity

2010-08-28T10:35:00.003-03:00

A very interesting video about how scientific studies have found that human beings are neurologically driven to, when they observe others' feelings, to feel as if they are having the same experience. This shows the ability of the human being to "empathize" with others. The video explores what this mean for the future of world civilization.

Iran's Ex-prisoner Blogs Torture

2010-08-26T21:05:00.002-03:00

One of many prisoners of conscience and belief who have experienced similar treatment in Iran's prisons.

CNN Report on Baha'i Gardens in Haifa: Take Time to Smell The Roses

2010-08-24T16:32:00.007-03:00

"There's a sense when you come here that the unification of the world is a process that is going ahead whether humanity likes it or not."

Quote

2010-08-19T01:22:00.004-03:00

One of my favorite quotes by Martin Luther King:

I say to you this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren't fit to live. You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And if you refuse to do it because you are afraid. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You're afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you're afraid that somebody will stab you or shoot you or bomb your house. So you refuse to take the stand. Well you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.

You died when you refused to stand up for right. You died when you refused to stand up for truth. You died when you refused to stand up for justice.

A Thousand Words

2010-08-19T01:18:00.002-03:00

Iran Baha'i Leaders Sentenced to 20 years in Prison

2010-08-08T15:45:00.004-03:00

NEW YORK — The Baha'i International Community has received reports indicating that seven Iranian Baha'i leaders have each received jail sentences of 20 years.

The two women and five men have been held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since they were arrested in 2008 – six of them on 14 May and one of them two months earlier.

"If this news proves to be accurate, it represents a deeply shocking outcome to the case of these innocent and harmless people," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

"We understand that they have been informed of this sentence and that their lawyers are in the process of launching an appeal," said Ms. Dugal.

The prisoners – Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm – were all members of a national-level group that helped see to the minimum needs of Iran's 300,000-strong Baha'i community, the country's largest non-Muslim religious minority.

The trial of the seven consisted of six brief court appearances which began on 12 January this year after they had been incarcerated without charge for 20 months, during which time they were allowed barely one hour's access to their legal counsel. The trial ended on 14 June.

The defendants were accused of espionage, propaganda activities against the Islamic order, and the establishment of an illegal administration, among other allegations. All the charges are completely and categorically denied

A Quote

2010-07-20T18:19:00.003-03:00

So, I am doing a course about social action and creating a "conceptual framework" through which we see the world and act on our ideas. It talks about history, evolution, quotes many great thinkers and philosphers in the world and helps us, through a study of them, create ideas which become our guide in our decisions and community building activities.

One quote I came across was about unity and that the belief in "oneness" is more than just a beautiful idea. It's larger than "brotherhood and harmony" between all countries. It's also not just about tolerance and merely respecting everyone. It's a profound quote that brings up thought provoking ideas. Here it is:

"The principle of the Oneness of Mankind...is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and good-will among men, nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peoples and nations. Its message is applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family. It does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence. It implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced. It constitutes a challenge, at once bold and universal, to outworn shibboleths of national creeds -- creeds that have had their day and which must, in the ordinary course of events as shaped and controlled by Providence, give way to a new gospel, fundamentally different from, and infinitely superior to, what the world has already conceived. It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world -- a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units." - Baha'i writings

No One Knows About Persian Cats

2010-06-26T13:20:00.005-03:00

Last night I watched a movie called No One Knows About Persian Cats. It's a movie about the underground music scene in Iran and how ridiculously difficult it is for bands to get permit to play in public places. The movie was inspired by a true story. In 2007 hundreds of young people were arrested in Karaj, 12 miles from the capital Tehran, for holding an "illegal" concert. There are very specific guidlines for playing music in Iran. Women are not allowed to sing by themselves. There has to be more then one woman in a band and the music is judged based on "Islamic standards" set by the Iranian government.

There were many good songs used in this movie. One of them, a Persian rap song by a group called "Hichkas" - or Nobody, was one of my favorites. The lyrics tell so much about not only Iran but many other places in the world who face very similar problems. There are English subtitles so listen to it even if you don't know Persian.

A Poem

2010-05-21T21:15:00.009-03:00

This is a poem written by someone very close to me. He is very talented and always speaks from the heart. He's made some of his lyrics/poems into songs which I will also share here in the future.

All One
I look around at what I'm surrounded by,
look up at the sky and think of what im hounded by
my life is a mess, a pig with make up on and a dress
and what about the stress, its intense
This one is for the newspapers and the coverage of the media
See my mind works like an encyclopedia, what I write is what I spit
kinda like my life i've learned to take a hit. Sometimes you walk, sometimes you run, Sometimes you sit

Keep your head up high is what ive been told
Dont you cry when everything turns cold
Look up at the sky tills the clouds are dry and you can hold
life is a game of cards, know when to fold

So from a brother to a siter, brother, father or mother,
From a man to a woman to a child to a senior
From a color to another color,
From a Human to another, we're all born and bread under the same mother
From a species to another, From a tiny part of the universe to another
although we all seem so distant, although war seems to be so consistant
and our leaders seem so persistant, we all eat from the same chain,
we all drink from the same rain, make up society as one big brain
put away your gun, we share the same light til its done, we all share the same heat under the sun
i just wanna let you know
we are all one.

So you can look at me now and ask yourself how
How someone can just leave everything. How someone can lose it all but gain it back
How I can be sad but still stay on track, Ask yourself how I even run this course
I dont care if what I say gives you shivers under your clothes or is as useful to you as a dead rose
I'm spittin to a full mind, emptyin my heart,
I'll leave it all behind, disregard

A Renewed Hope in Humanity

2010-04-28T00:19:00.013-03:00

So, this past week we had the chance to participate in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. It has been very interesting. To be honest, I never really understood the real problems faced by indigenous peoples until now. I wrote essays about them and listened to lectures but an event I attended at UNICEF brought it all to life. The panel discussion was about the need to empower children and youth in indigenous communities.

What was very touching about this panel discussion were the panelists. One of them was a 23 year old girl named Jessica Yee. She is the founder and executive director of Native Youth Sexual Health Network. She is a self-proclaimed feminist and freedom fighter. Her mother was a sex worker (or prostitute) and growing up around drugs, alcohol and sex she came to learn the hardships faced by many indigenous teenagers. She also worked as a sex worker herself for some time. At the age of 12, she realized she had to take responsibility and find a way to help herself and other indigenous girls and women who get sunk in the same problems.

Jessica Yee

She was living in Toronto at the time. In Canada, you need three people to start non-profit organization. So, with two of her friends, one of whom was her sister, she started a group in her basement with the purpose of providing support and education for indigenous women and girls. Soon, the organization became provincial, national and now has branches in the U.S. She is now serving as the first inaugural Chair of the National Aboriginal Youth Council at the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, as well as the International Indigenous HIV/AIDS Working Group, and she is also the first North American youth representative at MenEngage International Alliance for Gender Equality. Her health research centers around empowering youth as researchers in the areas of sexual health promotion, decolonization, and reclaiming traditional knowledge.

Here's a clip of her end remark at the event:

Another very inspiring speaker was a 15 year old boy from Brazil. His name is Urapina. I, and a lot of other people, literally had tears in our eyes when he was speaking. He told us of his experiences in his village and how child rape, drug dealing and murder are affecting many people who do not have money or ways of making a living. He said drug dealers easily come to their village and sell their drugs to the youth. Some are killed because they cannot pay for the drugs.

What was so touching about Urapina's talk was that he is 15. I do not know many 15 year olds who are so concerned about the well-being of their communities and who have the courage to speak at UN events with so much passion. UNICEF has 3 minutes every year to talk about issues faced by indigenous youth and children at the UN Forum. This year, they will be giving those 3 minutes to Urapina to speak about his experiences.

After the event, the other intern and I went to an evening reception at the main UN building. There were cultural dances and songs performed by different indigenous people around the world. After the performances everyone was invited on the dance floor. It was a very interesting environment. It was very uplifting to dance and have fun with people from all around the world and realize that world unity is attainable and that it's happening in small settings. As many problems bring us to the edge of destruction, another positive force brings us all together and I have no doubt that the second one will win the battle.

2010-04-25T20:17:00.011-03:00

Photo: by LM, a friend in NY.

Life or something like it...

2010-04-13T23:12:00.015-03:00

-

I should probably write more about my experiences in New York City. I feel like I live in a different world. I have lived in countries with such contrasting cultures and dynamics. But NYC is different from anywhere else I have been, probably different from all other states in the US too.

I like living here. I like the experience of the busy, work-driven lifestyle that New Yorkers have. My day looks like this: I wake up in the morning, get dressed, eat breakfast, put in my earphones and turn on my iPod. I, then, leave the house, get into the elevator and, like the many others walking in the same direction, go to my subway station. I pick up the Metro newspaper on my way, read it on the train, and then I listen to music for the rest of the walk to my work.

I'm living the New York life...which can be very exciting but at times robot-like. Many people who live here are professionals. They are very successful people who are at the very top of their field. But it makes me wonder, are they happy? Is this what they want to do with their life?

I've had conversations about this with many people. This need for happiness and whether your dream job will bring it for you. I have met many people with very interesting jobs and the ones that are the happiest are the ones that make a difference in the lives of others. No matter how prestigious a person's job is, the excitement wears off after a while and it only becomes a job. A source of income. But people feel emotionally attached tot heir jobs when they know that somehow they are changing something, or someone's life. When they know that what they do doesn't just produce money, but contributes to something greater.

I always expressed these ideas but never fully understood them. I never fully believed them until coming here and seeing that money does not equal to happiness. See this article that scientifically proves it, which says that studies show "once a person's basic needs are met, money doesn't buy happiness." It also says that "experiences make people more alive" and especially those that are shared with friends.

I find it difficult to walk on the streets and see so many poor, homeless people when I know one block away the price of rent for an apartment is $10,000 a month. Nowhere in the world have I seen such a huge gap between the poor and the rich than New York City. A friend told me the other day that there are apartments in the city that you can rent for $40,000 a month. Just to repeat it, forty thousand dollars a month. But then you go to Brooklyn or Harlem and see people barely making it through the day and struggling to feed their children. It's sad and it's the reality.

I am so happy that I've been able to experience this lifestyle. It's so different from other places I've lived. To survive here, you have to be assertive and know what you want and not get distracted by things. If you don't move fast enough, someone else is right behind you waiting to take it. It's stressful but at the same time it's an interesting and always-on-the-go kinda living.

Human Nature

2010-04-13T10:47:00.004-03:00

How I Survived 40 Lashes

2010-04-11T00:28:00.004-03:00

A really good article that was published in the magazine Marie Claire:

The crime? Wearing a miniskirt—in the privacy of a friend's home—in Iran. Raassi, now a fashion designer in the U.S., describes the punishment that changed her life.

There’s a memory that has defined my life: I'm standing in line in a long, dark hallway, handcuffed to a friend, while listening to the horrifying sound of two other friends screaming out in pain. I'm in a jail in Iran's capital, Tehran, and I'm about to be served my punishment: 40 lashes. My friends emerge from a room down the hall, tears streaming down their faces and blood staining the backs of their shirts. I can barely breathe as I wait for the guards to call my name. Finally, it's my turn. My friend and I, still cuffed, enter the torture room together.

Two expressionless, middle-aged female guards, each dressed in a chador, or long black robe, remove our cuffs, then instruct us to lie facedown on a pair of bare mattresses. We will be lashed on our backs. The guards grab two black leather whips and dip them in water, to make the lashes sting. I turn my head and see them raise the whips high in the air, then I squeeze my eyes tight, terrified. The first of 40 lashes comes down hard across my back. I feel a shock of searing pain. I'm wearing a cotton T-shirt, which you'd think would be preferable to wearing nothing at all, but I soon learn that it's actually worse. As the lashes come down one after another, the T-shirt starts to stick to the cuts on my back; the whip pulls the shirt away from the welts after each lashing, intensifying the pain. I keep thinking, I can't believe this is happening to me. I'm a good student; I come from a great family. I'm not a criminal.

Click here to read the rest of the article...

One Open Door Leads To Others

2010-04-01T15:56:00.018-03:00

Living in New York City has been everything I imagined and more. I always wanted to achieve two things: to have a job where the organization's main goal was contributing towards change and to meet people that inspired me. Here, working at the BIC offices at the UN, I've been closer to these two than ever before.

I've only been here for one month but I have learned so much and met so many brilliant people that it feels much longer. I am not kidding when I say I've learned more here than I did in the past 4 years in school. And everyday I think about how important it is to live and work in different places so that we can broaden our vision, goals and characters. There are huge things happening outside our communities and our comfort zones and I think it's such a life-changing experience to go to different countries and live in an environment that makes us do something different.

Living here has let me experience all the things I only always thought about and saw on TV. Most of the the people I've had the opportunity to meet, go out to dinner, coffee or just hung out with have been inspiring and successful people that have worked hard for where they are. I've met people that work in American Express, Google, top UN agencies, big law and business firms in NYC and news networks like CNN and ABC. Meeting these people who are so focused on their goals has taught me a lot about having a purpose for what I do. It's so easy to get distracted by many things in life. But what I like about being here is that although those distractions are still present, it is much easier to focus on my future and career.

And there are so many opportunities. Just a couple of days ago I went to a gala with a few friends. Near the end of the night my grandmother called and I spoke with her in Persian. When my conversation ended, a lady that was sitting beside me turned and asked in Persian, "are you Iranian?". I said yes and asked if she was. And so our conversation began. She casually told me that she works in Sony Productions and their movie, Clash of the Titans was coming out the next day. And she was so nonchalant about it! While she was talking to me I was thinking "WHAT?" and was completely amazed that she was taking the time to talk to little me. Anyways, we talked for some time. She liked the event, she said, but didn't like the cheese they were serving. She gave me her contact information and told me to keep in touch.

It's just weird...and cool that I get to meet people like that all the time here. I realize it's because this city is the place for many different companies and organizations who have made it to the top. If they hadn't made it to the top they wouldn't be here. So, it's normal to see and meet individuals who are behind many of the movies we see and the clothes we wear.

So far, I love living in NYC. I really don't want these three months to end. But at the same time I am so grateful for them because my time here has changed so much in my mind. It has taught me that we can be happy not only by indulging ourselves and creating more pleasure in our lives, but by focusing on our goals. And these goals aren't about money. They are about making a difference in the lives of the people around us, many of whom desperately need our help. Seeing the misfortunes around me and hearing about them in different UN events makes me question the different lifestyles I have seen back home and even here. I know that wherever I go after here, I'm going to make sure I change the way I think about a lot of things.

Making Money In A Bad Economy

2010-03-23T01:11:00.003-03:00

When times are tough people get creative. Especially now with the bad economy and loss of jobs and people getting laid off.

I read in the newspaper yesterday that the number of homeless people in New York City has doubled in recent years. There's still a lot of people sitting in subway terminals, streets or standing on the bottom of escalators, but there are also many "beggars" that use creative ways to ask for money. In subway stations you see people singing, dancing or playing instruments. It's actually very entertaining! And people are definitely more inclined to offer their money when they see someone trying and doing something to make a living, even if it's just selling balloons.

The problem of homelessness is not going to be solved by "rich people" giving money to the "poor beggars" out of sympathy or even the goodness of their hearts. The amount of money we give to beggars doesn't make us generous or cheap, good or bad, the issue is much larger. People have to realize they need to take charge of their lives, and these dancers, singers and musicians, have realized that.

If we want to help them, giving them $3, $10 or even $50 will not improve their lives. I feel like sometimes giving them money is a way to make ourselves feel better. To help, we have to get out of our comfort zones and try different ways and by working with others who have the same concerns, come up with more lasting solutions. Just like the famous Chinese proverb that we all know says "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Here are some videos and pictures of people I've seen on subways and on the streets:

Inside a Subway

Central Park

Concret Jungle Where Dreams Are Made of...

2010-03-20T18:58:00.009-03:00

Fast Slow Dissolving Tablets

2010-03-09T10:25:00.008-04:00

A hilarious commercial about a pill that makes fasting easier.
Made by "Unity Pharmaceuticals".

New York City!

2010-02-24T00:52:00.015-04:00

I'm in New York City!

I can think of way too many words to describe how living here is like. But the first word that comes to mind is exciting. Incredibly exciting.

I'm sitting on my bed right now, looking out the window. I have a beautiful view of Manhattan. It's weird to think I'm living in New York City right now. Very strange.

Our building is right next to the water and we work on the other side of the bridge. We take the subway there everyday. Its quite fast actually. We are very close to the main subway central. From there it's around a 15 minute walk to my work (If I walk fast.)

Today was rainy...and it was a bit annoying because I woke up extra early this morning to do my hair and, alas, the rain and humidity curled it up...as if I had just woke up! Great look for a first day. But it went well. I got to work and they explained what I'll be doing, gave me a lot of readings to do and I kind of just got familiarized with everything. I absolutely love the kind of work I'll be doing. It's the kind of thing that I could spend day and night doing and not get tired of. So far I love it. I'll talk about my work and what I do more in future posts. It's very exciting.

Our building is amazing! We have a pool, a gym, a billiard table, lounge, movie theatre room where you can play your own movies, roof top with chair, tables and BBQs, a grocery store, a pharmacy and dry cleaning IN our building! When my roommates were giving me a tour of the building, I just kept saying wow!! PLUS, there's an Asian restaurant right next to us.

There are so many brilliant people that I meet here everyday and I learn so much from the work they do. It is all giving me a new vision and way of looking at my own life but also how to contribute to change in society. The work being done here may be happening in slow motion but the important thing is that problems are being talked about. Dialogue is taking place and there is a sense of urgency to deal with the problems that are affecting the majority of the world's population.

Beautiful Snow Day

2010-02-17T12:13:00.007-04:00

Everyone was snowed in today! Schools, universities and a lot of other places got closed.

The World As I see It

2010-01-30T15:30:00.005-04:00

Here's an essay by Einstein called "The World As I see it". I thought I would share it with you because it's exactly what I'm thinking these days.

"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...

"I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts -- possessions, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible.

"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."

Links

2010-01-12T15:04:00.008-04:00

There have been many articles on today's trial of the Baha'is in Iran.
Here are are a bunch, from different places:

The Guardian: Faith, Life and Death in Iran
BBC: Iran Baha'is Go On Trial
CNN: Trials Under Way for Baha'i Leaders in Iran
New York Times: Iran Court Opens Trial of 7 Baha'is on Spy Charges
The Globe and Mail: The Canaries in Iran's Cages

Our Solidarity Against Their Chains

2010-01-12T10:58:00.022-04:00

Right this minute the trial of the 7 Baha'is in Iran is happening in a court in Iran.

Either that, or they have finished and have announced the verdict.

Articles on CNN, BBC, The Globe and Mail and New York Times show that the world is watching anxiously as these individuals go on a trial, the outcome of which has probably already been decided by the Iranian officials.

No need to say that today is only a show trial.

I'm not going to talk about the obvious innocence of these Baha'is or about the last 30 years of persecution against the Baha'i community in Iran. There's been much talk of that.

Instead, I want to talk about something positive. I want to tell you of the sense of unity and connectedness I've felt with Baha'is from around the world the past couple of days. And how happy I am, once again, to be a member of a community so together, so united.

Apparently some Baha'is in Botswana, South Africa, decided to start a prayer initiative for the seven Baha'is. Since then it has spread around the world. Even if people didn't know about that particular initiative, I could tell from Facebook posts that Baha'is from every corner of the world were participating in rounds of prayers for our friends in Iran. Yesterday, seeing everyone's links about the trial date and their "statuses" about how they are praying made me realize that I am part of an extraordinary community of individuals committed to one thing and one thing only: unity.

The fate of seven Baha'is has made people that have never even been to Iran worried and anxious. They are praying, reading the news and hoping for the best. Even though I don't know these seven people personally, I feel like my close family members are in prison and I'm waiting to see what happens. It seems that they have become our mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles whose unjust imprisonments we have been watching for the past 20 months.

This might seem simple and unimportant, but I think it's truly amazing. This is exactly what we lack in the world. Caring about one another's problems, sharing in each other's sorrows and seeing the troubles of the world as our own, even if we live in a country far from war, poverty, disease, and human rights violations. Baha'u'llah says the idea of unity is at the center of the Baha'i Faith. Before all else, He says, we must be united.

We think we have to solve all the world's problems before we can be united, but in truth, we are thinking backwards. Before we can solve anything, we must unite and come together. Otherwise nothing will ever be solved.

I'm going to continue following the news to see what happens with the seven Baha'is. I'm worried. I know that no matter what the outcome will be, our prayers have given them more courage and power to be put to a show trial and still be strong. And I know they'd be happy to know that in their hardship we have together more than ever before.

Bravery

2009-12-28T00:57:00.005-04:00

Ashoora this year wasn't like other Ashooras in Iran.

Ashoora is the 10th day of the month of Muharram in the Islamic calendar. It is commemorated by Muslims as the day when Imam Husayn, the grandson of prophet Muhammad, was killed in Karbala, Iraq.

In Iran, like many other places, this day is important and people remember it through different ways. This year, people in Iran used this day to show the world that they are weary of their government. Once again, though, the government cracked down on protesters leaving hundreds injured and dozens killed.

Here are a couple of pictures that tell it all:

Speaking in Congress about the Persecution of Baha'is

2009-10-30T22:50:00.002-03:00

Speaking in support of legislation Congressman Kirk introduced regarding the persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

My life in a picture

2009-10-24T00:54:00.008-03:00

This picture describes my life in the past couple of weeks. Books/newspapers/articles and various other readings for school and, of course, coffee - by coffee I mean half coffee, half hot chocolate - to keep me from passing out.

Radio Report

2009-10-22T21:42:00.004-03:00

This is my radio report for this week. It's about a protest that happened in Halifax last week called Stand up! Take Action. It was a campaign by Make Poverty History and it was a global event that happened around the world from October 16-18.

Dear God

2009-10-02T12:17:00.005-03:00

Houshang's Story

2009-09-04T02:12:00.009-03:00

By: Simin Fahandej

Ladan Mohebpour sits at a small glass table in her living room, reading out loud her brother’s last letter to her before his execution, tears running down her face.

The last line of the letter says “It’s never too late to start from the beginning.”

Ladan stops, looks at picture of him on the wall, and closes her eyes, remembering a painful memory.

“He was my best friend, my hero, my everything,” she says softly.

Her brother, Houshang Mohebpour, was hung in Iran, in 1981. He was 22. His crime was being an activist. He spent his life educating people about poverty and the need for equality. When the Islamic regime took over, he did all in his power to ally people against the new government and its extremist doctrines.

“Houshang was courageous, smart [and] enthusiastic.” Ladan says. “He was passionate about helping people. He couldn’t watch the injustices that happened all around him…the poverty, the arbitrary arrests and imprisonments…he couldn’t watch that and not do anything about it.”

The Islamic regime arrested and killed anyone even slightly opposed to the government. To them, Houshang was a great danger. To his family, however, he was a hero.

Houshang, Ladan and their two brothers were born in Dehbid, a small village south of Iran. Houshang was the first child and was born on March 8 1958.

Their village was so small and the people so poor that there was only one public bath for everyone to use. No one even had a TV or a car.

Houshang knew that regardless of the hard conditions, he had to succeed. And he knew how.

“He was a genius and also worked very hard,” says Ladan. “He only slept a couple of hours a day. The rest, he spent reading, studying, and playing the violin, which he had learnt to play by himself.”

When Houshang was only 14, he invented his very own automobile – with four chairs, a steering wheel and tires. He often took his brothers and sister out driving.

“We all loved him so much and were so proud of him,” Ladan says. “He was a role model for all of us. We knew he had a bright future ahead of him.”

Houshang also loved children. He would visit mentally disordered kids in hospitals regularly and play with them. He even wrote several children’s books and short stories about poverty and why it exists in the world.

“He always said that children have the purest hearts. He said if everyone was honest and full of love like kids, the world would be a better place.” Ladan says.

Houshang was passionate about learning. But since school in Dehbid only went up to junior high, he was forced to move to Shiraz – the closest city to their village – for high school.

His parents rented him a small room in the basement of a family friend’s house.

“The room he was in looked more like a big hole,” says Ladan. “It was small, filthy, damp and had no windows. It looked more like a prison cell.”

Seeing Houshang’s hard conditions, his parents decided to move to Shiraz so he could live in a better house.

Houshang’s life slowly started to go the right direction. He had his family with him, was one of the best students in high school and was loved by everyone who knew him.

In 1976, he finished high school and was accepted to one of the best universities in Iran, Pahlavi University, and began studying mechanical engineering.

His vast knowledge on religion and philosophy won him the respect of all who got to know him. He gave talks at his university about the importance of human rights and the need for equality in the country.

Houshang now only had one year to finish his degree. But his last year coincided with the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979.

“The revolution destroyed Houshang’s dreams. Everything he had worked and lived for were now shattered.”

The Islamic revolutionaries promised a land of liberty, peace and opportunity and, in that way, won the support of the majority of Iranians, especially youth.

But Houshang was different. He never fell for the talk of freedom. He would only believe it when he saw it with his own eyes.

After the revolution, he continued working to abolish the gap between the rich and the poor by giving talks and creating awareness amongst all he met; Now with greater determination. His new goal was to stand against the government’s extremist views which sentenced all to death but those who allied with them.

“Houshang was a threat to them,” explains Ladan. “With all the love, affection and contributions he brought. He was a threat because he found the weakness of the government and wanted to act against it.”

The Iranian government closed all universities, and arrested anyone who was even a small threat – all from the supporters of the old regime, to communists, Kurds and Baha’is.

Houshang, who was a witness of these injustices, could not sit still. He was a man of action and had to prove he would not give in to their pressures. He intensified his efforts against the government by giving more talks about the inefficiency of the new regime and the need for change.

He, along with his group, called Peykar, a well-known socialist-based group in Iran, published pamphlets and books that invited people to stand up against the new government. They even produced a play which became very popular in Shiraz.

“We all knew something bad would soon happen. Houshang was involved in everything the government wanted to end,” Ladan says. “We tried to talk to him, but he was determined to change the world.”

Houshang’s efforts continued, until the dreadful day they all awaited for finally arrived. The day was April 18, 1981.

“Remembering the past is painful,” Ladan says, starting to cry again.

“Imagine always, always having to be afraid that someone you love dearly will be taken away from you,” she continues, pausing, as she bites her trembling lips. “Imagine, one night you wake up and realize that person has been killed. Gone forever.”

The night Houshang was arrested, their family had decided to spend the next day together, something very rare for their family.

Unlike usual, Houshang didn’t sleep in his room that night. He slept in the living room.

Around 1 am, Ladan woke up to the sound of men talking, and her younger brother yelling “mother, please don’t worry. It will be ok.”

“It was the most painful night of my life,” she explains. “The night I had been dreading for so long. I didn’t want to accept this bitter truth. Not seeing my beloved Houshang for one day was bad enough for me, how could I go on living without him? My heart ached just thinking about it.”

Ladan walked out of her room and found her younger brother, Masood, handcuffed and surrounded with Islamic revolutionary guards in the living room, and her parents locked in their room. When she walked in, a guard came towards her and pointed his gun at her head. She would be killed if she moved one more step.

“I looked at my brother who was trying to comfort my mom and the guards who were pointing their guns at us. At that point, all I wanted was to know where Houshang was. I had to find him. Even if it costed my life.”

Disregarding the guns, she ran towards the back yard to find her brother. And there he was, handcuffed and being escorted to a car by two guards.

“It was like my world fell apart. I screamed his name. He turned back and looked at me innocently and said ‘Ladan, everything’s going to be fine.’ I wanted to believe him so bad. I wanted to believe he would, one day, come back again…I looked at him, with all the love I felt for him...I wanted to run towards him and rescue him. But I couldn’t move. I was numb.”

Houshang was taken to Adelabad Prison in Shiraz that night, and never came back home again.

Ladan and her family would regularly visit him in prison. But seeing him in the horrible condition of Adelabad broke their hearts terribly.

“First time I saw him in prison, I couldn’t believe it. He had been tortured so much that he couldn’t even walk. His friend told us later that the pain from the lashes was so unbearable that they would put cucumbers on their back to cool it a bit.”

Various types of tortures were used on Houshang: Lashes, sleep deprivation, and hours and hours of mind blowing interrogation. They wanted to force him to apologize and say that he will support the government. Houshang, of course, never gave in.

Eight months later, on November 22, 1981, his order of execution was announced. His family was not informed of this order, neither was Houshang himself. He, along with a group of people were taken out of their cells, blind folded. No one knows what exactly happened after that, except that he was hung.

On November 23, two of Houshang’s friends came to Ladan’s house to bring the news of his execution.

“I had been nervous the whole day that day.” She says. “I didn’t know why…I felt like something horrible was about to happen. I kept thinking about Houshang and quickly getting it out of my head…I didn’t want to imagine it. It would kill me.”

When the door bell rang, Ladan closed her eyes and prayed that Houshang was ok. But when her father went to the door and almost fainted when the two guys were talking to him, she knew her nightmare had come true. She ran towards the front door, much like the day she had run to see Houshang one last time before he was taken to prison.

“I screamed, “Baba, Houshang! Houshang! Tell me he is ok. Please tell me he’s coming back. He looked at me and said ‘Ladan, Houshang was hung last night.’ ”

“My mom came to the door at the same time. She didn’t know what had happened. She invited the guys for tea. When she noticed the pale look on my dad’s face, she screamed ‘Houshang?’ My dad said ‘yes.’ And she fainted.”

That day, Ladan’s father and uncle went to the government morgue and collected Houshang’s body. Because there was a chance of them being arrested, they had to finish burying him as fast as possible. Only Ladan, her mom, dad, uncle and aunt went to the cemetery. He was buried in the fastest time, with a big rock over his coffin. A funeral couldn’t be more depressing.

“I wanted to cry, my mother told me to be quiet. I wanted to reach out and touch my Houshang, but my aunt stopped me. What was I free to do? Houshang was gone and I wanted to cry…but I didn’t even have the right to do that. I wanted to lay down beside him in the coffin and go with him forever…”

She pauses a few seconds.

“And I did do that. A big part of me left with Houshang that day.”

Houshang became the hero of the city, continues Ladan. He showed people the true meaning of being the change one wants to see in the world.

“He lived a simple life and was rested in his grave in the simplest way,” she says…He died for the change he wanted.”

Blasphemy, Death Penalty and Afghanistan's Future

2009-09-04T02:07:00.004-03:00

So I wrote this article for my Honours Project at school and I was just searching on Google today and noticed it was published in two places. I worked really hard on this article so this makes me happy! Here are the links:

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2008/11/20/blasphemy-death-penalty-and-afghanistanand-8217-s-future.html

http://hoqoqbashar-en.blogspot.com/2009/04/blasphemy-death-penalty-and.html

Globalization Through Communication

2009-07-29T17:48:00.000-03:00

We’re at a unique moment in history, says UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown: we can use today’s interconnectedness to develop our shared global ethic — and work together to confront the challenges of poverty, security, climate change and the economy.

Baha’is and Constructive Resilience

2009-07-21T01:29:00.002-03:00

A must read talk given about the Baha'is' way of dealing with injustice.

By Dr. Michael Karlberg

"When I first began writing and speaking out about the Baha’is in Iran, and the suffering they are experiencing, some people asked me: Why don’t the Baha’is in Iran fight back? Why aren’t they willing to confront their oppressors by organizing politically? Or by engaging in acts of civil disobedience? And more recently, people might ask: Why are the Baha’is of Iran not taking to the streets in protest – like their fellow citizens this past week following the Iranian election? After all, there are over 300,000 Baha’is in Iran."

For the rest of the article go here: http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/4410

A bit personal...

2009-07-11T22:23:00.009-03:00

So you know how they say everyone comes to your life for a reason? Thanks to my gullibility I've always learned that the hard way. The latest person has been the best example of this.

I got myself in a messy situation for quite a while and even though I knew I was making a mistake I ignored it, mostly because ignoring it was way easier than dealing with it. What I didn't realize was that as time went by it was getting worst and though I thought I was doing myself a favor, I was really preparing myself for an incredible test that affected many aspects of my life.

This all sounds so confusing, but all you need to know is that I was going way out of track and thankfully I stopped it before it got worst. It was a hard decision, but I did it. The most surprising thing to myself, though, was that I stuck with it. But I didn't stick with it because I was strong. I did it because I met someone who, without knowing it, pulled me out of it. This person made me realize how far I had gone from the things that mattered to me and how much I had given up.

The past...I can't say months because it has been way longer than that...but the past while has been an emotional roller coaster for me. I was thinking about it tonight and I realized that it has all been for a reason. This person somehow guided me to overcome what I was going through and realize what the real solution was. And I am so, so grateful.

I don't like posting cheesy, emo posts for the world to read but it has been on my mind so I thought I would write about it. :)

My Iran

2009-07-11T12:29:00.003-03:00

So, the past few weeks have been intense in Iran. Iranians around the world have been watching with agony while thousands of their brothers and sisters have been beaten and killed on the streets. If there is one positive thing that came out of this, though, it's that the youth in Iran showed their bravery, open-mindedness and their unfulfilled desire to choose their own destiny.

I thought I would share a few quotes in the Baha'i writing about Iran. More than 160 years ago, Baha'u'llah envisioned a great future for Iran. He warned of horrible times of oppression but said that the distant future of Iran is bright. I couldn't find all of them in English so some of them will only be in Farsi.

حضرت عبدالبهاء میفرمایند:

ایران مرکز انوار گردد. این خاک تابناک شود و این کشور منوّر گردد و این بی نام و نشان شهیر آفاق شود و این محروم محرم آرزو و آمال و این بی بهره و نصیب فیض موفور یابد و امتیاز جوید و سرافراز گردد.

حضرت عبدالبهاء میفرمایند:
... خیر عموم خواهیم و ترقّی جمهور، و به عالم آداب و اخلاق ایران خدمت می کنیم، و شب و روز می کوشیم که خدا یک روح جدیدی در جسم ایران بدمد تا یک قوّه ای خارق العاده در بنیه ایرانیان جلوه نماید."

حضرت عبدالبهاء میفرمایند:
...ولی ملاحظه خواهید کرد که به تأئید الهی ایران چنان فوران نماید که سیل جان بخشش اقالیم عالم را سبز و خرّم نماید...مشیّت الهیه تعلّق یافته و قوّه معنویه در ایران نبعان نموده. هذا امر محتوم و وعد غیر مکذوب...

“

Iran

shall become a focal centre of divine splendours. Her darksome soil will become luminous and her land will shine resplendent.” - Abdu'l-Baha

Today, July 11th, is Baha'i Rights Day

2009-07-11T12:26:00.001-03:00

Message From the Universal House of Justice

2009-07-02T16:36:00.007-03:00

The Universal House of Justice sent a letter to the Baha'is in Iran. The Universal House of Justice is the highest administrative body in the Baha'i Faith. The UHJ, along with Local Spiritual Assemblies and National Spiritual Assemblies, are elected by Baha'is through a democratic process. For more info: Universal House of Justice

They have sent several letters to the Baha'is in Iran encouraging them to keep hope and to not give up as the pressures on the Baha'is in the country have intensified in recent months. The latest letter came after the happenings after the election in Iran.

Here is the letter in Farsi and English:

پیام بیت العدل اعظم خطاب به بهاییان درباره روبدادهای اخیر این کشور

Sat 27 06 2009

۱٩ شهرالنّور ۱۶۶ - ۲٣ جون ۲٠۰٩

بهائیان عزیز در کشور ایران ملاحظه فرمایند:

خواهران و برادران روحانی،

با حزن و اندوه فراوان از وقوع حوادث اخیر در آن سرزمین مقدّس، منویّات قلبیّۀ خود را به پیروان حضرت بهاءالله ابراز می‌نماییم. سلامت و امان شما عزیزان از دیرزمان مشغلۀ ذهنی این مستمندان بوده و اکنون نگرانی امنیّت میلیون‌ها نفر زنان و مردان شریف دیگر ایران نیز بر آن اضافه گردیده است، خاصّه آنکه اغلب آنان در عنفوان جوانی بوده مشتاق شکوفایی استعدادهای وسیع و نهفتۀ خود می‌باشند. ملاحظه فرمایید که با چه سرعتی پرده‌ها برافتاد! مظالمی که طیّ سالیان دراز از طرق سازمان‌یافته و پنهان، بر بهائیان و دیگر شهروندان آن کشور وارد آمده در هفته‌های اخیر در خیابان‌های ایران در مقابل انظار جهانیان نمایان گشته است. اطمینان داریم که شما عزیزان در این ایّام نیز به آن اصل اساسی آیین بهائی که هر نوع فعّالیّت سیاسی حزبی را بر مؤمنین و مؤسّسات خود شدیداً منع می‌کند با خلوص کامل تمسّک خواهید جست. البتّه در عین حال نمی‌توانید نسبت به مشکلاتی که گریبان‌گیر هم‌وطنان عزیزتان است بی‌اعتنا باشید. استقامت در مقابل مشقّات و تضییقات بی‌شمار در طول سال‌های متمادی شما را به خوبی آماده ساخته است که در حلقۀ خویشاوندان، دوستان، آشنایان و همسایگان چون نمادی از ثبوت قد برافرازید و چون مشعلی فروزان نور امید و شفقت برافشانید. اطمینان به آیندۀ درخشان ایران را در قلوب‌تان زنده نگاه ‌دارید و بر این باور استوار مانید که سرانجام نور معرفت و دانایی غمام تیرۀ جهل و نادانی را زائل خواهد ساخت، عدالت‌خواهی و انصاف‌طلبی مردم سبب خواهد شد که از چنگ تهمت و افترا رهایی یابند، و محبّت و وداد بر نفرت و عناد چیره خواهد گشت. بهائیان ایران با سلوک و منش خود نشان داده‌اند که واکنش صحیح در مقابل ظلم نه قبول خواسته‌های سرکوب‌گران است و نه پیروی از خوی و روش آنان. نفوسی که گرفتار جور و ستم هستند می‌توانند با اتّکا به قدرتی درونی که روح انسان را از آسیب کینه و نفرت محفوظ می‌دارد و موجب تداوم رفتار منطقی و اخلاقی می‌شود، ورای ظلم و عدوان بنگرند و بر آن فائق آیند. امید آنکه این بیان حضرت عبدالبهاء در گوش‌ها طنین افکند: «ایران مرکز انوار گردد این خاک تابناک شود و این کشور منوّر گردد.»

در اعتاب مقدّسۀ علیا به یاد شما و هم‌وطنان عزیزتان به دعا مشغولیم.

[امضا: بیت العدل اعظم]

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

23 June 2009

To the Baha’is of Iran

Dearly loved Friends,

With hearts grieved by events unfolding in Iran, we address this letter to you, the steadfast followers of Baha’u'llah in that land. To the concern for your safety that has long weighed on us is now added mounting fear for the safety of millions of Iranian men and women, so many of them at the pinnacle of their youth, their vast potentialities yearning to be realized. How rapidly have veils been rent asunder! Cruelty meted out in calculated measures to you and others over the years has been unleashed in the streets of Iran for all humanity to see. No matter what the turn of events, we are confident you will adhere firmly to the fundamental principle of our Faith that strictly prohibits any involvement in partisan political activity by individual Baha’is or by Baha’i institutions. Yet you cannot remain aloof and insensitive to the suffering of your people. Decades of hardship have prepared each of you to stand as a beacon of strength in the circle of your family and friends, your neighbours and acquaintances, radiating hope and compassion to all those in need. Keep alive in your hearts the feeling of confidence that the future of Iran holds bright promise, the certitude that the light of knowledge will inevitably dispel the clouds of ignorance, the conviction that concern for justice will protect the nation from falling prey to calumny, and the belief that love will ultimately conquer hatred and enmity. You have demonstrated in the example of your lives that the proper response to oppression is neither to succumb in resignation nor to take on the characteristics of the oppressor. The victim of oppression can transcend it through an inner strength that shields the soul from bitterness and hatred and which sustains consistent, principled action. May the words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha resound: “Iran shall become a focal centre of divine splendours. Her darksome soil will become luminous and her land will shine resplendent.” You and your compatriots are in our continued prayers.

The Universal House of Justice

A Quote On Friendship

2009-05-22T10:48:00.001-03:00

They that love beyond the World, cannot be separated by it.
Death cannot kill, what never dies.
Nor can Spirits ever be divided that love and live in the same Divine Principle; the Root and Record of their Friendship.
If Absence be not death, neither is theirs.
Death is but Crossing the World, as Friends do the Seas; They live in one another still.
For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is Omnipresent.
In this Divine Glass, they see Face to Face; and their Converse is Free, as well as Pure.
This is the Comfort of Friends, that though they may be said to Die, yet their Friendship and Society are, in the best Sense, ever present, because Immortal.

William Penn's Fruits of Solitude (Part II: Union of Friends)

An amazing song by a group called Playing for Change

2009-05-18T11:58:00.010-03:00

www.playingforchange.com

2009-05-01T13:02:00.010-03:00

"I want to be a doctor when I grow up so that I can have a lot of money and buy chicken and fruit any time I want." -6 year old Hussein

By Natalia Antelava
BBC News, Amman

The boy looked like an old man. His lips moved slowly, trying to stretch against his inflexible, badly scarred skin, and bandages covered his eyes.

But the voice that came out of his disfigured face was loud and cheerful and it filled the hospital room.

"I want to go back to Iraq, I miss my dad," Hussein said.

Six years ago, when Hussein was 11 months old, his grandmother took him along to a market near their house in Baghdad.

That day the market was ripped apart by a car bomb explosion, hours later Hussein was found, badly injured, next to his grandmother's body.

After several failed operations, his family became certain that he'd stay disfigured for the rest of his life.

What we do is not available in Iraq not because of the lack of skill, but lack of resources and security

Anonymous, surgeon

But a few months ago his mother heard about a free clinic in Jordan where doctors could restore the damaged tissue on Hussein's head.

It was only on the operating table in Amman, as Hussein was put under anaesthetic, that surgeons discovered that something else was wrong - the boy could not close his eyes.

"Because his skin is so stretched, he could not shut his eyes. That is very dangerous and could lead to blindness. So we operated on his eyes instead," Hussein's doctor says.

Dr Nagham Hussein, who is Iraqi herself, says she is not surprised that despite multiple surgeries no-one in Baghdad noticed Hussein's serious chronic condition.

"Doctors in Iraq are too busy saving lives. This kind of surgery is a luxury," she says.

Read the rest of the article...

2009-05-01T00:52:00.006-03:00

Update On Human Rights Violations in Iran

Amnesty International continues to document serious human violations including detention of human rights defenders and other prisoners of conscience, unfair trials, torture and mistreatment in detention, deaths in custody and the application of the death penalty. Iran has one of the highest number of recorded executions of any country in the world. Amnesty International is particularly concerned about the execution of children and individuals who were minors when their crimes were alleged to have taken place. Continue...

2009-04-28T17:48:00.004-03:00

A website reporting on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran

www.iranpresswatch.org

2009-04-26T17:34:00.005-03:00

British prime minister sends Ridvan message to Baha'is

http://news.bahai.org/story/710

24 April 2009

2009-04-26T11:59:00.009-03:00

A Quote by Baha'u'llah

"Strain every nerve to acquire both inner and outer perfections, for the fruit of the human tree hath ever been and will ever be perfections both within and without. It is not desirable that a man be left without knowledge or skills, for he is then but a barren tree. Then, so much as capacity and capability allow, ye needs must deck the tree of being with fruits such as knowledge, wisdom, spiritual perception and eloquent speech.
— Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'i Education: A Compilation, Page 5

2009-04-24T00:14:00.010-03:00

What Does Love Mean?
This question was asked from a group of 4 to 8 year-olds:

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."
Rebecca- age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"
Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"
Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.

He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody .
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."
Elaine-age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt” Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image)
Karen - age 7

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
Jessica - age 8

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry."

2009-04-03T19:00:00.000-03:00

The Invitation
By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for,
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain,
mine or your own, without moving to hide it
or fade it,
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy,
mine or your own,
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful,
to be realistic,
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself;
if you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul;
if you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty
even when it’s not pretty,
every day,
and if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure,
yours and mine,
and still stand on the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes!”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up,
after the night of grief and despair,
weary and bruised to the bone,
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you,
from the inside,
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

2009-04-02T00:38:00.000-03:00

The year 2008 in pictures:
Source: www.boston.com

2008-05-19T00:07:00.000-03:00

Six Bahá’í leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed.

The six men and women, all members of the national-level group that helped see to the minimum needs of Bahá’ís in Iran, were in their homes Wednesday morning when government intelligence agents entered and spent up to five hours searching each home, before taking them away.

The seventh member of the national coordinating group was arrested in early March in Mashhad after being summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence office there on an ostensibly trivial matter.

“We protest in the strongest terms the arrests of our fellow Bahá'ís in Iran,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations. “Their only crime is their practice of the Bahá’í Faith.”

“Especially disturbing is how this latest sweep recalls the wholesale arrest or abduction of the members of two national Iranian Bahá’í governing councils in the early 1980s -- which led to the disappearance or execution of 17 individuals,” she said.

Enlarge images

“The early morning raids on the homes of these prominent Bahá’ís were well coordinated, and it is clear they represent a high-level effort to strike again at the Bahá’ís and to intimidate the Iranian Bahá’í community at large,” said Ms. Dugal.

Arrested yesterday were: Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. All live in Tehran. Mrs. Kamalabadi, Mr. Khanjani, and Mr. Tavakkoli have been previously arrested and then released after periods ranging from five days to four months.

Arrested in Mashhad on 5 March 2008 was Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, who also resides in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was summoned to Mashhad by the Ministry of Intelligence, ostensibly on the grounds that she was required to answer questions related to the burial of an individual in the Bahá’í cemetery in that city.

On 21 August 1980, all nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iran were abducted and disappeared without a trace. It is certain that they were killed.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iran was reconstituted soon after that but was again ravaged by the execution of eight of its members on 27 December 1981.

A number of members of local Bahá’í governing councils, known as local Spiritual Assemblies, were also arrested and executed in the early 1980s, before an international outcry forced the government to slow its execution of Bahá’ís. Since 1979, more than 200 Bahá’ís have been killed or executed in Iran, although none have been executed since 1998.

In 1983, the government outlawed all formal Bahá’í administrative institutions and the Iranian Bahá’í community responded by disbanding its National Spiritual Assembly, which is an elected governing council, along with some 400 local level elected governing councils. Bahá'ís throughout Iran also suspended nearly all of their regular organizational activity.

The informal national-level coordinating group, known as the Friends, was established with the knowledge of the government to help cope with the diverse needs of Iran’s 300,000-member Baháí community, which is the country’s largest religious minority.

2007-03-16T00:28:00.000-03:00

Revenge

2006-10-20T08:51:00.000-03:00

"My Heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky."

-William Wordsworth

No idea where the pictures come from.

2006-10-13T21:54:00.000-03:00

"Years of unceasing turmoil, so laden with anguish, so fraught with incalculable consequences."

-Shoghi Effendi

Pictures of a campaign initiated by Amnesty International around Europe. On each poster it is written: "this is real. Not here, but now."

2006-10-08T13:27:00.000-03:00

An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging

Iran FocusTehran, Iran, Jan. 07 – An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.The state-run daily Etemaad reported on Saturday that 18-year-old Nazanin confessed to stabbing one of three men who had attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005.Nazanin, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said that after the three men started to throw stones at them, the two girls’ boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless.She described how the three men pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them, and said that she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.As the girls tried to escape, the men once again attacked them, and at this point, Nazanin said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. The teenage girl, however, broke down in tears in court as she explained that she had no intention of killing the man but was merely defending herself and her younger niece from rape, the report said.The court, however, issued on Tuesday a sentence for Nazanin to be hanged to death.Last week, a court in the city of Rasht, northern Iran, sentenced Delara Darabi to death by hanging charged with murder when she was 17 years old. Darabi has denied the charges. In August 2004, Iran’s Islamic penal system sentenced a 16-year-old girl, Atefeh Rajabi, to death after a sham trial, in which she was accused of committing “acts incompatible with chastity”.The teenage victim had no access to a lawyer at any stage and efforts by her family to retain one were to no avail. Atefeh personally defended herself and told the religious judge that he should punish those who force women into adultery, not the victims. She was eventually hanged in public in the northern town of Neka.

2006-10-07T03:30:00.000-03:00

One more day has come and gone...

So let's see, what's new...

My birthday was a few weeks ago. I'm 20 now. So weird seeing as I still feel like I'm 2...

I leave in 6 weeks. It's crazy. After almost 17 months of being here, it's just starting to hit me that I've been away from home for a year and a half, and that I've been living in Israel for just as long. I feel kind of neutral..not so depressed, not so, SO happy to leave, although I feel quite ready. If I've learnt one thing from living in four countries in the past six years, it's that I like change. It sure is painful to have to walk away from everything and start fresh, but it's the kind of pain that you know will make you stronger at the end.
These past few weeks have been kind of strange. You know when you're having a beautiful dream and everything in it is just perfect. You're with all the people you want to be with, in a place you've always wished to be...things are great. Then your alarm starts to sound and you know you have to wake up - you're somewhere between dreamland and being awake. You keep snoozing the alarm, wishing it would stop, but you know it won't....that's exactly how I feel about leaving Haifa. I've realized that my endless efforts to keep myself in a state of denial will not work and that I really have to get used to leaving this place.
A friend of mine was telling me tonight that in a meeting with two of the house members, they told her that the bonds we make with this place are eternal. As hard as we try to detach ourselves from it, it will not work because it is too amazing, too spiritual to be forgotten. Same goes with the friendships that we make - the ones that are strong will not stop and the ones that weren't so genuine will eventually seperate themselves from your life. Thinking about it, it's so true. I've met some of the most amazing people here. Whether it was a 5 minute conversation about where they're coming from and what they're doing, or a close friendship that lasted all of my service, I always learnt something new. I met this guy a few months ago, who had come for a three day visit. I saw him at the gate and while he was waiting for someone to pick him up I decided to start a conversation and ask him what he's doing. He said he was working in Afghanistan for some kind of media and he was getting paid for it. We didn't have time to talk about it more, but it was really an inspiration to me because every time I even mention the idea of someday going to serve in Afghanistan people autamatically go "YOU'RE CRAZY, you're gonna get killed." So, it was nice to know that there are people who are doing it.
I also met this guy who left his family to become a Baha'i, because they were totally against it and gave him a choice between abandoning the faith, or leaving their house. He told me that the Baha'i Faith had changed his life, had made him a better, much happier person. And as his family saw how he had changed from this boy who always got involved in fights and made other people miserable, to someone who longs to work for world unity, they grew more towards the faith and want to become Baha'is themselves.

Also, I'm going to India. YAY. Extremely excited. I love the fact that I'm not going home directly. I think it would make my "post BWC depression" - as some like to call it - a lot harder to go back to the same old life.
I heard in India they have these "yoga" classes of some sort where people go and just laugh. They just all sit in one place and laugh, it's supposed to release your stress and also give you a good excersise. The funny thing is, you're not allowed to laugh at the other people sitting next to you, or at anything that you find funny in the room, you're just supposed to laugh. Haha..makes me laugh to even think about it. Like, you're going to go, sit down, the tutor or whoever is hosting it will go "1...2...3..." and you start laughing. So funny. Maybe it'll be different, who knows, but going to this strange Indian class is definitley on my top priority list.

That's really it for now..waiting for my ticket to arrive, sending my books, all that fun stuff. I hope everything will go smoothly...

A quote to reflect on:

O Son of Spirit!
I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.

(Baha'u'llah, The Hidden Words)

2006-09-02T10:00:00.000-03:00

So I finally found a Persian song that doesn't talk about love and relationships...by Siavash Ghomeishi.

http://www.irclip.com/ShowClip.php?ClipId=173/

2006-08-26T03:07:00.000-03:00

A quote...

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest
fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light,
not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves,
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure
around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were
born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not
just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light
shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others.” -Nelson Mandela

2006-08-03T02:51:00.000-03:00

You really never know how much something means to you until you actually lose it. Bahji has been closed for a few weeks now - ever since the war started- and it's just now that I realize how much I enjoyed going to Akka and Bahji.
And I truly miss the Nahariyyah Sunday Market, where they sell shirts that say " WHERE THE SKY IS SO BLUE?" in huge letters in the front and I miss hearing the random sellers yell "KHAMESH, KHAMESH" and walk after you with their shoes until you scream "LO bevakasha." I also REALLY crave the Old City kababs and the pomagranate juice by the caravansari...Last time I went was with Samar, on the first day the war started. We went to dinner in the kabab place, had some "cheers"(drank sprite and pretended we were drunk) took some pictures by the sea wall and then came back. It was a good Akka day....hopefully not the last one.

Belly dancing costumes in the Old City

The famous Bazaar
the khan-i-Avamid caravansari...pomagranate juice table would be located on the far right

2006-08-01T08:30:00.000-03:00

Sim by the sea wall.

2006-08-01T05:33:00.000-03:00

Finally something funny happened to me.
I hurt my foot last week and I had to go for an ex-ray on Friday. The doctor said that my foot was fractured and I needed a cast. That really surprised me because my foot twisted while I was walking on the street and I didn't think I had actually damaged it that much. So they take me to this room where I have to get the cast and close the curtains. Since the doctor didn't speak English that well the nurse comes in and says "you have to take your pants off." I give her an are-you-serious kinda look and quickly refuse her request. "what?? why? it's just my foot, I can just roll them up." "No, you have to take your pants off." "But why?" I insist. "Just take them off." So I finally agree and hesitantly start....A couple of minutes later the doctor comes in, and by this time my pants are down to my knees. He looks at me as if I had just asked him out and says "WHY are your pants off??? PUT them back on!!!" I try to speak and say that the nurse told me to do it, but he doesn't understand what I'm saying. He just keeps signalling with his hand that I should put my pants on, shakes his head a couple of times and walks out of the room.
Wow..... An old Israeli doctor thinking I want to get intimate with him...I don't think I could have asked for a better day.

2006-07-28T05:07:00.000-03:00

There's a quote in Persian that says: "The world has reached a time when nothing is cheap anymore except for human life."

2006-07-18T11:17:00.000-03:00

Another day of rocketing Haifa. The same thing has been happening for the past 4 or 5 days. At around 10 in the morning a few rockets hit the city and a few seconds later the air raid sirens go off. The sound is so loud and annoying that you want to get into a bomb shelter just so you don't have to hear it any more. Today there were 4 sirens, and the last one just went off a few minutes ago, with a few rockets following it. I'm in sort of a bomb shelter, with computers in it. It's scary and exciting at the same time. I hate the thought of people getting hurt, but it's exciting - in a strange way - to live in the middle of a war zone and experience war as a resident of the city rather than a North American audience who pities, but never quite understands, what it's like to live in war. And Israel isn't as bad as Lebanon, they're being affected so much more.

Since the rocketings started I've worked almost everyday and been a witness of the fear that grabs everyone as soon as the sirens go off. There's an uncomfortable feeling about the sound of it, the fear that one of your friends could be under the rocket or somewhere near it or that the rocket could land on the gardens and destroy one of the terraces.
I really want to talk to some of the local residents and see how they feel about the whole situation. Some people are moving to Tel Aviv, Juresalem or other nearby cities to protect themselves and their families. Plus, everything has closed off in Haifa - stores, restaurants and some shopping areas - and with the sirens going off 3 or 4 times a day it's pretty hard to go out anyway.
But things are fine so far and who knows when all this will end. We'll just have to wait and see.

2006-07-18T10:55:00.000-03:00

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