Tag: human rights

Categories
- Oppression

Destruction of historic Baha’i cemetery underway in Shiraz by Iranian Revolutionary Guards

The Baha’i International Community was shocked to hear of news that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have begun excavation in a historically important Baha’i cemetery in Shiraz. The site is, among other things, the resting place of ten Baha’i women whose cruel hanging in 1983 came to symbolize the government’s deadly persecution of Baha’is.

“Reports from Iran came in yesterday that the excavation has begun and graves are being destroyed. Some 40 to 50 trucks are lined up to remove the earth and accelerate the work,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

“We are urgently calling on the international community to raise its voice in protest at this disturbing act.

“We also appeal directly to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to halt this act of desecration.”

Reports received so far indicate that workers for the Revolutionary Guards had completed an excavation some 1.5 meters deep and 200 square meters in area. The hole is near a number of very old gravesites in the western part of the cemetery but is not yet deep enough to have disturbed the remains, it is believed.

Ms. Dugal said the local Baha’is had made appeals directly to the Revolutionary Guards asking that it construct the proposed  building on the areas of the site where there are no graves – and turn the areas with the graves into a green space, leaving the dead undisturbed.

“Appeals were made to various city and provincial authorities, including the commander in chief of Revolutionary Guard, the municipality of Shiraz, the Friday prayer Imam, the governor of the city, Iran’s prosecutor general and the head of the judiciary, with no results,” said Ms. Dugal.

Owned and used by the Baha’is of Shiraz since the early 1920s, the site was confiscated by the government in 1983, at which time its grave markers were leveled and its main buildings destroyed. Its ownership has since changed. Three years ago, the provincial office of the Revolutionary Guards announced it had taken over the site, and a sign was posted indicating that it planned to build a “cultural and sports building” there.

Some 950 Baha’is are buried on the cemetery land.

Among the prominent individuals at rest in the cemetery are the “ten Baha’i women of Shiraz,” who were hanged on 18 June 1983 at the height of the government’s campaign of execution against Baha’is. Between 1979 and 1988, more than 200 Baha’is were killed in Iran.

The ten women, who ranged in age from 17 to 57, were convicted of “crimes” such as being “Zionists” and the teaching of children’s classes – the equivalent of “Sunday school” in the West. Their wrongful and dramatic execution drew condemnation around the world. After their sentencing, for example, US President Ronald Reagan issued a plea for clemency for them and 12 other Bahá’ís who had been sentenced to death.

During their trial, the ten women were told that if they recanted their faith, they would be released. “Whether you accept it or not, I am a Baha’i,” replied 28-year-old Zarrin Muqimi-Abyanih. “You cannot take it away from me. I am a Baha’i with my whole being and my whole heart.”

The youngest among them, Mona Mahmudnizhad, only 17 at the time of her death, has been immortalized in songs and videos. Her conspicuous innocence and brave demeanor in the face of death made her – and the nine other women – international symbols of Iran’s harsh repression of Baha’is.

Attacks on Baha’i cemeteries have been a common feature of the persecution of Baha’is in Iran in recent years. Between 2005 and 2012, at least 42 Baha’i-owned cemeteries were attacked in some manner.

These attacks, often carried out with implicit if not direct government support, have involved the firebombing of mortuary buildings, the toppling of gravestones, the uprooting of landscape shrubbery, the spray-painting of anti-Baha’i graffiti on cemetery walls, and the exhumation of bodies.

 

 

Mona Mahmudnizhad is one of ten Baha’i
women buried in the Shiraz cemetery.

Categories
- Prevailing Conceptions Discourse Human Nature

Which brand are you?

“The reality of man is his thought…”

The world is in a state of oppression.  This is not an unknown fact – any media source will recount the various expressions of social disintegration throughout the world.  The riots in Turkey, the tension in Egypt, the plotting of terrorists, the violence, the scandals, the corruption…it all seems indistinguishable at a certain point.  A common characteristic to them all is that each is an instance of external oppression.

What about the United States?  By some accounts, we have less terrorism, less corruption, less rioting.  From a certain perspective, we have freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from threat.  Some can claim we are a less oppressed nation overall.  Perhaps, however, this belief that we are less oppressed is itself one of the greatest oppressions.

The United States is dominated by a culture of consumerism – today’s inheritor of a materialistic worldview.  This is a different type of oppression, insidious, exacting, and stifling.  The discourse of our nation has been hijacked by the interests of corporations and government; so, while it is true that one has a choice – without threat of violent recourse – of whether to side with this or that political party, or support this or that technical recipe, or opt for this or that legalistic procedure, what is not up for debate is the framework within which the political system operates, the value that inevitably comes with advances in technology and who they serve, the circus of legal advocacy that has masqueraded as search for truth.  In other parts of the world, oppression takes the form of brute violence against the physical body, religious hypocrisy that can be detected with little sight, or obvious suppression of the rights of one group of people by another seemingly more powerful group of people; whereas in the United States, the oppression takes the form of a manipulation of identity.  Instead of being able to think about the systems within which our society operates, we are manipulated – through classroom, pulpit, and newsstand – to regard the human being as a consumer.  A consumer of whatever political topic is most convenient for the upcoming campaign; of whatever knowledge and skills are currently the criteria to assume a coveted post within some corporation to uphold our economic status-quo, of whatever foods and medicines are promising the lure of easy fix, of whatever technology can deliver convenience in exchange for adoption of values, of whatever trend is being deposited in the mind.  The question is never “why?”, but always “which?”.  To me, the most striking point – and the one that makes this type of oppression all the more apparent – is that those segments of the population that seek to distinguish themselves by attempting to identify and fight oppression, in fact only distinguish themselves by adopting different types of patterns of consumption.

An oppression that is external – that is violent and ugly and hurtful – is at least one that can be identified.  Hypocrisy, suppression, corruption, can be known and fought.  It is because this oppression targets the body and external conditions of a human being, not his essential reality.  However, when the sights of oppression are trained at the identify of an individual, then his mind becomes restricted, his thoughts become suppressed, his reality is oppressed.  How can one fight an oppression when one does not even know that one is being oppressed?  When one’s identity has been manipulated to regard as normal what is clearly a distortion?

“What “oppression” is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth…should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it?”

“The perpetuation of ignorance is a most grievous form of oppression…”

Categories
Justice

Rights and Duties

Current human rights philosophy maintains that personal prerogative defines social structure, and individuals can refuse any moral ties that they haven’t chosen. Institutions are seen as necessary insofar as they interface common interests of atomistic individuals; they simply provide procedures of interaction. Unless individuals chooses to bind themselves morally with others, this connection doesn’t exist; and rights are guaranteed independent of duty – rights, in fact, are used to protect one from collective interests.

Right, however, corresponds with duty. The duties that are connected to human rights derive from an individual’s two-fold purpose: personal development and contribution to society. The first duty of an individual is to recognize the spiritual forces in reality, respond to them, and manifest latent spiritual capacities. The right and freedom of belief and investigation of truth, for example, is created in order that one can fulfill this duty. The second duty is the advancement of civilization. As one moderates personal liberty with promotion of collective good, one shapes society in a way that facilitates far greater and truer freedom for every individual than the initial sacrifice required, thus tying individual and collective well-being together. Institutions and structures can be seen to aid in the formation of this balance.

The basis for human rights is the reciprocal relationship between individual duty and collective prosperity, as well as the duty of an individual to develop spiritual capacities. Justice can be seen as a moral and spiritual capacity, gradually developed, that binds the individual with the well-being of the community – knowing, obviously, that as the individual is a member of the whole, the well-being of all is the well-being of one.

Categories
Justice

Source of Human Rights

With the understanding that justice requires the spiritual dimensions of human existence to be taken into account in discourse in order to stay relevant to humanity’s real needs, let us turn to the issue of human rights.

What are the reasons for human rights and justice? Why do human beings deserve protection?

Human rights are founded upon the spiritual nature of a human being – that an individual is a spiritual being with the latent capacity to reflect spiritual attributes. One of the purposes of life is to manifest these capacities; and thus, human beings must be free and protected to spiritually develop, to gain knowledge of self, to investigate reality, and to contribute to the advancement of civilization.

Beyond the purpose of an individual’s existence, human rights, on a collective level, are derived from an understanding of the oneness of humankind – that the body of humanity is one. Just as every cell is under the care of the entire organism, each human being is born as a trust of the whole. This oneness intrinsically provides the foundational basis of all conceptions of justice, human rights, and freedom.

For instance, human rights include the imperative to preserve cultural diversity – at least those cultural expressions that are not contrary or harmful to others. This imperative is driven by peace and unity. If peaceful order is to emerge, then complex cultural interactions must flourish. And if unity – and not uniformity – is to characterize humanity’s condition, then diversity must be protected and fostered. Other examples include right of health care, employment, food, shelter, etc. Every individual has the right to live with a certain degree of well-being, both to protect their purpose of manifesting spiritual qualities and contributing to society, and because the well-being of one is the well-being of all. Thus, the operation of justice through societal institutions should ensure the prevention of extremes of wealth and poverty and the preservation of human honor through a dignified livelihood – this, without detracting from individual freedoms of private property and economic initiative.