Australian Baha’i Report/Volume 14/Issue 2/Text

Volume 14, Issue 2 - June 2010 Volume 14, Issue 2 - June 2010

A newsletter of the Australian Bahá’í Community Award for carer 22 Premier honours inter-faith women 55 Alternatives to consumerism 77 INSIDE Festival marked by PM’s message and elections

The Australian Bahá’í Community received a special message from the Prime Minister of Australia as it marked its holiest festival with local celebrations and elections of its administrative councils.

The Festival of Ridvan, which runs from 21 April to 2 May, commemorates the first public declaration by the Faith’s founder, Bahá’u’lláh, that He was a Messenger of God. His declaration occurred in 1863 in the Garden of Ridvan, outside Baghdad, from which the festival takes its name.

Prime Minister’s message

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd addressed a message to the Australian Bahá’í Community for the Ridvan Festival. The message read:

Greetings to the Australian Bahá’í community as you join millions of Bahá’ís around the world this April to celebrate the Festival of Ridvan.

The festival commemorates the commencement of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophethood; and for Bahá’ís it also more fundamentally marks a total transformation of the relationship between God and the world.

Australia in the 21st century is home to a large number of faiths and cultures. As a pluralistic society, we support and respect the rights of citizens to maintain and develop their religious beliefs. The Bahá’í community plays an important role in promoting mutual understanding and fellowship among Australia’s different cultures and religions.

The delegates to the Bahá’í National Convention being held in Hobart will elect the National Spiritual Assembly, the governing body of the Bahá’í Faith in this country. The Assembly plays a critical role in guiding the development of the Bahá’í community and the work of Bahá’í in the broader Australian community.

I wish the delegates every success with the convention and send my best wishes to all Bahá’í celebrating Ridvan.

The Honourable Kevin Rudd MP

Prime Minister of Australia

Elections

In conjunction with the celebrations, elections for the national and local institutions of the Australian Bahá’í Community were held during the Ridvan Festival.

At the Bahá’í National Convention, held at the Bahá’í Centre of Learning in Hobart on 24-25 April, 95 regional delegates cast their votes in the election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia.

Bahá’í elections are held in a reverent atmosphere, free from nominations or electioneering. All adult Bahá’ís, men and women, are eligible for election.

The members of the National Spiritual Assembly for the coming year are Arini Beaumaris, Fiona McDonald, Fariborz Moshirian, Golshah Naghdy, Kath Podger, Vahid Saberi, Bijan Samali, Tessa Scrine, and John Walker.

On the first day of Ridvan, local governing bodies, known as Spiritual Assemblies, were also elected in some 200 local government areas in Australia.

Brisbane Bahá’í Amir Fakhri casts his vote at the National Convention in the Bahá’í Centre of Learning, Hobart

� Australians on international governing body

Peter Khan

Simon Baker-Jones

An Australian, Dr Peter Khan, has relinquished his position as a member of the Universal House of Justice, the elected nine-member body which is the head of the Bahá’í Faith.

Dr Khan, 73, was one of two members who stepped down in March owing to advanced age and the burden of work associated with membership.

Coincidentally, one of the two new members elected in the resulting by-election is also an Australian - Mr Stephen Hall, a former secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia.

Dr Khan was first elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1987 and had served as a member since that time. The Universal House of Justice has its seat at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa, Israel.

Born in New South Wales, Dr Khan gained a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Sydney and went on to hold

Family care leads to young achiever award

A 19-year-old member of the Palmerston Bahá'í community was named Channel Nine "Young Achiever of the Year" for 2010 in the Northern Territory.

Simon Baker-Jones, who was also presented with the Carer's Award, was honoured at a ceremony in April for his role in taking care of

his sister and later his mother, both of whom

face major disabilities. Asked if his Bahá'í beliefs influenced his decisions to take care of these family members, Simon said they did.

"I was brought up in a Bahá'í family and this

affects the way I choose to live my life," he said. Since he was a young boy, Simon has assisted in the personal care of his only sibling, Louisa, now 18, who has spina bifida and is a paraplegic.

several professorial positions including at the University of New South Wales and the University of Queensland.

His Bahá’í service included membership on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia, the Continental Board of Counsellors for Australasia, and the International Teaching Centre in Haifa, Israel.

Dr Khan has lectured widely on Bahá’í subjects and has written numerous articles on the Bahá’í Faith. With his wife, Dr Janet Khan, he is the author of "Advancement of Women: A Bahá’í Perspective". They are now making their home in Brisbane. Stephen Hall

In 2007, Simon also took on the responsibility to care for his mother who was diagnosed as legally blind.

The service to his sister and mother involved a

sacrifice to postpone his medical studies. In 2009 Simon was offered a position at an interstate university to study bio-medical science. However, he made a decision to stay in the Northern Territory to be close to his family, and to study pharmacy instead.

In 2010 Simon was encouraged to apply to study medicine interstate. His application for entry to the course was accepted, and he is now in his first semester of study at James Cook University in Townsville.

His mother and sister are now receiving care from the Bahá'í community and other family friends.

Australian Bahá’í Report - June 2010

� Freedom to believe gathering in Brisbane focuses on Bahá’í leaders

A sister of one of the seven long-imprisoned Bahá’í leaders in Iran described to a Brisbane human rights gathering some of the special qualities of her sibling.

"My sister, Fariba, is such a loving person - she was always kind and working to help others," Roya Kamalabadi told the gathering, attended by 120 people including Queensland’s acting Anti- Discrimination Commissioner, Neroli Holmes.

Ms Kamalabadi of Melbourne was one of three speakers who addressed the event, which was co-hosted by the United Nations Association (Queensland branch) and the Australian Bahá’í Community.

The event, with the theme "Freedom to Believe", drew attention to the denial of the human rights of seven Bahá’í leaders, who have been jailed on patently false charges and under inhumane conditions for two years.

Among those attending the event held on 22 April at the Brisbane Bahá’í Centre of Learning were members of the Bahá’í, Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities.

Article 18

Commissioner Holmes drew attention to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees to all people the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Ms Holmes noted that Iran was a party to the Declaration. She said it was unfortunate that there was little accountability when such pledges were broken.

Human rights lawyer, Nikki A-Khavari, contrasted her upbringing as a Bahá’í in Australia with those of her fellow Bahá’ís in Iran. Unlike them, she said, she grew up free to pursue an education, have a professional career and be legally married.

Ms A-Khavari said many countries broke laws protecting human rights and were not held responsible.

She said true global change would come when human hearts were awakened to the spiritual principles underlying human rights.

The program included a musical presentation by recording artists Shadi and Shidan Toloui-Wallace.

Confidence

The event concluded with a reading from a letter from the head of the Bahá’í Faith, the Universal House of Justice, to the Bahá’ís of Iran.

That letter urged the Bahá’ís to keep alive in their 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 Universal House of Justice said.

“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.”

Solidarity

Elsewhere in Australia, people have demonstrated solidarity with the imprisoned leaders by joining an initiative of the human rights network, United4Iran.

The network asked people worldwide to replicate the dimensions of the cells in which the prisoners are being held, and document themselves confined to the space.

In Perth, students Alexandra Miller and Hannah Velure-Uren enclosed themselves in a two metre by three metre space at the Fremantle Roundhouse, replicating the cell in which the two women leaders are being held.

Speakers and guests at the Freedom to Believe event in Brisbane

From left: Audrey Aumua, Roya Kamalabadi, Neroli Holmes, Nikki A-Khavari, Shidan Toloui-Wallace

and Virginia Balmain

Alexandra Miller, left, and

Hannah Velure-Uren at the

Fremantle Roundhouse, WA

Australian Bahá’í Report - June 2010

� UN delegates speak on equality

Omeed Rameshni, Kathryn Khamsi, centre, and Sally Moyle, Head of the Australian delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women

Two representatives of the Australian Bahá’í Community attended the Commission on the Status of Women held at the UN Headquarters in New York in March 2010.

The Commission is the principal global policymaking body for gender equality and the advancement of women. The Bahá’í Community has been represented at its annual sessions for many years.

Kathryn Khamsi, 28, and Omeed Rameshni, 26, both from Melbourne, spoke about what they had learned at the Commission to a special event held at the Bahá’í Temple in Sydney to mark International Women’s Day in March.

"It was uplifting to see delegates from public, private and NGO sectors gathered together and working to achieve better outcomes for women and girls worldwide - sharing experiences and learning from and inspiring one another," Ms Khamsi said.

Challenges

There are still many challenges in achieving equality of women and men worldwide, Ms Khamsi said.

"The picture has improved but there’s a lot more to be done," she said.

Ms Khamsi identified the following as major challenges to gender justice: violence and trafficking of women and girls; lack of access to and completion of primary and higher education; and poverty and limited access to primary healthcare.

"Shockingly, it is estimated that each year more than half a million women - roughly one woman every minute - die as a result of pregnancy complications and childbirth," she said.

"Many of these women and their infants could be saved if they had access to basic health care services."

Investing in women and girls

Ms Khamsi said there was a positive development emerging as women in poverty gain greater access to savings and microcredit mechanisms.

"Investing in women and girls and providing them with economic opportunities not only

transforms their individual lives, but also the lives of those around them, as women bring the benefits of wealth back to their community," she said.

Gender equality should not be viewed as yet another problem to be solved, Ms Khamsi said.

"The equality of women and men is an essential part of the solution to many of the world problems like poverty, climate change and geopolitical stability," she said.

Ms Khamsi said the Australian Bahá’í Community is committed to bridging the gender gap and contributing to a world where everyone can live up to their potential.

"At the local level, the Bahá’í Community works to bring concepts of equality to neighbourhoods through junior youth empowerment programs and children’s classes for moral development," she said.

"We want the next generation to be actively engaged in the communities where they live, promoting the wellbeing of all and performing acts of service to the community."

Men and boys

Mr Rameshni was one of relatively few men who attended the Commission. Fewer than one in ten delegates were male.

Mr Rameshni, a management consultant, is a vocal advocate for the active involvement of men and boys in achieving gender equality.

"Men are a beneficiary in gender equality and a part of the solution," he said.

"It’s not a zero-sum game - men don’t have something to lose, but everything to gain.

"We should all reflect on this issue and bring it to our lives, consciously and creatively, on a daily basis."

Ms Khamsi and Mr Rameshni have continued to spread the message since their return from New York.

In addition to attending briefings and roundtables, they are working with fellow Australians who attended the Commission to create opportunities for others to participate in a more fundamental discussion on how to advance the equality of men and women.

Australian Bahá’í Report - June 2010

� Alliance formed to advance equal rights

The Australian Bahá’í Community is a founding member of Equality Rights Australia (ERA), one of six new national women’s alliances funded by the Federal Office for Women.

ERA is a broad-based alliance that brings together 50 women’s organisations to work for the achievement of equality between women and men as a prerequisite for achieving political, social, economic, cultural and environmental security among all peoples.

Launched in May 2010, it brings together service providers, advocacy organisations, membership networks and interest groups. It will build on the work of WomenSpeak, a national network of women’s organisations and women’s advocates formed in 2001.

The other alliances focus on economic security, violence against women, immigrant and refugee

women, rural women and indigenous women. ERA has identified its focus as equality, diversity and leadership, said Australian Bahá’í Community representative, Tessa Scrine, who has been invited to serve on the interim ERA steering committee.

"This will provide opportunities to contribute to the work of establishing the alliance over the coming months, and to serve alongside a group of highly capable, committed and

experienced women from the NGO sector," Ms Scrine said. Announcing the establishment of the alliances

in March 2010, the Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek, said they would bring together women’s organisations and individuals from across Australia to share information, identify issues that affect them, and identify solutions

Premier’s reception honours inter-faith women

Bahá’ís were among 100 women invited to a reception at NSW Parliament House in March to honour their work in promoting religious harmony, understanding and mutual respect.

The reception was hosted by NSW Premier Kristina Keneally. It included women representing Aboriginal, Bahá’í, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities as well as many Christian denominations.

In her address to the reception, Ms Keneally spoke about the value of inter-faith dialogue as a space in which openness, ambiguity, doubt and nuance can be explored.

"Interfaith creates community spaces in which differing ideas can intermingle in peace and collaboration," she said.

"As we celebrate International Women’s Day across the world, we want to recognise that there is a small army of women in NSW who work tirelessly, across all of the significant faith groups, to promote unity in the broader community."

Ms Keneally praised the work of the Women’s Interfaith Network, which was established in

Sydney about ten years ago. "The Women’s Interfaith Network sets an example of leadership in our community women working with other women on a daily

basis to build religious understanding and acceptance in our society," she said. One of the Bahá’ís who attended the reception

was Judith Navidi, Secretary of the Bahá’í

Council for NSW and ACT. "It was wonderful to meet together with so many women representing the State’s diverse faith traditions," Ms Navidi said.

"The women from the Bahá’í community who are part of the Women’s Interfaith Network have found this to be a most enriching and rewarding experience," she said.

"It is good to know that the Government of New South Wales values WIN and the many other inter-faith initiatives that are developing in the State."

Tessa Scrine

Women from all faith backgrounds attended the reception hosted by NSW Premier Kristina Keneally

Australian Bahá’í Report - June 2010

� Artists choose different forms

Guity Daliri with guests at the opening of the "Painting for Peace" exhibition. From left: Bahá’í representative Paul Stevenson, Minister for Multicultural Affairs Joy Burch, artist Guity Daliri and Director of the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, Dominic Mico.

to express inspiration

Bahá’í artists in three States exhibited their work in the first half of 2010.

Artists from Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and Tom Price in northern WA combined their talents in an exhibition titled "Ocean of Pearls."

Held from 9 to 30 May at the Arts and Cultural Development Council Gallery in Geraldton, the exhibition included 50 works inspired by the Bahá’í sacred writings. Each work was accompanied by the quotation that inspired it.

The exhibition took its title from the following quotation in the Bahá’í scriptures: "Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths".

Painting for Peace

Canberra artist Guity Daliri displayed her intricate oil paintings of Persian carpets in an exhibition titled "Painting for Peace" held at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre in February and March.

Each work contained a calligraphic symbol representing Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith.

Ms Daliri, 76, began painting in her fifties after a dream inspired her to pick up a paint brush.

Speaking at the official opening, ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Joy Burch, congratulated Ms Daliri on her "exquisite paintings".

"Guity has invested an enormous amount of time and energy - her heart and soul - into this exhibition," Ms Burch said.

"I am told that Guity’s aspiration to serve humanity is what inspired her to enter the world of arts," she said.

Window on art

Siamak Fallah included video, painting and performance elements in his exhibition, "From the Mother Tongue: Colour of Sleep," held at the FELTspace gallery in Adelaide’s Compton Street in March.

The artist himself was part of the display, working on-site

Artists whose work was displayed in the "Ocean of Pearls" exhibition. From left: Jennifer Forrest, Helen Gordon, Erin O’Connor, Mary Manning, Marie Rose and Yucca Lu. Front: Phil Doncon and Teesha Rule

and sleeping in a small bed against the gallery’s front window.

“This work is about my dream, a dream that I have not dreamt yet,” said Mr Fallah.

"People responded well and generally were very inquisitive," he said, reflecting on his experience as an exhibit.

The video element focused on an orange tree that was uprooted from the House of the Báb, a Bahá’í sacred place, and dragged through the streets of Shiraz in the early years of the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Mr Fallah and his father planted orange tree seedlings with pigment in hanging baskets in the gallery. When watered, the trees made images on a canvas spread out on the floor below.

The exhibition was part of Mr Fallah’s doctoral studies in visual arts, which he is undertaking at the University of South Australia.

Orange tree

seedlings create

an image in the

exhibition by

Siamak Fallah

Australian Bahá’í Report - June 2010

� Finding alternatives to consumer culture

The shift from consumer culture to a culture of sustainability requires us to re-examine many of our underlying conceptions, including what it means to be a human being, according to the Bahá'í International Community.

Issued on behalf of over five million Bahá'ís worldwide, the Bahá'í International Community's contribution to the 18th Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development is titled "Rethinking Prosperity: Forging Alternatives to a Culture of Consumerism".

In the prevailing culture of consumerism, human beings are reduced to competitive, insatiable consumers of goods, and objects of manipulation by the market, the Bahá'í International Community said.

It challenged this assumption and called for a re-examination of the question of human nature that addresses, at the deepest levels, who we are and what is our purpose in life.

"The human experience is essentially spiritual in nature: it is rooted in the inner reality - or what some call the 'soul' - that we all share in common," the Bahá'í International Community said.

It is in our true nature that we will find the faculties needed to construct a more just and sustainable social order, it said.

Global enterprise

The Bahá'í International Community said the transition to sustainable consumption and production is part of a global enterprise to enable all individuals to develop their inherent potentialities and contribute to the betterment of the wider community.

Approaches to development, economics and education should be re-considered with this fundamental goal in mind, it said.

The shift towards sustainable consumption will require organic changes to the structure of society, it said.

These include:

• the consciousness of world citizenship; • the eventual federation of all nations through an integrated system of governance with capacity for global decision-making; • the establishment of structures which recognise humanity's common ownership of the earth's resources; • the establishment of full equality between men and women; • the elimination of all forms of prejudice; • the establishment of international integrating mechanisms such as a universal currency; • the adoption of an international auxiliary language; • the redirection of massive military expenditures towards constructive social ends. Bahá’í efforts

The Bahá'í International Community described the efforts of Bahá'ís around the world to bring about cultural transformation.

"In thousands of communities, Bahá'ís have set into motion neighbourhood-level processes that seek to empower individuals of all ages to recognise and develop their spiritual capacities and to channel their collective energies towards the betterment of their communities," it said.

"The cultural shifts taking place are evident in the greater capacity to carry out collective action, to see oneself as an agent of change in the community, as a humble learner, as an active participant in the generation, diffusion and application of knowledge."

Dialogue

The Bahá'í International Community called for public dialogue on key issues in which all voices - rural and urban; poor and affluent; men, women and the young - can be heard.

"The pathway to sustainability will be one of empowerment, collaboration and continual processes of questioning, learning and action in all regions of the world," it said.

"It will be shaped by the experiences of women, men, children, the rich, the poor, the governors and the governed as each one is enabled to play their rightful role in the construction of a new society."

Australian Bahá’í Report - June 2010

� The Australian Bahá’í Report is a newsletter published in February, June and October by the Australian Bahá’í Community.

For more information on the stories in this newsletter, or any aspect of the Australian Bahá’í community and its activities, please contact:

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The Australian Bahá’í Report is distributed free of charge. If you would like to have your name added to, or removed from, our mailing list, please contact us at the address above.

International news

Trial appears to have ended

The trial of seven Bahá'í leaders imprisoned for more than two years in Iran seemed to have concluded after hearings on 12, 13 and 14 June.

Australian Bahá'í Community spokesperson Tessa Scrine said that the trial appeared to have come to an end but there was no further information available at the time of publication.

The defendants are Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm.

Four of the defendants have immediate family members in Australia.

Before their imprisonment, the seven attended to the spiritual and social needs of Iran's Bahá'í community, which numbers more than 300,000. They have been held in Evin prison since they were arrested in early 2008.

There were three previous hearings this year- on 12 January, 7 February and 12 April. The seven categorically denied charges of espionage, propaganda activities against the Islamic order, and "corruption on earth," among other allegations.

International statements

On 12 June, a global day of action highlighting human rights abuses in Iran, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, urged Iran to respect the rights of its Bahá'í community and "cease persecuting it, discriminating against it and detaining its members".

"We note the trial of the seven leaders of the Bahá'í community was to take place today and

we call on the Iranian regime to ensure that due process is respected," Mr Harper said.

In London, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, Alistair Burt also issued a statement about the Bahá'í leaders.

"I call on the Iranian Government to ensure, without delay, that the rights of these individuals are fully protected, that they are given due legal process, including being released on bail and given a fair and transparent trial, in accordance with international standards," Mr Burt said.

In Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, Deputy Paulo Delgado referred to the situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran and said that human rights policies in the democratic world are "inescapable and do not admit exceptions".

Roxana Saberi pays tribute

American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was held in Evin Prison for more than three months in 2009, spoke in a recent interview about Mrs Kamalabadi and Mrs Sabet, with whom she shared a cell for about three weeks.

"Fariba and Mahvash were two of the women prisoners I met in Evin who inspired me the most," Ms Saberi said.

"They showed me what it means to be selfless, to care more about community and beliefs than about oneself."

On 14 March, Amnesty International requested messages of goodwill be sent to prisoners of conscience in Iran to mark the Persian New Year.

By June almost 600 messages had been received for the Bahá'í prisoners from as far afield as Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United States.

Left: The seven Bahá’í leaders imprisoned in Iran

Right: American journalist Roxana Saberi

Australian Bahá’í Report - June 2010

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