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| Bahá’í News | March 1984 | Bahá’í Year 140 |
Cleaning the Bahá’í House of Worship in Panama
On the cover: The inside of the dome of the Bahá’í House of Worship in Panama has always presented maintenance problems because of its peculiar shape. But thanks to the ingenuity of some local Bahá’ís, the problems were recently solved. A “super-scaffold” was designed and suspended from the center of the dome. The scaffold is capable of revolving in a 360-degree arc with little effort, and with the help of two cable climbers can reach any point inside the dome. As a result, the House of Worship has now been cleaned, repaired and painted on the inside, and has never looked better.
Bahá’í News[edit]
Three more Iranian Bahá’ís martyred as pressures against Faith rise | 1 |
U.S. surpasses $1,000,000 goal to build, operate Bahá’í radio station | 2 |
A United Nations planner looks with hope toward turn of the century | 4 |
In U.S., Louis Gregory Institute reaches out with ‘Operation Catch-up’ | 10 |
Around the world: News from Bahá’í communities all over the globe | 12 |
Bahá’í News is published monthly by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community. Manuscripts submitted should be typewritten and double spaced throughout; any footnotes should appear at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Send materials to the Periodicals Office, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A. Changes of address should be reported to the Office of Membership and Records, Bahá’í National Center. Please attach mailing label. Subscription rates: one year, $12 U.S.; two years, $20 U.S. Second class postage paid at Wilmette, IL 60091. Copyright © 1984, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
World Centre[edit]
Iran increases pressure on Bahá’ís[edit]
PRESSURES AGAINST BELEAGUERED BRETHREN CRADLE FAITH UNCEASING. THREE MORE STALWART SUPPORTERS GREATEST NAME JOINED RANKS MARTYRS, AS FOLLOWS:
- MR. ABDU’L-MAJID MUTAHHAR IMPRISONED ISFAHAN 4 SEPTEMBER 1983 DIED SHORTLY AFTER CONFINEMENT.
- MR. RAHMATU’LLAH HAKIMAN MYSTERIOUSLY PASSED AWAY IN PRISON IN KIRMAN EARLY JANUARY 1984 FEW DAYS AFTER BEING IMPRISONED.
- ON 19 NOVEMBER IN VILLAGE OF MUHAMMADIYYIH NEAR ISFAHAN, MR. BAHMAN DIHQANI, WELL KNOWN AND RESPECTED BAHÁ’Í, DIED AS RESULT OF MOB ATTACK. SINCE BURIAL NOT ALLOWED HIS VILLAGE, BAHÁ’ÍS CARRIED BODY TO NAJAFABAD AND BURIED HIM THERE.
- FULL DETAILS CIRCUMSTANCES ALL THREE DEATHS UNKNOWN.
SINCE LAST REPORT 7 NOVEMBER OVER 250 BAHÁ’ÍS INCLUDING INFANTS AND CHILDREN HAVE BEEN ARRESTED IN ALL PARTS COUNTRY. NEARLY 70 OF THESE WERE DETAINED BETWEEN 31 DECEMBER 1983 AND 3 JANUARY 1984.
OTHER DESPICABLE ACTS AGAINST BAHÁ’ÍS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS PERMITTED ENTER BAHÁ’Í HOMES WITHOUT WARRANTS, CONFISCATE VALUABLE PERSONAL POSSESSIONS. COMPLAINTS TO AUTHORITIES UNAVAILING.
SOME IMPRISONED BAHÁ’ÍS WHO WERE EXPELLED FROM THEIR JOBS HAVE BEEN PROMISED RELEASE IF THEY REPAY ALL SALARIES PAID TO THEM FROM BEGINNING OF THEIR EMPLOYMENT, SOMETIMES UP TO 30 YEARS.
JANUARY 17, 1984
United States[edit]
U.S. wins $1,000,000 WLGI radio goal[edit]
On Wednesday, December 28—three days before its December 31 deadline—the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States announced in a cable to the Universal House of Justice the thrilling news that the goal of $1,000,000 for the construction and operation of radio station WLGI in South Carolina had been met.
Its accomplishment was made possible by an unprecedented outpouring of funds from Bahá’ís across the country following a dramatic taped appeal by the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears that was broadcast in more than a thousand Bahá’í communities at the Feast of Masá’il (December 12).
Early in December the fund-raising drive for North America’s first Bahá’í-owned and operated radio station, which was launched less than a year ago at the 74th U.S. Bahá’í National Convention, had barely passed the halfway mark with less than $600,000 raised.
But following Mr. Sears’ appeal, in which he reminded the friends that one of the beloved Guardian’s fondest wishes was that a radio station should be built in North America, the contributions started pouring in and hadn’t stopped as of early January.
By December 31 the count had reached $1,043,000, and by January 5 it had risen to nearly $1,200,000.
“We ... wish to thank every member of the American Bahá’í community, whose confidence, courage and capacity to sacrifice produced a triumph of heroic proportions in such a short time,” Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, said in a letter of December 29 that conveyed news of the victory to the Bahá’ís of the U.S.
“To me, this tremendous victory is a tribute to the marvelous collaboration
(The victory) was made possible by an unprecedented outpouring of funds from Bahá’ís across the country following a dramatic taped appeal by the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears that was broadcast ... at the Feast of Masá’il ...
between the institutions of the Faith and the believers,” said Judge James F. Nelson, chairman of the National Assembly.
“And especially is it a tribute to the help and support of the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears,” Judge Nelson added. “His appeal, together with the many activities that were taking place across the country, I think virtually assured the victory through universal participation.
“It is heartening to see that our Campaign for Unified Action is reaching even into the fund-raising area.”
In the final days of the WLGI campaign it was indeed apparent that widespread participation had made the victory possible.
The Office of the Treasurer noted that the goal was won by many individuals giving what they could, not by a few making large contributions.
Among the more than 400 letters that arrived in the weeks following Mr. Sears’ appeal were many that included warm messages of love and appreciation to the Hand of the Cause. Each of them is being forwarded to Mr. Sears.
Taken together, these letters convey a story of heroic sacrifice seldom equaled by the American Bahá’í community. Here are a few examples:
- For six months, a 13-year-old paper boy saved his wages for WLGI. He sent it all: $100.
- A community that had set up a memorial fund to honor the memory of one of its members, a CB radio enthusiast, decided to send the entire $260.25 to WLGI.
- Youth and children in one community worked for more than a year at filling a large jar with their coins (and their parents’) which they collected at every Feast and contributed to the station.
- “Quarter savers” for WLGI were used in South Carolina, and one seven-year-old must have filled his 10 times because they hold only $5 and he sent $50.
- One woman wrote that her husband, whom she sweetly referred to as “fan undeclared believer,” had suggested that she contribute to the radio station rather than spend money on a party for their 50th wedding anniversary.
- In Texas, two sisters, ages 9 and 4, practiced a program of gymnastics, dances, songs and prayers for weeks, then sold “tickets” to their family for the Thanksgiving day performance. They sent in $33.
These are but a few of the many examples of sacrifice contained in the letters bearing contributions for WLGI.
Others tell of innovative and successful fund-raisers of all kinds, from potluck dinners and auctions to talent shows, dances, fairs and video nights.
Ground was broken last October 16 for WLGI, which is to be built at the Louis G. Gregory Institute near Hemingway, South Carolina.
Among those who were most generous and constant in their fund-raising efforts for the station were the Gregory Institute’s sister schools, Bosch, Green Acre and Louhelen.
As a member of the Louhelen staff put it, “We were the most recent project to experience the generosity of the
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Land is cleared at the Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute near Hemingway, South Carolina, for WLGI Radio, the first Bahá’í-owned and operated station in North America. Its first broadcast is scheduled for Riḍván 1984.
American Bahá’í community, and we want to share it now with the Gregory Institute.”
On learning of the victory, the South Carolina Regional Teaching Committee sent the following cable to the National Spiritual Assembly:
“South Carolina rejoices meeting WLGI goal. Grateful entire American community its wholehearted support. Local believers and several Local Assemblies South Carolina contributed more than $40,000. Warmest Bahá’í greetings.”
The station itself, as well as the Institute that bears his name, is a monument to the life and work of the Hand of the Cause of God Louis Gregory who was born in 1874 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Papua New Guinea[edit]
Children from villages near Nonga, Papua New Guinea, are seen attending a class at the new tutorial school started last August by Elena Yaganegi, a Bahá’í who opens her home for classes. Mrs. Yaganegi visited the school board to obtain approval for the school and was told that there is a great need for classes in English for pre-schoolers, especially those from the villages, since existing pre-schools emphasize the use of the native language, Kuanua.
Commentary[edit]
A UN planner looks toward the future[edit]
Thank you, Professor Eyford, and thank you, Bahá’í Association, for inviting me to be here with you. I must say I have had only very brief acquaintance with the Bahá’í community through my work at the United Nations where you know we have a very active and very highly regarded liaison office, and I’ve had the chance and the privilege of participating in a few of their meetings at the UN.
But I find even in this brief acquaintance that the goals that you pursue, the aims that you have, are very much in tune with the ideals I have, with the dreams I have, and so that when I am with you I feel less alone. Very often, moving in international circles, people are very much stuck in the status quo, very much stuck in trying to preserve what there is, and afraid to look ahead; and even if they see ahead, they pretend that there is nothing wrong.
Yet there is plenty that is wrong, and there is plenty that we can do about it—and I think your community, worldwide, is among the few groups of people who represent the positive sides which can move us from one age into the next.
Now, I cannot pretend to put what I have in mind into the context of your thinking; I don’t know enough about it. But I would like anyway to begin with a few passages which struck me as being particularly relevant to the kind of
| This article is taken from an address by Dr. Ervin Laszlo, director of the program on regional and interregional cooperation, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), at the eighth annual Conference of the Association for Bahá’í Studies. Dr. Laszlo’s topic was “The Coming Transformation of Global Society and Today’s Action Imperatives.” The Association’s annual Conference was held November 4-7, 1983, at the Palmer House in Chicago, Illinois. |
concerns, very deep concerns that I have which I would like to share with you. So let me first of all just read to you some passages that you must know by heart—but let me just try to recall this as a preface, as an over-all framework, for what I would like to say.
In that little one-page leaflet that has been distributed in your registration package there is the following statement, and I will read just a few sentences from it. It talks about the principle of oneness, and it says that this principle of oneness “implies an organic change in the present day structure of society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced.”
It calls it “the consummation of human evolution, an evolution that has had its earliest beginnings in the base of family life, its subsequent development in the achievement of tribal solidarity, leading in turn to the constitution of the city-state and expanded later into the institution of independent and sovereign nations. This process is not only necessary but inevitable, and its realization is fast approaching.”
These ... ideas have struck me very deeply. Let me supplement this with a quotation, likewise from Shoghi Effendi, that is given in the booklet, in the monograph, of Dr. Danesh on “The Violence-Free Society.” And he quotes Shoghi Effendi, and let me just read these two sentences for you also:
“The long ages of infancy and childhood through which the human race had to pass have receded into the background. Humanity is now experiencing the commotions invariably associated with the most turbulent stage of its evolution. The stage of adolescence, when the impetuosity of youth and its vehemence reached a climax, must gradually be superseded by the calmness, wisdom and maturity that characterize the stage of manhood.”
It is my dream and my hope that we can work and eventually achieve this stage of manhood, this stage of humanhood which will be calm and peaceful and unite all of the peoples of the earth in a global family.
And I want to underline to you, and this is what my talk is going to be about, this phrase within this remarkable sentence that we are now experiencing the “most turbulent stage” of human evolution. It is true, and I am afraid it will become more and more true in the next 10 years or 15 years.
From all the evidence that I have, from all the international documents, all the plans, all the strategies that I have seen, in the UN and outside, I cannot avoid the conclusion that the present system, and I am talking about the international socio-economic, technical, industrial system, ... is heading into a crisis, toward a watershed, that there is no turning back. But I don’t want to preach doomsday. When I say this, I don’t mean that this is the end of the road. What I mean to say is that it is the end of an age—and I hope that this is the end of the age of adolescence, and it could be the beginning of the age of manhood. But for that we have to act, and we have to act already, because if there is only one word about which I would express some thought, it is this one word “inevitable,” of inevitably reaching the next stage.
Perhaps when these words were written the tremendous powers that humankind has unleashed were not known, could not have been known. It could not have been known that now we can kill ourselves off and all of the species in the world with the push of a few buttons. It was not known that we can now practically destroy the life-support systems of this earth, of this
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planet, which is our habitat, which is
our home.
So what I want to impress on you is not to put blind faith into the coming of the next age but to work for it. Because there is an alternative, a dreadful alternative, that we won’t make it.
However, I want to point out to you what we might expect as we move toward the 1990s and into the 1990s, and what choices we have to make, what prospects we will face, because we are not heading toward an epoch which is predetermined. We are not destined, either one way or another. I believe we have choices, and the choices will be increasingly up to us to make. This is my main theme.
The choices will be able to be exercised at the time when the present system, this age of adolescence, crumbles around us, as I believe it will. Now this fact, that we can make a choice in the midst of a crisis, this fact is not only a hunch, it is now a well-documented, well-established scientific insight applying to biology, applying to physical and chemical systems, applying to the evolution of the universe as a whole.
I do not want to give you here a lecture on the theories of change and evolution but to remind you of a few things. The idea that evolution is slow and is gradual has by and large been abandoned even in the life sciences. Very recently, only as of about 1980, has this turnabout occurred. The idea that nature does not make leaps, which was a main tenet of Darwin, has gone out the window.
Now we talk about “punctuated equilibrium” or saltatory versions of the Darwinist thesis. In other words, that when evolution occurs—macroevolution, the creation of a new species—and in society also they are talking in a sense about the creation of a new species—this comes about when the existing, dominant species becomes destabilized, and then a small, up till then almost dormant or peripheral species can all of a sudden come, spread and take over. Make the analogy. Make the analogy even with the Bahá’í group.
There will come a time, and I am convinced that it will be before the end of this century, when the dominant systems, the institutions of today will crumble, when those peripheral movements that are today suppressed and persecuted will have their day. And we must hope that they are movements such as yours which will carry the day, and not inhuman and dictatorial and terrorist types of movements—and this is why we must prepare already.
In another facet coming from systems theory, since the chairman mentioned that I was interested in this area and have written a number of books on that, we likewise have come to the con-
‘We are now facing a new shift in our ways of thinking about change. Change is not smooth, it’s not gradual. It’s sudden, it moves through crises, it can be catastrophic, but it can move us also to the next plateau, the next level of evolution.’
clusion that no system evolves in the absence of what is termed a fluctuation, a very major fluctuation, sometimes called a mega-fluctuation. This fluctuation, which comes either from the environment or is generated by the system, must destabilize the existing corrective self-stabilizing mechanisms of that system so that the system can then move into a new mode, into a new kind of existence, into a so-called new dynamic regime.
Again, I won’t enlarge on this. If you have questions about it, I’ll be glad to answer them. But the evidence that this is occurring in the universe at large, that this can be reproduced in the laboratory, this is increasing. Again, since the mid-’70s, the laboratory experiments have been coming one after another. In the late ’70s a Nobel Prize was given for the discovery.
We are now facing a new shift in our ways of thinking about change. Change is not smooth, it’s not gradual. It’s sudden, it moves through crises, it can be catastrophic, but it can move us also to the next plateau, the next level of evolution. And it must be our hope that change applied to human society will not be catastrophic but will move us to that next plateau that represents the maturity of our species.
Let me move to a little bit more empirical facet. Let me tell you why I believe that we are approaching such a watershed. We have had in this epoch, in this century, periods of war, periods of financial collapse—we also have had epochs of progress, of cooperation, and of stability. But if we were to draw a balance sheet we would find that the “trouble” periods are accelerating, the instabilities are mounting, and if the trends continue we may reach the point of no return.
We might be reaching a series of inter-connected crises in which one thing feeds into another, which no Marshall Plan, no Apollo mission, no effort made by the present administrative or political systems could ... prevent from occurring. The stakes are now of course the highest that we have ever confronted. We have now about 4.5 billion people; by 1990 we will have five billion; by the year 2000 we should have six and one-half billion people according to median projections of the UN. We are at the present time concerned that the extra pressures put up by these many people in a tribally oriented global society—by that I mean nation-states that are inward-looking, that are holding on to their sovereignty as though it was God-given, as though nothing else existed, that talk about interdependence but fear their neighbors and try only to relate to one another to their own advantage—that in this epoch we may find ourselves in a situation of a breakdown.
We are hearing that this would lead to a war, to a confrontation in which nuclear arms could be used. This is a possibility—but I want to emphasize to you, although it may sound very heretical, that an excessive fascination almost ... I am using this almost in a clinical sense ... with the nuclear spectre can blind us to another factor, the factor that if we don’t kill ourselves off, the continuation of the present trends will lead us into a breakdown.
It’s not enough to do away with nuclear arms. Of course, we must do that, because the presence of nuclear arms is an ever-present danger in this epoch, (and) it will remain a danger in the next plateau of civilization also. But we must not be blinded by fearing the nuclear flash to the extent that we disregard the trends, the macro-trends, the world problematic, which heads us straight into a situation which will be very difficult to master—which I think we will not be able to master with our
[Page 6]
present institutions.
On the surface, and let me go ahead now a little bit in time, the 1990s I think will be a period of mounting tensions and self-reinforcing crises. These crises will bring about social unrest, political coups and all that go with them. They will come about despite the affirmation of our economists ... that all these equilibria are temporary in nature and are self-curing, that all we have to do is let the market operate and it will take care of all our problems.
This, in fact, is one of the most dangerous kinds of beliefs because it encourages inaction. It says, “Let things go on the way they are; they’ll take care of themselves.” And signs of an economic recovery can give us the false sense of illusion that all things are all right. But look at the global picture; they are far from all right.
We are going to have, in the last 25 years of this century, about 2.23 billion people—almost two and one-quarter billion new people—that’s the increment in human population. According to all population projections, this is the largest increment humanity has ever had, and possibly the largest it will ever have.
Afterwards, even if we don’t kill ourselves off, even if we could maintain the present system, the next increment, in the year 2000-2025 would be lesser because there wouldn’t be so many young people. The age distribution would be different.
These people are coming into the world in the poorer areas. By the year 2000, if present trends continue, over 80 per cent of the world’s population would live in what we now call the Third World. The fastest population increases are occurring in the poorest regions. They would need an infusion of capital, an infusion of education and skills, the creation of an infrastructure and new jobs of a tremendous magnitude.
We know what is needed. For example, the latest projections of the (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) say that we would have to quintuple—multiply by a factor of five—our investment in food production in the developing countries. Similar projections apply when you talk about health, when you talk about employment, when you talk about industrial distribution, etc.
There are no signs that this can happen. In fact, per capita food production has been decreasing by 10 per cent over the last decade in Africa. It is decreasing in many countries in Asia and in Latin America, where more countries are becoming dependent on food from the outside. And when they do so, they are becoming dependent on two things: on the availability of food, and on the money with which to buy it. Now, both will be impossible to have in the coming years. Why? First of all, they get more and more indebted, these countries, so they will not have capital, they do not already have capital; they might be facing a series of bankruptcies. And secondly, the amount of food that could be traded in world markets is diminishing. The latest projections, which came to light only in some very highly qualified professional computerized studies of U.S. agriculture in a meeting of the Club of Rome about a month ago in Budapest, show that by the year 2000 the U.S. will not have any food to export, due to a number of reasons: the price of energy, the fading under of productive land, the erosion of topsoil, the increasing need for fertilizer, for mechanization, and so on.
It is quite likely that we will not be able to feed six and one-half billion people by the turn of the century. And this is only one of the many facets of the problem. Let me give you a brief scenario of how things might go. I hope that they don’t; on the other hand, in a sense, I hope that some kind of a breakdown is coming because I do not see a possibility of creating a new world, a better world, unless the present institutions suffer this kind of a dissolution. I don’t think you can build a new world before the old one has disappeared.
And now, let me give you this brief scenario. Think that you are now in the late 1980s. You will find that a number of Latin American countries—let’s say, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela—cannot anymore repay their obligations. They have decided to repudiate their debts. They get together, they form a common front—this is being discussed already—and they say that this is all right as sovereign nations. They have such domestic problems that they cannot simply afford to export capital even though people are coming into their cities and the cities are already at the breaking point. You know the projections for the big cities: Mexico City, 31 million people by the year 2000; now it has probably 15 million or so. There is no way Mexico City can provide water and sanitation, not to mention power and jobs and other services for more than 18 or 20 million, and that will come in a few years.
Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires—all these cities are growing to tremendous proportions as others in the world are also. But let me give you this scenario: the rural areas fall into poverty, even more than they are today. The governments, to save their necks, at least for a few more years, must take some immediate measures. The first and only thing they can do is try and use whatever capital they have to quell the domestic unrest by creating investments in their own countries and not exporting the capital in the form of repayment of their past debts.
Now, the other countries, when this happens, are likely to follow suit. And there are several dozen countries in the world that are facing bankruptcy. They are also in eastern Europe, but the majority are in Asia and in Africa, in addition of course to Latin America.
They are not likely to find themselves in the position of facing armed forces to force them to pay back their debts. Why? Because one country perhaps you can invade—or, to use a more proper term, you can conduct a rescue mission—but you cannot do this with two dozen, three dozen or four dozen countries. Marines won’t help.
So in the early 1990s it is quite conceivable that we will have a massive financial breakdown in the world. This will have serious political consequences in the countries involved; it will have serious political consequences in the creditor countries—not the least in the U.S.—because there have been enormous sums of money involved. The banks will want to have the government bail them out. Again, it is very likely that the government will not increase public spending to such an extent as to bail out Chase Manhattan or Morgan Guaranty Trust, saying that you gave them the money in the first place, now you have to shoulder the consequences.
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... The funds available to the International Monetary Fund, no matter
what you read in the papers, will be
enough for the next two years, even if
you increase it. If you double it, it will
be enough for three years. The sums
are so massive and increasing so rapidly, that is, what is needed, that simply
there is not enough there to supply this.
We would have to turn OPEC into a
humanitarian club for them to supply
even a portion of the needed monies.
And yet I visit very frequently the Middle East. I’ve come recently from Kuwait, for example, and in all our discussions there I’ve seen no indications of their turning into a humanitarian club. In fact, they are very much aware of the fact that they are in a very poor and tight situation. They happen to have the largest per capita income in the world, but they say, well, this is false because what we are doing is selling a non-renewable resource which is going to run out, and where will we then be? And that’s actually a very good question. Where will they be, because there is a real distinction between development and economic growth. They have economic growth but no development. Once the money dries up, they’ll be back where they were before the money started coming in.
So I don’t think OPEC will help; I think in fact OPEC unity might suffer in the process. I don’t think the European community can help; I don’t think the U.S. will help; the Soviet Union certainly won’t help. So we will have a situation in which there will be major political unrest. The political spectrum may shift from left to right rather rapidly. New leaders will come and make their appearance and they will preach the doctrines of national unity, possibly by trying to distance themselves from the countries on which they were dependent. You can have any one of a dozen scenarios. None of them look very good in this case.
However, the interdependence of the system is such that the breakdown is going to create a crisis of worldwide proportions. Hyper-inflation (is) very likely to occur almost in all currencies. Most countries hold all their reserve currencies, their major monies, in dollars. If the U.S. is going to print more money to cover the needs, the value of the dollar is going to go down. It is going down now, but this is not yet in the face of the situation which I am painting for you now.
There could be extremism of all kinds. If we are lucky ... a war will not erupt. War would be totally useless under such circumstances. You cannot fight poverty with bombs.
The situation ... would be chaotic. There would be massive migrations such as the one you heard about in
‘... it’s not likely that any kind of peace-keeping force (will) be able to maintain order. See what happens in a small country like Lebanon when we try to create order when there is internal unrest ... And internal divisions are going to grow.’
West Africa recently where one country decided to expel its people who were not their own nationals. This would happen elsewhere—in Asia, in Africa and Latin America. We could have people in the millions moving across borders. Again, it’s not likely that any kind of peace-keeping force would be able to maintain order. See what happens in a small country like Lebanon when we try to create order when there is internal unrest, when there is internal division. And internal divisions are going to grow.
So we reach a point, probably by the late 1990s, where the political system, the techno-industrial system, the financial system as we know it is in ruins. Now, people who are dealing with these things, if they are honest, will tell you that this is very likely. They don’t tell you because this looks like a doomsday prophecy; it looks like the end of the world. But I am telling you—and I think to this public particularly I can say this with confidence—that this is only the end of one world. It is probably and very likely the beginning of a new world, and this new world is the ideas such as you have. It could be a much better world than the one we have.
It’s interesting also that this kind of breakdown, if you make linear projections from the present to the future, will occur around the turn of the century, possibly (the) turn of the millennium. There is also a psychological factor involved. You know how addicted we are to making New Year’s resolutions—but only for one year. When a new decade comes, the international community undergoes a similar kind of self-delusion, if you like. I must say that not all resolutions are kept but I think many of them are. But we have adopted international development strategies, starting in the 1960s and the 1970s, and now we have the third development strategy in (the) 1980s. Each one becomes more illusory than the last.
Now, it’s very likely that when we reach the late years of the 1990s and are heading toward a psychological watershed, the year 2000, and with tensions climbing to this point, that this will actually accelerate the change and transformation which first of all will be a dissolution of the existing system.
... The human cost could be very high, and I will speak in a moment about how to minimize it. But tensions will be high; if we are lucky, we won’t kill ourselves in the process. But certainly, large numbers of people will be exposed to deprivation.
So what will happen then? Here is where I don’t hold an ineluctability thesis; here is where I say we have choices, and the choices will be very much up to us ... I would like to draw for you now two scenarios, and then in the last 10 minutes, if I may, Mr. Chairman, give you some ideas, some thoughts about what we could do today to choose the better one of the scenarios.
To make it more interesting I’ll call one of them the apocalypse scenario and the other the phoenix scenario.
We’ll take the apocalypse scenario. Here we are around the turn of the century. We have small colonies now because people have moved out of the big cities; there is no way they can get services or employment or food. They are moving out to wherever there is a possibility of feeding themselves and the possibility of creating communities that have some measure of sustainability and self-reliance. There they are. They can communicate with one another. One of the remarkable facets of our communications technologies (is) that they are not energy-intensive. And chances are that even when every-
[Page 8]
thing goes down the drain we will still
have workable communications satellites, we will still have radios, and we
will be able to communicate with one
another. So the needs of people getting
in touch, even over large distances, I
think will be there—always, as I said,
provided there is no nuclear catastrophe.
So they get together, they compare notes. It could turn out that some of these colonies have in their possession stockpiles of arms, lethal arms. It may turn out that others don’t. Some may have highly skilled people and unscrupulous people, others not. Maybe these will be much more genuine, honest, humanistic people.
Under these circumstances there will be power plays. It is possible that the more organized, the more power-hungry will exploit the situation and will create new networks of dominance. You can spell out the scenarios in detail; in my new book, which is about to be published, I do so.
The fact is that by means of coercion, by means of rhetoric, by means of communication, which is a neutral technology which can be used for good or for evil, as can all technologies, we could create a world of terror, a world controlled by power centers in which the majority of mankind is subjugated. This world, which was the dream of the “thousand-year Reich,” could be a possibility if we let it happen, if we are not prepared. It would be very difficult to reverse. Once you get to that point, where there are large power centers, where people are forced to obey, it is difficult to break out of it.
We know of the recent terrorist regimes; they can be maintained if they have arms and if they have money—and the world could be rebuilt in such a mold if we are unlucky, and if we are foolish. It would be catastrophic; it would be tragic.
But let me give you also this other scenario, the phoenix scenario, which I think is very close to the Bahá’í scenario. Communication is there; people get together. People come to a conclusion which is also very frequent in the wake of catastrophes—that it is better to pull together, it is better to pursue common goals; that we should learn from the mistakes of the past, that we should cooperate, that we should not be hungry for power to the extent where we destroy our world and ourselves.
We could create self-reliant communities who can produce their own food, who can create employment for the people, who can make their own decisions. I think the Bahá’í communities are the prototype for this sort of scenario. These could establish relations with one another on the basis of self-reliance because that famous word “interdependence,” which we usually hear in so-called progressive circles in a very positive connotation, I am telling you is a very dangerous concept because interdependence only works among equals. Then, it is equal and friendly people. If that interdependent is your enemy, you’d better watch out. And if your enemy is more powerful than you, being interdependent means being enslaved.
So I think the new world would have to be much more self-reliant, locally self-reliant, than the one we have built today. We have built this world too fast. We have built it to our technological-industrial capacities, to global dimensions, and we are psychologically and spiritually unprepared to live in a global world.
We could in this world, in this new scenario, decide to bury and to disassemble, defuse the major weapons. We could decide instead to put highest value on the fulfillment of needs—on social needs, on spiritual needs, as well as physical needs. We could decide that we would not want to be in communication and in contact to such a strong extent with people whom we cannot trust so that we can become dependent on them. We could decide that people of good faith could work together and could try to control their own unruly elements.
This could be done because there would be a new mind set. You cannot go through a crisis unchanged. It is one of the great illusions, and dangerous illusions, of our epoch to think that you go through an upheaval—a social, personal, economic or political upheaval—and you come out being pretty well the same as you were before. You don’t. People have changed; I’ve seen it after the second World War in Europe, I’ve been through that as a child, and people cannot be indifferent. It was a great tragedy in my country, in Hungary, that they did not have a chance to become what they wanted to become for they came under a new form of domination.
So there are realistic possibilities, I think, for the phoenix scenario, and on the basis of all the theoretical insight that I am able to muster, I can tell you that groups that are now persecuted, now small, now powerless will have their day because all the centers that are repressing these groups will be gone. The forces of domination will be gone; the heavy hand of the past will have been lifted. And I don’t see change coming in our lifetime in the absence of such a situation.
But to begin to make the phoenix scenario more likely than the apocalypse, we will have to do a number of things—and it’s not necessary that all people do it, it’s that a few centers of awareness grow up in the world. I think that the Bahá’í community is an ideal center of awareness distributed over the world for this kind of initiative.
Let me just list a few of these things that we have to do. One, we’ll have to create the ability to survive. This is not only physical survival, it does not mean equipping yourselves with guns and hand grenades. It means being able to form communities that are not dependent on the system at large, that can produce their food, that can take care of the health and social needs of the people, the spiritual needs, that can maintain themselves. I think we have many experiments of this kind; it’s very remarkable that this kind of experimentation is going on all over the world. We have to consciously foster this: the skills, the knowledge, the information, what it takes to be self-reliant and, if necessary, self-sufficient.
Second, we have to take great care for the next generation ... Human nature is not immutable; it is strongly conditioned by political, economic, cultural reality, and it would be a tragic mistake if today we would brainwash our children, as education sometimes does, into a mind set which is on the way out. If you were trained up on competition, for looking for the edge of competing over your most immediate rival, if you were trained up on materialism, for possessiveness, for intolerance—no child is born with these qualities; children are egalitarian by nature. We train them; we brainwash them into the kind of civilization that
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we have created.
It would be tragic if this new generation, which is being born now, which is already here as young children, if this generation would receive an education which would make it difficult for them to transit into another world, which would predispose them to transit into a competitive, power-oriented, apocalypse type of scenario instead of the cooperative and solidarity type of scenario. So we have to take very much care in educating our children or letting them simply develop their own natural predispositions for solidarity, for lack of violence—and the expert on it is Professor (Hossain) Danesh, but I see from what he says that it is not an inherited, it is not a genetic, it is an acquired trait; it’s a cultural factor.
Then there have to be a number of other things as well, in addition to the human elements. We have to watch out that the vital resources of the earth, which provide us with our means of survival as a species, that those are not destroyed. And, ladies and gentlemen, this is a real danger, that they could be destroyed, and I don’t mean in a nuclear race. We could destroy top soils, as we are doing now. Enormous amounts of top soil are being destroyed year after year; they’re diminishing the world over. The waters are getting polluted despite an occasional reversal of that and success stories, but on the whole, we are endangering our waterways. The air is getting worse; of course, you know that in the big cities—not to mention acid rain or other matters which are particularly close to our friends from Canada.
All of the humanly usable natural resources that we have must be taken care of, and that means not only the non-renewable (but) also the renewable resources. It is perhaps a seldom discussed fact that the world’s deserts advance every year roughly by an area equivalent to the size of Maine. This is due to deforestation; poor people cut down forests and burn (them) for firewood. We can also over-graze lands; the rain forests of the world could well disappear by the turn of the century if we continue cutting them down and clearing them for agriculture at the present rate. Not that it would even produce good agricultural land because the unprotected soils wash away, as we have known it to happen in the Amazon. So the ecological problems are very serious problems because even with the best will in the world, with the best mind set in the world, we cannot create a world in which six and a half billion people or so can live and satisfy their real physical needs if we are destroying the resources which they require for that.
Then, we have to do something about defusing this nuclear threat,
‘Finally ... we would have to prepare for what you know in your Faith as the age of the maturity of mankind. We would have to start, I think, as you are doing already, to prepare for this; we would have to create access to the public media.’
even if there is no nuclear war—a big “if.” But even if there isn’t, the very presence of nuclear armaments, of stockpiles, would create a constant temptation, a constant threat to human well-being. It is not enough simply to refrain from deploying an increasing number of these weapons; we would also have to start destroying them. Again, this would be a fact that could come into increasing prominence as it turns out that there are no military solutions to the problems that we face—when the problems that we face are not imagined threats on the part of big powers, but real threats on the part of four or five billion people who simply do not know how to survive, have no means to survive. And perhaps under those circumstances we could make some steps in this direction, and we would have to do so.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly—as I consider the others less important—we would have to prepare for what you know in your Faith as the age of the maturity of mankind. We would have to start, I think, as you are doing already, to prepare for this; we would have to create access to the public media. We would have to create community forums, probably doing other things that you are doing already—but don’t forget there are many people who are not doing it. And whether they profess the same faith or not, we would have to bring them into this awareness, knowing what the alternative is.
We could try to simulate this new world. There are many ways of doing that. We could role play; we could have new science fiction, but this science fiction would not be inter-galactic wars but would be ways of managing the world which is emerging from this role of a crisis and creating a new world. We could simulate new communities, we could simulate new ways of human interaction, we could create new technologies which would be sim- ple technologies in the sense that they wouldn’t be capital intensive, they wouldn’t cost a lot of money and they wouldn’t cost a lot of hardware. We now have technologies that are usable to almost everybody. We would have to prepare for this sort of thing, and our young people could very well be engaged in this.
I think it is far more exciting to try to imagine what a world after this, which comes very soon, which would come in 20 years, which may be coming in 15 years, would look like, rather than escaping into these fantasies of science fiction which are so popular today.
All of these things can be done, and in many ways we are doing this. But one final point I would like to reiterate—I mentioned it already—that all of the empirical as well as theoretical evidence points to one fact, that when we have a major upheaval, then any small change, any small modification within the system which was up till then banned or suppressed can become amplified; in fact, one or several will become amplified. This is how species evolve ... this is what happens in physical chemical systems when a small internal fluctuation becomes amplified and becomes the dominant regime of the system.
This is what is applicable, I think, to human society and to this interdependent global society which we haven’t long to live in yet—that a new mutation will come about when the system’s dominance ceases and those small groups that are ready for creating a world of global unity will have their day. I’m sure it will be your day, and I hope it will be the day of all of us. Thank you very much.
United States[edit]
‘Operation Catch-up’ aids young people[edit]
The Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute in South Carolina has begun “Operation Catsup” (Catch-up), an educational tutorial and enrichment program for children and youth.
The idea is to serve the general population of the area by providing basic skills, motivation, self-confidence, and a concept of developing divine attributes and promoting the oneness of mankind as expressed in the Bahá’í Writings.
According to Dr. Alberta Deas, who is the administrator of the Gregory Institute and a member of the National Spiritual Assembly, the response of area communities to a survey of interests led to offering the first course in the program.
Hands-on experience[edit]
That course trained participants of all ages in computer use and programming, using an easy, simplified method.
There were separate classes for various age groups, but everyone was given thorough, hands-on experience in each session.
Dr. Ralph Scales, one of the course facilitators, emphasizes that the process is easy and fun.
“This is a course that can break down fears,” he says. “Some people think that machine (the computer) is smarter than it really is.”
There is another aspect of the course that is equally important and that goes hand-in-hand with the computer classes.
Through training in interpersonal skills, participants learn to feel more positive about themselves and about what they can expect out of life.
Students are also helped to identify career areas where the economy has a demand for employable skills.
For many youth especially, the combination can be a big boost in finding a
Some of the 40 children who participated from October to December in the first phase of ‘Operation Catsup,’ an educational enrichment program at the Louis Gregory Institute in South Carolina, are shown at the keyboard as they learned some of the elements of computer use and programming.
[Page 11]
job or moving up to a better one.
As for children, they receive an introduction to the increasingly important area of computer literacy. Along with this comes the stimulation to develop more positive feelings about themselves.
Adults also participate, either for the reasons already stated or to gain confidence as parents in helping their children with computers.
Dr. Scales, a recently enrolled Bahá’í who earned his doctorate at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, donated his time to the first phase of the course.
He was helped by several area educators and others with computer training, most of whom are not Bahá’ís.
The computer and interpersonal skills program, the first element in “Operation Catsup,” ran from October through early December. Forty children and 20 adults participated.
Future courses in the program will focus on language arts, mathematics, arts and crafts, and other disciplines, as well as computers.
A course facilitator at the Louis Gregory Institute looks on as young computer programming students seek to unravel the mysteries of the keyboard during the first phase of the Institute’s educational enrichment program, ‘Operation Catsup.’
Dominica[edit]
Pictured are some of the participants in a World Food Day observance last October 16 at the Bahá’í Center in Roseau, Dominica, Windward Islands. Guest speakers Andrew Royer (second from left), a teacher of organic farming, and Mr. Patanjalidial (third from left), an agricultural researcher, are holding copies of the book The Earth Is But One Country which was presented to them in appreciation for their talks on farming. At the left is Kenneth George Dill, a pioneer to Dominica from Jamaica; at the right is Steve Hilyard, a Peace Corps volunteer and pioneer to Dominica who chaired the program. World Food Day marks the anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (UNFAO).
The world[edit]
Peru’s Radio Bahá’í marks second year[edit]
More than 4,000 people gathered outside Radio Bahá’í of Lake Titicaca, Peru, last November 26-27 for a music festival that marked the second anniversary of broadcasting by the Bahá’í radio station.
One hundred-eleven folk music groups (seven more than a year ago) participated in Radio Bahá’í’s “folkloric music festival” which was transmitted simultaneously to the Aymara and Quechua Indian peoples in the Lake Titicaca area where more than 200 Local Spiritual Assemblies were elected last Riḍván.
Present on both days of the festival were the district mayor and a high-ranking official of Peru’s ministry of communications along with three members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Peru and a representative of the Nueva Era Foundation, the sponsoring body for the radio station.
Shown is one of more than a hundred folk music groups that performed during a music festival last November 26-27 marking the second anniversary of Radio Bahá’í of Lake Titicaca, Peru.
Nigeria[edit]
Acting on a suggestion from a member of the Spiritual Assembly of Akineyele, Nigeria, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) aired three programs on the Faith last November 8-10 that were heard by the BBC’s estimated daily audience of 100 million.
The programs featured a discussion of the principles of the Faith, the Bahá’í view on the status of women, and the present persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran by Norman Bailey, a British Bahá’í who is a well-known opera singer.
Included in one of the programs was Queen Victoria’s quoted response to the Tablet she received from Bahá’u’lláh.
The three four-minute programs resulted from a letter to the BBC from a member of the Spiritual Assembly of Akineyele, Oyo State, which suggested that the Faith be included in the BBC’s regular religious program entitled “Reflections.”
The Nigerian believer later received a letter of appreciation from the BBC in which he was informed that it had contacted the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom to carry out his suggestion.
The 110 Bahá’ís from 12 states in Nigeria who attended a national Consolidation Conference last July 9 in Kaduna, Nigerian, unanimously decided to carry out four projects in Benue, Bendel, Rivers and Oyo States dedicated to the memory of the recent martyrs in Shíráz, Iran.
The projects are aimed at winning the developmental goal of 63 new Local Spiritual Assemblies.
France[edit]
The Faith received an unexpected proclamation over French television last October 9 during a popular program entitled “From Ciphers and Letters.”
Solving anagrams is a feature of the program. At a critical point toward the close of a recent contest, the winner composed the word “Béhaisme” (Bahá’ísm) from his drawing of nine letters.
The moderator looked up the word in a dictionary and read to an audience estimated at 19 million the following definition:
“Masculine noun; a Persian religious movement born of Bábism, Bahá’ísm preaches a universal religion which is the outcome of, and complementary to, the ancient beliefs.”
The program is rebroadcast in other French-speaking countries.
Japan[edit]
Dr. Amin Banani, a Bahá’í who is a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, presented an academic paper on aspects of Bábí and Bahá’í history at the 31st International Congress of Human Sciences for Asia and North Africa held last September in Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan.
Dr. Banani’s paper, which was presented despite objections from Iranian delegates to the congress, aroused sympathy for the Bahá’ís in Iran and friendly interest in the Faith.
Thirty distinguished residents of Tokyo were invited to a reception for Dr. Banani and his wife, Sheila, which was held September 3 at a Tokyo hotel. The reception was sponsored by the National Spiritual Assembly of Japan.
During their month-long visit to the Far East, the Bananis also met with Bahá’ís and government officials in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
Taiwan[edit]
Above: Dr. Amin Banani (center), a Bahá’í from the United States who is a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, and his wife, Sheila Wolcott Banani, receive the gift of a silver plaque honoring Confucius from Chu Hwei-sen, Taiwan’s minister of education, during a meeting last September 22 in Taipei. Below: The Bananis are shown at a reception in their honor given last September 3 at a Tokyo hotel by the National Spiritual Assembly of Japan. Dr. Banani presented an academic paper on aspects of Bábí and Bahá’í history at the 31st International Congress of Human Sciences for Asia and North Africa which was held in Tokyo and Kyoto.
United Kingdom[edit]
Following a meeting with members of the Spiritual Assembly of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, the mayor of that city, Councillor Len Green, wrote a letter to the Iranian Embassy in London to protest against the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran.
In the letter, he pointed out that if the Iranian authorities were to continue their activities against the Bahá’ís, future historians would regard the present time in Iran as one of the blackest periods in its history, just as the period of the Penal Laws in Ireland (1700-1829) when there was official persecution of certain religious groups is now regarded as one of the darkest periods in Irish history.
About 40 people attended a recent program that paid tribute to Bernard Leach, an English Bahá’í who was a world renowned artist and potter.
The presentation, which was made in the Royal Banqueting Hall of Tamworth Castle in the English midlands, included remarks about Mr. Leach’s life and work by Alan Bell, who was one of Mr. Leach’s secretaries.
Thus the name of Bahá’u’lláh has now been heard, Mr. Bell reports, in a room that in former days was visited by several British monarchs including Henry I, Henry II, Henry III, Edward II, James I and Prince Charles (later King Charles I).
Colombia[edit]
Counsellors Farzam Arbáb, Ruth Pringle and Donald Witzel met with 16 Auxiliary Board members from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela last November 4-6 at the Ruhi Institute in Puerto Tejada, Colombia.
Discussion during the three-day conference was centered on spiritual enrichment, courses at the Ruhi Institute, and specific topics raised by the Auxiliary Board members.
Many of the participants remained in Colombia for another week to participate in teaching and consolidation campaigns, tutorial school programs, and a National Child Education Conference that was also held in November.
Sweden[edit]
One hundred-sixty people attended a Bahá’í Summer School last June in Vemdal, Sweden, the home of the first Lapp Bahá’í. The theme of the school was “The Development of Spiritual Life.”
Special guests included Phillip Hainsworth, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom, and a Swedish family who have been pioneering in Africa.
Special classes were held for the 43 children present, and on the final evening the young people presented dramatic skits about Badí’ and other martyrs.
A memorial service was held when it was learned during the school sessions that the sister of Mohammad Moghimi, a Bahá’í who is living in Sweden, had been martyred in Iran. A reporter from Expressen, one of Sweden’s largest newspapers, interviewed Mr. Moghimi and his wife.
As a result, an entire front page and the center fold of an issue of Expressen were devoted to an article about the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran.
A special committee whose goal is to
raise a Spiritual Assembly in Sundsvall, Sweden, by Riḍván 1984 was
formed during the Swedish Bahá’í
Summer School last June.
Since then, teaching efforts in that town, which is about 250 miles north of Stockholm, have been continuing.
Each weekend, Bahá’ís who live as far away as 330 miles travel to Sundsvall to help the only Bahá’í family in that goal locality.
Besides regular proclamation activities including ads in local newspapers, special events such as a public concert by a group of Bahá’í musicians, an art exhibit by a Bahá’í artist, and talks about the Faith at area Rotary Clubs have been held.
Performers at a benefit concert for UNICEF last November in the goal city of Sundsvall, Sweden, included two Bahá’í women, pianist Janet Trione and soprano Rohanieh Golmohammadi.
Malin (left) and Magnus Andersson,
the youngest members of the Bahá’í
Group of Sundsvall, Sweden, a goal
city about 250 miles north of Stockholm, are pictured standing next to a Bahá’í exhibit that is part of a campaign to raise a Spiritual Assembly in Sundsvall by Riḍván 1984.
Mexico[edit]
The Faith was proclaimed in the mass media in Oaxaca, Oaxaca State, Mexico, on the occasion of World Peace Day last September through the efforts of the Spiritual Assembly of Oaxaca.
That Assembly sent a letter to the editors of all the state’s major newspapers explaining the Bahá’í views on world peace, while a shorter statement was sent to local radio and television stations.
One paper published the letter on its front page under a headline that read, “Bahá’ís Call for Disarmament and Understanding for World Peace.”
Another paper sent reporters to compile an in-depth report on the Faith whose result was a favorable two-part article which appeared over a two-day period.
The Bahá’í statement on world peace was read during the hour-long morning news program, the most listened-to news broadcast in Oaxaca.
Increased use of the media to proclaim the Faith is one of Mexico’s goals for the Seven Year Plan.
Zimbabwe[edit]
Five new Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed in a recent three-week period in the Mhondoro Farms area of Zimbabwe, while there were 90 declarations in Daisy Farm, Mfuti Farm, Emonjeni Farm, Kent Estates and Beersheba.
Bahá’ís from surrounding communities are continuing to teach and to deepen the people in the newly opened localities in Zimbabwe.
Portugal[edit]
Shown are members of the wedding party at the Bahá’ímarriage last August in Lisbon, Portugal, of Paulo Perim and Faranak Vejdani. A special guest was the Hand of the Cause of God Ugo Giachery (standing in center in dark suit next to the bride). As a result of the ceremony, the Faith received nationwide publicity in Portuguese newspapers and on radio and television.
A nationwide proclamation of the Faith through Portugal’s mass media took place last August in connection with a Bahá’í wedding ceremony in Lisbon.
Among the 200 people present at the wedding was the Hand of the Cause of God Ugo Giachery who was in Portugal to attend its Bahá’í Summer School.
At the invitation of the bride, Faranak Vejdani, a Persian pioneer to Portugal, and groom, Paulo Perim, a pioneer to the Azores from Brazil, newspaper and television reporters also attended the ceremony.
As a result, reports of the wedding were published in three of the country’s national newspapers. The reports included photographs, a description of the Bahá’í marriage ceremony, and an explanation of the Faith.
One of these national newspapers published the article on its front page and continued it on that edition’s second full page.
An estimated six million people in Portugal, the Azores islands, and the Madeira islands saw a 10-minute television report of the Bahá’í wedding which was broadcast during the prime time Portuguese national TV news program.
During a two-week period following the wedding, there were several additional opportunities for publicity about the Faith.
Mr. and Mrs. Perim were interviewed on radio, and their remarks about the Faith also were broadcast throughout Portugal.
India[edit]
During the first month of an ambitious teaching campaign in India, 50 Spiritual Assemblies were elected in Maharashtra State and nearly 30 more in Gujarat State where there are now 600 newly enrolled Bahá’ís despite disrupted communications due to severe flooding.
The Maharashtra State Teaching Committee’s goal is the formation of 500 new Assemblies by Riḍván 1984, while the goal of the Gujarat State Teaching Committee is 1,000 Assemblies by Riḍván.
Coordinators of the teaching projects presented progress reports during a conference last October in Ahmedabad. Counsellor Zena Sorabjee observed at that time that the challenge in Gujarat means that 560 Assemblies must be formed to meet the goal at Riḍván.
Plans were made to provide help to Gujarat from Madhya Pradesh State, while a campaign to raise 125 Assemblies was to begin in the Panchmahals district bordering both states where a dialect common to both is spoken.
Laos[edit]
More than 30 teachers and prospective teachers of Bahá’í classes for children and youth from five areas near Vientiane, Laos, attended a weekend deepening seminar last October 22-23 at that country’s national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds.
The weekend event was requested by participants at a meeting last September 25 that was called by the recently re-formed National Youth and Children’s Committee of Laos.
The seminar included presentations on Bahá’í history, the Central Figures of the Faith, Bahá’í administration, laws and ordinances of the Faith, and Bahá’í views on loyalty to government and abstention from politics.
Written quizzes indicated that the participants had successfully mastered the materials that were presented.
The weekend gathering ended with presentations of a part of the film “The Green Light Expedition” and the slide program entitled “Land of Resplendent Glory.”
Mauritius[edit]
Shown are many of the 54 Bahá’ís in Mauritius who participated last December 6-19 in a series of courses on the Covenant. The courses were taught by Lowell Johnson, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of South Africa, who is seated at the far left in the second row.
About 100 people attended a United
Nations Day observance last October
25 at the Bahá’í Institute in Belle-Rose,
Mauritius. The speakers included a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Mauritius, the country’s acting director of telecommunications,
and the chairman of the civil servants union. Following the formal program, guests were invited to have refreshments and to view an exhibit prepared especially for the occasion.
Kenya[edit]
Twenty-five Bahá’ís including adults and youth from 12 communities in Kenya and from other countries took part in a recent 10-day teaching campaign in Kenya’s Muranga region that was described as “one of the most successful Bahá’í events in that area.”
As a result of the campaign, 25 people declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh, and about 2,000 others learned of the Faith.
Two new Local Spiritual Assemblies are expected to be formed in Muranga, according to the Regional Teaching Committee of Kenya’s Central Province.
El Salvador[edit]
More than 275 people from 16 localities including 11 visitors from Guatemala attended the annual Bahá’í Summer School held last December 29-January 1 in Santa Tecla, El Salvador.
Special guests at the school, which was dedicated to the memory of Counsellor Raúl Pavón, included Counsellors Hidáyatu’llah Ahmadíyyih and Donald Witzel.
Besides its principal class on enriching one’s spiritual life, the school presented classes on harmony and unity, the attitude of Bahá’ís toward opposition, obedience to Bahá’í and civil laws, military service and self-defense, and success in teaching.
The children, who attended separate classes, presented dramatic skits during evening sessions.
Five guests at the Summer School declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh.
Prior to the opening of the school, Bahá’ís had been asked to participate in a book fair sponsored by the ministry of the interior.
The Bahá’í exhibit was one of only nine apart from those of the other government ministries. Three of those who visited the Bahá’í booth have since become Bahá’ís.
Pictured here are participants in the annual Bahá’í Summer School held last December 29-January 1 in Santa Tecla, El Salvador. As in past years, the sessions were held at the Instituto Tecnologio Centroamericano. The school was dedicated to the memory of Counsellor Raúl Pavón who died last October.
Bolivia[edit]
Three generations of Bahá’ís are represented in this Bolivian family. Zacarias Hurtado (right) was one of the first indigenous Bolivians to become a Bahá’í during mass teaching in the 1960s. His son, Luís (left) is a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Bolivia. In the center is Luís Hurtado’s son, Alí.
The National Spiritual Assembly of Bolivia has published a Spanish-language song book, “Let’s Sing Bahá’í Songs,” and two basic deepening booklets in Quechua and Aymara (the principal languages of the Andes).
The books are a key element in a consolidation campaign for 200 selected Bahá’í communities, where they will be distributed freely and the believers encouraged to use them in their meetings.
Puerto Rico[edit]
Eighty people attended a Bahá’í Summer School last July 26-31 at the Inter-American University in San German, Puerto Rico.
Among the participants was Counsellor Athos Costas.
The program included a class for youth on interpersonal relations, a daily introductory course on the Faith that was begun at the request of non-Bahá’ís at the school, and a public concert sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of San German.
Other entertainment included a talent show and a 1950s-style dance, both of which were planned by the youth. One of the young people present declared his belief in Bahá’u’lláh.
Australia[edit]
One hundred forty-three people including two Auxiliary Board members, five of their assistants, and eight aboriginal Bahá’ís participated last September 20 in the second Queensland, Australia, Bahá’í Spring School which was dedicated to the martyrs in Iran.
the FIRST EDITION of a full-color lithograph of the
only known color photograph of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
The photograph of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá from which these lithographs
are reproduced was taken in Paris in 1911 as part of early experiments in color photography.
A researcher in the field (the nephew of a Bahá’í) discovered the glass negatives only recently. A copy negative was prepared and sent to the Archives in Haifa. The Bahá’í Publishing Trust was able to borrow the negative to ensure as exact a reproduction as possible of the three colors used in the original process.
From the pure-white fez and the dark-green ‘abá to the gray-white
beard and blue eyes—these full-color lithographs make the presence of
the Center of the Covenant seem closer than ever before.
■ Available in two sizes—5x7 inches and 11x14 inches
■ Perfect for home, office, Bahá’í centers, meeting room
■ Printed on high quality, heavy stock
■ Suitable for framing
■ Shrink wrapped with a cardboard backing to prevent damage in shipping
| 5x7 inches | Catalog No. 875-020 $500* | |
| 11x14 inches | Catalog No. 875-019 $1200* | A unique opportunity to |
| present a very special gift— | ||
| to yourself or someone else |
- Available from
- Available from
415 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, IL 60091
*Valid only in the United States. All others write for
prices and ordering and shipping instructions.
