Nazy Kaviani
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Toward a Culture of Civil Liberties, Human Rights and Democracy in Iran
30-Oct-2010
I am at a conference in Maryland, entitled “Toward a Culture of Civil Liberties, Human Rights and Democracy in Iran,” sponsored by Roshan Center for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland. Iranian experts, analysts, artists, activists, and luminaries have gathered from all over the world to talk about, what else, Iran!
The different sessions have so far covered "The Emergence of Human Rights Discourses in Iran," "The Origins and Evolution of Women’s Movement in Iran," "Religious Pluralism and Its Cultural Context in Contemporary Iran," and "Current Democracy Discourses in Iran."
The discussions are rich and significant not only in a political context, but also in a cultural and social context. For example, a question was discussed extensively in the area of not just Islam, but all religions vis a vis human rights. Is it possible to be religious and believe in human rights, too? Is it possible for a government to be religious and practice human rights, too? What are our tools going into the human rights debate? Is Persian literature and poetry a good tool for showing Iranians the way? The answers have been interesting coming from Iran experts who have studied Sa’adi’s poetry for example. One viable answer is to be selective in taking what works for today’s experience and thought, leaving behind what is passé and not so helpful.
An interesting suggestion which emerged in an earlier session today, is what would it take for the different Iranian experts, thinkers, and activists who are currently outside Iran to come together and to exchange thoughts and ideas about Iran’s future, leaving their at times bitter differences behind? Something to think about. As Iranians in diaspora, we have been joined by philosophers, former government officials, journalists who have fled persecution, civil society activists, and even clerics. These individuals hold a wealth of information about today's Iran and its nation, information without which no concrete ideas for a way forward can be achieved. Could we all just get along now?
Professor Ahmad Karimi Hakkak is in charge of organizing this conference and judging by all those who have participated and the huge turnout, the event has so far been a great success. Tonight we will listen to Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi’s keynote address, "The Necessity and Meaning of Solidarity." I will write again and share my photographs, too.
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RECENT COMMENTS
IRANIANS OF THE DAY
| Person | About | Day |
|---|---|---|
| نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
| Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
| Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
| احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
| گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
| Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
| محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
| Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |
Yeah, like accepting revenue
by Sargord Pirouz on Sat Oct 30, 2010 03:15 PM PDTYeah, like accepting revenue from pro-Zionist, pro-war against Iran ads here on IC helps political reform in Iran!
Anyone else here see the sheer incongruity of such?
نازی، خوبه ... !
کلاه مخملیSat Oct 30, 2010 03:08 PM PDT
..
yes we are Nazy joon!
by Monda on Sat Oct 30, 2010 03:07 PM PDT: )
I hope you guys are watching Shirin Ebadi now...
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 03:05 PM PDTThe live stream link again:
//www.ustream.tv/channel-popup/umd-persian-co...
در ضمن ...
کلاه مخملیSat Oct 30, 2010 02:55 PM PDT
فردا صبح، سیمین بهبهانی عزیز - ساعت ١١:٠٠ .. :)
شیرین عبادی بعده ... !
کلاه مخملیSat Oct 30, 2010 02:51 PM PDT
..
Live streaming is back
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 02:37 PM PDTtake a look you guys. Jahanshah just answered the question of "what can America do to help human rights in Iran (or something like that)" by saying that it is best if international organizations try to help, rather than governments.
Majid, bodo dorost shod!
by Monda on Sat Oct 30, 2010 02:35 PM PDT.
Thanks Majid Jan,
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 02:35 PM PDTThey are aware of the problem and they are working on it. People are asking questions now.
yeah!
by Monda on Sat Oct 30, 2010 02:34 PM PDT: (
Off air
by Majid on Sat Oct 30, 2010 02:31 PM PDTIt went of air at about 2:24
About Faraz Sanei
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 02:12 PM PDTDuring the past several years, and especially after the disputed 2009 presidential election, Iran has witnessed an intensified crackdown on civil society and the flow of information via traditional and alternative communication channels. On the one hand, Iran is considered a closed country when it comes to human rights monitoring and research. International organizations, especially those that monitor and report on human rights abuses, are not allowed inside the country. On the other, a resilient and increasingly tech savvy civil society continues to disseminate an abundance of information, sometimes at great risk. This presents numerous logistical and ethical questions for human rights organizations and media outlets. What is the role of international organizations, particularly human rights NGOs, in covering and reporting on human rights violations inside Iran? How should these organizations collect and verify the information they gather? What are the ethical considerations at play in order to ensure the safety of those who disseminate the information, and the victims of human rights abuses (and their families)? Equally important, what factors should be considered before international organizations decide which human rights stories to cover?
Saturday night is not good for politics
by comrade on Sat Oct 30, 2010 02:05 PM PDTThe viewer counter hovers between 27 and 29 for the live stream.
Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.
رکسانا شروع کرد ... !
کلاه مخملیSat Oct 30, 2010 01:52 PM PDT
..
About Roxana Saberi
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 01:52 PM PDTBoth Iranian and foreign journalists in Iran have been facing mounting dangers and risks. Many journalists have been intimidated, harassed, or even imprisoned, and some have reported physical and psychological torture. Several have fled the country. How and why do Iranian authorities try to restrict the news media, and how successful have they been? What, if anything, can be done to help keep the lines of communication and information open in Iran, and how can we help the journalists who have been forced to escape the country? As professional journalists in Iran have become more restricted, we have seen the increasing role of “citizen journalists” who have been aided by modern technology allowing them to transfer information among Iranians and to the world. However, technology has also helped Iran’s authorities to monitor citizens more closely than before. Outside Iran, what is the ability and responsibility of the news media to inform the world about Iran’s human rights violations? Does the Iranian regime even care about the image it reflects of its human rights record?
با فایر فاکس تماشا کن .. !
کلاه مخملیSat Oct 30, 2010 01:48 PM PDT
من دارم می بینم :)
Hi Majid,
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 01:48 PM PDTChetori rafeegh?! I asked and they say they have sound...
?????
by Majid on Sat Oct 30, 2010 01:45 PM PDTAs soon as JJ started the sound is cut off!
About Jahanshah Javid
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 01:41 PM PDTEvents following the last presidential elections in Iran more than anything showed the power of new media. The 2009 anti-regime protest movement has often been called the first Internet Revolution. The international impact of videos, photographs, blogs, tweets... posted online energized the protesters and created a real problem for the regime. Neda Agha Soltan’s “televized” death on the streets of Tehran via YouTube and it’s immediate spread to mainstream media made everyone realize that every cellphone, every little digital camera could make a huge difference in exposing the unpopularity and cruelty of the Islamic Republic. The power of the internet in the hands of the masses became so obvious during the peak of the protests on Ashoora that it forced the regime to severely curtail online access in general, and to key sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter in particular. Ways must be found to break the Islamic Republic’s monopoly on information, especially its ability to tightly control the internet. One way to do that is to seriously consider giving all Iranians access to the internet through low-flying satellites, thus bypassing IRI censors.
جهانشاه شروع كرد :) !
کلاه مخملیSat Oct 30, 2010 01:39 PM PDT
..
Live stream link, again
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 01:39 PM PDT//www.languages.umd.edu/persian/events/roshan...
رکسانا صابری دس چپه :) !
کلاه مخملیSat Oct 30, 2010 01:31 PM PDT
..
About Iraj Gorgin
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 01:30 PM PDTMedia could be effective in convincing people that Human Rights are not a gift; they are an imperative. The “Social Media”- as we know it- is successful in disseminating information/images and bridging the gap between insular communities and the rest of the world. Millions of people in five continents receive and exchange news, views and gossips through the face book, tweeter, YouTube and so forth. The mainstream media are less efficient in breaking news on human rights abuses and the struggle for democracy in closed societies. The critical question to ask is whether the media’s coverage of such issues and events help the mass public to understand the broader implications of demand for human rights in authoritarian countries? The answer is hardly positive. For the social media has its limitations in explaining the relevant issues in a comprehensive manner. Therefore, radio broadcasting, television and traditional press are still more effective in contributing to human rights awareness. Although in the past two decades, media -in general- pays more attention to the victims of human rights abuse than ever before, political considerations continue to have a negative or constraining influence on their reporting. The dissident media both inside and outside Iran extensively cover human rights issues, but they to focus on cases of abuse. What is often missing in such reports is an in-depth expounding of the broader issues with the purpose of high lighting the deeper human rights challenges facing the Iranian society.
نازی
کلاه مخملیSat Oct 30, 2010 01:29 PM PDT
با اینترنت اکپلورر کار نمی کنه - با فایر فاکس دارم تماشا می کنم ... !
مرسی کلاه جان!
Nazy KavianiSat Oct 30, 2010 01:27 PM PDT
خیلی ممنون.
Can someone confirm that the live stream is working?
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 01:27 PM PDTFrom what I can see, it's working. Please somebody confirm.
Make sure you stay around after this session to listen to Shirin Ebadi's keynote speech. Those who were watching must have seen a dramatic development unfold on camera an hour ago. Dr. Abdolkarim Lahiji announced that human rights lawyer, Mohammad Seifzadeh has been sentenced to nine years in prison and lifetime ban on legal practice. Shirin Ebadi took the mic to express her outrage over the decision about her colleague in Center for Human Rights Defenders in Iran. I believe she will talk more about this subject during her speech. Seifzadeh is the latest case of human rights lawyers to be prosecuted for their activities on behalf of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
دارم تماشا میکنم ... :)
کلاه مخملیSat Oct 30, 2010 01:26 PM PDT
جهانشاه دست راست نشسته، داره نیشخند می زنه ... :) !
Panel Five Human Rights Situation in Iran and the News Media
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 01:18 PM PDTDavar Iran Ardalan
In Islamic architecture, the minaret is the tower from which the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer. Future mobile human rights apps can be a game changer in the quest for the rule of law. Davar Iran Ardalan notes that handheld human rights devices are already being tested in Mynmar and Thailand. In this way, digital democracy and empowering civic engagement with digital technologies is nothing new. The mobile minaret can call into question the very un-Islamic practices that narrow-minded and misogynistic men of religion have imposed upon the people --- a mobile tower from which the faithful are not only called to prayer but are called to question and inform themselves of the true tenets of the faith and not the ones that have historically been interpreted and preached by old cumbersome customs and interpretations of men. After extensive research and interviews with human rights activists and Iranian techies, Ardalan notes that mobile devices can change the way human rights activist’s document abuses and can also redefine a community’s notion of rights within the context and framework of Islam.
Monda, can you see?
by Nazy Kaviani on Sat Oct 30, 2010 01:16 PM PDTIt's on right now.
chera off-air shod??!!
by Monda on Sat Oct 30, 2010 12:58 PM PDTtoro khoda boro kher e filmbardaar ro begeer!!