“the earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” – …...in march 2005, the united...

I N S I D E

“The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” – Bahá’u’lláh

Newsletter of the Bahá’íInternational Community

July-September 2004Volume 16, Issue 2 In its ongoing persecution of the Bahá’í community, the Iranian govern-

ment shifts to softer targets – destroying cultural landmarks and depriv-ing youth of education – in an apparent effort to avoid internationalattention while smothering the country’s largest religious minority.

In Iran, a renewed persecution aims at“cultural cleansing”

Iran, continued on page 11

Review: BuildingSustainable Peace —Tom Keating and W.Andy Knight focus onthe hard realities ofpeacebuilding.

In the UK, promotingsocial cohesion in anincreasingly diversesociety.

In Barcelona, anexamination of inter-faith relations in apost-9/11 world.

Perspective: Facing themoral challenge ofBeijing + 10.

8

2

16

4

NEW YORK – The Iranian government has recently stepped up its ongoing persecutionof the Bahá’í community of Iran, destroying a major cultural landmark associated with

the Bahá’í Faith and acting to deprive some 1,000 young Iranian Bahá’ís of promised accessto higher education.

In June, authorities demolished an historic house in Teheran that had been designedand owned by the father of the Faith’s founder. The house was not only significant toBahá’ís but was also considered to be a sterling example of period architecture of historicimportance to Muslims.

In August, it was learned that the government had reneged on its promise to allowyoung Bahá’ís to attend public universities. After being banned from higher education formore than 20 years, Bahá’í students were told by the government earlier this year that theywould be allowed to take university entrance exams and attend if they passed.

However, in a move that seems calculated to continue the higher education ban whileevading the scrutiny of international human rights monitors, the government is forcing

Even during its demolition by the Iranian government last June, the distinctive architectural features of thehouse of Mirza Abbas Nuri – a cultural landmark – are strikingly evident.

ONE COUNTRY / July-September 20042

P E R S P E C T I V E

is published quarterly by theOffice of Public Information ofthe Bahá’í InternationalCommunity, an internationalnon-governmental organiza-tion which encompasses andrepresents the worldwidemembership of the Bahá’íFaith.

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Subscription inquiriesshould be directed to theabove address. All materialis copyrighted by the Bahá’íInternational Communityand subject to all applicableinternational copyright laws.Stories from this newslettermay be republished by anyorganization provided thatthey are attributed asfollows: “Reprinted fromONE COUNTRY, thenewsletter of the Bahá’íInternational Community.”

© 2004 by The Bahá’íInternational Community

ISSN 1018-9300

Printed on recycled paper

The moral challenge of Beijing + 10

While statistics give the big picture, theindividual stories about the everyday

burdens that women face around the worldare often what touch the soul and stir theconscience.

New York Times columnist NicholasKristof recently told one such story, about awoman in rural Pakistan who was gang-raped on the orders of the village council.As bizarre as it might seem, the action was apunishment meted out to her and her fam-ily because of an accusation that the woman’sbrother had had an affair with a high-statuswoman in the village. (Even worse, Kristofreported, the accusation was false and thebrother had in fact been sexually abused bymembers of the high-status woman’s tribe.)

He described the scene this way in a 29September 2004 Op-Ed piece: “As membersof the high-status tribe danced in joy, fourmen stripped her naked and took turns rap-ing her. Then they forced her to walk homenaked in front of 300 villagers.”

That and other such incidents he has re-ported on led Mr. Kristof to conclude: “I firmlybelieve that the central moral challenge of thiscentury, equivalent to the struggles against sla-very in the 19th century or against totalitari-anism in the 20th, will be to address sex in-equality in the third world.”

Kristof’s observation offers a good startingpoint as the world approaches the 10th anni-versary of the 1995 Fourth World Conferenceon Women. Held in Beijing, the Conferenceseemed to mark a high point in the ongoingfight for the advancement of women.

In the Beijing Declaration and Platformfor Action, the countries of the world com-mitted themselves to the “full implementa-tion of the human rights of women and ofthe girl child.” Moreover, they identified 12“critical areas of concern” that stood as bar-riers to the full equality of women.

Among those 12 critical areas were the“persistent and increasing burden of pov-erty on women,” “unequal access to educa-tion and training,” “inequalities and inad-equacies” in access to health care, economicresources, and the media, and “inequality

between men and women in the sharing ofpower and decision-making at all levels.”

Another area of concern was violenceagainst women. In the Platform, govern-ments and civil society were also called onto address the “long-standing failure to pro-tect and promote those rights and freedomsin the case of violence against women.… Inall societies, to a greater or lesser degree,women and girls are subjected to physical,sexual and psychological abuse that cutsacross lines of income, class and culture.”

In March 2005, the United Nations Com-mission on the Status of Women will devoteits 49th session to reviewing the implementa-tion of the Platform for Action, in a high-levelsession that has been dubbed “Beijing + 10.”

The UN Secretary General is preparing areport to the Commission that is expected tooutline areas of progress and failure. How-ever, early reports from United Nations re-gional commissions, analysis by non-govern-mental organizations, and a look at the sta-tistical record indicate that there are manyareas of shortfall.

According to The World’s Women 2000, areport of the UN Statistics Division, for ex-ample, women still remain far behind men interms of decision-making power and influence.In 1999, the report said, women representedonly about 11 percent of parliamentariansworldwide, up from 9 percent in 1987.

Likewise, although the gender gap in edu-cation is closing, in many countries in Africaand Asia primary school enrollment ratios forgirls are only about 80 percent of that for boys,according to the report. Nearly two-thirds ofthe world’s illiterates are women.

Other pressing issues are emerging. InApril, at a UN Regional Commission meet-ing in Lukasa, Zambia, experts said that theHIV/AIDS pandemic is hitting women andgirls the hardest, in large part because theyare not economically empowered to opt forsafe sex. Others at the Zambia meeting notedthat the effects of poverty also fall mostheavily on African women, who likewisehave unequal access to health care and edu-cation. And in many parts of Africa, it was

ONE COUNTRY / July-September 2004 3

reported, customs remain that make womensubject to male guardianship.

Last but not least, violence against womenremains a worldwide problem. In Europe,domestic violence is thought to be the majorcause of death and invalidity for women be-tween 16 and 44 years of age, ahead of can-cer, road accidents and even war, accordingto a 2002 report of the Council of Europe.

War and civil conflict rage in many coun-tries as well, and they often have a dispro-portionate impact on women. Women andchildren make up the bulk of refugees inwar. And, increasingly, rape is being used asa weapon of war, according to reports fromthe former Yugoslavia, Sudan, and elsewhere.

When governments gather for the highlevel segment of Beijing + 10, there shouldbe no shirking of accountability. Havingadopted the Beijing Declaration and Platformfor Action, not to mention numerous humanrights covenants and treaties that implicitlyand explicitly uphold the rights of women,governments retain the primary responsibil-ity for protecting the rights of women.

On the same line, governments must noteven entertain the idea of rolling back anyof the hard-won commitments agreed to inBeijing. While there have been calls in somequarters for a reconsideration of the Decla-ration and Platform for Action, the march ofhistory is moving steadily towards morerights for women, not fewer, and no oneshould be fooled into thinking otherwise.

At the same time, it must also be acknowl-edged that governments can only do so muchin the face of entrenched social attitudes thatgive the lion’s share of power, authority, andstatus to men in most cultures and societies.

And here is where organizations of civilsociety — especially faith-based communi-ties — must play a special role.

In many, if not most, of the world’s soci-eties and cultures, the chief vehicle for thetransmission of values is religion and reli-gious belief — a fact that must be reckonedwith by the representatives of governments,international agencies, and civil society or-ganizations that gather for Beijing + 10.

Too often, of course, religious belief and/or the interpretation of religious belief havebeen used to reinforce the supremacy ofmen and the subjugation of women. In-deed, recent UN Conferences have seen anincreasing participation by groups thatcling to such ideas.

Bahá’ís believe, however, that the under-lying truth of all of the world’s religions up-

holds the moral and spiritual equality ofwomen and men. And the Bahá’í Faith it-self, an independent religion founded in ourown age, quite explicitly endorses women’sequality.

“In the estimation of God there is no dis-tinction of sex,” said ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. “One whosethought is pure, whose education is superior,whose scientific attainments are greater, whosedeeds of philanthropy excel, be that one manor woman, white or colored, is entitled to fullrights and recognition; there is no differentia-tion whatsoever....”

Just as governments must begin to shoul-der their responsibilities for implementingand enforcing the human rights outlined inthe Beijing documents and elsewhere, it istime for the leaders of the world’s religiouscommunities to advocate for the full ad-vancement of women.

Many religious leaders, representing theworld’s major religions, have come forwardin support of equality for women and men.

Others, however, have hung back, en-meshed largely in man-made interpretationsand timeworn customs — captives of poorlyconsidered theological understandings.

Those who argue that their own religiousteachings do not support the emancipation ofwomen would do well to look at the analogyoffered by Nicholas Kristof: that of slavery. Inthe past, at various times and places, religiousleaders have given all sorts of theological rea-sons to support the keeping of slaves, and/orto justify the enforcement of unequal treatmentbetween the races.

Today, however, every credible author-ity utterly rejects slavery and its antecedent,racism. And those who once sought to maketheological arguments in support of slaveryhave been utterly discredited, relegated tothe famous dustbin of history.

In the same way, there can be no doubtthat those who continue to argue for the re-pression of women will likewise end up onthe wrong side of time’s forward march.

In a sense, the governments of the worldhave already recognized this. The BeijingDeclaration and Platform for Action, nownearly 10 years old, reflect the widespreadrealization by the majority of the world’speoples that the time has come for full equal-ity between women and men.

As the world prepares for Beijing + 10,governments should ponder this. So shouldthose who would marshal any kind of theo-logical argument against the continuing ad-vancement of women.

Those who once

sought to make

theological

arguments in

support of slavery

have been utterly

discredited...

In the same way,

there can be no

doubt that those

who continue to

argue for the

repression of

women will

likewise end up

on the wrong side

of history.


S O C I A L C O H E S I O N

In the United Kingdom, Bahá’íspromote a dialogue on diversity

HACKNEY, United Kingdom — Onceknown as the home of Britain’s down-

and-out working class, this borough inLondon’s East End stands today as one ofthe most diverse places in England — if notthe world.

According to the 2001 census, only 38percent of the population in the ward ofHackney Central can claim a traditional Brit-ish “white” ethnic background. The other62 percent can trace at least part of their heri-tage to Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, or else-where.

This kind of diversity is an increasingfeature of life in the United Kingdom — notto mention the rest of Europe. The effects ofglobalization, with accompanying trendstowards greater immigration and cross-bor-der openness, have given rise to consider-able debate here about what it means to be“British” — and how to confront the chal-lenges that inevitably come with a more di-verse society.

In the summer of 2001, for example, dis-

turbances broke out in several towns innorthern England. Scores were injured inclashes between groups of youth of Pakistaniand Bangladeshi origin and groups from awhite British background. While much ofthe blame was laid on racial tensions, therewas also a religious dimension to the distur-bances. The Economist magazine noted at thetime: “Islam and hopelessness are a danger-ous combination.”

The unrest set off a period of consider-able reflection on the part of the British gov-ernment. The government launched a seriesof investigations into what it means to cre-ate “social cohesion,” a term that was new atthe time but has since become part of thespecialized vocabulary in official policydocuments.

About a year before the riots, some mem-bers of the Bahá’í community of the UnitedKingdom had begun their own process ofreflection. Their goal was to consider howbest to contribute to the well-being of Brit-ish society at large.

Against a

backdrop of

national concern,

the Bahá’í

community of the

United Kingdom

has taken a

leading role in

promoting a wider

discussion of how

to heal the

divisions that

have arisen as

Great Britain has

grown more

diverse.

In London, participants in a6 July 2004 seminar on “TheFamily and Social Cohesion”gather for a small-groupdiscussion, following apresentation by CeridwenRoberts, a senior researchfellow at the University ofOxford and former directorof the Family Policy StudiesCentre, who is sitting in theforeground, right. Theseminar was sponsored bythe Institute for SocialCohesion, an agency of theBahá’í community of theUnited Kingdom.


The result was the creation in 2000 ofthe Institute for Social Cohesion, an agencyof the National Spiritual Assembly of theBahá’ís of the United Kingdom. Its mandate,simply put, is to assist British society at largeto create a greater sense of unity amidst grow-ing diversity.

“Our concern was balance in society,”said Nazila Ghanea, who is a member of theboard of the Institute and an early partici-pant in the discussions that led to its found-ing. “And the idea of promoting social co-hesion encapsulated our general concerns.Now the term is very much used by the gov-ernment.”

With about 5,000 members in the UnitedKingdom, the Bahá’í community is among thesmaller religious groups here. And its mem-bers have not been identified with the socialunrest in any way. But the community has nev-ertheless taken a leading role in efforts to pro-mote a wider discussion of what will be neededto heal the divisions that have arisen as GreatBritain has grown more diverse.

More specifically, the Institute for SocialCohesion has sponsored a series of seminarsand workshops that have sought to bringtogether community leaders and policy mak-ers from all sides, in an effort to facilitategreater dialogue all around.

These efforts have been appreciated bygovernment leaders. In an interview withONE COUNTRY, British Home SecretaryDavid Blunkett remarked:

“I think because of the very special posi-tion of the Bahá’í Faith — it isn’t seen as athreat by anyone — and because it does in-corporate and bring together — as perhapsyou would say — the best of what faith hasto offer, it is possible for the Bahá’í commu-nity to be called to do that in a way thatother people would cooperate with.”

Launched in 2001The Institute for Social Cohesion was

publicly launched at the House of Commonson 31 January 2001, at a seminar hosted bythe All Party Parliamentary Friends of theBahá’ís and chaired by Ian Stewart and Pe-ter Bottomley, both Members of Parliament.

The launch featured a panel discussionby a diverse group of experts on the issue ofsocial cohesion, including Gurbux Singh,then Chair of the Commission for RacialEquality, and Yasmin Alibhai Brown, a well-known writer and broadcaster. Mr. Singhspoke on the effects of ethnic discriminationin the UK educational system on young

people, while Ms. Brown critiqued currentviews about multiculturalism and made aplea for a more inclusive sense of identity.

Since then, the Institute has held fivemore Parliamentary seminars, two major con-ferences, and a specialized workshop. Eachhas drawn together a diverse range of speak-ers and participants. The topics have focusedon issues relating to social cohesion, frommodels of justice to gender equality, immi-gration, and citizenship. The Institute hasalso issued a series of position papers on top-ics related to social cohesion.

“What we bring to the table is an abilityto bring people from a wide range of back-grounds together, and to have them talk to-gether,” said Barney Leith, Secretary of theNational Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ísof the United Kingdom.

“For example, our colloquia havebrought together people from the central gov-ernment, from local government, from vol-untary organizations, from activist organi-zations, from faith communities, and fromthe business arena,” said Mr. Leith. “Theseare people who would not necessarily talkto each other, or have an easy time of talk-ing to each other.”

By applying Bahá’í principles in the or-ganization of such events, however, a newlevel of dialogue can be facilitated, said Mr.Leith and others.

“The main Bahá’í principle in operationis the process we call consultation, which isa non-adversarial, non-confrontational pro-cess that attempts to synthesize and buildon the various contributions that each par-ticipant makes,” said Mr. Leith. “It applies

Below: Dan Wheatley,right, of the UK Bahá’íInstitute for SocialCohesion, addresses aworkshop on “Bahá’íPrinciples for Social Actionin the Community” at thelaunch of the Faith-basedRegeneration Network UKon 30 September 2002 inLondon. The event is one ofmany interfaith activitiesthe Institute has beeninvolved in as it seeks topromote social cohesion.

“What we bring to

the table is an

ability to bring

people from a

wide range of

backgrounds

together, and to

have them talk

together.”

– Barney Leith,

Secretary of the

National Spiritual

Assembly of the

Bahá’ís of the

United Kingdom.


critical thinking to the process, but withoutthe kind of critique that destroys. It is in-stead a building process.”

That building process was evident at themost recent Institute event, a specialized one-day seminar held at the Bahá’í National Cen-tre offices on 6 July 2004, focusing on “TheFamily and Social Cohesion.”

The featured speaker was Ceridwen Rob-erts, a senior research fellow at the Univer-sity of Oxford and former director of theFamily Policy Studies Centre. In attendancewere representatives from Christian, Bud-dhist, and Islamic faith communities, as wellas from the Bahá’í community.

Ms. Roberts discussed trends in chang-ing family composition, such as decreasingfamily size, increasing cohabitation, and ris-ing divorce rates. Underlying all these trends,she said, are changing values.

“The question is really up for grabs: Howexplicit, how intervention-oriented, howproactive should government policies to-wards children and families be?” Ms. Rob-erts asked.

Role for religionAfter her remarks, participants broke into

two discussion groups, where they concludedthat faith groups, rather than the govern-ment, were best equipped to promote posi-tive family values.

“We should focus on faith-based organi-zations because they have closer links to thefamily,” said Jenny Engstrom, a training spe-cialist at Conflict and Change, a London-based non-governmental organization focus-ing on community mediation.

The importance of faith-based organiza-tions in promoting social cohesion has in-deed been recognized by the government,which launched a series of high-level stud-ies after the 2001 riots.

One of those studies, entitled “Commu-nity Cohesion,” which was conducted by anindependent review team in 2001, concludedthat in many British towns and cities the es-tablishment of separate educational arrange-ments, community and voluntary bodies,employment, places of worship, language,and social and cultural networks had led toa high degree of polarization. “That meansthat many communities operate on the basisof a series of parallel lives,” the report said.

In July 2004, a second review team, theCommunity Cohesion Panel, issued a reporttitled “The End of Parallel Lives?” The re-port made a series of recommendations abouthow the government and others could rec-tify the sense of social polarization identi-fied in the 2001 report.

Among other things, the Panel recom-mended that government agencies givesupport to interfaith efforts. “Faith com-munities need to be much more involvedin all aspects of social policy and, in par-ticular, in helping communities to under-stand each other and to assist the statutoryagencies to work across faith boundaries,”the Panel said.

The importance of interfaith and inter-religious cooperation in promoting socialcohesion has likewise been recognized bythe Home Office, the governmental depart-ment with overarching responsibility for in-ternal social affairs.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said so-cial cohesion is the “underpinning” issue interms of promoting stability and security inthe UK. Faith groups can play a key role, hesaid, in helping people to promote respectfor different faiths and different views, andalso to help people see “what they hold incommon.”

“The government has done everythingwe can to play our part in this, to supportthe development of interfaith groups,” saidMr. Blunkett.

“The Bahá’í community has been instru-mental in and part of this process of estab-lishing on-going [interfaith] groups” at thelocal and national levels, Mr. Blunkett added.

The experience in HackneyHere in Hackney, the local Bahá’í com-

munity in many ways mirrors the diversity

A group of Bahá’ís gather fora small prayer meeting inHackney, East London.Hackney is one of the mostdiverse boroughs in London.The local Bahá’í communityof Hackney is likewise quitediverse, and it offers a modelfor social cohesion.

“The Bahá’í

community has

been instrumental

in and part of this

process of

establishing on-

going [interfaith]

groups.”

— David Blunkett,

UK Home Secretary


of the community at large. For administra-tive purposes, the Bahá’í community dividesLondon into six “clusters,” and the LondonCity East cluster is composed of five bor-oughs: City of London, Hackney, Haringey,Islington, and Tower Hamlets.

There are some 100 Bahá’ís currently reg-istered in the London City East cluster and,by one count, they come from more than 16nationalities, from Africa, Asia, the Carib-bean, and various parts of Europe.

The London City East cluster recentlysponsored an interfaith event in which amessage urging tolerance among religionswas presented to local religious leaders.

As well, over the last few years, the Lon-don City East cluster has been active in aprogram of “study circles,” built around aseries of workbooks created by a Bahá’í-in-spired non-governmental organizationknown as the Ruhi Institute. The programis designed to build human capacity andsolidarity, among other things.

The project here, which is also being usedin other communities around the UnitedKingdom, has greatly increased the sense ofcohesion among Bahá’ís — and those fromother religions who have participated.

“Before studying the Ruhi books, peopledidn’t necessarily know each other well,” saidSaman Rahmanian, a 22-year-old Austrian-Iranian Bahá’í who is currently studying inLondon. “But once you have done a Ruhibook, you really know the person. Bonding

ACCRA, Ghana — The principles of theBahá’í Faith “could shed light on what

steps our society should take to improve oursocial and economic life,” a senior governmentofficial told participants at the Bahá’í jubileecelebrations in this West African nation.

The theme of the 27-29 August 2004celebrations, which commemorated the es-tablishment of the Faith here 50 years ago,was “Spiritual Solutions for Social and Eco-nomic Problems.”

“I sincerely believe that the theme cho-sen for this celebration is to engender ourwhole society to reflect on the principle thathuman nature is fundamentally spiritual,”said Kwaku Agyeman Manu, the DeputyMinister of Finance and Economic Planning.

“I urge the rest of us who are non-Bahá’ísto exhibit some of the good principles of re-ligious humility, to examine the noble prin-ciples of the Bahá’í teachings,” said Mr.

Agyeman Manu.During the past 50 years, the Bahá’ís of

Ghana have been active in social and eco-nomic development programs. For example,the Olinga Foundation for Human Devel-opment has been promoting literacy andmoral education classes in rural Ghana,reaching more than 5,000 children in some150 primary and junior secondary schools.

The Bahá’í teachings were first broughtto Ghana (then under British rule and called“the Gold Coast”) in 1951 when EthelRobertson Stephens, an African-AmericanBahá’í from the USA, came to Accra.

Another feature of the jubilee celebrationwas the awarding of prizes in a student es-say competition organized by the Bahá’í com-munity. Students throughout Ghana wereasked to discuss four principles shared by atleast four of the world’s main religions.

— Bahá’í World News Service

In Ghana, Bahá’í development efforts are praised

and friendships take place on a level thatdidn’t exist before.”

Helena Hastie, a 25-year-old British-born marketing professional, likewise saidthe study circles have helped increase thesense of unity among Bahá’ís, which wasstrong even before. Asked to list some ofthe ethnic roots of other Bahá’ís in the com-munity, she had trouble at first, adding:“I think the fact that we have difficultyremembering that our friends are from dif-ferent countries is quite a good indicatorthat we don’t notice nationalities.”

Stephen Lovelock, left, headof the London MetropolitanPolice Diversity Unit, andBarney Leith, Secretary ofthe Bahá’í Community of theUnited Kingdom, spoke at acolloquium on “What Makesa Society Cohesive?”Sponsored by the Institutefor Social Cohesion, thecolloquium was held 7 May2002 at Westminster CentralHall.


BARCELONA, Spain — Without doubt,there was a distinct shadow over the 2004

Parliament of the World’s Religions — a ma-jor interfaith gathering held here in July 2004.

The shadow was cast by the growing con-cern worldwide about religiously inspiredterrorism and violence, as exemplified by the11 September 2001 attack on the WorldTrade Center in New York.

In response, organizers, presenters, andparticipants of the Parliament sought tohighlight the possibilities for peace and rec-onciliation among the religions — hopingto shine a light into the darkness.

Taking the theme “Pathways to Peace,” theParliament was attended by nearly 9,000 peoplefrom more than 75 countries — making it oneof the largest interreligious meetings in his-tory. Participants were mostly lay people, fromevery major world religion. Many sects andsub-groups were also represented.

In more than 400 workshops, panel dis-cussions, and plenary sessions, participants

addressed a wide range of issues relating topeace and interfaith understanding.

“We are resolved to sustain long-termintercultural and interfaith understandingand cooperation,” said Federico MayorZaragoza, former director-general ofUNESCO and president of the Peace Cul-ture Foundation of Spain, in the Parliament’sclosing plenary. “Diversity is not a threat. Itis our richness to be united.”

Organizers of the Parliament said thepeaceful and all-embracing nature of theevent itself stands as a model for interreli-gious cooperation in the post-9/11 world.

“Just holding a Parliament of this size andscope, with this kind of diversity, after Sep-tember 11th, portrays a different image of reli-gion than we have tended to see in the news-papers for the last few years,” said Dirk Ficca,executive director of the Chicago-based Coun-cil for the Parliament of the World’s Religions(CPWR), which organized the Parliament. “SoI think that is significant.”

I N T E R F A I T H

Interfaith relations in the post-9/11world are examined in Barcelona

At perhaps the

largest interfaith

gathering ever

held, the 2004

Parliament of the

World’s Religions

considers the

richness of

diversity and the

“Pathways to

Peace.”

Sufi dancers were among theperformers at a SacredMusic Concert held 10 July2004 at the famous SagradaFamilia Temple in Barcelonaas part of the 2004Parliament of the World’sReligions.

Ph

oto

by

Ste

ve R

oh

rbac

h


Held 7-13 July, the 2004 Parliament wasdesigned to build on previous Parliamentsin 1999 in Cape Town, South Africa, and in1993 in Chicago — all of which have soughtto promote dialogue and cooperation amongthe world’s religions. All three modern-dayParliaments trace their lineage to the historic1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, alsoheld in Chicago, which is widely consid-ered the dawning place of the modern world-wide interreligious movement.

The 2004 Parliament, which was alsosponsored by the UNESCO Centre ofCatalonia and Forum Barcelona 2004, spe-cifically sought to encourage religious groupsworldwide to make concrete commitmentsto have “faith transform the world” by fo-cusing on four specific issues areas: creatingaccess to clean water, eliminating interna-tional debt in poor countries, supportingrefugees worldwide, and overcoming reli-giously motivated violence.

The conference program was also de-signed to increase the discussion within eachreligious group about the need for religiouspluralism, by setting aside a number of pro-gram slots for “intra-religious” dialogue.

“Most religious communities have a kindof internal rationale for who they are, and howthey relate to each other,” said Dr. Ficca, ex-plaining that one goal of the Parliament was toget religious groups talking internally. “We feelone key to the interreligious movement is theintra-religious conversation. So we set this as amajor category for our programs.”

Focus on dialogueNevertheless, interreligious dialogue re-

mained the focus of the Parliament. Andmany speakers made specific references to,or even focused on, the September 11 eventand the unfolding tension over religious vio-lence since that time.

In one well-attended session entitled “TheBattle for God,” author and theologian KarenArmstrong said she believed that religious fun-damentalists from all traditions are essentiallyrebelling against the apparent triumph of themodernist, secular view of the world.

“Every single fundamentalist movementthat I have studied is rooted in a profound fear— whether Christian, Jewish, or Muslim —that modern secular society wants to wipe outreligion,” said Ms. Armstrong, who is the au-thor of A History of God, among other works.

This fear of modernity has led fundamen-talists to distort the religious traditions they aretrying to preserve, said Ms. Armstrong. “They

downplay those passages [in their holy writ-ings] that speak of tolerance and compassionand respect for the rights of others….This wasclear even before September 11.”

At a workshop entitled “The Responsi-bility of the Global Muslim Community inthe Post 9/11 World,” a panel of prominentMuslims sought to analyze and address howthe Islamic world can change both its ownattitudes and the perception of others in thecontext of interfaith understanding.

“Now there are serious questions about Is-lam, about the Quran, about the Prophet Mu-hammad, about jihad, about violence,” saidZahid Bukhari of the Center for Muslim-Chris-tian Understanding at Georgetown University.“And they don’t need the type of answer that‘Islam means peace’ and ‘There are five pil-lars.’ There need to be serious answers fromIslamic leaders and Islamic scholars.”

William Lesher, Chair of the CWPR, saidthe 9/11 event and broad concerns aboutreligious violence raised the profile of theParliament and the interfaith movement ingeneral. He said, for example, the Barcelonaevent was the first to have a significant de-gree of involvement with the internationalbusiness community.

The Ford Motor Company, he noted,sponsored a workshop about a company-supported interfaith network aimed at re-ducing religious tensions on the factory floor.As well, Iberdrola, Spain’s second-largestpower company, is the first corporate entity

“Every single

fundamentalist

movement that I

have studied is

rooted in a

profound fear —

whether Christian,

Jewish or Muslim

— that modern

secular society

wants to wipe out

religion.”

— Karen Armstrong,

author

Karen Armstrong, author ofA History of God, speaks ata panel discussion on “TheBattle for God” at the 2004Parliament of the World’sReligions.

Ph

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by

Ste

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to give money to support a Parliament, saidRev. Lesher.

“Four or five years ago, you could nottalk to a corporation about funding aninterreligous event,” said Rev. Lesher. “Butthere is a growing awareness in the interna-tional corporate world that they’ve got in-terreligious issues in their workforce.”

Chris Hamilton, a professor of compara-tive politics and world religion at WashburnUniversity, USA, said the Parliament reflecteda trend towards “horizontal” integration amongthe peoples of the world, who often now by-pass traditional “vertical” institutions — in-cluding churches — to promote global change.

“You have lay people who are deciding ontheir own that other religions are sources ofmeaning and possible allies in the achievementof various world goals, like peace,” said Pro-fessor Hamilton, who is a Bahá’í. “This Parlia-ment is really about a growing, significant,transnational non-governmental movement,like the environmental movement, that maywell mark a change in the fate of the planet.”

Bahá’í ParticipationFor its part, the Bahá’í International Com-

munity and its national affiliate, the Bahá’ícommunity of Spain, offered a number ofpanel discussions, presentations, and activi-ties in support of the Parliament and itstheme of peace.

More than 100 Bahá’ís attended the Par-liament, coming from Andorra, Botswana,Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland,Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, theUnited States, and the United Kingdom.

“The goal for Bahá’ís at the Parliament isto help further understanding among the dif-

ferent religions,” said Miguel Gil, who repre-sented the Bahá’í community of Spain at theParliament. “We want to help smooth the mis-understandings that divide the religions andto address issues of common concern.”

Moreover, many of the Bahá’ís at the Par-liament were acting not so much as represen-tatives of the Bahá’í Faith, but rather as repre-sentatives of various interfaith and/or academicorganizations in which they have becomeprominent. Some, in fact, had their way paidin full or part by sponsoring organizations.

Lally Lucretia Warren of Botswana, whois a Bahá’í and also a member of theParliament’s international advisory commit-tee, said she believes Bahá’ís have been ef-fective in promoting interreligous dialoguein part because their belief system encom-passes all of the world’s major religions.

She noted that Bahá’ís believe in the di-vine missions of Christ, Muhammad, Abraham,Moses, Buddha, Krishna, and Zoroaster, amongothers, in addition to Bahá’u’lláh.

“We are accepting of other people’s reli-gions because we truly believe in the truthsof these other religions,” said Ms. Warren,whose journey to the Parliament was largelysponsored by the Lutheran World Federa-tion, in part because of her participation inthe Continuation Committee of InterfaithAction for Peace in Africa, which was initi-ated by the Lutherans.

Moojan Momen, a Bahá’í scholar fromthe United Kingdom, gave a talk on “TheBahá’í Theological Basis of InterreligiousDialogue.” The Bahá’í belief system defusesthose elements of religion that tend to pro-duce conflict, said Dr. Momen.

“In Bahá’í theology, God is unknowableand unknown,” said Dr. Momen, who haswritten numerous books on religion. “So allof these different views that religions have ofthe Ultimate Reality are seen as limited view-points. They are all to some extent correct. Andthey are all to some extent incorrect. So in ef-fect, what the Bahá’í Faith does is remove thewhole question of ‘What is God?’ and to moveto a place where individuals are able to createtheir own understanding.

“This allows us to move from doctrinalissues, where religions tend to disagree, tomore practical issues, like the area of ethics,where, in fact, religions are in broad agree-ment,” said Dr. Momen. “All religions, forexample, have some form of the Golden Rule,all say we should detach ourselves from thematerial world, and all stress attributes oflove, brotherhood and justice.”

More than 100 Bahá’ís fromat least a dozen countriesparticipated in the 2004Parliament. Shown above,left to right, are RobertBennett of the UnitedKingdom, Jan Saeed of theUSA, Ali Merchant of India,Badi Daemi of Andorra,Denise Belisle of Canada,and Miguel Gil of Spain.


In Iran, a renewed persecution aims at“cultural cleansing”

H U M A N R I G H T S

Bahá’í students who want to enter univer-sity to declare themselves as Muslims. Sucha declaration is something that Bahá’ís areforbidden to do as a matter of religious prin-ciple and runs counter to human rights cov-enants upholding freedom of belief.

“Over the years, the government’s strat-egy has changed from outright killing tomethods that are less likely to attract inter-national attention, such as the destructionof holy sites and the deprivation of soft rightslike education,” said Bani Dugal, the prin-cipal representative of the Bahá’í Interna-tional Community to the United Nations.

“But the end goal is the same: to com-pletely destroy the Bahá’í community ofIran, along with its history and heritage,”said Ms. Dugal.

The house that was destroyed in Junewas owned by Mirza Abbas Nuri, the fatherof Bahá’u’lláh. Its destruction prompted anoutcry by Bahá’ís around the world.

In six nations, Bahá’í communities coor-dinated the publication of a statement inmajor newspapers that decried the house’sdestruction as part of a campaign of “cul-tural cleansing” against the minority Bahá’ícommunity in Iran.

Noting that the house was an “historicalmonument, a precious example of Islamic-Iranian architecture, ‘a matchless model ofart, spirituality, and architecture,’” the state-ment compared Iran’s extremist Muslim lead-ership to the Taliban of Afghanistan.

“The hatred of the extremist mullahs forthe Bahá’ís is such that they, like the Talibanof Afghanistan who destroyed the toweringBuddhist sculptures at Bamian, intend notonly to eradicate the religion, but even toerase all traces of its existence in the countryof its birth,” said the statement.

“In their determination to rid Iran of theBahá’í community and obliterate its verymemory, the fundamentalists in power areprepared even to destroy the cultural heri-tage of their own country, which they ap-

pear not to realize they hold in trust for hu-mankind,” the statement continued.

Students denied accessThe move to prevent Bahá’ís from en-

rolling in university without declaring them-selves as Muslims seems designed to appeaseWestern human rights monitors, said Ms.Dugal, noting that Iran is currently engaged

Iran, continued from page one

Demolition underway. InJune 2004, this imagecaptured the in-processdestruction of the house ofMirza Abbas Nuri bygovernment authorities inTeheran.


in a “human rights dialogue” with Europe.“For more than a year, the government

has held out the promise that Bahá’ís would,for the first time in some 20 years, be al-lowed to attend national institutions ofhigher education,” said Ms. Dugal. “Now,in what amounts to a devious ‘Catch-22’, thegovernment is saying ‘You can come, but youmust pretend you are a Muslim.’ But that issomething Bahá’ís cannot do. And the gov-ernment knows that.”

“So this latest action is nothing but aploy, designed to make it appear as if Bahá’ísthemselves are refusing to attend university.The fact is, however, that Bahá’ís could al-ways have attended university if they hadbeen willing to lie about their faith on ap-plication forms. This new move is an un-derhanded attempt to force Bahá’ís into sucha position,” Ms. Dugal said.

Representatives of the Bahá’í Interna-tional Community learned in August aboutthe action, which involves pre-printing theword “Islam” in a slot listing a prospectivestudent’s religious affiliation on national col-lege entrance examination results, mailed tostudents over the summer.

In the past, entrance forms required thatapplicants list themselves as followers of oneof the four officially recognized religions inIran — Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or Zo-roastrianism. Those were the only choicesand Bahá’ís, who refused to lie about theiraffiliation, were excluded from university.

This year, as a result of pressure fromwithin and outside Iran, examination formshad no such slot for religious affiliation. In-stead, university applicants were merely

asked to designate which of four approvedreligious subject examinations — Islam,Christianity, Judaism, or Zoroastrianism —they chose to take as part of overall univer-sity entrance examinations.

Nearly all Bahá’í students chose “Islam”for the religious subject examination — amove that would not compromise their prin-ciples, since Bahá’ís accept Islam as divine,along with all other major world religions,and would have no problem answering ques-tions about it. And many young Bahá’ís inIran eagerly anticipated finally being able tojoin their fellow Iranian youth at universitythis year.

Now, according to reports from Iran, of-ficials are saying that that choice amounts toa de facto declaration of faith in Islam. Inresponse to questions from Bahá’ís, one gov-ernment official said that “belief in Islam isthe same as responding to the choice of tak-ing specific religious studies examination.”

Further, upon learning of the forced reli-gious declaration, a group of Bahá’í studentscomplained to officials at the National Orga-nization of Testing and Training (NATT), ask-ing if they could return the exam results withcorrected information. A footnote in the letterconveying examination results said that incor-rect names and addresses could and should becorrected and returned.

However, no mention was made aboutcorrecting religious information. Indeed,Bahá’ís were told by NATT officials that “in-correct religion would not be corrected” onthe forms since the Bahá’í Faith is not amongthe officially recognized religions in Iran.

Largest religious minorityThese two events reflect the ongoing na-

ture of the persecution by the government,said Ms. Dugal, which has sought for morethan 25 years to eradicate Iran’s 300,000-member Bahá’í community — the country’slargest religious minority. Since 1979, morethan 200 Iranian Bahá’ís have been killed,hundreds have been tortured and/or impris-oned, and thousands have lost jobs, pen-sions and/or access to education, all solelybecause of their religious belief.

“In many different localities in Iran,Bahá’ís are still subjected to arbitrary arrest,short-term detention, harassment, intimida-tion, and discrimination,” said Ms. Dugal.“Officials continue to confiscate Bahá’íhomes, deny them their rightfully earnedpensions and inheritance, block their accessto employment, or impede their private busi-

In April, another Bahá’í holyplace was destroyed. Thishouse-like structure in Babol,Iran, shown here partiallydamaged, was razed. It is theresting place of Quddus, whowas an important earlydisciple in the Bahá’í Faith.

“Now, in what

amounts to a

devious ‘Catch-22’,

the government is

saying ‘You can

come, but you

must pretend you

are a Muslim.’ But

that is something

Bahá’ís cannot do.

And the

government

knows that.”

– Bani Dugal, Bahá’í

International

Community


ness activities, and all attempts to obtain re-dress in such cases are denied.”

Ms. Dugal added that Iranian authori-ties interfere with classes given to youngmembers of the community in private housesand persist in banning the sacred institu-tions that, in the Bahá’í Faith, perform mostof the functions reserved to clergy in otherreligions. As of September 2004, she said,one Bahá’í was still being held in Iran un-der a sentence of life imprisonment for apos-tasy, solely because of his religious beliefs.

The destruction of the house of MirzaAbbas Nuri followed the razing in April ofanother historic Bahá’í property, the gravesiteof Quddus, an early disciple of the Bahá’íFaith. The action came after demolition workstarted in February and then halted tempo-rarily in the face of protest at the local, na-tional, and international levels.

Placing a statement in newspapersaround the world to call attention to thedestruction of Mirza Abbas Nuri’s home ispart of a coordinated effort by Bahá’ís out-side Iran to call attention to the destructionof cultural landmarks that are part of theheritage of the entire world, said GlenFullmer, Director of Communications for theBahá’í Community of the United States.

“The places that are being demolishedare significant to all humanity,” said Mr.Fullmer. “They reflect unique elements ofIran’s cultural history. So we are calling onIranians around the world to protest thedestruction of their own culture.”

In France, the statement was placed in

Le Monde, that country’s premier newspa-per, said Brenda Abrar, a spokesperson forthe Bahá’í community of France.

“There are a great many Iranians inFrance,” said Ms. Abrar. “We want to alertthem that their own cultural heritage is indanger. The house that was demolished inJune actually represents a great work of Is-lamic architecture.”

Mirza Abbas Nuri himself was widelyregarded as one of Iran’s greatest calligra-phers and statesmen. In July, the Iraniannewspaper Hamshari published a lengthyarticle about his life and the architecture ofhis house.

“As he had good taste for the arts and forbeauty, he designed his own house in sucha style that it became known as one of themost beautiful houses of that period,” wroteImam Mihdizadih in Hamshahri on 13 July.“The plasterwork and the tile-work in therooms as well as the verdant veranda, thecourtyard with its central pool, and the treesplanted in the flowerbeds, all created a tran-quil atmosphere in this house.”

The house was destroyed over the pe-riod of about one week in June. The demo-lition order was issued in April by AyatollahKani, director of the Marvi School and theEndowments Office of the government, os-tensibly for the purpose of creating an Is-lamic cemetery. When the demolition startedon 20 June, officials from the Ministry ofInformation were present, and by 29 Junemore than 70 percent of the structure hadbeen destroyed.

At left, Bahá’í InternationalCommunity United Nationsrepresentative BahiyyihChaffers moderates a paneldiscussion on “How PovertySeparates Parents andChildren: A Challenge toHuman Rights.” The panelwas sponsored by theInternational MovementATD Fourth World and held14 October 2004 at theFamily School, near theUnited Nations, in NewYork. Left to right are: Ms.Chaffers; Alain du BoisPéan, General Secretary forthe French Delegation to the59th UN General Assembly;José Antonio Ocampo, UNUndersecretary General forEconomic and Social Affairs;and Thierry Viard,Executive Secretary,International MovementATD Fourth World. Thepanel was held as part of aprogram to recognize theInternational Day toEradicate Poverty.

“Officials continue

to confiscate

Bahá’í homes,

deny them their

rightfully earned

pensions and

inheritance, block

their access to

employment, or

impede their

private business

activities, and all

attempts to obtain

redress in such

cases are denied.”

– Bani Dugal, Bahá’í

International

Community


S C H O L A R S H I P

CALGARY, Canada — Spiritual ideas arean essential component in solving the

world’s complex problems, according to theopening speaker at the annual conferenceof the Association for Bahá’í Studies-NorthAmerica, held here 3-6 September 2004.

“The global problems of the contemporaryworld make interdisciplinary research a ne-cessity,” said Harold Coward, founding direc-tor of the Centre for Studies of Religion andSociety at the University of Victoria in Canada.

Dr. Coward, who is not a Bahá’í, saidthe Centre was established to ensure “thatthe wisdom of the religious traditions is in-cluded alongside the best that science, so-cial science and the humanities have to offerwhen major global problems are addressed.”

“While narrowly focused disciplinarywork has produced much valuable knowl-edge, today’s problems, such as the environ-mental crisis, are so complex in nature thata team interdisciplinary approach is re-quired,” he said, making clear that the reli-gious and spiritual realms are part of suchan approach.

Contributions by the other 58 major pre-senters addressed various aspects of thetheme of the conference — “Spirit and In-tellect: Advancing Civilization” — to themore than 1,200 participants. It was theassociation’s 28th annual conference.

In an address titled “The New World Dis-order: Obstacles to Universal Peace,” W.Andy Knight outlined how insights from theBahá’í teachings could help in developingsolutions to conflict and other problems af-fecting the planet.

Although the world yearns for peace, anexercise of volition and action is required tobring it about, said Dr. Knight, the McCallaResearch Professor of International Relationsin the Department of Political Science at theUniversity of Alberta.

“It is not ephemeral, it won’t fall from thesky into our laps because we hope for it — itrequires extraordinary effort and it will requirefundamental change to the present world or-der,” said Dr. Knight, who is a Bahá’í.

The Bahá’í writings, said Dr. Knight,provide the most comprehensive view of therequirements for peace to be established.Primary among them is the recognition ofthe unity of the human race.

“We have to reach out to the non-Bahá’íworld, not to proselytize, but to let themknow what is possible in terms of world or-der,” said Dr. Knight.

Other speakers and sessions covered awide range of issues, including the arts andarchitecture, issues affecting indigenouspeoples, spiritual and moral principles, andcommunity in the workplace.

Siamak Hariri, a partner in HaririPontarini Architects in Toronto, spoke of theprocess involved in designing the first Bahá’íTemple of South America, to be located inSantiago, Chile.

Mr. Hariri described how the concept forthe temple emerged from a broad collabora-tion among a team of Bahá’í and non-Bahá’ídesigners. The process was in marked con-trast to the norm in contemporary architec-ture, which he said fixates on deconstructionand frenetic experimentation.

“We tried to abandon what we knew. Wewanted a structure that is whole, with a senseof its completeness that leaves exploration ofdisharmony to others, without going back topastoral expression,” said Mr. Hariri.

— With reporting by Paul Hanley

“Spirit and Intellect” the theme ofannual Bahá’í studies conference

W. Andy Knight, theMcCalla ResearchProfessor of InternationalRelations in theDepartment of PoliticalScience at the Universityof Alberta, delivered anaddress titled “The NewWorld Disorder:Obstacles to UniversalPeace.” Dr. Knight is co-editor of BuildingSustainable Peace,reviewed on page 16.

Ph

oto

by O

mid

Rah

imzad

eh“The global

problems of the

contemporary

world make

interdisciplinary

research a

necessity.”

– Harold Coward,

Centre for Studies

of Religion and

Society


much consideration. In his essay“Commodification, Compartmentalizationand Militarization of Peacebuilding,” Ken-neth Bush suggests that the introduction ofoutside military forces to help stop a conflict— and also to provide security and recon-struction efforts afterwards — often createsas many problems as it solves.

“[T]here are instances where so-calledpeacebuilding initiatives have had negativepeacebuilding consequences,” writes Dr.Bush, an assistant professor at St. Paul Uni-versity in Ottawa. As one such example, heoffers the US$456 million UN Mission inKosovo (UNMIK), which in his view dis-placed indigenous efforts to rebuild Kosovarsociety with an overbearing footprint of for-eign military forces and international aid.

“[R]econstruction would have been puton a more solid footing if it had been builtaround civil society instead of humanitar-ian commodities and services,” he writes,noting that Kosovar doctors, teachers, andpolice officials could earn up to ten timesmore money by working as a drivers, guards,or interpreters for international agencies thanthey could at their own professions. “Theultimate net impact was a contribution to theincapacity — rather than capacity — of civilsociety to rebuild itself on a foundation oftolerance and respect.”

A number of authors also pointed out thatWestern-led humanitarian intervention issometimes seen as an extension of Westernimperialism and/or neocolonialism.

“[M]ost peacebuilding interventions byWestern (or Northern) actors can be accusedof being ethnocentric and ‘top-down’ in thesense that they try to impose external valueson the target society within which thepeacebuilding initiative is being under-taken,” writes co-editor W. Andy Knight.

This leads many of the authors to a sec-ond common theme: that successfulpeacebuilding must rely more on the South.

Jean Daudelin writes that if countries suchas Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa andothers were more involved, “theanticolonialist/anti-imperialist argumentwould lose much of its force, and the trulyglobal meaning of intervention would be em-phasized. Without them, the legitimacy ofinterventionary regimes would be flimsy andtheir ultimate sustainability doubtful.”

And while force may sometimes be nec-

Sustainable PeaceReview, continued from page 16

essary, it cannot be the only tool forpeacebuilding, say many of the authors. Thestress the need for an integrated, holistic ap-proach, one that includes participation byboth international and local civil society or-ganizations and seeks to address underly-ing social problems such as poverty, whichso often lie at the root of conflict.

Sumie Nakaya, in her essay “Women andGender Equality in Peacebuilding,” analyzesthe impact of women’s participation in peace-making and reconstruction efforts in Soma-lia and Mozambique, and concludes thatwomen’s groups have much to offer inpeacebuilding efforts. “They form supportgroups, generate environments conducive toreconciliation, and lead community devel-opment,” writes Ms. Nakaya.

Another theme that emerges: countries andinternational organizations participate inpeacebuilding when it suits their national in-terest, while disregarding conflicts that do not.

Mr. Daudelin recounts, for example, thedesperate request for more troops made in1994 by General Romeo Dallaire of the UNforce in Rwanda. General Dallaire said hecould stop the genocide then with 5,000 men,according to Mr. Daudelin. But the UN Se-curity Council instead reduced his contin-gent from 2,548 men to just 270 men, leav-ing General Dallaire to stand by helplesslywhile some 800,000 men, women, and chil-dren were killed.

Satya Brata Das suggests that a numberof structural changes at the United Nationsmight help boost international unity of ac-tion in peacebuilding. Among other things,he calls for the establishment of a UN HighCommissioner for Peace and a permanentglobal fund (based on an international taxon defense spending) to be used for post-conflict reconstruction.

“Under the aegis of a UN High Commis-sioner for Peace, the international presenceshould be diverse and multilateral enough tobanish any taint of imperialist intent,” writesMr. Das.

For Bahá’ís, who have long advocated theestablishment of a genuine international forcethat could be used to keep or build the peace,the book will be of some interest. In the Bahá’íview, the only long-term guarantee of peaceis a united international system that is com-mitted to and willing to act on the principleof collective security. The book’s somewhatfractured picture of the present state of in-ternational peacebuilding and its shortcom-ings supports this view.

Countries and

international

organizations

participate in

peacebuilding when

it suits their

national interest,

while disregarding

conflicts that do

not.


B O O K R E V I E W

Review, continued on page 15

When the Cold War effectively endedsome 15 years ago, there was great

hope that the world would soon move intoa new era of peace and prosperity.

The superpowers, it was reasoned, wouldspend less on nuclear arms and other weap-ons, freeing funds for peaceful development.Moreover, it was felt, they would also be lesslikely to instigate and fuel the proxy warsthat raged in many parts of the world as ideo-logical tensions were played out.

But the post-Cold War era “has proven tobe the world’s most violent period since WorldWar II,” according to David Beer. He countssome 93 armed conflicts in the last decade anda half, and some 5.5 million deaths from them— of which 75 percent were civilians.

Mr. Beer, a superintendent with theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police who didextensive peacekeeping work in Haiti, isone of 19 contributors to a new book titledBuilding Sustainable Peace. (Many of theother contributors are also Canadian, a factwhich reflects Canada’s historic contribu-tion to peacekeeping. Peacekeeping wasfirst proposed in 1956 by Canada’s thenSecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, LesterB. Pearson, who won the Nobel Peace Prizefor that effort. Since then, Canada has par-ticipated in virtually every major UNpeacekeeping mission.)

Edited by Tom Keating and W. AndyKnight, both professors of political scienceat the University of Alberta, Building Sus-tainable Peace takes a broad-brush look atthe challenges of dealing with the kinds ofregional, civil, and/or “brushfire” conflictsthat have arisen in such numbers around theworld since the United States and the SovietUnion ended their conflict.

Scholarly in approach and prescriptivein tone, the book considers the entire re-gime of what has become known as“peacebuilding” — which is an evolutionfrom peacekeeping and includes those ac-tivities related to rebuilding war-torn societ-ies such as disarming warring parties, de-commissioning and destroying weapons,repatriating refugees, creating or rebuildingjustice systems, training police forces,strengthening civil society, and reconstitut-

ing governance systems.The essays in the book examine both

specific aspects of this process, such as hu-manitarian intervention and/or strengthen-ing civil society, and specific case studies,such as efforts to build peace in Haiti,Kosovo, Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, andEast Timor, among other places.

While the essays offer diverse viewpoints,a number of themes nevertheless emerge.

First, many authors take it as a given thatin many instances, international efforts tobuild peace in a specific region or countrywill require military action or force. “Even

in the most forward-looking operationalframeworks of conflict prevention andpeacebuilding, the option to employ preven-tive action in the form of military or armedhumanitarian intervention will inevitably befeatured,” writes Melissa Labonte in “Hu-manitarian Actors and the Politics of Pre-ventive Action.”

That said, the problems accompanyingsuch use of force in peacebuilding receive

Good intentions, complex realities

Building

Sustainable Peace

Edited by Tom

Keating and W.

Andy Knight

United Nations

University Press

Tokyo / New York /

Paris

“the earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” – …...in march 2005, the united...

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