“Persecution”: a song by Elika Mahony
March 12th, 2009The worldwide response to Iran’s intensified persecution of Baha’is has been nothing short of astounding. Actors, famous comedians and prominent academics have publicly declared their condemnation, generating international media coverage. Youths from across the globe, originating from various religious and ethnic backgrounds have been actively blogging and declaring their outrage.
But the response to the persecution is also marked by the innovative use of creative media in outreach efforts. One such effort is the recently released song, “Persecution” by Elika Mahony. Elika, whose great uncle was executed after refusing to recant his faith, dedicates the song to all those who have suffered and continue to suffer because of their steadfastness in their beliefs.
You can download the song and share it with your friends and family, feature it on your blog and help spread the word out.
Crossposted on BahaiRights.org
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The international community has witnessed the killing of woman and children of Gazza by Israel for so many days. Not a single Baha’i has come forward for these innocent lives to condemn Israel for their crimes.
Israel does not permit Baha’is to teach their faith in their country.
Yet these Baha’is are making hue & cry of just 7 persons who are caught spying for Israel in Iran.
What is this?
The 7 are not injured in any bombardment. The baha’is are not harrased for water and electricity as the Gazzans are. The Baha’i children have their houses intact. They are not under seige as are Gazzans.
One one side the Baha’is talk of obeying the laws of the land. They obey only the laws of Israel and on the other hand they disobey Iran’s laws. Its ridiculous.
I suggest you read the posts on bahairights.org before you make another comment. There you’ll get answers to most of your “questions.”
What our concern is is not necessarily that the seven Yaran are accused of spying for Israel. It is that they are denied access to legal counsel and deprived of due process. This is only one part of the cultural cleansing that has been going on in Iran for decades.
The comment that you made is an example of how Iranian officials would attempt to justify their point of view and actions–without taking the evidence into consideration that contradicts it.
Ellis, a few questions for you:
Should the Baha’i community officially condemn the assault on Gaza before they are entitled to call attention to the serious maltreatment of baha’is in Iran? Should only that specific act of violence by Israel be condemned or also the many other acts of violence currently or recently perpetrated by many governments and other organisations? How many condemnations does a community have to issue before they are morally ‘allowed’ to call attention to persecution of members of their own community?
Another question: which of the laws of Iran did baha’is break? Note that the 7 are accused of spying and not ‘caught spying’. If you take the time to look into a little more detail, you will see that there is zero evidence and that the accusations do not make any sense.
Ellis this statement is very useful to read at times like this. Make no mistake, the siege of Gaza is a terrible tragedy and anybody with humanity is heart broken at the innocent and needless loss of life. However, I ask you to read this position put forward by the Bahá’í community in 1947. It is lucidly accurate even for today.
On July 9, 1947, Shoghi Effendi, [The head of the Baha'i Faith at the time] received a letter from the chairman of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine requesting a statement on the relationship, which the Bahá’í Faith has to Palestine and the Bahá’í attitude toward any future changes in the status of the country. From Shoghi Effendi’s reply, the following paragraphs are quoted in The Bahá’í World, Volume 11 (1946-1950), pp.43-44.
“The position of the Bahá’ís in this country is in a certain measure unique: Whereas Jerusalem is the spiritual center of Christendom it is not the administrative center of either the Church of Rome or any other Christian denomination. Likewise although it is regarded as the second most sacred shrine of Islam, the most Holy site of the Muslim Faith, and the center of its pilgrimages, are to be found in Arabia, not in Palestine. The Jews alone offer somewhat of a parallel to the attachment which the Bahá’ís have for this country, inasmuch as Jerusalem holds the remains of their Holy Temple and was the seat of both the religious and political institutions associated with their past history. But even their case differs in one respect from that of the Bahá’ís for it is in the soil of Palestine that the three central Figures of our Religion are buried and it is not only the center of Bahá’í’ pilgrimages from all over the world but also the permanent seat of out Administrative Order, of which I have the honor to be the Head.”
“The Bahá’í Faith is entirely nonpolitical and we neither take sides in the present tragic dispute going on over the future of the Holy Land and its people nor have we any statement to make or advice to give as to what the nature of the political future of this country should be. Our aim is the establishment of universal peace in this world and our desire to see justice prevail in every domain of human society, including the domain of politics. As many of the adherents of our Faith are of both Jewish and Muslim extraction, we have no prejudice towards either of these groups and are most anxious to reconcile them for their mutual good and for the good of the country.”
“What does concern us, however, in any decisions made affecting the future of Palestine, is that the fact be recognized by whoever exercises sovereignty over Haifa and Acre, that within this area exits the spiritual and administrative world center of a world Faith, and that the independence of that Faith, its right to manage its affairs from this source, the right of Bahá’ís from any and every country of the globe to visit it as pilgrims (enjoying the same privilege in this respect as Jews, Muslim and Christians do in regard to visiting Jerusalem), be acknowledged and permanently safeguarded.”
Your seemingly bitterness reflects a bigger contempt I am afraid and despite any evidence or reason we may present you, I don’t think your wobbly sense of justice would be corrected.
– Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. ~Martin Luther King Jr