The Nation No sooner am I settled in an interviewing room in the police station of Kirkuk, Iraq, than the first prisoner I am there to see is brought in, flanked by two policemen and in handcuffs. I awkwardly rise, unsure of the etiquette involved in interviewing an ISIS fighter who is facing the death penalty. He is small, much smaller than I, on first appearances just a boy in trouble with the police, his eyes fixed on the floor, his face a mask. We all sit on armchairs lined up against facing walls, in a room cloudy with cigarette smoke and lit by fluorescent strip lighting, a room so small that my knees almost touch the prisoner’s—but he still doesn’t look up. I have interviewed plenty of soldiers on the other side of this fight, mostly from the Kurdish forces (known as pesh merga) but also fighters in the Iraqi army (known as the Iraqi Security Forces or ISF), both Arab and Kurdish. One evening we watch a documentary on BBC Arabic profiling Brig.
Wait a Momen: Part 1 A change is happening in the Baha’i world. Moojan Momen says it’s a necessary, right, and good change of culture. Or, rather, he says the Universal House of Justice says it’s a change of culture, and Moojan Momen confirms this is so. He says a bunch of other stuff too; you can read Momen’s essay “A Change of Culture” here. 에어우산 (공기로 비를 막는 우산 ) Via Air umbrella Designers Je Sung Park & Woo Jung Kwon 정말 공기바람만으로도 비를 막을 수 있을까? 친환경적인 디자인 컨셉이 주를 이루고 있는 요즘 자연을 이용한 제품들이 주목받기 시작하면서 이런 미래형 우산도 나오게 되지 않았나 싶습니다. 엣날이나 지금이나 크기만 작게 축소되고 별다른 기능상 변화가 없는 우산. 하지만 아직까지도 많은 사람들에게 사랑을 받고 있을만큼 장수제품으로 그 명맥을 오래토록 유지해 오고 있습니다. 자랑스런 우리나라 디자이너인 박제성님과 권우정님이 디자인한 이 에어우산은 우산 손잡이 밑부분으로 공기를 흡입, 흡입된 공기를 강한 출력에 의해 위로 배출함으로써 공기막을 형성 비를 막아준다고 하는군요. L’anarchie en philosophie politique Selon la tradition, seulement trois régimes purs – monarchie, aristocratie et démocratie – sont identifiés comme étant capables, sous certaines conditions, de permettre l’atteinte du «bien commun». Ce texte suggère qu’une typologie complète des régimes politiques doit inclure l’anarchie non pas en tant que forme dévoyée de la démocratie, mais bien comme un idéal type de régime pur. La nouvelle typologie devrait inclure la monarchie (le règne d’un seul), l’aristocratie (le règne d’une minorité), la démocratie (le règne de la majorité) et l’anarchie (l’auto-gouvernement de tous, par consensus). Au final, il est nécessaire de se rappeler que la vie politique ne se limite pas à l’État, et que l’anarchie peut s’incarner – ici et maintenant – dans des communautés et des groupes politiques locaux et de petite dimension. « Quel est le meilleur régime politique ? L’aristocratie est donc le régime où les meilleurs gouvernent.
Baha'i rift: Baha'is upset with Orthodox Baha'i F May 18, 2009|By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune reporter Every religion has been riven by struggles over authority and authenticity. Buddhism began when a maverick Hindu prince inspired disciples to embrace asceticism. Judaism has sprouted branches from ultra-orthodox to ultra-liberal, even Jews for Jesus. If Infallible, Why Do We Need to Elect the UHJ? at Baha’i Rants You know, I’m really blessed to have such amazing participants here. Although I may not agree with everyone, I’m thankful that each one of you is here, contributing your thoughts and asking some fascinating questions. Once in a while, a question or comment is so thought provoking that it merits more than a simple reply from me but an attempt, no matter how feeble, to give it the exposition it deserves. So for that purpose (as well as to give it a relevant thread of its own, as the original blog post was on another subject), here is the featured question…
Entry by troops (time to be announced) « Sen M It has been my experience that Bahais often become discouraged as a result of having unrealistic expectations of what is called entry by troops (EBT) and large scale conversion. I would like to look again at what the Bahai scriptures say about this, and at how Shoghi Effendi conceived the historical process of growth. The little that the scriptures say suggests to me that its importance has been over-rated, and that the time-frame of entry by troops, its nature, and how the Bahais can bring it about have all been misunderstood. From my reading of the world and of the scriptures, I suggest that we should not now be greatly preoccupied with entry by troops or large scale conversion: a concern with the needs of the age we live in, and the needs of our Bahai communities today, will indicate healthier, locally-specific priorities which – ironically – will be more conducive to actual ‘growth’ in every sense. We will start by briefly looking back over the last two generations. High hopes
Is Baha'i a religion or a political organization? Is Baha'i a religion or a political organization? I often wondered why many of my Jewish friends tended to dismiss me when I would favor the attitude of the Palestinians over the Israelis, especially when I get the "you’ve never been persecuted" look, or comment. Then I read this article which reminded me of my upbringing in the Baha'i Faith, and how Baha’is have been persecuted, ever since the religion came into existence. Putting that aside, for the moment, let me just say that I have never been comfortable with the hard line Israeli attitude since the 1967 war, nor with how they took land that was not theirs, and displaced a great many Palestinians in the process.
Thinking out silent. - The Bahá'í Faith on Homosexuality 02:30 am - The Bahá'í Faith on Homosexuality The Bahá'í Faith is a beautiful religion in many ways. For example, it advocates the harmony of humanity irrespective of race, gender, or country. It also teaches that religions should reconcile their differences and seek agreement. In fact, there is much to praise about the Faith. It so engenders the beautiful and open-minded philosophy of the Enlightenment that I could easily go on at length about all its good aspects... Can Baha'is be free thinking? Last year Mavaddat Javid posted a couple responses to some ideas I shared on this blog, and he had some of his readers leave interesting comments related to his posts. I posted a response to his idea that it’s intellectually dishonest to believe that the Baha’i Faith asks believers to exercise their judgement and pick and choose on how they apply the Baha’i teachings in their lives. I think it’s okay. It was clear (to Mavaddat) that the Baha’i Faith demands that believers not pick and choose among the laws and teachings. I agree that Baha’u’llah dismissed the idea that some people are above the laws, or beyond the laws of God. I agree that He did emphasize that religious laws are important, and should be obeyed.
If I were a Shiite [Reza Fani-Yazdi is an Iranian-American human rights activist and freelance writer who has published extensively on the plight of Iranians under the current regime. On 8 August 2008, he published the following article in the online Persian journal Iran-Emrooz: iran-emrooz.net. Fani-Yazdi is not associated with the Bahai community. Ahang Rabbani, translator.] If I were a Shiite, if I were a high-ranking Shiite cleric, if I were sitting in the place of the object of emulation of the Shiites, then at the same time that I would love the Shiite creed, I would also think about humanity.
The Japan times Japan’s postwar pacifism will face a critical challenge this year that could drastically change the course of this country forever: the July Upper House election. Right-leaning parties, most notably the ruling Liberal Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will try to capture more than two-thirds of the 242-seat chamber in the election, and thus have the seats required to initiate a national referendum to revise the war-renouncing Constitution. But which parties currently advocate constitutional revision? And how many seats are those parties likely to win in the election? The following are questions and answers on the numbers in the election and the prospects for the political battle over the Constitution.