bahais in iran

i have blogged about this before. but i just read an 'old' article about bahais in iran and the persecution that they are facing. in this bbc article (link), there are reports that four members of the bahai faith were jailed for proselytizing in shiraz. it says the were proselytizing under the guise of helping the poor. wow! here is the bahai news services report about the case, accompanied by amnesty internationals and the us state departments call for their release (link) and (link). as bahais we are encouraged to be philanthropists (definition link) and i guess that is not a positive action in iran. at the same time the young bahais in iran are banned from higher institutions of learning (link).

all these things come to show that the iranian government is instituting systematic policies to ruin the fabric of the bahai community in iran.

Some of the ladies at the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women in Indore, India.
Source: bahai.org

in light of these crimes against the bahais in iran, it is nice to see that there are people who through peaceful methods are trying to promote change. one of my friends shariar from new zealand is creating a art piece to create awareness around this project (only for facebook members link). where he uses the visual arts to create awareness around the problem. so i ask you to keep these facts in mind when looking at the iranian government.

on a better note, favorite my danish football team aab is currently number one and looking like they will win the danish championship. so shout out to them.

for more information on the persecution of bahais in iran check bahai news services website (link)

boom tho!

one of my favorite sports columnists bill simmons works for espn and while espn is trying to expand its reach they have made these short clips online. here he is meeting rod benson, a blogger and basketball player. i really like rods stuff, i once had his boom tho girl song stuck in my head for a day (link skip forward to the song part). anyways here is simmons and benson in north dakota, actually a good clip.




check out rod bensons stuff on yahoo.com, thats some good stuff as well (link)

new roots song

i remember reading ?uestlove from the roots, talking about that he was unhappy that andre from outkast had beat him to making the first black modern pop rock song, when 'dre made "hey ya!". now i think the roots finally managed to make a pop rock song that topped "the seed 2.0":



i hope that their new cd which will be released on april 29, which i plan to buy, will be as good as all their other cds. for my opinion on the roots check this [link].

berlin

i spent last weekend in berlin, where i met with jared - a good friend from my service in haifa. none of us had been there before, which had its challenges and blessings. it was a great experience, we walked everywhere and experienced a city many contrast. the new modern architecture around the center of town, stood in great contrast to the communist style architecture in other parts of town. my experience of germany is that it is very aware of its history, the jewish museum fx., which showed how the jews had been persecuted for many generations before the holocaust. this unselfconsciousness is something i find that admirable.


i enjoyed the street art which was all over the city, as well as i enjoyed the museums displaying classical and modern art. it was refreshing to go to museums and walk the streets, where i was able to experienced different styles of art.

i managed to take a few pictures (link) while i was there and i hope that they can convey part of my experience.

i will definitely be going to back to berlin, where i will go and re-experience the places i enjoyed. next up my bachelors project on the political discourse on hijabs in denmark. holla

DAMN!

it has been a while since i posted anything on this blog. i dont know why, but i guess i lost the motivation during exams and then i forgot that i had this thing. i havent changed much since last time i posted, still in denland, still studying pol. sci., i guess its really all the same.

i have managed to travel a little since last time i posted. i went to the us for a week to see the family - good times were had (link). i also enjoyed a good time at the vikings conference in oulu, finland. before that i spent a couple of days in helsinki with ginger - where bettina showed up for a day as well (link). good times.

i am gonna start posting more, so hopefully people will start reading again. if you are bored, go to freerice.com which gives 10 grains of rice to "hungry human beings" for every word you get correct. give rice HERE