“From the perspective of the Association for Bahá’í Studies, which is a CSA club […] we’re really calling out to professors on campus to raise their voices” -Blair Cameron

The University of Guelph and the Association for Bahá’í Studies (ABS) welcomed Geoffrey Cameron, principal researcher with the Bahá’í Community of Canada, on Nov. 7 to deliver a public talk entitled “The Struggle for Human Rights and Citizenship in Iran: the Case of the Bahá’í Minority”. While Cameron touched on the Bahá’í history of persecution in Iran since the revolution in 1979, the talk focused specifically on the fact that Bahá’í are prohibited from pursuing post-secondary education by the Iranian government. In denying Bahá’í access to education, the Iranian government is violating Bahá’í human rights.

Cameron spoke of how in response, the Bahá’í community in Iran has established the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE). Run out of people’s homes, the BIHE provides internationally recognized post-secondary degrees to members of the Bahá’í faith. However, the actions of the Iranian government in targeting the BIHE have become more aggressive in the last year. On May 22, 19 individuals associated with the BIHE were arrested, and over 80 people interrogated for their connection with the BIHE. Cameron stressed that Canada played an integral role to the development of the BIHE because a number of the professors, including three of those who were incarcerated, held post-graduate degrees from Canadian universities.

“You can imagine the sort of commitment that these people feel to this institution,” said Cameron. “You know, they have all these opportunities available to them in Canada, and have chosen instead to return to a country where, because of their religion, they face persecution, and yet their desire is to work for the betterment of their country by educating other people.”

The University of Guelph’s ABS is part of an international effort to hold the Iranian government accountable for its actions. Since access to education is the issue in focus, support from the academic community is invaluable. Members of the Guelph community of have spoken out against the Iranian government about this specific abuse of human rights, including University of Guelph President Alastair Summerlee who wrote a letter in a previous initiative three years ago.

“From the perspective of the Association for Bahá’í Studies, which is a CSA club […] we’re really calling out to professors on campus to raise their voices,” said Blair Cameron, member of BAS. “There’s been a stock letter that professors are being invited to add their names to, and the professors I have talked to so far have been very receptive.”

Despite the immense challenges, the BIHE represents an incredibly innovative model of education. The fact that the BIHE can provide such high quality education to so many students with little to no resources demonstrates that it is sustainability, and could be a potential future model for education.

“We’re beginning to slowly understand the incredible accomplishment of these Bahá’ís in Iran over the past 20 years,” said Khosrow Farahbakhsh, associate professor with the School of Engineering and member of the Bahá’í faith. “They’ve really put together and built an alternative model of learning and education, something that in a way can provide another model, maybe a more sustainable model of education, compared to models that we have in the West that are highly organized and centralized.”

The oppression Bahá’ís face is severe, and support from the international community not only helps assert their rights, but also lets the Bahá’í community know that they are not alone in their struggle. However, in the demand for equality it is also important to acknowledge the major accomplishments of the Bahá’í faith and the BIHE.

“Of course, the whole thing is very sad, very tragic, that something that shouldn’t have happened, happened,” said Farahbakhsh. “It shouldn’t have happed to anybody, for any reason […] But I think it shows how resilient human spirit is and how resilient a community is when its bonded together under a specific spiritual bond. And foremost these Bahá’í students are not just thinking about their own selves in Iran; they really want to be educated to serve humanity.”

If you would like more information about ABS on campus, contact bahai[at]uoguelph.ca (please replace the ‘[at]‘ with an ‘@’ symbol in the email address)

 

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