Cherie Blair raises profile of plight of Iranian Baha’is in the Times

Today, on the 9th of July, 2009, the Times of London has printed an article by Cherie Blair, wife of ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair, herself one of the U.K’s top lawyers.

In the article, she outlines the case of the leaders of the Bahá’í Faith in Iran, who are due to stand trial on charges of ‘espionage’ amongst others, where the penalty of death is a likely punishment.

Cherie Blair draws our attention to the fact that Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi has been trying to defend them (whilst receiving death threats) and that we mustn’t lose sight of human rights violations against the largest religious minority in Iran, the Baha’is, who number around 300,000 and stand on the brink of possible religious genocide…

The article is here.

Kodachrome and Exams

My exams are lingering on, hence my lack of entries here…however, here is something I wrote for another blog I used to author called ‘Seven Candles.’ I thought i’d import it here so its not lost in the digital annals of time….

I love photography

I love the sound of the shutter on a digital SLR.

I love the portability of a digital Compact.

I love [mostly] the spontaneousness of a disposable camera.

I love lamp.

Recently [when this was originally written, Jan'08], I came back from my first 9 day pilgrimage to Haifa where I decided not to take a SLR. This was to be my journey of the spirit and thus I felt photography wasn’t high on the agenda, especially since i’d previously already taken my SLR to Haifa the year before.

I did, however, pack a my smaller and more compact digital camera, consqeuently taking more meaninful pictures than my last trip to Israel; a sharp reminder that it’s what you do with it, that counts.

Nonetheless, whilst the choice of camera changes over years, the joy of photography remains quite steady.

Each camera is a different vehicle for a different journey. Some the equivalent of a Mini Cooper, others, an SUV…. as long as they get us from A-Z in comfort and are fun to drive, its all good…(n.b. I don’t condone SUV usage)

ICE is not important. Unless your lens’ collection is your ice.

Our creativity is limited only by our mind, eye and trigger finger.

Now before I digress further……..I returned home 9 days later and embarked on a mandatory Photoshop post-production misson… eventually coming to a common dilemna (for me anyway)…whether or not a portrait looked better desaturated to B&W or in its original colour.

Call me a geek, but i enjoyed this. In fact, this dilemna has surely affected many a photographer at some point…. ever since the choice of both colour and b&w film existed, for at least the last 50 years right?

Actually, its closer to 148 years.

The first permanent colour photograph was taken in 1861 by a Scotsman called James Clerk Maxwell.

To put this into context, 1861 was 2 years before Baha’u'llah made His Declaration in the Garden of Ridvan. It was the first year of the American Civil War and it was 10 years before the first incandescent light bulb was invented.

So what did the first colour photograph look like?

Mr.Maxwell took a photo of a ‘tartan ribbon’, and the photo (1861) is on the right:

Now, whilst this extremely early attempt of colour photo looks it was colourised by a hippie tripping on LSD, this photo was not altered after it was taken.

Later on, new methods were tried whilst old methods were improved;

The photo above was taken in 1877 by Duhauron in France.

However, about a 100 years ago, a Russian gentleman named Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, truly made colour photography come alive.

Between 1909 to 1915 he decided to document the Russian Empire. The Russia then was a land of much ethnic diversity and home to more than 150 million people–of which only about half were ethnic Russians. Here is a selection of some of his photos….. .they are all original colour photographs. No colour added, no ye olde photoshoppe.

The Emir of Bukhara-taken in 1911

Prisoners in a zindan- taken in 1910

Russian peasant girls- taken in 1909

Jewish Children and teacher-1911

Portrait of Dagestani couple- c.1910

After seeing his photos, we can really appreciate how colour not only makes the photograph more real but rather more relevant and interesting. The people featured become breathing human beings that aren’t so different from us today (apart from silly fancy dress costumes). In fact it becomes surreal because our sight and mind are used to associating 50 year old photos with sepia and black and white but now we have to tell ourselves that these colour images are almost a 100 years old….

Viewing Sergey’s photos is like going for a ride in the DeLorian and arriving back in Russia in 1909……its as vivid as photography today….thats partly down to technology… but more so down to Sergey’s talent as a photographer.

You can view many more of his photos here.

Thus next time you have the choice of permanently removing colour from a photograph, think twice about a time when the choice wasn’t taken for granted and colour photographs were more precious than the fossil record.

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

‘Kodachrome’ sung by Paul Simon

10 ways to get a really good sleep

Interesting article on how to get that golden nap:

Britons are the worst sleepers in Europe, claimed a survey last week, depicting a nation starved of sleep and facing a daily battle against red-eyed exhaustion.One in five of the population sleeps for fewer than seven hours a night, according to research from the Future Foundation for the health campaign Sleep Well Live Well. Many of these tired souls reported feeling stressed and unhappy.

Not sure about you, but I am increasingly finding more and more reasons to not sleep when I should, or difficulty in getting to sleep when I really need to…my favourite is the classic ‘weekend lie in’ but napping on the train home is particularly refreshing, as long as I don’t miss my stop home (hasn’t happened so far…)
Read the full article here

Goodbye Facebook. For Now.

I am suspending my Facebook notice until June, for two reasons.

1. I have exams, so don’t need the unnecessary distraction.
2. I want to test if Facebook truly is an unnecessary distraction by being detached from it for a while and see if my life is enhanced or not, through its absence.

I am not a hypocrite, I have had Facebook for a few years now, and I’m what you might call a ‘heavy user,’ with over 40 photo albums, regularish status updates, admin of about 10 groups, one of them having nearly 2000 members (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2218692770) and over 1300 friends (not showing off here, trying to make a point!)…

So I have definitely ‘done’ Facebook…

At the moment, logic tells me I don’t need Facebook and its to my detriment, so I’ll put my money where my mouth is and test not having it.

Next Entry: Facebook? Do I really need it?

Photoshoot for ‘Uglylovely’ hats

I conducted my first fashion photoshoot at the weekend for my friend Sahar’s hat business; ‘Uglylovely.‘

Another friend, Doroty, modelled, whilst Sahar’s friend and make up artist, Amber, did some of the make up.

It was learning for me, learning how to use Nikon’s wireless flash system creatively, as well as flash under daylight.

Twas great fun for all, and I explored the surrounds of Loughton, Essex, where the shoot took place. In particular, ‘Epping Forest.’

Here are a couple of the shots:

US backing for world currency stuns markets – Telegraph

The Chinese proposal, outlined this week by central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, calls for a “super-sovereign reserve currency” under IMF management, turning the Fund into a sort of world central bank.

The article above, in the Telegraph Newspaper, is reporting on suggestions by the Chinese government, with some support from America, for a type of ‘World Currency’.

It is interesting that the readers below it, who’s comments can also be seen, are comparing the ‘one world currency’ with ‘one world government’ ‘the end of days,’ and ‘Christ’s Return’

One Country, the Baha’i International Community’s newsletter, in 1999, ran an article on this very theme, quoting Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, in 1936:

In an age when international interdependence and integration are increasing on all fronts, a “uniform and universal system of currency” is one of a number of complementary measures that will help to “simplify and facilitate intercourse and understanding among the nations and races of mankind,” as Shoghi Effendi, who led the worldwide Bahá’í community from 1921 to 1957, wrote in 1936.

The entire article is very interesting as it talks about other aspects of a world currency, including the ’spiritual dimension’:

The Telelgraph article comes as the G20 summit in London, comes to a close, led by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, hails the coming of a ‘New World Order,’ as coined by Baha’u'llah, the Founder of the Baha’i Faith in 1873…

As Bob Dylan sings…. “the times they are a-changin‘.”

NYLON PARLA

Nylon Parla is back, this week’s theme is ‘Streetlife’

We have entries from New York, London, Paris, Boston and Chicago…..

Check it out here.

Slim-Fast

As I write this entry from my iPhone I sit on an overland train, traversing the urban jungle that is South London.

I am currently fasting.

Fasting mentioned in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book)

The Bahá’í fast is a period of prayer and detachment. This means no food or drink (including water) from sunrise to sunset for 19 days, ending on sunset of the 20th March, the beginning of Naw-Rúz (Bahá’í new year) and Spring.

I have fasted every year since 1996, when I was 15. I’m now 28.

This fast, however,I have observed new things about its effect on me.

One is that I feel my senses to be heightened, and I don’t just mean my 5 senses, but even my 6th sense, my inner eye, the power of ’spiritual perception.’

Fasting is the cause of awakening man. The heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increases. This is produced by the fact that man’s thoughts will be confined to the commemoration of God, and through this awakening and stimulation surely ideal advancements follow…

(`Abdu’l-Bahá, Star of the West, vol. 3, p. 305. )

Why is this the case? I believe fasting systematizes detachment and a prayerful attitude, which I think go hand in hand. By fasting, you are detaching yourself of 2 out of 3 things you cannot live without; food and water. Air, the 3rd, is not something we could detach ourselves from on this plane of existence. Nonetheless, I am sure if a lustful appetite for air was possible, that too would be on the list of no nos.

If we can detach ourselves from our desire for food and drink, something which is hard-wired into our D.N.A.,

then we can theoretically detach ourselves much easier from things not hard-wired into our D.N.A. like a desire for money, material objects, people, drugs etc.

I call this post ‘Slim Fast’ because like the slimming product, by sticking to its regime for a short part of your year, you will lose weight. In this case however, I am referring to the weight of attachment, what Baha’u'llah calls the ‘fetters of this world.’

O MY SERVANT!
Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more.

(Baha’u’llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

nineteen days

Nineteen days, much like the last initiative I was involved in, ‘morn and eve,’ is a photoblog collaboration.

Taken by Amy Sahba

However….the difference with nineteen days is that it is one specifically for the nineteen day long Baha’i Fast.

Starting on the 2nd of March and ending on the 20th March, ‘nineteen days’ will feature 3 photographers (and 3 photos) everyday. Two photographers will always be the same. Amy Sahba and Leila, whilst everyday will feature one new ‘guest’ photographer.

I am one of these ‘guest’ photographers, and my slot is on Wednesday the 4th of March.

Check it out here

Top British Comedians’ Stand Up for Baha’is in Iran

The persecution of the Baha’is in Iran has reached crisis point with the unfair trial of seven of its members, on ‘espionage charges for Israel,’ which carries the death penalty.

The Baha’is are being defended by Iran’s only Nobel Prize winner (for peace), Human Rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi.
However, Shirin has been threatened and had her office shut down for defending the Baha’is.
An interview with Shirin, regarding her defence of the Baha’is, can be seen on U.K.s Channel 4 News here (at 18:41 into video)

Shirin has been denied access to them and their files.

This persecution has also been condemned up by the European Union. Their statement can be seen here.

However, interestingly enough, members of the entertainment industry have joined in the plight of the Baha’is being held in Iran on these unfair charges.

In today’s Times Newspaper, what could be called an ‘A-List’ of British Comedians have joined forces to sign a statement condemning this persecution. The statement is here and quoted below

Voices from the arts call for the imprisoned Baha’i leaders in Iran to receive a fair trial

Sir, We are deeply concerned at the continuing imprisonment for more than eight months of seven leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran. No formal evidence has been brought against them.

They have not been given access to their legal counsel, the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi. She has had no access to their files and has suffered threats and intimidation since taking on their case.

Spurious charges now look likely to be filed against these Baha’is in the Revolutionary Court. “Espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic” are their alleged crimes.

In reality, their only “crime”, which the current regime finds intolerable, is that they hold a religious belief that is different from the majority.

As artists who strive to uplift the human spirit and enrich society through our work, we register our solidarity with all those in Iran who are being persecuted for promoting the best development of society — be it through the arts and media, the promotion of education, social and economic development, or adherence to moral principles.

Further, we join with the governments, human rights organisations and people of goodwill throughout the world who have so far raised their voices calling for a fair trial, if not the complete release of the Baha’i leaders in Iran.

David Baddiel

Bill Bailey

Morwenna Banks

Sanjeev Bhasker

Jo Brand

Russell Brand

Rob Brydon

Jimmy Carr

Jack Dee

Omid Djalili

Sean Lock

Lee Mack

Alexei Sayle

Meera Syal

Mark Thomas

Only last week actor, Rainn Wilson, who recently played the lead role in the film ‘The Rocker’ and plays ‘Dwight,’ in the American version of the Office (Mackenzie Crook’s role in the U.K. version) voiced his concern to CNN as can be seen here

Additionally, Robert Wood representing the U.S. State Department, Bill Rammell representing the British Foreign Office and Amnesty International have all made statements showing concern about the wrongful persecution of the Baha’is in Iran, especially with regard to this trial.

So in a spirit of unity, media and politics mix, to stand ground against oppression and persecution by governments who take away basic human rights, like freedom of religion.

I applaud those defenders of human rights and these comedians for taking a stand for something precious to us all.

That is the right to follow which ever Faith we choose (or choose not to).

Ironically, something Iran voted in favour of; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (specifically Article 18).