Mois : mai 2006

Linked with the presentation of Searching for the Sources of the Self.

Born in Kerman, Iran, Mahnaz Afkhami is a leading proponent of women’s rights in the Islamic world. She is president of Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) and executive director of the Foundation for Iranian Studies. She chaired the English department at the National University of Iran, founded the Association of Iranian University Women, and served as secretary general of the Women’s Organization of Iran and minister of state for women’s affairs prior to the Islamic revolution. She is the author of many books on women’s roles in the Islamic world, including Safe and Secure: Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls in Muslim Societies. (See scu.edu).

Mahnaz Afkhami – Iran

Ferdows Naficy and her two daughters, Mahnaz and Farah became independent women in America. When Ferdows decided to emigrate to the U.S., she opened the door for her daughters to later join her in California. Both would later return to Iran as adults, where they would be torn apart by Iranian politics during the reign of the shah. Mahnaz became a minister in the shah’s government and advocated for women’s rights, while Farah and her husband joined the cause of the revolution. Ultimately, Mahnaz and Farah had to flee Iran in fear for their lives. This is the lastest update from Mahnaz and Farah. (See pbs.org).

In exile in the United States, she has been a leading advocate for women’s rights for more than three decades. She serves on the boards and steering committees of several international organizations, including the World Movement for Democracy, the Commission on Globalization, the Global Fund for Women, the International League for Human Rights, and Women’s Human Rights Net. She has made numerous international radio and television appearances, including interviews on Australian Radio, the BBC, German Radio Network, Swedish Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and CNN. Her publications include Women and the Law in Iran; In the Eye of the Storm: Women in Post-Revolutionary Iran; Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World; Safe and Secure: Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls in Muslim Societies; and Women in Exile. (See Omega Institute).

Continuer la lecture de « Mahnaz Afkhami – Iran »

In 1993, a handwritten envelope arrived in Khalida Messaoudi’s mailbox. In it was an official communique announcing that she had been condemned to death by the Islamic Salvation Front. This letter came after a series of threats and an attempt on her life in retaliation for her role as a leader of the feminist and democratic movements in Algeria and a fierce opponent of Islamic fundamentalism. Khalida Messaoudi did not flee from this threat by seeking refuge outside her country. Instead, she went into hiding within Algeria, where she continued her fight for emancipation and independence from religious extremism … to restore in Algeria what she describes as « the basics of dignity »—a woman’s right to pursue her studies, practice a profession, make a living, marry and divorce freely, and walk the streets without a veil. She is a former mathematics teacher.

Khalida Messaoudi – Algeria

She said in 1995: « More than 80 people a day have been killed by Islamic fundamentalists. They concentrated on journalists, because writers symbolize freedom of expression, which the fundamentalists find intolerable. Intellectuals, teachers, writers, thinkers – these are the people killed because it is they who defend traditional notions of liberty. But sometimes simple citizens were killed too, randomly, just for the purpose of terror. One day ordinary people may decide to say ‘No’ to the fundamentalists’ ambitions and they want to avoid that happening. They killed women who opposed their views of how we should behave. They cannot allow difference. That is why they insist on veils to cover the difference. They are fascists who claim Allah is on their side and that they are marching under the banner of righteousness. » (Read this and more on this Third World Traveler page).

Continuer la lecture de « Khalida Messaoudi – Algeria »

Linked with our presentation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Cheshmak Farhoumand-Sims is a peace researcher, educator and practitioner completing her PhD studies at York University in Toronto in the Department of Political Science. Cheshmak received an Honours BA in peace and conflict studies from the University of Toronto and a M.Sc. in conflict analysis and resolution from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she wrote her Master’s thesis on the subject of the psychological, cultural and religious dimensions of post-conflict reconciliation processes in intractable conflicts. In addition to these degrees, Cheshmak has studied at the Austrian Peace University and the United Nations Graduate Studies Program.

Cheshmak Farhoumand-Sims – Canada & Afghanistan

Cheshmak believes that women play an integral role in the development of their societies and that their absence from public discourse contributes to the stunted growth of the society as a whole. She is interested in exploring how religion and culture are often used to prevent women’s active participation in society and in considering how this impacts peacebuilding and reconstruction efforts. Her dissertation focuses on the relationship between the protection and promotion of women’s human rights and peacebuilding in conflict zones, where religion and culture serve as a barrier to women’s participation, such as the case in Afghanistan. She gained insight into these issues through her research, travels to Afghanistan, and participation at the Commission on the Status of Women, and the meeting of the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2001. These experiences provided her with the opportunity to interview Afghan women in Afghanistan, and gender experts within the United Nations at the United Nations Division on the Advancement of Women, UNIFEM and 17 of the 21 experts that sit on the CEDAW committee.

Continuer la lecture de « Cheshmak Farhoumand-Sims – Canada & Afghanistan »

Linked with our presentation of Tehelka – the people’s paper – India.

And linked with our presentation of For whom the bell tolls.

He said in an interview about his book ‘the alchemy of desire’: (excerpt)  » … yes, the book’s strongest characters are female, and the book is decidedly very pro-female. Personally, I just think women are far, far more interesting than men. It has to do with their immense layering, an emotional ‘nuancing’ that is the creation of millennia of facing up to difficult odds. In comparison, men are almost two dimensional, emotionally and sexually lesser beings. Yes, most of the important people in my life are female — mother, sister, wife, daughters, colleagues, friends. Yes, they are changing — no options: The future belongs to women, but they are changing at too slow a pace. The north, of course, could certainly do with a dramatic behaviour reorientation. Mostly very badly behaved, I have to say …  » (Read the whole interview on this rediff.com page).

Tarun Tejpal – India

TARUN TEJPAL is CEO and editor-in-chief of tehelka, an Web-only news and literary site based in New Delhi — and one of India’s most well-known editors. Since its founding in March 2000, two of the site’s stories have brought it international attention: its investigation of a cricket match-fixing scandal and its sting operation that exposed corruption in the Indian defense establishment.

Continuer la lecture de « Tarun Tejpal – India »

She says: “The main innovation that I’ve been pulling together is to start thinking about education as part of a world system rather than as something contained within each nation.”

And: “A school looks like a school almost anywhere you go,” she notes. But while some systems succeed in lifting people out of poverty, other systems do not. She worries about the increasingly skewed global situation: “While it may seem fine if everyone in developing countries gets a primary education, what if everybody in the rich countries gets a university education?” (See boh on IDRC report).

Coming to Canada from the Stanford University USA, she became the chairholder of the Canada Research Chair in Global Governance and Comparative Educational Change, University of Toronto, Tier 2, Social Sciences and Humanities, on October 1, 2002.

Karen E. Mundy – Canada

The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) has designated 24–30 April 2006 as its “Global Action Week” to focus international attention on education as a universal right. It’s a matter close to the heart of IDRC awardee Karen Mundy, a world-renowned scholar of comparative education now based at OISE/University of Toronto.

Continuer la lecture de « Karen E. Mundy – Canada »