Shokooh Mirzadegi

A few weeks after the closure of the ninety “Nature Schools” by the order of the ayatollahs and the Iranian Department of Environment, the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization has ordered the dissolution of a major environmental training center.

The center which is known as the “Cultural Heritage Higher Education Center”, is located at Niavaran Palace. The center was also before the Iranian revolution where Prince Reza Pahlavi and many children of the Royal court’s staff went to school, but after the Revolution (1979) the school was taken over by Muslim revolutionaries. In 1985, the school was assigned to the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization until 1989, when with the efforts of some professors interested in cultural heritage, the school was dedicated and became a center for training specialists in the three areas of cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism.

The Cultural Heritage Higher Education Center, unlike most government-run schools, has been able to train skilled experts in archeology, anthropology, museums, conservation and restoration work since its inception. This has been due to the fact that the teachers are knowledgeable and experts in the areas they are teaching and the subject matter.

In 2010, the head of the Ahmadinejad Cultural Heritage Organization, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, decided to dissolve the center and as a result they stopped accepting new students from 2013. With Rahim Mashaei’s departure from the Heritage Organization, and again with the efforts of the university professors, in 2015, students were again admitted to the center. But, at times, the dissolution of the center was raised by officials of the Cultural Heritage Organization, and, in contrast, many efforts were made to maintain the center. Former and present professors and students have repeatedly emphasized that Iran’s cultural heritage requires efficient and professional forces that grow in such scientific centers.

In August 2018, before Ali Asghar Mounsan was appointed head of the Cultural Heritage Organization, it seemed likely that the center would remain viable. Iran’s cultural heritage stakeholders had appealed to Tehran University to move the center under the auspices of the university and they had agreed.

However, despite all the goodwill and interest shown by Tehran University officials, this issue was dismissed due to Mounsan’s opposition to a clause in the draft agreement. The center was finally ordered to evacuate the facility in July, earlier this year.

Why did the government officials try actively to dissolve the center?
For many years the status of most universities in the country has deteriorated due to the dominance of religious laws over education in Iran. As a result the degrees in humanities subjects from Iranian universities are no longer accepted by many European and American countries and most of the advanced countries of the world. In such circumstances, the dissolution of a center which offered educational opportunities, in line with scientific standards followed and practiced internationally is truly regrettable. I have researched and contacted some of the former students and professors of the center and the staff of the Heritage Organization, and have concluded that for the Islamic State, two major reasons are sufficient to announce the end of this center:

1. The first thing that worries the Islamic State is the fact that the teaching standards were mostly based on international scientific standards. One of the leading professors of technical urbanization, architecture and restoration, Dr. Mohammad Mansour Flamaki, stated in an interview with one of Iranian outlets: “The Cultural Heritage Center is doing very well.” He stated that he believes the students at the center are different from students at other Iranian universities, and that students at are “free-thinkers”, something that he does not think exists at other universities. Mr. Flamaki added: “Students at other universities are not completely free-thinkers as they are educated under the rigors of hard, old, and untransformed education, but students at Cultural Heritage Center are nurtured and taught with different standards.”

2. Another case concerns corruption and profit driven actions which has great presence in Iran’s government and government agencies. One person close to the head of the Cultural Heritage Organization has reportedly said: “The land and the campus where the center is located have drawn attention from some high-ranking government officials and they have some plans for the area which will soon be disclosed.”

It is noteworthy that reports indicate that the reason Mounsan objected to the possible partnership between the Cultural Heritage Center and the University of Tehran was because under the partnership and agreement, the University of Tehran would have had full access to the land and the campus.

It is clear that dissolution of the center by the Rouhani government will cause tremendous loss for Iranian youth who will no longer have the opportunity to study at such exceptional center, therefore depriving Iranian cultural and historical heritage community from future skilled and trained professionals.

August 2019

The UN’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition reminds people of the tragedy of slave trade.

Each year the UN invites people all over the world, including educators, students, and artists, to organize events that center on the theme of this day. Theatre companies, cultural organizations, musicians, and artists take part on this day by expressing their resistance against slavery through performances that involve music, dance, and drama.

Educators promote the day by informing people about the historical events associated with slave trade, the consequences of slave trade, and to promote tolerance and human rights. Many organizations, including youth associations, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations, actively take part in the event to educate society about the negative consequences of slave trade.

Background

In late August 1791, an uprising began in Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) that would have a major effect on abolishing the transatlantic slave trade. The slave rebellion in the area weakened the Caribbean colonial system, sparking an uprising Ethat led to abolishing slavery and giving the island its independence. It marked the beginning of the destruction of the slavery system, the slave trade and colonialism.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition was first celebrated in many countries, in particular in Haiti, on August 23, 1998, and in Senegal on August 23, 1999. Each year the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reminds the international community about the importance of commemorating this day. This date also pays tribute to those who worked hard to abolish slave trade and slavery throughout the world. This commitment and the actions used to fight against the system of slavery had an impact on the human rights movement.

Early this week, Isa Kalantari, the director of Iran’s Department of Environment, called the continuation of “environmental schools” illegal, cancelling their licenses and preventing them from continuing operation. Since last year in fact, half of these environmental schools have
been closed by the Islamic government and permits for opening new schools, granted in the past, have also been revoked.
Kalantari has stated the reason for the suspension of these schools as “religious” or due to a lack of religious teachings or for connections to the Tudeh Party.1 Nature or environmental schools were centers that had nothing to do with the Tudeh Party,
working solely to educate children and adolescents about life skills and to familiarize them with environmental issues. These schools, which started operation in 2014, were founded by Dr. Abdolhossein Vahabzadeh, along with a number of other Iranian environmental experts and activists who cared deeply about environmental issues. Dr. Vahabzadeh is a prominent Iranian environmental scientist who completed his studies in environmental sciences at U.S. universities and has been teaching for the last 40 years.
Families agreeable to the establishment of these schools alongside interest from students to learn more about the environment and to become more environmentally friendly have led to the establishment of more than 90 “nature schools” in various provinces of Iran within the last three years.
It is clear that the popularity of these nature schools has angered the Friday Prayer Imams and other religious authorities. In these schools, compulsory religious studies which have been the hallmark of public and private education in Iran for the last 40 years were not taught. Children and adolescents spent their time learning about nature and the environment instead of going to mosques and listening to boring religious lessons.
At the same time, it should be noted that 2017 marked the culmination of an onslaught by the ruling regime on environmentalists, through the death of prominent figures like Dr. Kavous Seyed-Emami in prison in 2018, as well as the imprisonment and torture of hundreds of environmental experts, some of whom continue their work and activities while in prison.
In fact, 2017 has been the year in which the role that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the military play in attacking Iranian environmentalists and preventing their efforts has been revealed. This is most likely due to the fact that the government’s illegal nuclear operations could be exposed.

(1) The Tudeh Party was the name of the pro-Soviet communists who began their activity in Iran in 1941. The party was outlawed before the Islamic Revolution (1979); however, during the revolution it re-emerged. Unlike other socialist groups that were initially
separated from Muslim revolutionaries, whose members were mostly arrested by the
government and frequently sentenced to death, the Tudeh party had the full support of
the Islamic State. In fact, they worked closely with the government, advising and guiding
them on different issues, until they were also disbanded and announced illegal in early
1981.
August 17, 2019

The original idea for a day of friendship came from Hallmark cards in the 1930’s. Originally celebrated on 2nd August, the day was largely viewed cynically by the public as a money making exercise, sales of friendship day cards did not take off in Europe and by the mid-1940’s the day had faded into obscurity in the USA. The idea of a day to honour friendship was, however, adopted by a number of countries in Asia where it remained a popular custom to reserve a day for celebrating friendships and the exchange of gifts between friends.

World Friendship Day was proposed for 30 July 1958 by the World Friendship Crusade, an international civil organisation that campaigns to foster a culture of peace through friendship. Many years later, in 2011, the 30th July was declared as the International Day of Friendship by the General Assembly of United Nations.

World Friendship day and International Day of Friendshiponline as well as with community activities in local communities aimed at bringing those of different backgrounds together.