A CHALLENGE - WORLD UNITY CAMPAIGN - CALL TO WOMEN
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From: Starr* S.
Date: Wednesday, July 5, 2006, 11:06 PM
Subject: A Challenge - World Unity Campaign - Call to Women
Reply to: 255587
ID: 253194

Hello Clare, Thank you and everyone for your replies. Clare asked some questions and mentioned the discussion could be posted to the group. Since I believe keeping ourselves, as a group, aware and informed is essential I am responding in the forum. Certainly this topic can be looked upon from many view points.

Clare: What is this ? I did not read in Andre's call any invitation for us to join some existing peace movement that would place women in a secondary position without independence or equality.

Starr*: Clare, Andre used quotes or platitudes from a religion to attract people to act for peace or to the Baha’i Faith which make it sound like Baha’i believes in Justice and Equality as a base for peace. I was alerting people that the kind of “peace” that Baha’i calls for is discriminatory towards women, and therefore is not a ‘PEACE’ that will fully work for all people, and especially women. Therefore, this kind of ‘peace’ will not be sustainable or deliver ‘justice’.

Andre writes: This is a challenge to people around the world, women, and men, to use this day as an opportunity to break down barriers of nationalism, religion, and ideology to work for the common good of humankind. The objective is WORLD UNITY.

Starr*: I agree with Andre’s premise with the proviso that this unity ensures human rights and equality for all people world-wide. FYI “WORLD UNITY” is the major goal of the Baha’i Faith – a Theocracy, whereby church and state operate as one. Do the people of the world really want the Baha’i World Unity Commonwealth Vision whereby women don’t have full equality, homosexuals suffer discrimination, Covenant Breakers are shunned, and male primogeniture is the model?

Yes war is a scourge and violence is not the answer, but a ‘peace’ that still holds the cancer is not the answer either. We women of the world have to know what kind of PEACE we are forging instead of blindly backing a global unity paradigm that disadvantages many by keeping power in a few controlling hands. We need a ‘peace’ that works for everyone.

Clare: I hear a call for something new; something the world has never seen before.

Starr*: People take action and unite all the time for various objectives world-wide. Even the Iranian women got behind the Iranian Revolution in the 1970’s only to find in time that putting the veil (hijab) back on as part of the Revolution lost them ‘human rights’ in the end. Now if they were aware that backing the revolution would cause them to lose human rights they may not have backed it. So, what I am saying is: “make sure the peace that women are calling for world-wide is a sustainable peace because it incorporates the equality of women in all facets of social life, locally, nationally, and globally.”

Clare: Please explain to me exactly what the Baha'i dogmas have to do with this? I did not hear Andre ask us to join the Baha'i. Where did she say this? I cannot see this as having anything to do with any "religion".

Starr*: Andre used quotes from the Baha’i Faith to rally women into action without qualifying those quotes. We needed to know from Andre that while these quotes speak of ‘remodeled institutions’ that sound all embracing, the religion itself does not practice these ideals fully in that it discriminates against women’s full participation in community affairs as well as a host of other exclusive laws that are to be obeyed. We need to be alerted to the fact that what sounds good is not always good, when it is not delivered in its highest and truest form. Or when the quote itself allows for double speak. Basically Clare, Baha’i, like Islam believes in a World Theocracy (union of church and state), which reveals more about Andre’s vision in the call to peace suggestion. Here are the quotes Andre used:

Quote 1: "Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’I Faith, in 1931: “Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever- changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men’s hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity’.”

Starr*: While this quote from the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith repudiates ‘centralization’ and calls for ‘unity in diversity’ the Baha’i Commonwealth Theocracy actually has a Universal House of Justice composed of nine men as its Head that believers must accept as ‘infallible’. Thereby every member world-wide must obey their decisions. This makes for global conformity rather than diversity. If the person or group does not obey the standard statements and elucidations of the House they are branded as Covent Breakers, put out of the Community, or sanctioned.

So you see while this model of peace sounds wonderful, it is not a bed of roses and can deliver a peace that doesn’t work for EVERYONE. Every person should be wary of subordinating ones’ own human rights for a peace that can work against their own good in the end. You can always judge the state of any country or organization by the way it treats women. Baha’i saying women are not allowed to have equal say in the laws that govern their community is a worry for all women – especially if Baha’i fulfils its goal of being adopted as the World Theocracy.

Quote 2: Quote: An extract from the writings of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, in a book entitled Women, states about women, “…when they form a conscious and overwhelming mass of public opinion against war there can be no war.”

Starr*: Yes, and let us women make sure that the war against women’s equal rights on all levels is ended and that their rights be upheld as the very base of this “PEACE”…..unlike the Baha’i paradigm.

Clare: Indeed, of what value can any philosophy rooted in the Dominator Model be in bringing forth this "New Creation"; be it religious or political.

Starr*: Exactly. who needs to follow mouthed platitudes that sound like a new creation while they are in fact based in exclusive male hegemony instead of harmony and balance which is needed to bring the world forward. Let’s get real about it.

Clare: I am dismayed to see an authentic call for united action distorted in this way. This is divisive, heirarchical and unacceptable.There is no room for personal egos here.

Starr*: I don’t see what ego has to do with this discussion since we are all here with the pure intent to build a world that works for everyone. The call for action stands on its own merit, but what is being said is that “ACT WITH EYES OPENED” so that efforts don’t backfire and end up shooting women in their own feet.

Clare: Have you seen Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth"? We have a moral obligation to unite and act together to resolve al of the evils that beset this Blessed World. This is a Moral Issue...far beyond the realm of any prevalent ideological boundaries and "ism's".

Starr*: I agree that we need to work together to create something that works for everyone. The tools are based on the science of love – which is based on magnetic attraction. As this attraction of love grows and grows, agendas that are not in alignment with this will become powerless and in the end ineffective.

Clare Morgan (you may post this if it pleases you to do so).

Starr*: I hope the discussion was helpful as we work together world- wide to create a SUSTAINABLE PEACE. I think you may enjoy some of the ideas in my book that outline some steps towards doing just this. It can be ordered at Amazon.com on line, and is entitled: “Tahirih Thealogy: Female Cosmic Christ Spirit of the Age” It is a book which is religion beyond religion and politics beyond politics.

To a world that works for everyone (all for all)

Starr*

------ On 7/5/06, Starr* Saffa wrote ------

ALERT!!! RE: “A CALL TO WOMEN”

From:

Starr*

Andre: We can love our country, but we must have a higher calling -- love and respect everyone. This Independence Day, people are celebrating freedom throughout the United States. Working for world-wide unity does not mean a loss of independence. It does not mean that you lose national identity or sacrifice individual beliefs. It was beautifully stated by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’I Faith, in 1931: “Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever- changing world…”

When I first started reading this paper entitled a “call to women” which inspires women to unite for peace I felt very encouraged, and still think the idea has merit. However, women should be made aware that women are NOT allowed or NEVER will be allowed to serve at the highest decision making body of the Baha’i Faith (Universal House of Justice). Baha’i teaches ‘equality of women’ to the public, and as such women have worked tirelessly for the spread of the religion in the name of equality. In 1988 the Universal House of Justice said that women will NEVER be allowed to serve on this body, the body that makes the decisions that govern the community.

Women will never be allowed to serve on the Baha’i highest decision making body – the Universal House of Justice. "The membership of the Universal House of Justice is confined to men. Fixing the number of the members, the procedures for election and the term of membership will be known later, as these are not explicitly revealed in the Holy Text." (27 May 1940)…As mentioned earlier, the law regarding the membership of the Universal House of Justice is embedded in the Text and has been merely restated by the divinely appointed interpreters. It is therefore neither amenable to change nor subject to speculation about some possible future condition.”
WOMEN AND THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of New Zealand May 31, 1988 http://bahai-library.com/uhj/women.uhj.html

Membership of the Universal House of Justice Membership on the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá'í Faith, is made up exclusively of nine male members. All other positions in the Bahá'í administration are open to both male and female Bahá'ís.

"women are the equals of men in all rights save only that of membership on the Universal House of Justice, for, as hath been stated in the text of the Book (Kitáb-i-Aqdas), both the Head and the members of the House of Justice are men." (`Abdu'l-Bahá quoted in The Universal House of Justice, 1988 May 31, Women and UHJ Membership) "there is a Tablet from 'Abdu'l-Bahá in which he definitely states that the membership of the Universal House of Justice is confined to men, and that the wisdom of it will be fully revealed and appreciated in the future." (Letter by Shoghi Effendi (28 July 1936) quoted The Universal House of Justice, 1988 May 31, Women and UHJ Membership) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3% AD_Faith_and_gender_equality

The founder of the Baha’i Faith has written: The essence of all that We have revealed for thee," Bahá'u'lláh declares, "is Justice." The chief instrument for the transformation of society and the achievement of lasting peace, He asserts, is the establishment of justice in every aspect of life. Bahá'u'lláh explains that the "purpose of justice is the appearance of unity among men." Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), p. 67.

Starr*: I suggest to you that there can be NO UNITY WITHOUT JUSTICE, and there can be NO JUSTICE UNLESS WOMEN HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS AT ALL LEVELS OF SOCIETY. Justice implies women having full in put in making up the decisions of a society that govern their lives, in contrast to what has happened to the women in the Baha’i community. In the name of equality Baha’i women ended up being secondary when it comes to decision making, and therfore not fully equal.

Women’s organizations world-wide have made the same observation about the need for women to have full in put into all the activities and consultation in the affairs that affect life on earth. This observation has even taken place at the United Nations.

"Women know from experience the costs of war and conflict”.

In modern war the majority of victims are women. Yet women also have particular skills in conflict prevention and peace-building. After war, women play central roles in helping those around them recover from trauma and injury. Moreover, women have the right - still rarely realized - to be included in decision-making on peace and war.

Despite this, governments and international agencies frequently overlook the efforts of women living in conflict zones. Women are left to prevent violence and build peace with few resources and minimal support. They are rarely recognized as peacemakers in any formal sense and are usually excluded from discussions where agreements are negotiated and post-conflict priorities established.

The costs of this are significant and continuing. To address the problem the United Nations Security Council in 2001 unanimously passed the landmark Resolution 1325, which recognizes:

 the specific protection needs of women in war
 the right to equal justice for women, including for crimes such as rape which are rife in war
 women's contribution to peace-building activities
 the importance of women's equal participation in peace negotiations at all levels

“Sustainable peace will not be achieved without the full and equal participation of women and men. Much needs to be done to ensure the resolution is implemented.” Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, 28 October 2002 --------------------------------------------------------------------- -----

Early in March 2003, with the war in Iraq looming, a non-government working group on women, peace and security, together with participants at the 47th Session on the UN Commission on the Status of Women, reminded the Security Council of its responsibility to the women of Iraq. They insisted that, in accordance with Resolution 1325 and the United Nation's report "Women, Peace and Security, the Security Council should hold 'in-depth talks with representative members of Iraqi civil society to discuss viable options for conflict-prevention and transformation.'

The participants also said this process must 'ensure consultation with (Iraqi) women's groups and networks'.

On 21 March 2003, Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), called on the international community to recognize the rights of women to participate in all decision-making about the future of their society.

Despite these efforts there was no consultation by the Security Council with women in Iraq prior to military action.

Now the war is over and the news from Iraq is that women are being excluded from the rebuilding process. In May 2003, the BBC's Kathryn Westcott reported that 'Iraq, some women fear, is in danger of becoming a man's world. Efforts to establish an interim government that reflects the country's diverse ethnic and religious character are gathering pace. But where are the women -who make up the majority of the population - in the process?

Westcott also reported that 'US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told the BBC that the Americans were intent on setting up an interim administration...that would be representative of the population in most areas. But he acknowledged that the participation of women in the process had been inadequate.

IWDA is committed to supporting the women of Iraq in their efforts to be included in the decision-making process to rebuild their country and to ensure that their work is practically and financially supported.

Starr*: Conclusion: First of all, I thank Andre for the great idea of women uniting for establishing peace. However, women need to be vigilant to NOT join so called peace movements which in the end keep them in secondary positions with no "real" INDEPENDENCE or EQUALITY, for that is not real ‘peace’!!!!!!! - a peace, forged on the backs of women which in the end works against them to have little say over their own lives and that of the female gender.

Quote: “If we want to have a sustainable peace women should be allowed to participate fully in the planning stage, and not afterwards as cosmetic extras.

Submitted by Elisabeth Rehn, co-author of the report to the United Nations on Women, War, and Peace, former Minister of Equality Affairs and Minster of Defense for Finland. IWDA web: ( www.iwda.org.au).International Women's Development Agency is an Australian non-government organization working with women in developing countries to support their efforts to improve their life choices and those of their families and communities, and to advance women's human rights. We focus on groups of women that are particularly marginalized or suffer poverty or oppression.”

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