Posted 10:34 PM
by Mary
March 2, 2007
Iran to Prosecute Women's Rights Activists
The Iranian Judiciary will hold a trial on March 4 to prosecute four female activists for peacefully protesting Iran's discriminatory laws against women. The four women, Nusheen Ahmadi, Khorasani, Parvin Ardalan, Sussan Tahmasebi and Shahla Entesari, were detained by Iranian police after gathering in a public demonstration and calling for reform.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is demanding that the women be dismissed due to lack of legal grounds for their arrest. The freedom to peaceful assembly is guaranteed not only by the Iranian constitution, but also by Article 20 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 21 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party.
These four women are not the first to be prosecuted for activism in Iran. In February, three journalists and activists were arrested on their way to a journalism conference in India, and in June 2006, Iranian police violently disrupted a peaceful women's rights protest.
A recent campaign, "Change for Equality," aims to increase awareness of the need for democratic reform. The campaign's goal is to collect one million signatures in support of absolute gender equality. Women's rights activist Shirin Ebadi supports the campaign, saying, "The true victory of women will occur when discriminatory laws are lifted."
Posted 10:31 PM
by Mary
MoveOn: Help Run the PSR Iran ad
Physicians for Social Responsibility, supported by Just Foreign Policy and other groups, ran an ad in Congressional Quarterly asking Congress to stop President Bush from attacking Iran. MoveOn is now appealing for funds to run this ad in larger newspapers:
moveon.org/
Posted 10:29 PM
by Mary
Registration has begun for a once in a generation event at Harvard University! If you have not already, please save the dates April 20-21, 2007 and register now at http://thenewhumanism.org for a celebration of the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, founded by Tom Ferrick 30 years ago. We will honor Tom and his historic vision by hosting a major Humanist conference featuring many of the most famous and important Humanists in the world, including: novelist Salman Rushdie, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, 2-time Pulitzer Prize winner E.O. Wilson, Professor Steven Pinker (Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” 2004); 2006 Democratic Candidate for US Senate from CT, Ned Lamont; Harvard Yenching Institute for Chinese Studies Director Professor Tu Weiming, critically acclaimed folk/rock star Dar Williams, Humanist rabbis Sherwin T. Wine and Robert Barr, America's leading secular Humanist philosopher Paul Kurtz; secular Congressional Lobbyist Lori Lipman Brown, the leaders of all the major US Humanist & related organizations, noted philanthropists such as Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr., & Louis Appignani, and many, many more.
Why "THE NEW HUMANISM"?
The title of our conference, "The New Humanism," has generated a great deal of curiosity. Why did we choose it, and what do we mean by it? You can begin to explore the answers to these questions in an article in the current issue of the Humanist, a leading magazine of critical inquiry and social concern. The article on Harvard Humanism, has also been made specially available, free of charge, at the Humanist's website:
thehumanist.org.Sincerely,
--
Greg M. Epstein
Humanist Chaplain of Harvard University
Memorial Church, One Harvard Yard
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-5986
gepstein@hds.harvard.edu
http://harvardhumanist.org
