promoting love, peace and unity
The chief mission of the SC Arts Commission is to support artists and to insure the availability of the arts in various ways to all South Carolinians, regardless of where they live or their socieconomic status, according to Ken May, the commission's executive director. Host Bhakti Larry Hough interviews May about the commission and the arts in South Carolina on the current edition of Insight.
Insight airs Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m., 7 p.m. and midnight.
Insight #64 This edition of Insight is about the Five Years Too Many campaign featured in our previous post of yesterday. Host, Bhakti Larry Hough, interviews Anthony Vance, Director of the US Baha'i Office of Public Affairs, and Iraj Kamalabadi, the brother of one of the ad hoc leaders that are in prison in Iran. The program also includes excerpts from the Five Years Too Many event held May 6th in Washington DC: Rainn Wilson, actor (Dwight Schrute, from the TV program, The Office) and Roxana Saberi, journalist and author, who was imprisoned in the same cell as the two female members of the Yaran. This edition is longer than normal due to the nature of the topic. A higher quality version of the program, can be downloaded here, but its 56MB. To listen to the program, simply click on the link at the top of the article, or the higher quality version, or right click on the links and download the files.
For five years, seven Baha'i leaders have been wrongly imprisoned in Iran. Today, May 14th, marks the anniversary of their 20-year sentences, which are the longest given to any current prisoners of conscience in Iran. The harshness of their sentences reflects the Government’s resolve to oppress completely the Iranian Baha'i community, which faces a systematic, “cradle-to-grave” persecution that is among the most serious examples of state-sponsored religious persecution in the world today.
Baha'i communities around the world have launched a campaign calling for the immediate release of these seven – and the release of all innocent prisoners of conscience in Iranian prisons. The campaign is called, “Five Years Too Many.”
The US Bahá’i community has initiated a Congressional Call-In Day today, to gather support for Senate Resolution 75 and House Resolution 109, both of which, “condemn the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha’i minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights.”
The charges leveled against the seven Baha’i leaders reflect the depth of animosity and prejudice directed towards them — as well as a degree of ignorance regarding the basic principles and history of the Baha’i Faith.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that the Baha’i community in Iran is being persecuted solely because of its religious beliefs, the Iranian government continues – in both public and private forums – to justify its behavior with unsubstantiated accusations.
Specifically in the case of the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders, there was never any evidence presented to support the charges.
Information on the Congressional Call-In Day today to gather support for Senate Resolution 75 and House Resolution 109, condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha’i minority is available on the web at iran.bahai.us.
Below are links on the campaign to call for the release of the Bahá'ís in Iran that have been unjustly sentenced to 20 years in prison, of which they have already served five years, “Five Years Too Many”!
LINKS
Five Years Too Many for information about the Five Years Too Many campaign and details about the effort to gain their release, and background about who these wonderful people are.
Congressional Call-In Day, for information about the campaign to call US Senators and Representatives to ask them to support either Senate Resolution 75 or House Resolution 109, condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha’i minority.
VIDEOS
Five Years Too Many, - 3:30 video about the imprisoned leaders.
Five Years Too Many - Hands: 1:41 video showing support for the Baha'is in prison in Iran.
Five Years Too Many Special Event (part 1), held at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace hosted by Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute from the TV series, The Office).
Five Years Too Many Special Event (part 2)
The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor was designated by an act of Congress on October 12, 2006 (Public Law 109-338). It was authorized as part of the National Heritage Areas Act of 2006. The Corridor was created to, among other things, recognize the important contributions made to American culture and history by African Americans known as Gullah Geechee who settled in the coastal counties of South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida.
On the current edition of Insight, Bhakti Larry Hough interviews Ron Daise of Beaufort, chairman of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission, about the Gullah Geechee culture and the work of the commission. The commission will hold its next quarterly meeting in Conway at Cherry Hill Missionary Baptist Church, 504 Church Street at 9 a.m. The meeting is open to the public.
For more information on the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor visit:
http://gullahgeecheecorridor.org/?Itemid=102
Insight airs Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m., 7 p.m., and midnight.
When one thinks of cities and states that played pivotal roles in the development of jazz, one is likely to think of New Orleans, La; St. Louis, Mo.; and Chicago, Il., not Charleston, SC. But through Charleston's history with the Jenkins Orphanage band, from which several nationally renowned jazz artists such as Freddie Green and Jabbo Smith emerged, and the state being the home of jazz icon Dizzy Gillespie, Charleston and South Carolina have a vital place in the history and development of jazz. Today, Charleston boasts arguably the most vibrant jazz scene of any city in the state. That's in large part due to the Charleston Jazz Initiative (CJI), a multi-year research project that documents the African American jazz tradition in Charleston, the South Carolina Lowcountry, and its diasporic movement throughout the United States and Europe between the late 19th century through today.
On the current edition of Insight, Bhakti Larry Hough interviews Dr. Karen Chandler, co-principal of CJI and an arts management professor at the College of Charleston.
For more information on CJI and the Jenkins Orphanage band, visit:
http://www.charlestonjazz.net/index.php
http://www.jenkinsinstitute.org/
Insight airs Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 am, 7 pm and midnight.