COMMITTEES & DEPARTMENTS

 

BASED - UK

 

This article is based on a talk given by Barney Leith at the Bahá’í Development and Environment Summit, Sidcot Summer School, 15th -22th August, on influencing processes towards world peace:

 

The external affairs aspects of social and economic development and environmental activities

 

In 1994 the Universal House of Justice defined two objectives for external affairs work. The one I propose to focus on here is, to quote, "To influence processes towards world peace". (1)

 

The External Affairs Strategy document issued by the Universal House of Justice sets the context for what the House of Justice has elsewhere referred to as "this increasingly important field of service". (2)

 

The Bahá’í community has entered a new stage in its external affairs work ... at a time when widespread disorder has thrust society into a worsening disequilibrium. A feeling of rudderlessness looms as world leaders seem unable to provide coherent answers to the questions of the times. There is a sense of vacuum in the absence of any moral leadership. (3)

 

However, people are increasingly seeking that moral leadership and, since the Bahá’í administrative system has a unique capacity to "unify people in global action", (4) people are turning to Bahá’ís as a "major resource in assisting with canalizing the forces for development and peace". (5)

 

The House of Justice then turns its attention to the Lesser Peace, that long-anticipated revolution in the affairs of the world:

 

"The Lesser Peace anticipated by Bahá’u’lláh will, of course, be established by the nations themselves. It seems clear that two entities will push for its realization: the governments of the world, and the peoples of the world through the instrumentality of the organizations of civil society."(6)

 

A resource for development and peace

 

It is clear, then, that this peace (which Bahá’ís, of course, see as the first stage in the long-term development of a unified and deep-rooted global peace) is not primarily a matter for the Bahá’ís of the world. However, relatively few as we are, the Bahá’í community has, as the House of Justice points out, a unique capacity; the world’s peoples, bereft of moral leadership, are beginning to see in that community a resource for development and peace.

 

So, says the House of Justice, there is clearly a need for a Bahá’í strategy. But what kind of strategy might this be? Our human and financial resources are relatively small and we are committed to non-involvement in partisan politics. What can we possibly do?

 

The answer given by the House of Justice is ingenious. We are to "lend spiritual impetus to the momentum which that grand attainment [the realization of the Lesser Peace] will generate".(7)

 

"One of its [the Bahá’í strategy’s] expressions should be the exertion of a kind of leadership, principally a moral leadership, by coherently, comprehensively and continually imparting our ideas for the advancement of civilization, and this through a voice that because of the diverse composition of our community could come to be regarded as representative of the aspirations of the peoples of the world."(8)

 

So that is the challenge facing the Bahá’í world. And a huge challenge it is for a community of around six million people, most of whom live in the world’s economically poorer countries. The work of external affairs necessitates credible contact with governments, parliamentarians, non-governmental organizations, and the business community; not only contact, but partnership. If Bahá’í ideas and concepts and practices are to become part of the stock in trade of decision-making and activism across the planet, we need help to communicate the ideas and to put them into practice.

 

Professionalization releases Faith’s potency

 

The Bahá’í community of the United Kingdom has been engaged in public relations work for very many years, but it is only recently that the National Spiritual Assembly has been able to commit considerable financial resources to the establishment of an Office of External Affairs, and to the employment of two full-time staff under the direction of the Secretary of the National Assembly, using the title "Secretary General of the Bahá’í Community of the UK". Here, then, we see, as in a small number of other national Bahá’í communities, the beginnings of professionalization of the external affairs work, the establishment, so to speak, of a civil service, a "Foreign Ministry" (alongside the "Home Office" of the National Assembly’s Secretariat), to pursue strategically and sustainably the building of contacts with all the sectors with which the Bahá’í community needs to work. And it is the building of close working contacts that will open the doors of official and citizen consciousness to the potency of the concepts to be found in the Bahá’í Writings.

 

There is much in the paragraph quoted earlier from the External Affairs Strategy to be unpacked. In a few words the Universal House of Justice has set out a direction for the work of the Bahá’í community that has huge implications for the deployment of resources.

 

Before I examine in more detail some of the themes on which the external affairs work is focused, I would like to take a few moments to think about the nature of moral leadership. A "leader" in most people’s eyes is one who is in charge or has control and power over others, power to enforce his (and it is usually a "he") will upon lesser mortals. I believe it was Mao Tse Tung who said something to the effect that power grows from the muzzle of a gun. That, in a shellcase, is the ultimate source of this kind of leadership: leadership by the exploitation of people’s fear of dying or being hurt. Now, in most countries that claim to be civilized, the instruments of fear are usually kept quite well hidden. The legitimacy of the leadership is based on more or less democratic elections - although these are taken more seriously in some places - and on the extent to which the leader is giving the led more or less what they want. And therein lies one of the paradoxes of this kind of leadership: the leader cannot generally take his people further than they are willing to be led. Of course, the instruments of fear and power re-emerge as soon as the leadership feels it or the order that supports it to be under threat, as we have seen in a number of countries in recent years. Ultimately, however, leadership by fear seems to contain the seeds of its own destruction.

 

Leadership centred on service

 

So what kind of leadership is "moral leadership"? It requires us to stand the world on its head:

 

"To meet the needs of humanity in this stage of maturity, this

 

prevailing concept of leadership needs to be questioned and replaced with a concept that is centred on service. The goal of such new leadership is the empowerment of others to contribute to society, rather than the concentration of power over others. The primary characteristic of a moral leader should be the spirit of service: ‘he who serves the community most’ rather than ‘he who dominates the community most". (9)

 

The moral leader, by this reasoning, is one who empowers individuals and societies to fulfil the two intimately inter-linked purposes of human existence: to work for personal transformation by searching for truth and by acquiring and applying knowledge, wisdom, virtues and spiritual qualities in daily life; and to bring about social transformation by promoting an ever-advancing civilization based on justice and love. As Anello comments:

 

"The development of a just society, in which the common good is fostered through structures that facilitate collaboration and co-operation, and in which the benefits of individual initiative and creativity are safeguarded and encouraged, is indeed the challenging and highly complex task facing humanity."(10)

 

Releasing the power to achieve noble goals

 

So the Universal House of Justice is calling the Bahá’í community not only to convey certain ideas but to convey them in a way that itself models a new kind of leadership. We begin to understand that the leader is not one who holds power, but one who empowers, who releases the power that resides in individuals, groups and societies to choose and achieve noble goals. This mode of action itself models and stimulates the growth of a new kind of society.

 

I commented earlier that Bahá’í resources are limited. The Universal House of Justice, recognizing this, focuses the external affairs work of the Bahá’í community on just four themes: human rights, the status of women, global prosperity, and moral development. I say "just"; actually when one begins to consider what each of these comprises, almost the entire panoply of human development appears to be packed within them. Each of these themes - all inextricably linked with each other - is packed with opportunities for social and economic development.

 

To give one example, traditionally human rights and human development have been separate areas of work, as shown by the separation of the UN agencies which deal with them. However, the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development states that development is a human right. This declaration was strengthened by the Declaration of the 1993 UN World Conference on Human Rights, which refers to the right to development as an inalienable human right. Recently the UN Development Programme published a document (11) linking human development and human rights.

 

What is sustainable human development?

 

"Sustainable human development seeks to expand choices for all people - women, men and children, current and future generations - while protecting the natural systems on which all life depends. Moving away from a narrow, economy-centred approach to development, sustainable human development places people at the core, and views humans as both a means and an end of development. Thus sustainable human development aims to eliminate poverty, promote human dignity and rights, and provide equitable opportunities for all through good governance, thereby promoting the realization of all human rights - economic, social, cultural, civil and political..."

 

"Human rights and sustainable human development are inter-dependent and mutually reinforcing. Development is unsustainable where the rule of law and equity do not exist; where ethnic, religious or sexual discrimination are rampant; where there are restrictions on free speech, free association and the media; or where large numbers of people live in abject and degrading poverty..."

 

"A critical dimension of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is its linking of rights with responsibilities..."

 

"Human Rights and sustainable development are inextricably linked, complementary and multidimensional."(12)

 

This, then, is the latest thinking of one UN agency, thinking which is also that of "Rights & Humanity", an international GO which has been promoting the linkage of rights and development. Clearly the traditional practices of monitoring human rights and hauling violators, individuals and state actors, before various tribunals to answer for their malfeasance, must continue. But the truly exciting area of work is at that point at which human rights and human development come together. I could go on to show how intimately human rights and the status of women are linked; or human rights and moral development. Th Bahá’í view - which might be characterized as "covenantal" - is that each individual on the planet is a moral trust of the whole human race and in particular of those who govern on our behalf; it is in this moral trust that inalienable human rights are based.

 

Clearly, then, these four themes are the loci of both external affairs work and social and economic development. How, then, do these two areas of Bahá’í activity reinforce each other? I can identify three ways in which external affairs and social and economic development work should be able to reinforce each other in a virtuous circle or, better, a virtuous spiral.

 

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, social and economic development activities in themselves influence processes towards world peace. By putting Bahá’í principles into action at the grassroots, whether within the Bahá’í community or in the wider community (perhaps in partnership with a UN agency or an NGO), Bahá’ís model the kinds of strategies, actions and outcomes that take a group of people in the direction advocated by the Bahá’í Writings. And, not only are those people who are engaged in processes of development through a Bahá’í-inspired or Bahá’í-led project learning to move in the right direction, but also the development workers and change agents who guide the projects learn in practice what the Bahá’í principles and concepts mean in the context of the project; they should, therefore, be better able both to apply those principles elsewhere and to help educate others in Bahá’í-inspired development processes. Furthermore, an important outcome of such projects is an increase in the capacity of the Bahá’í community to organize itself and to promote the underlying principles.

 

The Bahá’í community has a long-term vision

 

Secondly, having examples of what the Bahá’í principles that we are conveying through our external affairs work mean in practice boosts the credibility of the Bahá’í community as a source of reliable and useful information. Sometimes, external affairs representatives feel as if they are "dancing on hot air". Governments, development agencies, NGOs, and individual activists are generally focused on remedying in a practical way what they perceive as particular evils or lacks in some group or groups of people in one or more parts of the world. They can be impatient of things that lack a practical outcome. Only the Bahá’í community, as far as I can tell, is promoting a long-term, "multi-dimensional, integrated, dynamic and progressive" (13) vision, based unequivocally on the root spiritual principle of the unity of the human race, throughout the planet, working with its own grassroots community, with partner NGOs, with government, with the UN. In this context, it is not the social and economic development work that is the prime focus, but the concepts and principles that underlie the work and that we are conveying to people. However, to the practically minded, something that is all concept and no practice is not very credible. So, in a purely pragmatic sense, being able to point to the results of Bahá’ís engaged in social and economic development work around the world - all in pursuance of the grand vision of Bahá’u’lláh - contributes hugely to the credibility of the Bahá’í community in its external affairs work. People want to know what the Bahá’í community is doing, not just what it is thinking.

 

Engage like-minded non-Bahá’ís in activities

 

Thirdly, the networks of people in which social and economic development Bahá’ís and external affairs Bahá’ís (if I may short-hand them in this way and who may not necessarily be different people) will increasingly overlap and reinforce each other. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of networking as a means of facilitating and advancing the work of both external affairs and social and economic development. The Universal House of Justice’s External Affairs Strategy document puts forward "association with like-minded people and organizations" as one of the means of accomplishing our purpose in external affairs; it also points out that we must "engage like-minded non-Bahá’ís in our activities, inviting them to work with us and offering to work with them as appropriate."(14) Such people may well quickly see the point of the ideas and concepts that the external affairs workers are putting forward; their appreciation of them will be greatly reinforced by consideration of the practical examples of social and economic development work undertaken by Bahá’ís world-wide.

 

My purpose is not to claim that social and economic development work is or should be an adjunct to external affairs work. On the contrary, I believe that each, guided by the Universal House of Justice and standing within its own sphere, can enormously boost the effectiveness of the other. When one comes to think of it, the entire Bahá’í project of "laying the foundations of a global society that can reflect on the oneness of human nature" (15) is at root a giant, all-embracing human development project. The growth of the Bahá’í community in numbers, in density within given populations, in capacity to carry out ever greater tasks and projects, will inevitably make this an ever more influential force in world society.

 

References:

 

1. Universal House of Justice, External Affairs Strategy, 19 September 1994.

2. From a letter, dated 8 October 1998, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of the UK.

3. External Affairs Strategy.

4. Ibid

5. Ibid

6. Ibid

7. Ibid

8. Ibid.

9. Eloy Anello, ‘The Capabilities of Moral Leadership’, in Iraj Ayman (ed.), A New Framework for Moral Education, 1995, Asr-I-Jadid Publisher.

10 Ibid.

11. Integrating Human Rights with Sustainable Development, a UNDP Policy Document. January 1998.

12. Ibid, pp. 2-3.

13. UN Working Group on the Right to Development (October 1995), cited in ibid.

14. External Affairs Strategy.

15. "Who is Writing the Future? Reflections on the Twentieth Century", a statement of the Bahá’í International Community Office of Public Information, February 1999.

 

BASED-UK Adminstrative Officer: Susie Howard, Tel: 01235 533278 e-mail: secretariat@baseduk.org Website: http://www.baseduk.org

 

 

The Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Peter Hain MP with Barney Leith at the launch of the All Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís, 21st March 2000. See the Office of External Affairs section for full report.

 

BAHA'I SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT

 

• Fri 8th - Sun 10th Sept, Bristol University - Faith in Action through acts of Humanitarian Service

 

• The Second Annual Conference of BASED-UK ... A practically orientated conference/workshop focussing on initiating acts of humanitarian service at the grass roots of the British Bahá’í community. The venue is in a very pleasant part of Bristol and we hope there will be at least one person from every LSA and Group in the country! More details to follow. Web site: http://www.baseduk.org

 

Year of Service Desk

 

The following youth are on their yos/pos (year/period of service) at present. We hope in future issues of the Journal to report to you some of their stories and news.

 

Sorrel Ault:                 Czech Republic

Marguerite Sabour: Zambia

Barry Thorne:                         South Africa

Ben Lockwood:                     Canada with Wildfire Dance group

Elena Kerr:                 Zambia

Tushari Richards:      Gaia, Portugal

Vafa Teghavi:            Swaziland

Abigail Manvell:         Swaziland

Felix Barnes: Honduras

Shadi Doostdar:        Ecuador

Hannah Tully:             Brazil

 

PLEASE inform us if you are a youth (or know of any other United Kingdom youth) serving or planning to, so that we can add you/them to our list and ensure you/they will receive correspondence, information and a newsletter. You can e-mail us at: yosdesk@koomen.demon.co.uk or Tel: 01865 407887.

 

YOSDesk is aware that many youth secure their year, or period of service for the Faith without coming through YOSDesk UK. The Universal House of Justice requires statistics of movement of youth around the world, so please keep us informed. Also we have a support service for youth in service with our Overseas Correspondent and youth will be entitled to receive "Pioneer Post".

 

Seek your opportunity to serve at the YOSDesk webpage: http://www.bahai.org.uk/yos

 

Year of Service Desk Tel: 01865 407887, Tel/fax: 01704 551514 e-mail: yosd@cix.compulink.co.uk http://www/bahai.org.uk/yos

 

Belarus-Lithuania 2000 SUMMER PROJECTS

 

We are happy to introduce our teaching project - part of Millennium Art Conquest designed by the European Bahá’í Youth Council. We invite youth to join one of three dance workshops touring Belarus and Lithuania this summer - 31st July - 25th August.

 

Preparation for the project will take place near Minsk, 18th - 30th July. For further information please e-mail: belaruslithuania2000@hotmail.com 220131 Minsk PO Box 454 Belarus Tel: 2362594, 2613494

 

Indian Sub-Continent Committee

 

New name and remit for Asian Committee

 

If you read your February Bahá’í Journal closely enough, you would have seen a report on the Asian Teaching Project which took place in October last year when three musicians from India, including Dr Ali Merchant, Director of the Bahá’í Office of External Affairs of the National Spiritual Assembly of India, gave performances of traditional Indian music and Bahá’í songs in a number of places in the UK. It was also mentioned that our National Spiritual Assembly has decided that the project to reach the Asian populations within the United Kingdom should continue, and it had therefore appointed the Asian Committee.

 

A first task of the Asian Committee was to consider its role and its name. It has summarised its role as follows:

 

To promote the systematic proclamation and teaching of the Bahá’í Faith among UK communities which have cultural links with the Indian Sub-Continent. The committee’s name has been changed to the Indian Sub-Continent Committee (or ISCCo for short) to reflect its geographical focus. The Indian Sub-Continent is taken to comprise India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The use of the term "cultural links" is used so as not to exclude people from, for example, Mauritius and Malaysia, who may have strong links with India and the Hindu Faith.

 

In general ISCCo will be a resource for the friends in this country on all issues relating to the Indian Sub-Continent, and will try to stimulate individuals, and local, regional and national communities to teach populations from the Indian Sub-Continent, now resident here.

 

As a first step, ISCCo would like YOUR help to build up a picture of the UK experience of teaching these groups and the human resources we have available. So if you have tried to reach communities from the Indian Sub-Continent, if you are from that area yourself and would like to offer your help, or if you would simply like more information, please contact one of the committee members listed below.

 

Indian Sub-Continent Committee - Secretary, Jim Jenkins, Tel: 020 8682 3394, e-mail jim@tooting.u-net.com Nalina and Shatru Jiwnani, Tel: 020 8420 1241 e-mail: jiwnani@compuserve.com Nassrin Afnan, Tel: 01564 703176,

 

e-mail: nassrin.afnan@virgin.net Ruth Glassock, Tel: 020 7501 9233

 

Association for Bahá’í Studies (English-Speaking Europe)

 

Call for Papers: "Mysticism and the Bahá’í Faith"

 

A joint meeting of the Association of Bahá’í Studies (ESE) Religious Studies Special Interest Group and the Irfan Colloquium will be held at the London School of Economics, London, 14th-16th July 2000. It will be followed by a Seminar on the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh during the Akká period. Presentations of papers on mysticism, principles of Bahá’í theology, and the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh during the later Akká period are welcome. Abstracts should be send in advance and as early as possible.

 

Please send proposals of papers to: Dr Moojan Momen, Wixamtree, Sand Lane, Northill, Biggleswade, Beds SG18 9AD Tel: 01767 627626, e-mail: momen@northill.demon.co.uk.

 

For registration contact: Mrs Mirta Lopez-Claros, Flat 1, 64 Addison Road, London W14 8JL Tel & Fax: 0171 371 6022, e-mail: mirta@compuserve.com

 

National Teaching Committee

 

New structure and function

 

On 16th of January the newly appointed National Teaching Committee met for the first time with the National Spiritual Assembly and the Regional Councils in Warrington. The members of the Committee are - Hutan Foroutan, Pejman Hafezi, Declan Howlett (Chair), Gawayne Mahboubian-Jones (Treasurer) and Samantha Maingay (Secretary).

 

The National Teaching Committee is delighted to inform the friends of its new structure and function based on the recent guidance of the Universal House of Justice. The Guardian referred to national committees as expert advisers and executive assistants of a National Spiritual Assembly. The functions of the National Teaching Committee are set out below - Monitoring the effectiveness of the teaching work throughout the country. Bringing to the attention of the National Spiritual Assembly strengths and needs in any region. Analysis of the opportunities for expansion and consolidation in rapidly changing conditions. The identification of successful approaches to teaching. The dissemination of promising teaching methods. Investigating issues related to teaching amongst minorities and specific groups who reside in more than one region.

 

The National Teaching Committee is in the very early stages of its work. As time progresses it looks forward to strengthening its role in the community and consulting with a wide cross section of the Friends and Institutions of the Faith, including the Regional Bahá’í Councils and Local Spiritual Assemblies.

 

This Committee will meet every month and the members are extremely excited about the tremendous responsibility in serving and assisting the beloved Cause. We look forward to seeing the Bahá’í friends at National Convention, and welcome any questions about the new functions of the National Teaching Committee.

 

National Teaching Committee - Secretary, Samantha Maingay, 93a Ealing Rd,

 

Wembley, Middlesex, HAO 4BN Tel: 0181 795 3445 e-mail: samantha@lato.freeserve.co.uk

 

Committee for International Pioneering and Travel Teaching

 

Opportunities in South Africa

 

The South African Bahá’í community requires travel teachers for any period from 2 weeks to a few months to assist in our 12-Month Plan. We especially require adult Bahá’ís who have experienced teaching in rural areas. In the last year we have had several wonderful travel teachers from Canada, The Netherlands and the USA who have come and helped to raise many believers.

 

Please contact the National Teaching and Consolidation Committee of South Africa by e-mail: Ntcc@bahai.co.za or post: PO Box 2142, Houghton, 2041, Republic of South Africa.

 

Pioneers for St Helena

 

St Helena is a United Kingdom colony which makes it easier for Bahá’ís from this country to find employment there. Vacancies often occur in British Government Departments on the Island. Interested? For more information e-mail: konstant@mweb.co.za

 

YOS post in Marshall Islands

 

Required from October 2000 - September 2001 a self-supporting adult or mature youth to manage the National Bahá’í Office at Majuro, Marshall Islands, in the Micronesian region of the Pacific Ocean. This Year of Service position includes typing letters; administering e-mail; managing the web site and data base; copying; filing; and answering phone calls. Secondary tasks include assisting committees of the National Spiritual Assembly (including Teaching and Youth) and the Schools’ Project - in which the assembly is sub-contracted to administer by the Majuro Local Government. Skills required include familiarity with Microsoft Programmes (especially Word), e-mail and the Internet. Also, an understanding of PCs and tertiary connections (e.g. Scanner, Printer). The ability to "troubleshoot" on a minor scale, would be useful. For more information concerning this Year of Service post, please contact CIPTT, e-mail: batchelor@clara.net

 

CIPTT - Roohieh Afnan, Tel: 0181 904 7355 e-mail: roohieh@cwcom.net Thelma Batchelor, Tel: 01372 375782 e-mail: batchelor@clara.net Shahram Firoozmand, Tel: 01733-242946 Barbara Winner, Tel: 01162 730181 e-mail: winners@zetnet.co.uk Dion Azordegan, Tel: 0115 9788853 dionazordegan@hotmail.com Andrew Wilkinson: Tel: 01603-705031 ajandnswilkinson@tinyworld.co.uk

 

HEARTS ABLAZE - TEACHING PROJECT In Latin America

 

50% of the population is under 20. That means that we need YOUth to come and teach! Bring your diversity, energy, and devotion! For info pack e-mail: heartsablaze@teacher.com

 

BOREA - Bahá’í Office for Religious and Educational Affairs

 

BOREA, Bahá’í National Office, 27 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PD e-mail: nstricks@yahoo.com

 

Streamlining local involvement

 

The Bahá’í Office for Religious and Educational Affairs (BOREA) has been busy in recent months collating information which will aid communities in their efforts to join their local SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education).

 

As many of you will know, not all Local Education Authorities (LEA’s) have unitary districts. Any Local Assembly can deal directly with their unitary authority, as it is the only Assembly covered by the LEA. However, many communities do not have unitary authorities; in this case, they may be served by a county LEA. Such communities cannot deal with the LEA claiming to speak with the voice of all the Bahá’ís in the authority’s jurisdiction, unless there has been consultation amongst all the local communities first.

 

BOREA’s job was, first, to ascertain all the unitary authorities in England and Wales, then all the county LEA’s. Once this goal was achieved, BOREA had to make recommendations to the National Spiritual Assembly about which local community would be the most appropriate to deal with the LEA in any area. Unitary authorities posed no problem. County LEA’s were more complex. A strong LSA in a county town was an obvious choice; if the Local Assembly was not strong, or did not exist, then the nearest strong Local Spiritual Assembly or strong group was chosen. In some cases, local communities had agreed a particular community to speak for all the communities. After very careful deliberation, the list was completed and sent to the National Spiritual Assembly for its final decision.

 

In the meantime, if you are in a non-unitary authority and you are considering contacting your LEA, please do not do so until you have confirmation about which community has been authorised by the National Assembly to speak on behalf of the Bahá’ís. This information will be available from BOREA when the National Assembly has completed its deliberations.