NORTHWEST FLORIDA STATE COLLEGE HOSTS SCREENING OF NEW DOCUMENTARY ON IRAN’S ASSAULT AGAINST HIGHER EDUCATION
Northwest Florida State College will host a screening of Education Under Fire, a documentary film along with a subsequent conversation, on 16 January 2013 at 5:30PM, at the South Walton Campus, 109 Greenway Trail, Room 119. The campus is just north of US 98 on US 331.
The documentary addresses the continued government-sanctioned persecution of specific groups in Iran and the blatant disregard of Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees education as an inalienable right of every human being.
The film focuses on the experience of one among many persecuted Iranian groups, the Bahá'í community. In 1987, the semi-underground Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) was formed to give young Bahá'ís their only chance for a university-level education. Despite repeated raids and arrests, volunteer teachers and administrators created an independent, decentralized university system that has lifted the lives of thousands across Iran. The BIHE was referred to by the New York Times as “an elaborate act of communal self-preservation.”
In May 2011, an organized assault was launched by the Iranian government in an attempt to shut down the BIHE. Over 30 homes were raided and over a dozen BIHE professors and administrators were detained. Several are still in prison for doing nothing more than trying to teach. The Iranian government also bans students from pursuing higher education if they have expressed views, joined organizations or engaged in activities that are construed as critical of the government. In addition, the authorities have attempted to prevent instruction in several fields in the humanities and social sciences and have dismissed faculty for ideological reasons.
Education Under Fire (EUF) is also a campaign developed to address the Iranian government’s denial of the right to education for ideological and religious reasons. Beyond the goal of encouraging specific action in order to mitigate the effects of these policies in Iran, the campaign will begin conversations on university campuses and within communities around the country. Impressively, to date there have been nearly 530 grassroots screenings of the film across the United States and Canada held in universities and community centers — a feat achieved in less than 1 year. Visit www.educationunderfire.com to sign the open letter to the government of Iran.
Local author, Dr. Ron Frazer, a former student at Northwest Florida State College and one of the staff of BIHE, will present the film and lead a discussion on the situation in Iran and the plight of the BIHE students.
For more information contact:
Ron Frazer
ron@alliswell.org
tel: 850-543-2129