May 28, 2004: Headlines: COS - Iran: US Embassy in Japan: Shalala spent two years during the 1960s in a mud village called Molasani in Southern Iran, where she and roughly 40 Peace Corps volunteers worked on building an agricultural college. "I'm not pretending to be an expert on Iran," she said, "only a person whose affection for Iran has never left her."

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Iran: Special Report: Iran RPCV, Cabinet Member, and University President Donna Shalala: May 28, 2004: Headlines: COS - Iran: US Embassy in Japan: Shalala spent two years during the 1960s in a mud village called Molasani in Southern Iran, where she and roughly 40 Peace Corps volunteers worked on building an agricultural college. "I'm not pretending to be an expert on Iran," she said, "only a person whose affection for Iran has never left her."

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-45-115.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.45.115) on Monday, June 07, 2004 - 6:46 pm: Edit Post

Shalala spent two years during the 1960s in a mud village called Molasani in Southern Iran, where she and roughly 40 Peace Corps volunteers worked on building an agricultural college. "I'm not pretending to be an expert on Iran," she said, "only a person whose affection for Iran has never left her."

Shalala spent two years during the 1960s in a mud village called Molasani in Southern Iran, where she and roughly 40 Peace Corps volunteers worked on building an agricultural college. I'm not pretending to be an expert on Iran, she said, only a person whose affection for Iran has never left her.

Shalala spent two years during the 1960s in a mud village called Molasani in Southern Iran, where she and roughly 40 Peace Corps volunteers worked on building an agricultural college. "I'm not pretending to be an expert on Iran," she said, "only a person whose affection for Iran has never left her."

Iranian Studies Conference in Washington Draws Hundreds

By Elizabeth Kelleher
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Several hundred people attending the Fifth Biennial Conference on Iranian Studies in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, viewed Iranian movies, listened to poetry readings in Persian, enjoyed Iranian-themed musical performances and bought books from vendors hawking titles in Persian and English on all things Iranian.

The conference ran May 28 to 30 and attracted professors, writers and graduate students from the United States, Iran, Europe, Japan and Australia. Several gave presentations on their area of expertise and then stayed to attend others' talks on history, religion, politics, art, cinema, literature, medicine and sport.

Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, gave the keynote speech. Currently on a speaking tour in the United States, Ebadi hardly needed the translator on stage; the mostly Iranian-American audience burst into applause several times before Ebadi's remarks were translated from Persian to English.

She began by congratulating the scholars for their service as cultural ambassadors. "In the era of globalization, as boundaries disappear, cultures remain. We shall remain through our culture, our language and our art," she said.

Ebadi is a lawyer, judge and human rights activist who has championed the rights of children, women and prisoners of conscience in Iran. The theme of her speech was that true democracy allows human rights to flourish. Ebadi said democracy in Iran is marred by an elections process in which the Guardian Council disqualifies candidates whom voters might otherwise elect.

And Ebadi said even a government fairly elected by the majority "does not reserve the right ... to neglect the rights of the minority." She faulted laws in Iran that discriminate against the non-Muslim minority in matters of inheritance, and she criticized an Islamic penal code that punishes acts like adultery more severely when perpetrated by non-Muslims than by Muslims.

Ebadi said democracy and human rights are endangered by Iranian laws that discriminate against women. And she blamed censorship in Iran for closing down 90 newspapers in less than two years and for the imprisonment of several journalists.

But the Nobel laureate saved some of her ire for the West. She said there is a form of censorship "specific to Western countries" -- lax antitrust laws, which, she said, allow "big media ... to try to guide public opinion through the news."

In a thinly veiled reference to the Iraq war, Ebadi said, "Military invasions, even with the idea of establishing democracy and human rights ... only hurt the chances of democracy and cause violence."

 Donna Shalala

Donna Shalala, a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and current president of the University of Miami, closed the conference. Shalala spent two years during the 1960s in a mud village called Molasani in Southern Iran, where she and roughly 40 Peace Corps volunteers worked on building an agricultural college. "I'm not pretending to be an expert on Iran," she said, "only a person whose affection for Iran has never left her."

Shalala said meeting Ebadi during the conference was "a thrill" for her. And she reported to the scholars, "American leaders in higher education have deep concerns about restricting attendance at international conferences and denying student visas."

It was a point that hit home. Haideh Sahim, the director of this conference, said that about 40 people from Iran submitted scholarly papers and applied to present them, but then canceled due to difficulties they had obtaining visas. "These respectable scholars would have added to our conference," she said.



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Story Source: US Embassy in Japan

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Iran

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By Hassan Hamdi (94.241.158.82) on Wednesday, August 03, 2011 - 2:13 am: Edit Post

I am not sure I could sent my message to you,it is good concidence to heare about Dr.Donna Shalala who was in Molasani as a peace vulonteer.
yes ,I was about 10 years old and remember good.please tell her many were graduated from that village and the people still living with the memories of those days.
send my regards to her and all those people who tought us too much.
with my best wishes to her and you


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