Monthly archive : "May, 2020"

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Multiculturalism is in a troubled state in many democracies worldwide. According to its leaders, however, Australia stands out as an exception. The former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull once referred to Australia as “most successful multicultural country in the world.” Scanlon Foundation’s 2017 Mapping Social Cohesion Report found 85 percent of Australians believe multiculturalism is good for their country. The other striking finding by the foundation was that only 3 percent of Australians strongly disagreed that the mingling of different backgrounds improved life in their neighborhood. Anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric still echoes throughout the national media the same way it holds much ground...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: The international community is gripped with the fear of an unprecedented health crisis the like of which has not been seen since the Second World War. The novel coronavirus is wrecking lives in some 190 countries and territories and has thus far caused nearly 309,000 deaths. The economic disruption triggered by the pandemic is believed to be the largest global recession since the Great Depression of 1930s. Extensive cancellation or deferral of sporting, cultural, religious and political events; crisis of legitimacy plaguing political establishments across the world; increased vulnerability of natural ecosystems; debilitating stagnation of international tourism industry; widespread closure of schools and...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: As the death toll from the novel coronavirus in Iran approaches 7,000 and cases surge past 100,000, experts are warning that an untimely reopening in progress could precipitate a new wave of infections. “There is no other path ahead of us,” said President Hassan Rouhani, in explaining to the public his decision to ease a weeks-long nationwide lockdown. Iran remains the Middle East’s epicenter of Covid-19, with more than double the number of recorded infections in Saudi Arabia, the region’s second worst-hit country. The Rouhani administration’s appeal to the International Monetary Fund for a US$5 billion emergency loan to fight the public health crisis has not been responded to...

Kourosh Ziabari - Responsible Statecraft: On April 28, a group of 400 Iranian clerics and seminarians wrote a letter addressed to the Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, asking him to arrest and indict the Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi and the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace Abolhassan Firouzabadi over what they believed was the growth of “vulgarity” in Iran’s cyberspace and the failure of the two officials in completing work on the “national internet.” “National internet” or the National Information Network, as its official name goes, is the product the Iranian hardliners wish to usher in as a domestic replacement for the internet, the information system...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Racial and religious minorities account for a significant portion of the population of France. Owing to a long history of welcoming immigrants of different descents, it is one of the most cosmopolitan European nations. The first article of the Constitution of French adopted in 1958 unambiguously sets out the nation’s founding principle of universalism that promises protection and safety for all citizens regardless of their origin, race or religion. Reflecting the country’s time-hallowed tradition of secularism, collecting information about the citizens’ ethnicity and religious beliefs in national census has been prohibited since 1872, as it is believed to imply stigmatization. Therefore, there are...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Iran’s tourism sector, the pearl of the post-nuclear accord and one of its last economic lungs under sanctions, now faces coronavirus-induced unraveling. The industry “cannot survive and will collapse” in the face of the recession precipitated by the global Covid-19 crisis, Iran’s official IRNA news agency assessed late last month. The stark warning came even as Iranian authorities proceeded with a phased re-opening of certain businesses and places of worship. Should the government of President Hassan Rohani fail to intervene and support the tourism industry, more than 1.5 million jobs risk being lost, IRNA reported. Banafsheh Tehrani is one of some 13,000 Iranian tour guides and tour...