Interviews

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Iran’s unpopular quest for nuclear energy has dominated news headlines for decades. This has left little room for reporting on less-discussed topics about the country. One of these is tourism. At a time of a pandemic, Iran continues to face grueling international sanctions and domestic divisions. But it is an uncontested fact that the country has a long revered civilization, and getting to know the nation with all its intricacies and complexities is a challenging task. Universities around the world offer Iranian studies courses so students can learn about Iran and its history.  In recent years, growing demand to explore Iran has led to more travelers visiting the country, which is not a popular...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: There is unanimity among scientists that the Earth’s climate is presently changing faster at any point in the history of modern civilization, and this inauspicious change, unleashing a variety of negative impacts on human life, is chiefly triggered by anthropogenic activities. As evidenced by a plethora of academic and scholarly research, the worrying growth of the emissions of heat-tapping greenhouse gases, deforestation, land-use change and solid waste and waste water generation are only some of the drivers of a phenomenon some experts have warned is the most conspicuous threat to human rights in our time. Climate change affects human communities in a number of ways. Human health, infrastructure and...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: The celebrated anti-colonial nationalist and leader of the independence movement of India Mahatma Gandhi is credited with the famous quote “our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” Diversity is cherished as a universal value, and a wealth of academic studies have been carried out substantiating this conviction that proselytizing multiculturalism and inclusion yield astounding results in different political, social, cultural and economic endeavors. United Kingdom is a nation that has historically benefited from its demographic diversity, getting strength from the cultures and races that go to make up the modern Britain. In 2018, around 13.8 percent of...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been raging for over seven decades, and the prospects for peace have never seemed more distant than today. The two-state solution, which was once the most widely-accepted remedy for the impasse, has lost traction, and efforts by the United Nations and other intermediaries to resolve the dispute have got nowhere. In 2018, a survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University found that only 43% of Palestinians and Israeli Jews support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. This was down from 52% of Palestinians and 47% of Israeli Jews who favored a...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Islamophobia in the US has increased ever since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Discrimination and hate crimes against American Muslims skyrocketed immediately after the deadliest assault on US soil took place. Despite sporadic efforts by former President Barack Obama to bridge the religious and racial divides, anti-Muslim prejudice was further heightened after the election of Donald Trump in 2016, leading to what the Council on American-Islamic Relations described as a “sharp rise” in a campaign against “innocent Muslims, innocent immigrants and mosques.” Robert McKenzie, a senior fellow at New America, a Washington-based think tank, said in 2018 that “political rhetoric from national leaders...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Our world is getting warmer, and it is almost entirely triggered by human activity. It is not a hoax, myth or a conspiracy theory, as some politicians tend to suggest. The atmospheric gases known as “greenhouse gases” are largely responsible for the greenhouse effect, which is one of the chief drivers of global warming. Global greenhouse gas emissions have soared at a rate of roughly 2 percent annually since 1970. In 2015, 195 countries and the European Union subscribed to a comprehensive agreement aiming to keep the global warming levels at well below 2°C, and ideally above 1.5°C. The agreement is believed to be the first genuine global commitment to address the climate dilemma. Climate change disrupts...

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 - 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 - ODVV: In 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to officially adopt a multiculturalism policy. The decision was made under the leadership of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and in 1982, section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognized multiculturalism as a national agenda. Canada is nowadays a nation of immigrants, and has founded its immigration policy upon attracting educated and skilled foreign workers from different countries to enhance its economy and improve its people’s standard of living. The country is facing challenges such as an aging population and declining birth rate, and is turning to immigrants to fill the gaps. Canada is one of the top four Western nations when it...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Multiculturalism is a treasured British asset, and people of diverse national, ethnic and religious backgrounds have historically contributed to the British society at the same time as benefiting from the economic, social and educational opportunities it has been offering to its residents equally. Some scholars assert that British multiculturalism has retreated, blaming the divisive Brexit debate for the regression of diversity in the United Kingdom; however, the country is still a conglomerate of citizens representing nearly every nation, racial group and faith in the world, living in harmony despite their differences. Some sources argue that the first wave of migrants to the contemporary British Isles...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: Media headlines these days are invariably dominated by developments surrounding the global outbreak of COVID-19 that first surfaced in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and was declared a “pandemic” by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. The deadly virus, which shares many symptoms with regular influenza, has affected over 2oo countries and territories, claimed nearly 132,000 lives and has triggered unprecedented shutdowns, cancellation of events and gatherings, confined students and clerical workers to homes and prompted many governments to impose national quarantines. SARS-CoV-2 is the name given to the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 is the disease associated with...