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Council
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The
California Zoroastrian Center announces the formation of a new entity.
This entity formed as a council is a cultural branch of the California
Zoroastrian Center. The Council has neither political affiliations nor any
special interests and is an organization focusing solely on issues related to
world cultures, inter-cultures, and specifically the Persian culture. The
following is an overview of this new entity and describes its main points.
Name:
Council on Persian Culture
Belief:
The Council believes that first and foremost we are all human with many common
roots and interests.
We all happen to
share a journey through time called "Life". And
as a singular human race, the journey of our lives is spent as members of one
collective global community of Humanity on our tiny planet. The Council believes
we have to make the best of this journey for every single one of our fellow
humans in order to refresh the world and have a better life.
The
Council believes that there is no one culture that is superior to other
cultures. It is our life long duty to first understand and then appreciate
the beauties of our world’s cultures through respect and tolerance. The
Council on Persian Culture believes that it is only through understanding and
mutual respect that we can have a better world.
The
Council believes that politics, politicians, and their policies will come and
go. What remains is the deep rooted cultural beliefs in the hearts and minds of
the people of the world which passes
from generations to generations.
In
Persian cultures with close to 4000 years of documented and 7000 years of living
history, we see that many dynasties and empires came to power, had their impacts
and then history saw their decline; but the cultural and traditional events of
celebrating new year, Norooz, and festivals of Sadeh, Mehrgan, Tirgan,
Chahar-Shanbeh Soory and others are enduring and ever-fresh after millennia.
They may have the dust of time, but they are alive and well in the hearts and
minds of new generations of young Persians as has been so in the hearts and
minds of their parents and their ancestors.
The
Council believes that, as humans, we must celebrate every single joyful event of
the world’s cultures and must have an utmost respect for the good aspects of
each other's cultures.
Objectives:
- To better understand world cultures and their
interactions in order to facilitate global peace and harmony.
- To preserve Persian culture, customs, traditions, and
to educate people in order to avoid any misinformation or misunderstanding.
Principles:
-
Anyone who agrees with the belief system above and is
interested in the objectives stated can be a member of the Council.
There are no requirements as for ethnicity, religion, nationality,
etc.
- Members may be active participants or passive silent
who attend the conferences or provide background support.
- Minimum age for members is set at 16.
- There is no maximum age, since we believe the mission
of CPC is a life-long quest.
- Council Organizational model is based on a
non-hierarchical and flat model as explained in more detail
s
below.
- Meetings are conducted based on a need and are setup
by representative individuals.
- Meetings may be in person or through video
conferencing on the Net.
- The focus of the Council is primarily of Persian
culture, since it is set up originally by Persians. Hence primary
publications are directed towards ancient Persian culture and the interwoven
fabric of its societies, with special emphasis on the messages of
Zarathushtra for public understanding.
- The Council is also active in interaction of Persian
culture with other cultures based on respect and understanding.
- This is a living document and depending on the
dynamics of the world affairs, it may be adjusted to reflect the reality of
the current cultural issues and fundamentals.
Background:
The Board of Trustees at the California Zoroastrian Center has recognized and
acknowledged the need for a progressive, proactive, and involved cultural entity
to implement and execute conceptual ideas that the Board members have been
considering for some time. These activities include but are not limited to:
- Clearing up misunderstandings, miscommunication, or
incorrect information disseminated about Persian culture worldwide.
The Board has witnessed several intentional or unintentional
misinformation locally in Southern California, in mass media, group
discussions, the general public and even among professors in Academic
institutions. The Board has decided that this misinformation and in
many cases false data will be propagated to students, educators, and general
public and will do unjust to the
basic principles of our culture.
- Providing correct information to the general public
through various mass media, including: newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and
Center’s own publications and periodicals.
- Preserving our customs and traditions through active
planning and involvement of our people in historical and national events as
well as seasonal festivals.
- Helping people to prosper economically and
psychologically by identifying the individuals who are in need and providing
support.
- Planning and encouraging cultural affairs.
- Focusing on our Youth and getting them involved with
various programs.
- Providing proper education and creating a much needed
awareness among those who are misinformed or simply don’t know much about
us in colleges and universities.
- Conducting seminars and conferences.
The Board feels that the time has come to
implement these ever-increasing demands and thus has planned and organized the
Council on Persian Culture.
Organization:
The Council is created on a flat organizational model with no hierarchy and is
run by various committees. Each
committee is focused on one specific task, however each and every committee can
and will rely on the cooperation of other committees and leverage on the
collective resources of the Center. Committees
are responsible to the Board of Trustees of the California Zoroastrian Center.
And as mentioned earlier, this council works under the bylaws of California
Zoroastrian Center.
Following
are the responsible individuals for each committee in alphabetical order:
Massiah
Foundation Educational Scholarships:
- Dr.
Fariborz Maseeh, a world pioneer in Nano technology and MEMS industries,
founder of “Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies” at UCI and the
recipient of 2006 Ellis Island Medal of Honor initiated a generous
gift of US $10,000.00 for 2007 through his
Massiah Foundation to 2 qualified Zoroastrian students in the US,
based on their academic merits. It was matched with another US
$10,000.00 by Erach and Roshan Sadri Foundation (ERSF) of UK through the
good offices of World Zoroastrian Organization (WZO) in London for
another 2 qualified Zoroastrian students in US for a total of US $20,000.00
which was awarded to 4 Zoroastrian students.
- The
Massiah foundation increased its gift to $20,000.00 for 2008 which was
matched by California Zoroastrian Center for a total of $40,000.00.
Eight qualified Zoroastrian students received a scholarship of $5000.00 each
and were named "Maseeh Scholars"
- For application and more information
please click here...
Publications:
Following is a preliminary list of the initial publications by cZc-cPc:
cPc Academic
Advisory Committee:
- Dr. John
Curtis; Keeper, Department of the Ancient Near East - British Museum
- Professor Richard
Frye; Harvard University
- Professor Stanley
Insler; Yale University
- Professor
Keikhosrow Irani; New York University
- Professor Farhang
Mehr; Boston University
- Professor
Jennifer Rose; Stanford University
- Professor Hanns-Peter
Schmidth; University of California, Los Angeles
- Professor Martin
Schwartz; University of California, Berkeley
- Professor Oktor
Skjaervo, Harvard University
cPc Executive
Committee:
-
Mr.
Shahriar Afshari
-
Mr.
Fereidoon Goshtasbi
-
Mr. Mehraban Homaie
-
Mr.
Bahram Kasravi
-
Mr.
Farhad Khosravi
-
Dr.
Sohrab Salamatipour
-
Mrs.
Sima Shidfar
-
Mobed
Dr. Rostam Vahidi
-
Khosro
E. Mehrfar