Copenhagen Conference better than some say

In some quarters the recent Copenhagen Climate Change Conference is being called a debacle. This view is too harsh.

Yes, the conference failed to achieve a binding agreement at the end. But this was the kind of failure that is partly a success because the attempt was made in the face of great obstacles.

Consider the depth of the issues that are coming to a head because of the threat of climate catastrophe. They include the divide between the rich and poor nations, the still-bitter legacy of colonialism, conflict of rival political systems, confronting the obsolescence of state sovereignty, and the inertia of millions of voters who are more preoccupied with economic worries than ecological doom.

The conference delegates had to struggle to find agreement with these huge issues coming into play between them. Watching BBC news reports I was struck by the earnestness with which they approached the task.

This event may yet go down in history as a significant early occasion when world leaders and civil society, in great numbers, gathered to seriously address global problems globally.

At this stage though, everything depends on whether the momentum keeps going, or the will to act fades away. The figures that scientists are giving us these days on climate change are concentrating minds like never before. This is not a time to let patterns of the past determine the future.

Artist highlights plight of Baha'is of Iran

Shahriar Asdollah-zadeh of Auckland Baha'i community will be exhibiting his multimedia artwork on the Baha'i martyrs of Iran alongside two other national touring exhibitions.

The three concurrent exhibitions open on 14 December and go until 7 February.

The opening will be at the Whangarei Art Museum on 14 December. The exhibitions will be officially opened by prominent local Baha'i personality and tohunga whakairo Te Warihi Heteraka.

Shahriar's exhibition is well timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day on 10 December. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva has asked the public to celebrate and support Human Rights Day by advocating non-discrimination, organizing activities, raising awareness and reaching out to local communities on 10 December and throughout 2010.

More information can be found in press releases issued by the Whangarei Art Museum. Please follow these links:

Baha'i Martyrs press release

Ey! Iran press release

Following Curnow at Karekare

A poem inspired by Karekare beach. Allen Curnow, who was one of New Zealand's best renowned poets, had a holiday home (bach) at the Karekare settlement. My poem gets its start from a poem by Curnow. And it includes quotations from the "Long Healing Prayer" by Baha'u'llah.

Revolutions -- poem on the cycles of life

I've had a binge on revising some of the poems I wrote a few years ago. This is one of them.

Revolutions

Rejoice in the glorious world around
Hail its varying nights and days
Such is the power of life to astound

Giving its benefits which surround
Children learning, eyes ablaze
Who plunge in the glorious world around

Seasons turning renew the ground
Making us marvel each altering phase
Such is the power of life to astound

Elements gather and crumble down
Bodies decay but passion stays
Inspired by the glorious world around

As age obscures both sight and sound
The mind recalls in countless ways
That life contains a power to astound

And in the end we shall no doubt be found
Knowing what’s been twinkling in our gaze
A greater glorious world around
Such is the power of life to astound

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Poem on the Baha'i Fast

The annual period of fasting observed by Baha'is runs from March 2-20. Those who are fasting take no food or drink each day between sunrise and sunset. It is a period of reflection that brings about mental and spiritual renewal. The fast is not kept by children, the elderly, the ill, nor by pregnant or nursing mothers.

The land shows up at first in hazy lines
and shadows making shapes in charcoal grey
then ghostly things take colour, depth and form
till houses, hills and trees materialize
-- become a busy world beneath the sun.

That time has come for watchfulness at dawn
and patience through the burning hours till dusk
for on these days the tongue grows dry,
the stomach groans, and while the clock
ticks by, the brain goes slightly dull,
as long and loud the March cicadas fret.

And yet the atmosphere stirs
with some uncommon vibrant pulse
-- some rare sweet song invigorates
the normal air -- a mystic tune
interpolates between the beats
of torpid time -- and laggard hours
are livened by a melody Divine.

Released to fly, the mind resorts
to higher thoughts -- desire abates
and indescribably a change
unfolds -- that lifts the soul --
imparts perceptions suddenly
and throws up chance encounters too
with fellow-travellers seeking light.

The turning of the earth, these nineteen days
instructs our hearts -- in heaven's ways.


[The above is a revised version of a poem posted here this time last year.]


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