A Stolen Cultural Heritage

Sold! International recognition of one of Iran's rich cultural contribution to human history has been stripped by the United Nations, thanks to the treacherous petitions, such as the one drafted by the Persian Cultural Centre.

The Persian Cultural Centre drafted a petition, which acquired over 430,000 signatures. I feared it might have dire implications on the cultural heritage of Iran. The petition requested that the U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, authorizes the "related agencies" to include the new year Norooz first day of spring in "their upcoming calendars".

My concern was that at no point did the petition mention Iran as the source of this cultural contribution to the world, in that Norooz was primarily an Iranian/Persian new year celebration, which in turn was enjoyed by the many different local ethnic cultures, such as the Kurds, Afghan, Turks etc. This oversight, I felt, left open the possibility that either i) Iran would no longer be recognized as the founder of Norooz celebration, but rather be party to a list of states that are known to celebrate Norooz; or that ii) Norooz could be wrongly associated with any country other than Iran as the source of this cultural celebration. In fact, it was Iran that introduced this much celebrated event to the world. At the very least, this petition risked Iran and her rich cultural contribution to history being forsaken by calling for Norooz to be recognised by the U.N. as an "international" new year's celebration.

It must be stressed that there is no objection to the reality that Norooz is shared by many other nations and cultures around the world; however, it must be mentioned and recognized that Norooz is a Persian/Iranian New Year celebration, one that has been devised by the rich culture of the Iranian history. Whoever celebrates the spring equinox as their new year, they have the history and culture of Iran to thank; thus, it is Iran's cultural right to ascertain recognition for such.

It strikes one as somewhat odd that a centre on Persian culture has made such an error in their petition; one would expect such an organization to seek to preserve Iran's culture and maintain international recognition of such. There is far more to Iran than the IRI regime and Ahmadinejad's blundering views. However, this petition does not do Iran any justice.

For this petition to bear any credible weight, it must urge the U.N. to register Norooz as the 'Persian New Year', which is also celebrated by many nations internationally. However, I was too late, as the petition successfully made it to the United Nations, and Iran is now recognized as one of the many countries that celebrates Norooz (spring equinox) new year. Worst still, my fears materialized in that Iran, as a result, has been stripped of her recognition for providing civilization with Norooz, by the international community.

This is by virtue of the U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S 64th SESSION 2 DECEMBER, 2009; DOCUMENT A/64/L.30. The U.N. has already affirmed it, and has not mentioned in any express terms that this day was sourced by Persia/Iran and her culture. Iran is now party to a list of states that celebrate Norooz. The U.N. document expresses importance in:

"stressing importance of raising public awareness...in order to foster respect for national cultures, and cultures of the world".

However, respect for Iran's founded culture has been left behind. The loathsome efforts in erasing international recognition of Iran's cultural contribution are taking place before our eyes.

1) Persian Cultural Centre
P.O. Box 500914, San Diego, CA 92150
Office Hours: 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM (Mon-Fri)
Office: (858) 653-0336
Fax / Voice-Mail: (619) 374-7335
pcc@pccsd.org

2) United Nations Economic and Social Council

Department for Economic and Social Affairs
Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination
Director
Mr. Nikhil Seth
Tel: +1 (212) 963-1811
Fax: +1 (212) 963-1712
ecosocinfo@un.org