| Vahid International Debate 18 June, 2003 Hello, I come from a country where a king 'The Great Kouroush' wrote the first declaration of human rights, 2,500 years ago. A country where its president recently encouraged the dialogue on civilisation at the UN. Four years ago, in June, a group of people, whose identity remains a mystery!!!!!!!!!!!, for this read 12 exclamation marks, one evening they attacked students lodgings, brutalising some students. Why did they do this? Simply because the students had wanted the right to study and speak in freedom. A year later, other students came out onto the streets wanting to press for justice in the same way. Some were arrested, some even imprisoned. A couple of months ago, I saw on the television that children in Iraq, because of the war, did not even have clean water to drink. My intention is not to give you still more news on the Middle East. It is that I am personally involved in the first story and those I speak of in the second are my neighbours. We are not here to find a response, we are here to ask a question, and it is this: What are the rights of children in the world and what can we as artists, do to illuminate those rights? Participating in this debate is a great idea, but is it enough? As a route to changing the world, is art powerful enough to carry such a burden? Luckily, during the days I have been amongst these people from all over the world, I have concluded that in fact, it is only art that can break down the boundaries, because the colour of our skins, different languages and the long distances which separate us CANNOT stop us from coming together to address this huge question. I hope the day will come when other arts makers will hear the message of this debate. - Vahid |
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