The Bahai’s of Midcoast Maine and the Lincoln Academy Social Science department will screen the documentary “Education Under Fire,” Wednesday, May 8 at 7 p.m.
The documentary will be followed by a conversation on the themes of religious discrimination and the right to public education which the film addresses.
The 30-minute documentary, which has been endorsed by Amnesty International, deals with the Iranian government’s denial of the right to higher education for the past 30 years for all of the members of its largest non-Muslim religious minority – the Baha’is.
In 1987, the semi-underground Baha´i Institute for Higher Education was formed to give young Baha´is their only chance for a university-level education. Despite repeated raids and arrests, volunteer teachers and administrators created an independent, decentralized university system that has lifted the lives of thousands of Baha´i students across Iran.
In May, 2011, an organized assault was launched by the Iranian government in an attempt to shut down the institute. Over 30 homes were raided and over a dozen professors and administrators were detained. Several are still in prison for doing nothing more than trying to teach.
The film connects a diverse audience to a grave human rights issue, a powerful story of resilience against oppression, and the need to respect human rights everywhere.
