Presenters: Dr Jane Fulton, Co-Director of The Sydney Peace Foundation
and Shokufeh Kavani, Iranian artist, Australian of the Year nominee and the first Iranian-born Australian recipient of the Edna Ryan Awards in the category of Art, bestowed by the New South Wales Women's Electoral Lobby to women who have been pioneers in different walks of life.
What is the WomanLifeFreedom movement? Skokufeh Kavani explains:
“WomanLifeFreedom movement was not started yesterday. Iran or Persia - as it used to be called till before the first world war - has a rich history which is filled with the legacy of powerful, strong women, queens and princesses who were comanders and ministers and held high positions both in society and home and they were not covering themselves. Hijab came to Iran with Islam after Arab attack to the Persian Empire 1400 years ago and lasted centuries till 1935 when Reza Shah 's - The late Shah of Iran's - passed the law of compulsory unveiling which was also a mistake and created some resistance.
It has to be noted that Iranian women are known to be brave, opinionated and outspoken and stand against any kind of unfair and unjust authority. Reza Shah and his son Shah gave women lots of freedom but the 1979 Islamic Revolution changed everything in IRAN which now we want to talk about .”
What is The Sydney Peace Foundation and its annual Sydney Peace Prize? Jane Fulton explains:
“It is a not-for-profit foundation of the University of Sydney, established in 1998, by a group of academics and students at the University's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies who wanted to expand the conversation around peace to a wider audience beyond the campus.
The Foundation is supported by the City of Sydney, and by additional organisations and individuals committed to peace with justice. The Foundation seeks to create dialogue and partnerships between business, media, community, government and the public service.
It has a 25-year record of awarding its annual Sydney Peace Prize to extraordinary and inspiring laureates such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson, Noam Chomsky, Vandana Shiva, the Black Lives Matter Movement, and last year to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, when Professor Megan Davis was awarded the prize with Pat Anderson and Noel Pearson.
In November, this year’s Peace Prize will be presented to Nazanin Boniadi, chosen for her commitment to fighting for women's rights in Iran and Afghanistan. We couldn't be prouder to be raising the voice for the #WomanLifeFreedom movement that has drawn the attention of the world to human rights and the plight of women and girls in Iran.”
Bios – about the Presenters
Shokufeh Kavani is an artist – she started painting at the age of 19 in reaction to the eight-year Iran-Iraq War that had a deep impact on her.
In 1997, Kavani migrated to Sydney, Australia and started working and studying again for her bachelor's degree in Nursing from Charles Sturt University. After the 2005 Cronulla riots, she joined the art group " TAH, Art for Humanity " and participated in twelve group exhibitions all over Australia to raise awareness against racism.[1] Some sale proceeds of the group went to an Afghan Charity, Mahboba's Promise,[1] to support Afghan widows and orphans. These humanitarian efforts earned her nominations for the "Australian of the Year Award in 2005, 2007, 2008 and also in 2013, and for the Pride of Australia Medal in 2005 and 2007 by The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) newspaper.[1]
Jane Fulton got her doctorate at the University of Sydney in Social Anthropology with a focus on environmental conflict. She was the first coordinator of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, and a founding member of the Sydney Peace Foundation. Jane worked for the UNDP in New York in the water and ocean governance team for ten years and since May 2023 has taken on the role of co-director, along with Melanie Morrison, of the Sydney Peace Foundation.
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