For over thirty years the people of Iran have suffered under the yoke of an oppressive system that has systematically abused virtually every fundamental and internationally recognized human right. And although all sectors of Iranian society, ranging from artists to women, have had their rights eroded by the so-called "Islamic" fantasy state, one minority in particular – the 300,000 strong Bahá'í community has had to endure especially vicious attacks – everything from their leadership being unjustly imprisoned to their properties being confiscated, their cemeteries desecrated, their homes and businesses raided and torched, their ability to make an honest livelihood strangled, their children harassed in primary schools, and perhaps most egregiously their youth being denied the opportunity to pursue a university education.
Much as the Nazis created physical ghettos for the Jews, the Iranian regime is attempting to create a cultural ghetto for the Bahá'ís -- instead of confining the entire community physically, they are systematically depriving them of fundamental rights that allow any community to sustain itself. It is a conscious attempt to slowly and very deliberately strangle a significant minority (all the while hoping that the world will not notice). I like to think of it as nothing less than genocide in slow motion.